Chapter Five #2
negotiations through the next week. No one sent her a name. The old rep had
been a woman named Anna who talked about her grandkids when they weren’t
discussing business. She liked Anna. Anna never broke her heart.
“What happened to the VP position at Greenwood?” They were a
distributer. One of the biggest in the country based in New York. It was the
very job he left her for. He’d worked his job with the collective to get the
position and then left them with piles of paperwork he hadn’t actually done.
One shoulder shrugged. He was in a suit. On a Sunday. In the
middle of a tiny Texas town as spring was rapidly becoming summer. He looked
completely out of place, but then that was probably his point. “I got bored. I
needed some new challenges.”
That didn’t sound likely. He didn’t care about challenges.
He cared about how easy his life was. Once he told her the reason he loved her
was because she knew how to take care of a man. Her money didn’t hurt either.
“So now you’re a sales rep?”
“Babe, the compensation is insane, and you know I like to
get out of the office.”
No, he didn’t. He was actually pretty lazy, but like a lot
of men he tended to fail upward. People saw the work being done around him and
assumed he was the reason. He was not.
And there was more. She looked around. There was no evidence
of Jessica, the woman he left her for. The woman who told Olivia she was
getting old, and men didn’t like women who were so aggressive. Jessica had been
soft and dependent and desperate to get out of Willow Fork. She’d thought
sending her to Dallas to work would be the end of it, but it had just given
them cover. “Did you bring your wife with you?”
His cheeks turned slightly pink, but then the confident
smile was back. “About that. I might have made a mistake. We didn’t actually
get married. I tried with her. I really did, but I realized something.”
Don’t say it. Please. It had already been a day.
She did not need those words to come out of his mouth.
“She wasn’t you.”
There they were. Things didn’t work out with the
twenty-year-old broke admin, so he was back to the ball buster because when
they were together, she took care of the world for him.
He could be relentless. She should tell him to fuck off, but
the account was one of the largest they had. It was worth fourteen million a
year. So she had to handle him, and he loved the chase.
“Olivia? Are you okay?” a deep voice said behind her.
Or she could put a wall between them. One that might slow
him down and allow her to get through this week with some dignity.
She turned and Keane was standing beside Garrett like the
hottest, sexiest, safest wall she’d ever seen. She moved right into his arms.
“I almost fell. You were right. I’m being reckless, but I’m
so excited to show you where we’re going to live.” She leaned in, whispering in
his ear. “Please go along. I’ll explain later.”
His duffel dropped as his arms went around her. “Are you
okay, baby? I told you we’re here for life. No need to hurry. We’ve got all the
time in the world.”
Okay. Maybe she hadn’t thought this through. She kind of
thought one of them would take the boyfriend role.
Why? She lived in this world, and they were obviously
looking for a woman to share short term. Probably long term. This was stupid.
She had slept with two super-hot men. Why was she acting
like a shamed nun?
If she had the balls everyone accused her of, she would walk
away from them all.
Except she didn’t want to. She didn’t want Scott to bother
her since it was obvious he was back for a second try at her. She didn’t
particularly want to drop Garrett off at a motel and pretend Keane didn’t
exist.
There were two Olivias. The guarded one and the party goblin
who wanted everything her friends had. Fun. Spontaneity. Crazy sex.
She kissed Keane and turned to see Scott’s eyes widen.
“Keane, this is an… I don’t think we were ever friends, so I’ll be honest. He
used to work for Barnes-Fleetwood and we dated and he left for a better job and
a younger woman, neither of which seemed to have worked out so now he’s here as
the rep for our biggest distributor.”
“That’s a lot,” Keane whispered.
“A bit unfair, but I understand.” Scott had a smirk on his
face. “So you’re dating this cowboy? I’m surprised at that. I expected you
would find someone in Dallas.”
Garrett moved in, his eyes only for her. “Am I the dirty
little secret, Red?”
Role play. He was giving her a way to save some face.
She tilted her head up and went on her toes. “Never, Sir.”
“Ah, you’ve taken up the family’s view on romance.” Scott
sounded annoyingly amused. “It’s okay. I like a challenge. I don’t suppose I
can steal you for a couple of hours. I thought we could open negotiations with
a margarita or maybe a drink at The Barn. It’s been so long since we spent a
night there. Drinking, dancing. I never thought I would miss this place, but I
have. I’ve thought about it and you for a long time.”
Garrett slid an arm around her waist, trapping her between
the two of them. “I’m going to ask you to treat my girlfriend with some
professionalism. You should understand I’m one of the lawyers who works for
Barnes-Fleetwood, and I’ll have a talk with your human resources department if
you continue to harass her.”
A brow rose over Scott’s eyes, and she could see the minute
he decided Garrett was a threat. “Harass is a harsh word. Especially when
you’re talking about her former fiancé.”
She felt Keane stiffen beside her and knew he was taking in
the ridiculously overpriced loafers Scott wore and the expensive suit. Keane
was the one with a chip on his shoulder about how he grew up. So she cuddled
closer to him. “He wasn’t my fiancé.”
“I had a ring and everything,” Scott replied.
“And a girl on the side. You might have bought that ring for
me, but you gave it to her.” She needed to regroup. It wasn’t like she felt
anything for the man but disgust, but she also couldn’t allow their past to
ruin the relationship with their best distributor. This was sadly what it meant
to be a woman in this business. Although she admitted taking on not one but two
fake relationships was going a bit far.
“I told you that was a mistake.” Scott gave her that look
that let her know he was thinking about arguing further, but he stopped and an
aw-shucks smile came over his face. “Well, I intend to make it all up to you by
being the best business partner possible. I can see you’re happy. Let’s get in
touch and we can meet tomorrow. It was good to see you, Livie. You look…you
look great.”
He turned and walked toward the BMW he must have rented in
Dallas since they didn’t see many of those in Willow Fork.
She held her breath until he got in.
“We should probably talk about what happened.” Garrett had a
wicked grin on his face. “Uh, am I supposed to stay at the motel? Are we not
sleeping together in this scene?”
She sighed. Nope. “Let’s talk about it on the ride out to
the ranch. I’ll explain everything to you. Thanks for backing me up.”
She couldn’t do this right here. She needed to get in her
comfy car and tell them her sad story and make a deal.
An adult deal.
A practical deal.
A deal that might help all three of them.
She moved to the parking spaces her family kept at this
private airport.
And stopped because her SUV wasn’t as tall as it had been
before. All four tires were flat.
Her day had just gotten worse.
* * * *
Keane sat in the back of a station wagon that might
be from the late eighties. He wasn’t sure, but it apparently was Willow Fork’s
version of a taxi, complete with a gossipy driver who had maybe been eighty in
the eighties, too.
She drove so slow and yet had almost had two accidents.
This might be worse than the plane. He wasn’t meant for this
time. Horses. They were safer. He should have been born in a time when all a
man needed was a horse and his camping supplies.
Scratch that. He liked running water. But this car was
dangerous. It rattled in a way that sounded like it was on its last breath. And
there was the dog.
“I knew that boy was here to make trouble. He showed up
yesterday looking for you at the café. Christa told him you were at a wedding,
and I swear his face went pale. I think he thought it was your wedding. He
calmed down when he found out it was your brothers’.” The woman driving had
introduced herself as Gwen, and she had raced to the airport when Olivia called
her. She showed up with cookies and stale coffee and lots of questions. “Do you
think he’s the one who slashed the tires on that pretty baby of yours? Did he
think he could give you a ride?”
Keane had thought about it and dismissed the idea. The man
was in a suit, and he looked like he would be pissed if it got dirty. If that
man knew how to handle a knife, he would be surprised.
“I have no idea what Scott is thinking except that
everything fell apart and I was an idiot once. Why not try again?” Olivia
asked.
“I remember the first time that boy was around and he spent
his whole time kissing your daddy’s ass and ignoring your papa,” Gwen pointed
out as she turned onto the highway. Slowly. So slowly.
Did this car have any shocks left? He was pretty sure they
were all shot since he could feel every inch of road.
He was still reeling. He went from utter devastation to
being trapped in a tin can high in the air to embarrassing himself with his
stomach’s betrayal to becoming Olivia’s fake boyfriend. One of them.
“He treated Sam differently than Jack?” Garrett asked.
Olivia’s head turned. When the station wagon drove up, she
had taken the passenger seat, allowing them the back, which also contained an
elderly Chihuahua who seemed to like him.
He never had a dog. Surprisingly, no one in all of his
foster families had thought to buy him a pet.
He kind of was the pet. Now that he thought about it he had
a lot in common with a rescue dog.
That Chihuahua sat between him and Garrett. It ignored
Garrett and stared at him, sometimes growling and showing off the fact that it