Chapter Ten #3
agent. I have a million things to do, including getting someone to try to
actually figure out who did this. The cops will be no real help. They’ll write
a report and say Dad’s rich enough and can handle it and be done.”
“I already called Ruby,” Garrett said as he slid into the
seat beside Olivia.
“You did?” Olivia was obviously surprised. “I asked her to
look into Scott.”
“I think she can handle all of it,” Garrett offered. “You
should know if Keane hadn’t picked you up and gotten you out of there, I would
have. Scott was baiting you. Any attention you give him—good or bad—is a win
for him. Keane explained how things would go and acted caveman-like enough that
Scott is probably rethinking.”
She calmed and looked Keane’s way. “Thank you, Master. I was
getting agitated.”
He cupped her cheek. “It’s okay. That’s what I’m here for.”
Protecting Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood might be his calling. He
kissed her.
“Take me home, Master. I’m sure the contractors are already
there, but I didn’t even get one of Gigi’s pancakes. She does something to
them. I think it might be cinnamon,” she said, settling back and looking
perfectly comfortable.
He moved around to the driver’s seat knowing damn well
Garrett was going to use the time to make out with her.
It was good. It was right where he wanted to be.
* * * *
Two days later, Garrett settled down into the chair
across from Olivia in the large office with luxurious wood paneling and
pictures of Jack Barnes’s family. He loved looking at the pictures of Olivia
when she was a kid. There had been something infectious about her smile.
He was starting to see that smile again.
Olivia walked in. “Keane is off to the south field. I swear
the guys already love his new systems. Do you want some coffee?”
He gestured to the desk where her laptop was set up. “I
already got some. Yours is on your desk. Some cream and one sugar.”
She moved to the smaller desk, the one she said her papa
used from time to time. She planted herself right on Garrett’s lap. “You
already know my coffee order.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist. “I know a lot of things.
I know you love enchiladas but hate how messy hard-shelled tacos can be. You
like the water in your shower hot enough to scald.”
She wrinkled her nose. “No, I don’t. I like it warm.”
“We have different definitions of warm.” He held her close.
The past two days had been damn near perfect. Keane got up early and went out
to work while Garrett took care of their sub. He liked their morning time
together, but he also liked the fact that Olivia had taken to riding out to
find Keane to take him an afternoon snack. She would mount her mare with the
ease of a woman who was thrown on a horse as soon as she could walk. He kissed
her temple, and she cuddled against him. “You ready for today?”
They managed to put off Scott for two days. He would rather
put the fucker off forever.
She groaned a little. “As ready as I’m going to be. He’s
been texting me constantly, asking if he can come out here and work since
there’s not a desk in the motel room. Apparently they’ve gone minimalist at the
Willow Fork Sleep Easy Motel. Also, the wifi kind of sucks because Jerry
doesn’t like to pay for things he can’t see. I really do have to talk to him.”
“I know.”
“I managed to talk my dad into not storming the town after
the fire, but if he thinks I’m going to lose a contract…”
That was not true. Not from anything he’d learned over the
last couple of days. “That is not why he would come running back.”
At first he wished they were alone. That first night Miranda
and Gabe had been sitting in Olivia’s house when they all came in from work.
Gigi hadn’t been far behind, bringing big bags of food she brought from the
kitchens of The Willow Fork Tranquility Spa and Resort.
And it had been a lovely night. They ate and had some wine
and beer and talked about what it meant growing up with two dads. He learned a
lot about Olivia and her family, and he was sure of one thing—Jack Barnes loved
his baby girl.
“Fine. He’ll freak out if he finds out it’s Scott. He’ll
lose his shit and cause a way bigger issue than we have right now. I don’t need
my dad running in to save me.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “I have you and
Keane to do that for me.”
He was falling for this woman so quickly.
“Well, it’s been easy to put him off. I was surprised he
agreed to move the meeting.” He thought Scott would put up a fit. He’d simply
said yes.
It made him suspicious.
“I think he realizes that there’s zero way he’s getting back
into my bed,” she replied, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Garrett wasn’t sure. He didn’t think Scott was one to easily
give up. He’d regrouped and was likely trying to come up with another plan.
But they had more than Scott to deal with. “We need to talk
about Gladen Farms.”
She sighed, an exhausted sound. It had to be emotional
exhaustion since he knew she’d slept like a baby the last couple of nights.
“You mean the one the nepo baby fucked up?”
He tightened his arms around her. “I’m sorry, baby. I was in
a bad place because the most gorgeous woman in the universe used me for sex and
snuck out of my room without a good-bye kiss.”
Her head tilted up, a hollow look in her eyes. “You’re not
the first to call me that.”
His heart ached. He rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “Then
they don’t know you. Even when I said it, I was lying. Livie, you’re infinitely
competent. Your parents don’t leave you in charge because they love you. They
leave you in charge because they trust you. You are far more than a walking
bank account.”
“So you don’t think I fucked up?”
“Fuck-up is a strong word that I would never have used if I
wasn’t so pissy about the whole gorgeous woman using me for sex thing.”
“So you don’t think I did anything wrong?”
He went still.
She frowned and started to slide off his lap.
“Hey, if we’re going to work together, we have to be able to
talk without you withdrawing affection,” he said quietly. “I’m going to be open
and honest with you. I can take a lot. I can take you screaming at me. I can
take you dressing me down. Withdrawal of affection hurts me. Keane won’t ever
say it, but it’s the thing that will push him away quickly.”
Her eyes rolled and she sighed but she settled back in.
“Needy men making me sit on their laps while they tell me what I’m doing
wrong.”
“I’m worried you were too aggressive with the owner. I wish
you had kept your suspicions to yourself until you talked to legal.” He had to
be careful with this but also honest. “Is it true you told him the only way he
would ever be able to understand a contract was to stick it up his ass and hope
he gets it through osmosis?”
Her lips curled in a smile. “That does sound like me.”
“Did you accuse him of embezzling?”
“He is,” she shot back.
“Do you have all the proof? Because generally it’s best not
to accuse someone until all the details are locked down and they can’t change
things. We don’t give the criminal the heads-up that we’re onto their crimes
before we’re ready to handle the aftereffects.”
She sighed and laid her head back down. “I was mad. He’s a
dick, and he’s cutting corners and skimming off the top.”
“I understand, but now we have to prove it.”
“I thought Dad would fire him. He doesn’t usually take legal
action if he doesn’t have to. Gladen isn’t the first to cut corners on our
organic protocols.”
“No, but Gladen himself is incredibly litigious,” Garrett
pointed out. “We’re facing a potential defamation case.”
“It’s only defamation if it’s not true.”
“And if he gets rid of all the records?” She needed to be
realistic. He knew that the company was very much a friendly, family type, but
that didn’t mean it wasn’t a business. There were protocols to be followed and
a reason for them. “We have to have legal reasons to void his contract and
proof that what you saw is true. Court can be brutal.”
“He can’t because I have a whole bunch of them…” She sat up.
“Damn it. I had them in the office. At least I had the printouts and notes
there. I’ve been putting off dealing with it because the wedding was pretty
much all-consuming and honestly, I didn’t want to put that pressure on my dad.”
“He knows, right?” The idea that she hadn’t told Jack Barnes
wasn’t one he wanted to entertain.
“He knows I’m worried about Gladen breaking the organic
rules,” she explained. “I’ll go over it all with him when they get back home.
But Garrett, it’s awfully convenient that my office burns down right before I
make my case to Dad.”
“Yeah, I might have called Ruby and put her on Gladen, too,”
he admitted. “I don’t like the timing either. I prioritized figuring out where
he was the other night. Turns out he was hosting a party late into the night.
He was seen on his ranch at 2:30 a.m., waving guests good-bye. He’s an hour
south of Austin. There’s not a lot of chance he made it up here. According to
Ruby, his security system shows no one leaving or entering the estate until
eight a.m. the next day.”
“But he could have hired someone to do it,” Olivia reasoned.
“I have her looking into that, too. With the exception of
Deputy Morgan, the sheriff’s office is fairly useless.” They did have an arson
report, but it didn’t feel like they were working hard to figure out who did
it. He’d gotten another round of kids running wild from the sheriff when he
forced the issue.
“They always have been,” she admitted, and she was quiet for
a moment as though thinking. “Is there something Keane needs to tell me?”
“Why would you say that?”
“It’s the way he looks at me sometimes. Like he wants to say
something but he can’t.” She watched Garrett for a moment. “He can tell me
anything. I’m hard to shock.”
This was the danger zone. Keane knew he needed to talk to
her, but he was putting it off because the last few days had been incredible
and he didn’t want to fuck it up if this was the only time they got with her.
But the longer they were in her bed and working with her, the more a future
with her seemed possible. So that talk needed to happen. “He does, but he has