by Em Petrova
She leaned across the desk. “I know what the offer was. You were quite plain. But I won’t be falling into that trap. I’m better than that, and I won’t compromise myself to get a leg up.”
He started shifting files on his desk, but not really doing anything with them. “You’ve made your choice. I thought you were smarter than that, but—”
She settled back in her seat. “I am smarter. Smart enough to know when my boss is doing something that the HR department of the People’s Credit Union would find violates some rules.”
Gaze shooting up to hers, his expression hardened. “You misstep and you have no proof.”
“You’re right—the cameras don’t pick up what happens in your office. But the truth has a way of coming out, and you don’t really want that.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What are you getting at? Are you trying to blackmail me?”
“Not at all. But I would ask a favor of you in exchange for keeping this little… matter… between us.”
His chest expanded as he took a deep breath. “What is the favor?”
She smiled, and he winced. It felt good having the upper hand in this case. No wonder women went on full-blown power trips in the workplace. Getting ahead of an asshole boss was equal to sprouting wings and soaring through the sky.
“A man came in about a month ago looking to get a loan against his ranch. You haven’t answered him, even though he’s submitted all the right paperwork. I’d like for you to give him the attention he deserves and see if he’s qualified for the loan.”
He eyed her. “You know I can’t grant credit to those who don’t qualify.”
“Of course. I’m not asking you to push him through. I’m asking you to look at his case and give him an answer.”
He shifted more files. “Who is he?”
“Zayden Moon.”
His head jerked up, and maybe she had some look on her face that shouted to the world that she had feelings for the cowboy, or maybe Jason was just astute enough to read between the lines.
“Fine. I’ll have another look at his case.”
She nodded. “You’d better have a look at it today, because soon you won’t have time with all the interviewing you’ll be doing for Roberta’s position.” She offered him a smile, and he averted his gaze.
Then she stood and walked out of his office, quietly shutting the door behind her.
There—she’d done it. To some, it might not seem monumental to stand up to a boss, but for a woman who’d always deferred to men in her life, it was a bold move. She felt like victory-punching the air.
Natalie and Allison stared at her.
She threw them both a grin and walked back over and unlocked the door with a punch code to get behind the counter again. She smiled to herself. When she’d turned down Jason, his expression had been one of complete shock. The man really was full of himself, wasn’t he?
“What was that about?” Natalie asked.
“A work matter. Do you want to take your break first today?” she asked Natalie.
She nodded, still looking at her like she’d grown a second head.
After that, Esme waited on a few customers, and she was still beaming on the inside. She’d taken control not only of her own future but with any luck, her talk with Jason would help Zayden.
She owed him, and for more than saving her from freezing to death on the mountain. He had given her confidence and conviction in herself. Because of Zayden, she saw her own worth now.
First and foremost, she was investing in herself by finishing her schooling. She could do anything she wanted.
All afternoon, she wanted to call Zayden and tell him what had taken place, but she held back. After getting in her car for the ride home, she stared toward the road. She’d never been to the Moon Ranch, but it couldn’t be difficult to find. Would Zayden be upset if she just showed up?
The old Esme would call him and ask first. But the new Esme took charge, put the car into gear and headed toward the Moon Ranch.
Stokes, Colorado was a beautiful little town and a tourist trap. But the real draw was the mountains. She hadn’t done any winter activities since being stuck on the mountain, but she felt the pull of the rugged world on her senses. The fields and pastures, the jagged peaks of the mountains in the background and the gray winter sky all gave her a feeling of belonging in a way the town never could.
She wished she wasn’t wearing a skirt right now, because she’d like nothing more than to slip on an old pair of jeans and boots and take a walk in the open air.
When she reached the road leading to the ranch, she applied the brakes and just sat a moment staring at the sign. Over a rustic arch of wood, it said MOON RANCH. Her heart gave a small thump as she realized Zayden was a short distance from her, and this all belonged to him.
She needed to enter his world, to see the problems he was dealing with up close. If they entered a relationship, she had to see the way he lived too. He kept himself closed up—he held back everything. Well, she planned to crack him open, even just a little bit, and then just maybe he’d let her in.
Hopefully coming here this evening showed him how serious she was about him.
The drive curved around the land and ended before a ranch house. The porch needed work and the outbuildings too. The house itself could use a fresh coat of paint and in time a new roof…
No wonder Zayden appeared so overwhelmed. If he didn’t have money for the ranch, he had to be stressed.
When she got out and walked up to the house, nobody seemed to be around. She thought of his mother figure, Mimi. Was she inside?
She knocked on the door and waited. A second later, an older woman with stark white hair opened the door.
She looked Esme over, taking in the red coat she wore over her business attire and down to her sensible boots she changed into after work.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Um…” She wrapped the coat more tightly around herself as a gust of wind struck her. “I’m a friend of Zayden’s.”
Her eyes zeroed in on her. She was being sized up. Esme waited for the assessment to pass and smiled at Mimi.
She cocked her head like a little bird. “You’re the woman he’s been seeing and spent the night with.”
A flush hit her cheeks. “Yes.”
“Come inside out of the wind. He’s out on the ranch somewhere with his brother.”
Esme blinked. She knew Zayden had brothers, but none that were around right now. It shouldn’t bother her that she didn’t know very much about him, but it did, and that was because she wanted more with Zayden. She wanted him to let her into his life.
Mimi offered to take her coat, and she slipped off her snow-covered boots out of respect for the clean but worn floors.
“Come into the kitchen. Do you drink tea or coffee?”
“Either is fine, thank you.” She followed the woman through the house. There weren’t photos like in other homes. No family history, no reminder of a love shared here. It gave her a sad pang.
The kitchen was much homier, with a pot of soup simmering on the stove and a crisp stack of white dishtowels on the counter. Mimi offered her a smile. “Have a seat while I get the kettle on. What did you say your name is?”
“Esme.”
“Pretty name.” The woman turned into profile, and right away Esme picked up the woman had some Native American blood coursing through her veins. That proud, strong profile and the white hair harkened to some other world, and Esme felt herself sinking under the spell of being in this woman’s presence.
As she looked around, the ranch grew more charming. Though Zayden and his brothers had lived a hard life here and would probably beg to differ, Esme saw nothing but potential.
The woman smiled at Esme for the first time. “My boys call me Mimi.”
She nodded. “I heard.”
Her brows shot up. “Zayden spoke of me?”
“A little, yes. But Zayden doesn’t say much at all, does he?”
Esme’s heart warmed a bit. Did she know Zayden? In some regards, yes. She knew he was strong and determined. He didn’t have a problem with telling people like it was. But when in bed with the cowboy, she sensed a tenderness that she hadn’t known with other men, men who professed to love her.
“Tell me about yourself. What do you do? Do you live in town?” Mimi got out a plastic box and pulled a couple muffins from the depths. She set these on a plate and then placed them on the table in front of Esme.
“These look delicious. You made them?” The crumb topping and fat blueberries enticed her more than any bakery muffin from town that tourists spent too much for.
“Of course I did. Picked those blueberries myself back in the summer. I freeze them for the winter months. The picking was hard this year. Lots of bears wanted my berries, but I won some in the end.” She smiled, and Esme couldn’t help but return it.
“I do live in town. I work at the credit union.”
“But you aren’t originally from Stokes.”
“No.” She shook her head, thinking of the silly tale of following her ex there and getting dumped. Her past seemed like a trail of decisions made by a young and inexperienced girl, including her time with Owen. But she felt different now.
“How did you meet Zayden?”
She met the woman’s eyes. “He rescued me off the mountain about six weeks back.”
“That was you! How horrible for you. What an ordeal. These storms are nothing to play with.”
“I found that out myself. Thank goodness Zayden was there.”
“Ask Zayden and he’ll tell you he’s purely selfish, but that man will stand up to a grizzly for someone. He’s scrappy and smart, even though he never finished high school.”
A pang of sadness hit Esme. The man had missed out on untold possibilities, hadn’t he? And he never said a word about his plight, just kept fighting for what he wanted, which right now was the ranch.
“Nobody knows that mountain like Zayden, so luck was on your side that day, Esme.” Mimi smiled. Just then the kettle whistled, and she got up to fetch it off the burner. After she poured both mugs, she returned with them to the table and went after sugar and milk.
When they settled with their hot drinks, they looked to each other.
“I hope Zayden isn’t upset with me for coming here uninvited.”
Mimi waved a hand in dismissal. “He’s more bark than bite.”
A smile spread over her face at the woman’s opinion of the man she knew far better than Esme did. How much would she learn by sitting here over tea with this sweet woman?
“Help yourself to a muffin. You just got off work and must be hungry.”
After plucking one from the plate, she peeled back the paper wrapper and took a bite. The sweet and buttery flavors melded on her tongue. After swallowing, she said, “It’s even more delicious than it looks!”
Mimi beamed. “More where those came from. Better eat them before Z comes in and devours the whole container.” She chuckled.
“Z?” Delight hit her at the nickname.
“His brothers Dane and Asher called Zayden that from a young age.”
She considered the nickname and found it suited the rough cowboy.
Mimi nibbled on a muffin too, but Esme noted she kept glancing toward the window.
“I’m interrupting your day,” she said.
Mimi shook her head. “Not at all. You’ve given me a small break, and I thank you for it. I was just wondering when those two Moons would turn up. They rode out hours ago, and it’s pretty dark now.”
Esme’s stomach hollowed at the thought of Zayden getting into some trouble in this weather and at night too. It must have shown on her face, because the older woman reached over and touched the back of her hand.
“They’ll be fine now—don’t you worry. One time Zayden heard tell of a steer that got separated from the herd. The cowpokes who worked here on the ranch weren’t having any luck and next thing I knew, Zayden was missing.”
“How old was he?” She cradled her mug to get some warmth back into her fingers after the shock of worry. Too well she knew how easy it was to get into a bad situation and have no way out. She’d learned that the hard way after leaving that cabin. But Zayden had shared the story of running away to the mountain at age eleven. He was resourceful, like Mimi said.
“At only fourteen, he rode out without any of us knowing. Nobody knew where he’d gone but his brother Dane, and he confided after I gave him a stern talkin’ to. See, a bad storm loomed over us and none of them should have been out in it, but a steer means a lot of money to a rancher, and well… Zayden acted as the rancher from a very young age. He was in charge, you see.”
She was getting a clear picture in her mind, of a young boy who’d shouldered so much responsibility, who hadn’t been able to finish school because of it perhaps. And who’d grown hardened to life because of it.
She nodded so Mimi would continue.
“He was out for hours, and the cowpokes went after him, of course. But the thing about Zayden is he’s a risk-taker. He doesn’t think about himself either. He just barrels in with guns blazing, and to hell with the consequences.”
“Like he found me. He looked on the other side of the mountain.”
She nodded. “He knows more about the outdoors than most, and he deserves to be the true owner of this ranch now. Though his brothers will always share a part in it, he’s the one who will take charge.”
“Did he find the steer?”
“Yep, and he led it all the way home through the snow. He was exhausted and half-frozen, but he did the job he’d set out to do, and I was mighty proud of him.”
Esme warmed from the tale. And it made her feel closer to the man who’d jumped into her life and changed her thinking about how she should be treated by men.
“He’s a good man,” she said quietly.
“Few better.” Mimi eyed her. “Don’t let his gruff exterior put you off. Inside, he’s a softy. But he won’t show it to you easy. In fact, he’ll probably fight you tooth and nail to avoid it.”
That brought a smile to her lips. “I know…”
Memories of their argument outside the pizza joint solidified what Mimi was telling her. He cared for her but wouldn’t let her know. He held everything inside.
“It’s the way he was raised,” Mimi added as if knowing her train of thought. “There wasn’t much love for those boys, and that’s a damn shame. I did my best with them, but Zayden was thirteen before he hired me—”
“Wait—hired you?”
Mimi gave her a rueful smile. “Yes, that boy took charge of the ranch and his brothers. Knew he was over his head and went out and hired two ranch hands and came up to the rez asking for help. I came down the mountain and never looked back.”
Heart sore at what Zayden and his brothers had faced, she could look at Mimi and see what a good woman she was. Inside and out.
“They’re like my own,” Mimi said softly.
“I can see that.” She reached across the table and squeezed the woman’s hand, small and hard with work. “Thank you for telling me about this.” She opened her mouth to say more, but at that moment, a thump sounded, and both of them looked up to see the door filled with a muscled cowboy.
Hat dipped low, his gaze was barely visible as it swayed from Mimi to Esme. She squeezed her thighs together as a jolt of wanting hit at the mere sight of Zayden.
“You all right?” he grated out.
“Of course.” She got to her feet and circled the table to approach him. He carried with him the cold wind lingering on his heavy coat, and snow dusted the tops of his boots, though it looked as if he’d stomped them off before entering the house.
“I hope you don’t mind that I came here without talking to you first,” she said.
> “No.” His gaze fell on her, infusing her with warmth, but he didn’t smile. The man’s smiles were so rare, and all she wanted in life was to put more of them on his handsome face.
He looked past her to Mimi, who still sat cradling her tea. “You seen Dane?”
She blinked and then went pale. “Isn’t he out with you?”
“He came back over an hour ago. I got some trouble—a winter calf. The cows weren’t separated when they shoulda been, and now we’ll have a little one on the ground in the dead of winter.”
Mimi stood. “I didn’t hear Dane come inside, but maybe he did.”
“His truck’s gone. Mimi, will you check if his clothes are too?”
She nodded and quickly moved out of the kitchen, squeezing past Zayden and touching his arm as she went.
“Your brother?” Esme asked.
He gave a nod. “I got more to worry about right now than that dumb ass.” He looked her over, taking in her work attire, and his eyes narrowed. “How strong are you?”
Chapter Twelve
“He’s gone.” Mimi returned with tears in her eyes.
“Goddamn him.” Since he couldn’t smash his brother’s nose with his fist, Zayden clenched his jaw. “He must have come back to the house, got his things while you didn’t notice and drove out.”
Mimi nodded, and Esme moved to the woman and slipped an arm around her. Zayden watched the exchange with shock and a thumping heart. Whatever had taken place in this kitchen over cups of tea had bonded the women—and he couldn’t help but feel a flood of warmth at the knowledge.
He eyed Esme again. “I could use your help, if you’re willin’.”
She looked up into his eyes. “Anything.”
“Mimi, do you got some of those coveralls you wear in the barn for her to put on? She doesn’t want to ruin her pretty outfit helpin’ me pull a calf.”
She blinked. “Pull…” Her lips parted on an O of surprise, and then her shoulders drew back and she nodded. “I’ll do what I can to help.”
God, she was prettier than ever and standing in his kitchen. The fact that she’d come all the way up here just to see him made him wonder if she really had trouble with that dickhead boss of hers, but there’d be plenty of time for conversation during the birthing.