by Anya Summers
And, just like that, she was in love.
“Welcome to the family, Elmo,” she murmured, as Milo cuddled against her side.
Chapter 11
Garrett finally made it in to the resort just shy of noon. After this morning’s fiasco at Cora’s, he’d needed to run off some steam before he headed in. Otherwise, he’d end up taking out his frustration on his employees. And that was something he refused to do.
So he’d headed home and gone for a run. Nothing quite put him in the zone like getting in a good six-mile run. Well, that and flogging a submissive, but since option number two wasn’t available presently, he’d take what he could get. It was something he’d learned to love in the army. Not that he hadn’t always been a physical being and active in sports growing up, because he had, but the army had made him push his body to the limits and then take it a few steps farther. There was a solitude and peace he found as his feet pounded the pavement.
Saturdays were always busy days at the resort. There were guests checking in, guests checking out, weekend warrior tourists just coming up the mountain for a spot of lunch, or during the ski season, to ride the slopes, and since they were nearing the end of May and heading toward June, they were in the height of wedding season, with a wedding reception booked every Friday and Saturday night for the foreseeable future.
Garrett stayed in the lobby, greeting guests, overseeing the set up in the ballroom for that night’s wedding reception, directing the caterers, and seeing to any problems that arose—and there always were. So much so that it was mid-afternoon before they experienced any sort of lull.
And through all of it, he considered what it was he did want from Cora. He had shifted his initial idea to temporarily claim her and was pondering a more long term arrangement. A single mother wasn’t normally interested in short-term and had more than just herself to consider. In all his years of dating, he’d avoided women with kids. Not that he didn’t like children, it was more a way to keep distance between them. He admitted, at least to himself, that his first real love relationship had colored his outlook on commitment, on love, and made him rather jaded. Plus, it didn’t help that he and his sister were the heirs to the Brooks Hotels family fortune. It was one of the reasons he’d moved here after his tour of duty finished almost a decade ago. He wanted a place where he wasn’t known and accepted because of who his family was, but was judged on his own merit.
He conducted another check on the ballroom. There was so much pink in the room it looked like the Pepto Bismol factory had exploded. But everything was set for the wedding reception tonight. With that under control, Garrett headed back to the front desk to lend a hand if need be.
Before he rounded the corner, he heard it. A laugh he’d not heard in ages. A ghost from his past. His strides slowed, but he wouldn’t be a coward. He turned the corner and drew in a breath.
Gail.
He’d not seen her in thirteen years. She’d always been attractive. It had been a major part of her appeal when he’d been eighteen. To have a woman twenty years his senior and hot as hell interested in him had gone to both of his heads. Garrett hadn’t put on muscle and height until his senior year in high school. Until then he’d been a pipsqueak, and the female population hadn’t paid him any attention, even with his family name. Then he’d filled out, grown half a foot, and finally come into his own. Gail had sniffed him out, used his gullible need for acceptance from the female population, and blown his world—at the time.
The years had been kind to her in the physical sense of the word. But he could tell she’d had plastic surgery in an effort to maintain her youth. At fifty-six she was still trim and lithe, although the boobs were new.
“Garrett Brooks, how wonderful to see you,” she purred. That was one thing Gail had always done; any time she talked to a man, she made it sound sexual. Eighteen years ago it had thrilled him. Now, not so much.
What in the everlasting fuck was she doing here at his place?
He pasted a smile on his face. “Gail, it’s lovely to see you again. And who is your companion?”
Gail’s presence had caused him to overlook the gentleman at her side at first. Garrett eyed the man. Aloof cockiness rolled off the six-foot-four athletic guy who looked like a GQ model. Only he couldn’t be more than twenty-four, tops. Then again, Gail had always had an affinity for younger men. Garrett should know—he’d been one of them.
“Frank, meet Garrett Brooks. He’s the heir to Brooks Hotels,” Gail simpered.
He shook Frank’s hand. “Pleasure. I must say it is a surprise to see you here.”
She playfully batted his arm. “Well, I just had to get away from the city. My charity work, as you may well remember, keeps me so busy. With the stress of it, I find I need time away now and again. I had lunch with your mother recently and she mentioned your place. I just had to come see for myself.”
Considering his and his mother’s relationship had been strained over the last thirteen years, in large part because of the woman before him, the news that this viper still had her fashionably manicured claws in his mom enraged him. Garrett ground his teeth. “Great. How long are you staying?”
“As long as it takes. You know, so that I can get some real relaxation in.” Gail smirked and there was a light in her gaze that gave him pause. He didn’t trust her, he realized as dread settled in his stomach.
What in the holy hell is that supposed to mean? As long as what takes? Five minutes in her presence and he needed a drink. “What?”
The superior, haughty, knowing smirk she flashed his way gave him pause. Then she said, “We should talk, privately, when you have a minute.”
“I would love to.” Do anything other than that. He’d rather be hog tied and dragged through the mud. Hell, he’d rather give the bull at the club a go than have any type of conversation with the viper.
“Why don’t you and Frank come to my office?” he offered, wanting to get to the bottom of why the hell she was here.
“Oh, it will be just you and me. Frank, darling, why don’t you make sure our luggage gets to our room and order some room service?” She trailed a hand down Frank’s chest in a rather blatantly suggestive manner. Garrett remembered all too well how she’d led him around, by his dick, for five years.
He shuddered at the memory.
Frank didn’t seem to find the move abhorrent. In fact, the younger man looked downright possessive of Gail. Garrett wanted to pull the guy aside and warn him, but he wouldn’t have listened to reason at the time and didn’t foresee anything he said helping Frank in the slightest.
“Don’t make me wait too long,” Frank said.
“I won’t, darling, and be sure to be ready for me,” she purred.
Gag me.
Garrett nearly vomited at the display. Then Gail released Frank and turned all her attention toward him. Made him wonder what prize in hell he’d won.
“Won’t you lead the way, Garrett?” she said, batting her fake eyelashes his way. If his memory served, she tended to spackle on her cosmetics.
Not touching her, he escorted her from the lobby toward his office, although he wished he could lead her right out the door and onto the nearest flight out of Jackson.
Chapter 12
Garrett was supremely thankful that Sasha was off on the weekends as they entered his suite of offices. Especially considering he planned to do something that could be construed as illegal. But he didn’t trust Gail or this surprise visit of hers, nor would he leave anything to chance. Not with the way things had ended between them and the fall-out destruction his relationship with her had caused.
Although, looking back, in some respects he could be thankful that it had all taken place. If he’d never gotten involved with her, fallen for her, only to have her cry foul in front of his mother, Garrett never would have broken away from his family and the path that had been set for his life. He never would have joined the military, never would have met Spencer, never would have moved to Jackson once his servic
e was over, and never would have started this resort.
All in all, he could thank her for being such a vicious cougar.
He opened the door to his office for her and said, “Why don’t you have a seat and I will be right in. Can I get you some coffee or tea?”
“No, this won’t take all that long,” she said.
“All right, I will be right in.” At Sasha’s desk, he hit the command on her computer that made sure he had video rolling.
Then he walked into his office, leaving the door open, and took a seat behind his desk. Gail’s bleach-blonde hair fell in styled waves around her face as she posed in her seat.
“I must admit I’m surprised to see you here,” he admitted and steepled his fingers as he leaned back in his chair.
“Did you really think you’d never see me again? Please, don’t be naïve. People in our circle tend to run together.”
Yep, like vicious pack animals ready to tear apart anyone who didn’t conform to their elitist malarkey.
“What do you want, Gail? Obviously there’s something or you wouldn’t be here. I’ve never known you to go somewhere if it wasn’t in your interest to do so.”
“Can’t I just want to see you, after all these years?”
“Like we left things on speaking terms, after you did your best to destroy my life. Why are you really here?” he snarled. While he didn’t condone violence against women, this soul-sucking viper made him reconsider his stance.
The mask fell and she sneered. “Fine. If you don’t want to play nice then I will get down to business.” She pulled out a small tablet computer, set it on his desk and said, “You’re going to pay me twenty million dollars or I’ll take this video to the police.”
“What video?” he asked, trying to remember that time in his life with her. The five years spent as her lap dog, jumping whenever she asked.
With a few taps against the screen, she brought a video up on the tablet computer and pressed play. The image was grainy but there was no mistaking that it was the two of them. Gail was bound and blindfolded, telling him to ‘stop’ and ‘no, please’. It had been a particular fantasy of hers that he had fulfilled for her on more than one occasion. At the time, he’d been so in love with her he hadn’t thought twice about doing what she’d asked him to do.
But he’d never imagined she had recorded him—them.
“What the fuck, Gail? You recorded us. And now you think to extort money out of me by claiming I raped you? If I recall, you were the one begging me to help you with your darkest fantasy and I only too happily obliged.”
“Well, you are the heir to the Brooks Hotels fortune. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a record of some things, and not just for posterity’s sake but—”
“To blackmail me with. You’re a real piece of work. If you think you’re getting a dime from me—”
“You have one week to make a transfer of twenty million into this bank account or I’ll take the tape public. What do you think it would do to Brooks Hotels’ stock market prices? What do you think it would do to your brother-in-law’s re-election chances? What do you think it would do to your dear, sweet mummy?”
“Get out,” he snarled.
Gail rose from her seat with a haughty glance in his direction. “I can see you need some time to think it over. Just keep in mind, you pay me and all this goes away.” She scooped up the tablet computer and strutted out of his office.
Garrett sat, shell-shocked. She’d recorded them. She’d been the one to introduce him to the world of BDSM. And he’d been unschooled enough that when she’d asked him to do a rape fantasy, he’d not refused her. But back then, he’d refused her very little. Could have been the fact that when she asked him, she was in the middle of sucking his dick.
And while it hadn’t gotten him hot under the collar, he’d done it for her.
Fuck, she had him right where she wanted him. As usual. He logged into his computer and ended the video recording. He’d have to take a look at it and contact Jackson. There had to be something that could be done. No way was he paying her. Once a leech figured out a way to drain you, they would keep coming back for more.
He was about to press play when the door to the offices opened and Spencer stalked inside. As if today hadn’t been hell on wheels already. What was one more fiasco?
Garrett stood and held his ground. “Spencer, fancy seeing you here today.”
Spencer’s eyes narrowed and instead of taking a seat, he rounded Garrett’s desk, grabbed his collar with his left hand and pulled his right fist back. Before he could shove him off, Spencer got in a shot. Right across his jaw.
The force of it snapped Garrett’s head back and he bellowed, “What the fuck, dude!”
Garrett finally shoved him back enough to be able to take a defensive stance.
“That’s for fucking my cousin and breaking one of the cardinal tenets of the club. You just earned yourself a thirty-day suspension for that little infraction,” Spencer glowered, pacing, his agitation and anger rolling off him in waves. That was the thing most people didn’t realize; Spencer was a fucking powder keg. He might appear controlled and upper crust in his suits and ties, but he could fight like a rabid dog on steroids when it was warranted.
“Back off. If you want to bar me from the club, fine. Perhaps you should have taken out an ad, though, and, I don’t know, warned us all that she was off limits,” Garrett said.
“Would it have made a difference if I had?”
Not even a little bit. Garrett shook his head. “No.”
Spencer folded his arms across his chest, as if he was trying to keep himself from going after him again. “And what are your intentions with Cora?”
That was what he had been trying to figure out when the ghost of his girlfriend’s past had waltzed back into his life. “You’re not her goddamn father, Spencer.”
“Close enough. We grew up together and she’s the closest thing I have to a sister. So when it comes down to it, yeah, I need to know. She’s a single mom, for fuck’s sake, she doesn’t need anyone fucking with her.”
“And you’ve known me how long? Do you really think I would do something intentionally cruel?”
Spencer said, “We have that rule in place for a reason.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking it’s for you.”
“Cora’s had a tough road the last couple of years and I don’t want her hurt. She’s a fucking single mom.”
“And I didn’t even learn that until last night.”
“Would that have made a difference? If you’d known about Milo?”
Wasn’t that just the rub? “No. There’s something there. I was planning to ask her to allow me to claim her and date her outside the club and then I found out about Milo. And might I just say, it’s not like she told me about him. I just learned that little fact last night. Give a guy a moment to adjust.”
“And now that you know about Milo?” Spencer asked.
“I feel the same. That hasn’t changed. I realize my approach has to be different and that there’s a third party to consider. But I want to see where it goes.” And Garrett realized he meant it. It might have taken a right hook to the jaw for him to figure it out, but at least he felt more resolute about the direction in which he wanted to proceed.
While Spencer was eyeballing him, a slow grin spread over his face. “Huh. Didn’t see that one coming.”
“What?”
“You falling for her,” Spencer said.
“I haven’t. It’s not like that,” Garrett denied, feeling a tidal wave of trepidation wash over him. He wasn’t falling for her, was he? Was that why he’d barely gone two minutes without thinking about her?
“Uh huh. You keep telling yourself that. I will warn you. You hurt her and they will never find your body.” Spencer was dead serious.
Garrett snorted. “Like to see you explain it to Jackson.”
“Fucker, please. He’ll help me dig your grave.” Which was likely true. For an officer of the l
aw, Jackson had a wicked sense of humor and, at times, an odd sense of justice.
“Are we good?” Garrett asked.
“For now. But I’ll be keeping a close eye on you,” Spencer said and took a seat in one of the chocolate leather chairs facing Garrett’s desk.
“Thank god. I need your help and it has nothing to do with Cora, nor does it leave this room,” he said, finally shutting his office door before he sat at his desk.
“Must be serious—”
“Gail’s here,” he cut Spencer off.
“Get the fuck out! What the hell does she want?” Spencer asked.
“To blackmail me for twenty mil.”
Spencer reached into his back pocket and withdrew his cell phone.
“Who’re you calling?”
“We need Jackson on this. Possibly the FBI too. Do you have proof that she wants to blackmail you?”
“There’s a reason I installed the security cameras in here,” he said.
“Good. Jack, hey, need you to come to Garrett’s house, pronto. I understand you have other cases, but I wouldn’t call unless it was important. Meet us at Garrett’s house in an hour. We’ll explain everything. Yes, there will be food.” Spencer hung up.
“Dude eats more than anyone I know. I’ll go grab some loaded pizzas from Teton Pizzeria. I hope like hell you have some beer in your fridge,” Spencer said, heading toward the door. “Email a copy of the video to me and all of Gail’s info, that way we’ll have it for Jack.”
“Way ahead of you there. See you at my place in an hour.”
Garrett followed shortly behind Spencer and left his office with a sense of relief. He hated that Gail had tainted what he’d worked so hard to build just with her mere presence. And as much as he wanted to head to Cora’s so that they could talk, it would have to wait.