by Liz Isaacson
Lily tore her eyes from the flames in the grate and nodded. “Okay.”
“I can come help you pack, if you need it.” He had a feeling he’d do almost anything for Lily, and the thought terrified him to the core.
He’d felt these same soft feelings for Deirdre too, and she’d taken his heart right from his chest and spit it out. Funny thing was, he hadn’t felt anything romantic for any of his first three clients.
So why Deirdre? And why Lily now?
“I think I can handle it,” she said. “I don’t have much.”
“No?” He thought someone like her would have a mansion stuffed to the gills with things.
“No, I just brought what I could pack in the middle of the night.”
Beau held her gaze. “How long have you been living with your grandparents?”
“Just over a year.”
“Where’s home?”
“I have a house in California,” she said. “And one in Nashville. I haven’t been to either one of them in a while.”
Beau nodded, wishing he could fix everything for Lily overnight. But he knew better than most how long things took. Deirdre’s cases had taken up nine months of his life, and while the relationship hadn’t ended the way he’d wanted, he was grateful he’d been able to help her.
And he’d be grateful for the opportunity to help Lily too.
“Okay, so you’ll be back in the morning. Did you like the room you were in last night? I think we should move you farther from the stairs. Or there’s the basement too.” He hadn’t explained all the logistics of the lodge to her yet, and Beau felt a pounding headache coming on.
Lily still hadn’t said anything about her room when he blurted, “Lunch. Maybe we could talk about all of this over lunch.”
“I could eat lunch.”
“Great.” Beau practically shot to his feet and retrieved his keys from a hook near the garage door. “We’ll take my truck.” He went into the garage and she followed, whistling when she saw his vehicle.
“Wow, this is nice. This is yours?”
Beau had bought the behemoth for his birthday, a couple of months ago, only a week after Deirdre had left. “Yep,” he said.
“You must be one of those lawyers who’s won a couple of big cases.”
Beau clicked open the locks and tapped the garage door opener. Wind and rain fought to get into the space, and he hurried around the front to open her door for her. As she squeezed by him in the small space, he said, “Nope. My dad founded the largest energy company in Wyoming. I inherited a lot of my money from him when he died.”
Lily looked at him. “How much money?”
He smiled at her. “Ah, now isn’t that like asking a woman how old she is?”
“You did ask how old I am.” She settled into her seat and reached for her seatbelt.
“Only for legal purposes.” He closed her door and chuckled to himself as he went back around the front of the vehicle to get behind the wheel. “Besides,” he said as if they hadn’t had a small break in their conversation. “You surely have plenty of money too.”
“I suppose.” She focused her attention out the passenger window, and Beau mourned the loss of their quick back and forth.
“My dad made all four of us brothers billionaires,” Beau said, keeping his eye on the back-up camera in the dashboard. He finally looked at her and found wonder in her face. “It’s what allowed me to close my practice and do what I do now.”
And oh, how he loved what he did now. He felt like he had a real purpose in life instead of just trying to pay bills and practice the law he loved.
“So we can be billionaire besties,” she said.
He laughed, swung the truck around so it was facing the road and said, “Oh, I don’t think so. You just signed a bunch of paperwork that makes me your cowboy billionaire bodyguard.”
Eight
Cowboy billionaire bodyguard.
Lily had no idea what to do with those words. But she sure did like that he was hers. He chattered about the species of trees in the forest as they went down the canyon, then asked her if she felt like more of a bar atmosphere or more of a steakhouse vibe.
“Steakhouse,” she said, not wanting to experience the Saturday lunch crowd in the only bar and grill in Coral Canyon. The steakhouse would be quieter, and she could get a booth in the corner and face away from the door.
Not that anyone here would recognize her.
They might, she thought. After all, his housekeeper had.
They sat down—yes, she positioned herself so her back was to the door—and ordered drinks before Beau said, “So Whiskey Mountain Lodge is a real, operational lodge.”
Alarm yanked through Lily. “What does that mean?”
“It means we have an on-site manager who deals with the guests.”
“Guests?” Lily couldn’t believe she didn’t know this already. And all the paperwork had been signed.
“They won’t bother you,” he said.
She leaned over the table, feeling fire practically spouting from her eyes. “I don’t want anyone to recognize me, Beau.”
“And they won’t. They won’t even know you’re there.”
Settling against the back of the booth, she folded her arms. “How do you know that?”
“They come and go all the time. No one spends much time at the lodge. There’s nothing to do there. They stay when they go skiing, or they go horseback riding, or they drive down to the Tetons or up to Yellowstone.”
She couldn’t believe how casual he was being about this. “Where do they stay?”
“On the second floor. Sometimes we have movie night in the basement.”
“Then I can’t stay on the second floor or in the basement.”
Beau looked up at the waitress as their drinks arrived. He grinned at her like they were old pals, and for all Lily knew, they were.
After they’d ordered their food, and she’d left, Lily said, “Is there anywhere else to stay at the lodge?” Desperation clawed its way up her throat. “My ex is very resourceful. I don’t trust a guest not to see me and say something. You know, seven degrees of separation and all that. It could get back to him easily.”
“Well, there’s another bedroom in the family section,” he said. “I live in the master bedroom. And Bree—she’s our on-site manager—lives down that hall too. There’s the office, where we signed all the papers, and around the corner, there’s another bedroom.”
“Away from the public.”
“Yes, ma’am.” So maybe he’d grasped the seriousness of this situation.
“I don’t like that there’s an on-site manager either,” she said, just so he would know. “I really can’t risk Kent finding me.” She hadn’t said his name out loud for so long, and it felt strange and slightly acidic against her tongue. To get rid of the unpleasant taste, she lifted her soda to her mouth and drank greedily.
“Bree is aware of the discreet nature of my job,” Beau said, with a bit of bite in his tone. “She’s signed non-disclosure papers as well.”
That fact made Lily feel slightly better. “I’ll need the bedroom away from the public,” she said. “I value my privacy above almost anything else.”
“I understand.”
She didn’t think he did, but she let the subject drop.
She needed somewhere safe to stay
Somewhere to let her heart ache
And heal
And become hers again.
Lily swiped to open her phone and quickly typed in the lyrics swimming through her head, especially liking the bit about how her heart could become hers again. Her life could become hers again, if Beau could win these cases. She hadn’t realized how much she’d been giving up when she’d said “I do.”
“What are you doing there?” Beau asked, and Lily almost slammed the phone face-down on the table.
“Nothing.”
Beau didn’t believe her if his dubious expression said anything about how he was feeling. “All right
. But you know no one can know where you’re staying.”
“I know,” she said. “No one does. Even my sisters don’t know where I’ve been this past year.”
“Really?” Beau took another drink of his lemonade. “Tell me about your sisters.”
The very idea of opening up to him had her stomach in knots, but she also realized that he was the safest person to talk to. And she really wanted to talk to him. Maybe share part of herself with another human and see how it turned out.
“First,” she said. “I need to know if there are any more surprises.”
“Surprises?”
“You know, secret entrances to the house. Pets I don’t know about. That kind of thing.”
“Well, I do have a Rottweiler.”
Lily sucked in a breath. Rottweiler’s were big dogs. “Oh?” she said, her voice on the squeaky side of normal. “Boy or girl?”
“Girl. Her name is Daisy. My brother took her the night you came so his daughter could draw the dog for art class.”
“Daisy,” Lily repeated, wondering if everything about Beau’s life would fit with hers. “My sister’s names are Violet and Rose.”
Beau made the floral connection immediately, as evidenced by the smile on his face. “Lily, Violet, and Rose. Seems about right.”
“Rose is the youngest,” she said. “She does all the arranging of our songs, as well as a large part of the instrumentals.”
“What kind of instrumentals?”
Lily leaned back as her salad arrived. “You really don’t know?”
“How would I know?” He shook pepper over his soup without even tasting it first.
“Well, I guess I assumed you’d look me up on the Internet.”
“Ah, yes.” Beau smiled and stirred crackers into his soup next. “Yeah, I don’t do that.” He met her eye and scooped up a bite of soup. “I prefer learning about a person right from their own mouth.”
Lily watched him slide his lips around his spoon, and she’d never been jealous of an inanimate object before. Her whole body heated, and she focused on the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers in front of her.
He hadn’t looked her up.
He had plenty of his own money.
He was devastatingly gorgeous.
He came across as concerned and kind. Good. He was good.
Oh, yeah. She was in some serious trouble with this cowboy billionaire. And as their dinner progressed and she told him about her parents overseas and how Rose designed the album covers and played tambourine, Lily realized she wanted to be in trouble with this man.
And that was a feeling she hadn’t had in a very, very long time.
It took Lily forty-five minutes to pack and load her three suitcases into the back of her car. Then all she had to do was say goodbye to her grandparents. She faced their house and tucked her hands in her pockets. This living arrangement hadn’t been easy for them either. But they’d welcomed her with open arms and quick smiles and more hugs than Lily knew she’d needed.
But she had needed them. Every day, she’d needed them.
She climbed the steps and went back in through the front door. “I think that’s it.”
Gramma set her cross stitch aside and stood up, an anxious look on her face. “You’re ready to go?”
Lily nodded, her eyes already filling with tears. She started reciting some of the Everett Sisters’ most popular lyrics, even going so far as to spell them out in her mind so she could focus on something besides the emotions of this moment.
She let herself melt into her grandma’s embrace and then she straightened. “I’m ready. I have to do something.” She’d told her grandpa about the black town car and the call to the Sheriff’s office. He said he’d watch out for anything and let the authorities know.
“I’ll let you know my new number,” she said. “Okay?” She stepped over to Pops and hugged him too. “Not for a week or so, okay?”
“Stay safe, Princess,” he said, his voice warm and loving. “We’ll be fine here.” He nodded at her, and she gave Gramma one more hug before walking out of the house.
She wanted to crush her phone in her bare hand and drive out of Jackson Hole without a single attachment to it.
But she’d always be attached to this place, to her grandparents. And she wasn’t stupid, which meant she wouldn’t make an hour-long drive with a threatening sky above her without a cell phone. She could destroy the device in Coral Canyon and get a new one at the small electronics store in town before heading up the canyon to the lodge.
Lily had done some hard things in her life before, but getting behind the wheel of her car and driving away from the two people who had supported her the most this past year was one of the hardest.
By the time she reached the town where she’d be making her new home, she’d cried all the tears she had and shored up her store of bravery. Beau had assured her that there were no guests in the lodge for another week, and that Bree would be back on Tuesday. Until then, it was just him and her—oh, and all the horses. And a Rottweiler.
Lily needed some time to learn her way around the lodge, so she was glad she’d have a couple of days before anyone else showed up.
She pulled into the parking lot, which housed the strip of stores where the electronics shop was. Not a single car was parked there, and her hopes of getting a new phone on a Sunday in Coral Canyon vanished.
She pulled into a spot and put her car in park, feeling adrift though she had a destination. In the end, she couldn’t camp out in her car until the cell phone store opened, so she continued on up to the lodge.
This time, Beau stepped onto the front porch before she could even get out of the car. “Hey,” he said. “Do you go to church?”
Whatever Lily had been expecting him to ask, it wasn’t that. She looked down at her black leggings and oversized sweatshirt. “Uh, not today, no.”
He finished tying the tie around his neck. “My brother is coming to pick me up, but I won’t go.”
“You can go.” Lily liked the idea of him sitting in a pew, praying.
“Nah.” He loosened the tie again and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Call Graham,” he said, and the phone responded with, “Calling. Graham.”
“Beau,” Lily said, but he shook his head.
“Church is boring anyway.” He flashed her a smile and said, “Graham, hey. I don’t need a ride. Lily showed up and we’re just going to stay at the lodge today.”
He hung up a moment later, and Lily crossed her arms across her chest. “You didn’t need to change your plans.”
“It’s fine.” He walked toward the trunk. “You wanna pop this? I’ll get you moved in.”
Lily didn’t want him to see that she’d reduced her life to three suitcases, but she didn’t really have a choice. He was going to learn everything about her, whether she liked it or not.
So she popped the trunk and let him take in the two biggest bags. He led the way down the hall, past the kitchen, and toward the office. He rounded the corner and nodded to the first door on the right.
“That’s me.” He paused and turned to his left. “And that’s you.”
Lily looked back and forth between the two doors. There were maybe five feet separating them. Her heart twisted, twirled, and leaped, and Lily wondered if living at Whiskey Mountain Lodge was going to be a good thing or something that could break her heart.
He opened her door and went inside the bedroom. “Okay, so I’ll let you get settled.” He left, and Lily glanced around the room. It had a queen bed, a television, a decently sized closet, and another door that led into a bathroom. That was nice, and more than she had at her grandparents’ place.
She turned in a full circle, taking in the soft colors and the peace that seemed to emanate from the walls. She leaned against the door and sighed, wondering what she’d just gotten herself into.
A hopeful feeling lifted her spirits and she pulled the door open to find Beau and ask him if she could change real quick and they c
ould still make it to church.
He stood two feet away, as if he’d left her room and then stood in the hall, staring at the door.
“I was, uh—” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m—”
Lily stepped forward, reached up, and touched his beard. They stood there, staring at each other, as he reached up and covered her hand with his.
Sparks fired in every cell in her body, and Lily didn’t want this moment to end.
Nine
Beau had no idea what he was doing. He wanted to say something before this moment broke and he could never get it back.
He wanted to convey every feeling he had, but he couldn’t sort through them fast enough to make sense of them.
He was crazy, absolutely insane, and experiencing a terrifyingly insatiable craving to kiss Lily despite the odd, thumping way his heart beat in his chest, signaling that he wasn’t quite ready to be kissing anyone.
“I just wanted—” His voice sounded like he’d swallowed frogs, and he cleared his throat. “I don’t think you should go to church,” he said. “It’s pretty much the hotbed for gossip, and if you show up there, everyone will see you, and it’s not safe. Or smart.”
Neither was standing in this small space between their bedrooms, her hand still cradling his face in such a tender way.
“Okay,” she said
Beau pulled his hand off hers and stepped back, which caused her hand to drop back to her side too. He bumped into his bedroom door, and said, “I think I’m going to go. Unless you want me to stay and give you a tour?”
“No, go ahead,” she said. Her expression and tone didn’t give anything away, and he honestly had no idea if she wanted him to stay or not. He felt like if he didn’t go, he’d say or do something he’d regret later.
“Okay.” He took a step past her, using every ounce of self-control he had not to burst into a sprint. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours then.” He didn’t look back or wait for her to acknowledge him. He almost ripped the door off the hinges in his haste to get out of the same space as Lily, and he drove a tad recklessly down the canyon for a couple of miles before he got his emotions in check.