Box of Hearts (The Connor's Series Book 1)

by Nikki Ashton

Garratt almost choked on the lemonade that he’d taken a swig of. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, unfortunately, I’m not.”

  “A sexy Chiquita like you and he prefers dick?”

  I burst out laughing at his bluntness. “Firstly, I’m half Spanish not Mexican, and secondly, I’m not sure that statement about Dean’s sexual preference is actually politically correct.”

  “I knew it,” he cried. “Those eyes, the black hair, the sexy Jennifer Lopez booty, you had to be a Latino. As for Dean, well, however you wanna dress it up, the guy is a prick!”

  I started to giggle. “That’s exactly what my brother calls him. I think you’d get along with Javi, you evidently have the same sense of humor.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Garratt mused. “So, you decided Bridge Vale was the best place to mend your heart?”

  “I don’t know about that,” I sighed, thinking about the brooding and handsome eldest Connor son. “But, at least no one here knows what happened. Well, of course you do now.”

  “Yeah but you can trust me not to tell.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ve told you something, so now you tell me something about yourself.”

  Garratt tilted his head to one side. “Let me see,” he mused. “Okay, I just got thrown out of college for running an escort agency.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. Getting thrown out of college was major, no wonder Bonnie and Ted needed privacy to talk about it. But an escort agency? That was practically being a pimp!

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep,” Garratt replied solemnly.

  “You really pimped out women?” I asked in total shock.

  “Ah, you see, Millie, that’s exactly the same mistake the college and my dad made. No, I did not pimp out women.”

  “Well, what other sort of escort agency is there?”

  “The sort where the popular girls in college can earn more in one night than they can waiting tables in an on-campus diner. And, I should stress, without having sex. Sex is totally not allowed. If they liked a guy and wanted to sleep with him, then it was when they were off duty.”

  “How on earth can you stop that happening?” I pulled my legs up and turned in my seat, totally engrossed.

  “Because they escort the guys to functions, frat parties, football games, that sort of thing. Places where the guy just wants to be seen with a cute, popular girl. The guys who needed my services were usually the ones who struggled to get dates, so sex wasn’t generally on the agenda anyway.”

  “Just because you’re shy, or not good looking, doesn’t mean you don’t want sex,” I scoffed. “And I’ve read about your frat parties, don’t tell me that there isn’t opportunity for sex there.”

  “Yep there is, but each girl has one of my guys watching over her, so first sign that they’re gonna disappear somewhere alone, my guy steps in. Besides, the guys that pay for the dates don’t tend to know what a vagina looks like, unless it’s tattooed with computer code.”

  “Blimey, you really had it worked out, didn’t you?”

  Garratt started to laugh. “Say that again. Blimey,” he repeated with a passable English accent.

  “Not bad, a little iffy but we’ll make a Brit out of you yet.”

  “I am a man of many talents; businessman being the best of them. Plus, I know someone from England.” Garratt looked into the distance, a shadow passing over his boyish handsome features.

  “How were you found out?” I asked.

  “Ah well, that would be my so called best friend, Tyler. Let’s just say we fell for the same girl and when she chose me, well, Tyler wasn’t happy. He reported me to the Dean and the rest, as they say, is history.” Garratt chewed on his bottom lip and rubbed at his temple.

  I could see that he was hurting and wanted to give him a comforting hug, but didn’t know how he’d react. We hadn’t known each other long, despite the details that we had both imparted.

  “What about the girl?” I asked quietly. “Is she still yours?”

  Garratt shrugged. “Don’t know. She’s an overseas student, from England, like you. The day before I was called into the Dean she got a call to say her sister was sick so she had to fly home. I tried calling her cell, but she’s not answering, so I sent a text and an email explaining everything.”

  “You like her a lot,” I surmised.

  Garratt smiled, a soft one full of memories. “Yep, she’s really cool. But, we’ve only been together for a month, so I can’t really expect her to wanna do the long distance thing.”

  “The city is only four hours away, that’s nothing for you American’s,” I said with humor.

  Garratt gave me a stunning smile and poked me in the shoulder. “I’m gonna like having you around, Millie. It’ll be like having a hot, big sister. I can see all my friends are gonna wanna visit, a lot, when they find out I’m back and that you live here.”

  “Big sister, hey?” I grinned and poked him back. “I think I like that. So in the last couple of days, I’ve gained another baby brother and a new best friend in Addy.”

  “Sounds like a perfect deal to me, sis.”

  We both laughed and took sips of our drink, enjoying the summer breeze that had lifted.

  “What happens now?” I asked after a few minutes. “I mean, do you apply for another college, or will you work here, with Jesse?”

  Garratt shrugged. “Not sure. I didn’t really enjoy school anyway. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I finished, so I’m no worse off. But you’ve met Jesse, right?” I nodded. “Well, you’ll guess that working with him probably isn’t gonna be the easiest job in the world.”

  “But you won’t have a degree, surely that will hinder your future.”

  Garratt shrugged as he took a swig of his lemonade. “I’m a genius with numbers, it’s where Addy gets it from. I’ll find something.”

  He appeared to be so nonchalant and confident that I had to agree he probably would find something.

  As we sat in silence, Jesse suddenly appeared from around the side of the house. He pulled off his gloves and, pushing his Stetson back, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked so damn good I felt a shiver run through me and stop firmly between my legs. I quickly pushed my thighs together and took a huge swallow.

  “Hey, big brother,” Garratt called, jumping up from the swing. “How you doing?”

  “Garratt.” A small smile flashed over Jesse’s face as he strode towards us. “When did you get back?”

  Jesse’s gaze moved to me and then back to Garratt, and a look of confusion furrowed his brow.

  “We were just getting to know each other,” I explained. “Addy’s taking a nap, but she’s probably due to wake up if you want to go up and see her.”

  Jesse turned to look out to the horizon before staring at the floor, with his hands fisted on his hips. “Leave her be. I’ll call in before bedtime.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Garratt beat me to it.

  “Still like that, is it?”

  “Garratt!” Jesse warned. “I’ve told you before, this has nothing to do with you.”

  “But it does; she’s my niece.”

  “And she’s my daughter, and I’ll raise her how I see fit.”

  “That’s the thing though, Jess. It’s everybody else that’s raising her, not you.”

  Jesse removed his hat and pointed it at Garratt. “Addy is perfectly fine with how we do things around here, so drop it, once and for all.”

  “Whatever,” Garratt grumbled. “But you’re the one missing out, not us.”

  With that, he swivelled around and stormed into the house, slamming the door behind him. I sat perfectly still, watching Jesse as he looked up to the sky and cursed under his breath. Part of me wanted to tell him that Garratt was right, he was missing out, but I got the feeling that he already knew that and he was struggling with his actions, but had no idea what else to do. I just didn’t understand why he would be like that; why couldn’t he simply give his daug
hter the time that she deserved?

  “You got something to add?” he asked. “I mean you’ve been here the sum total of twenty-four hours so you must have an opinion.”

  I shook my head. “No, not really. I just think Addy is a beautiful little girl who loves her daddy.”

  Jesse took a step forward and then stopped. “Ah, fuck this,” he muttered and disappeared in the direction that he’d come from.

  I stayed on the porch for a few more minutes, just in case Jesse came back, but he didn’t, so I finished off my lemonade before going in to wake Addy.

  Jesse

  “Fucking Garratt,” I muttered as I stormed back to the bunk house. “Sticking his damn nose into my business.”

  “Woah, steady on there, Jess.”

  Brandon Reed, my best friend, caught hold of my shoulders just in time to stop me from barreling into him. He helped out on the ranch during calving and the rest of the time helped his parents run their guest ranch, ten miles down the road.

  “What’s bitten your ass?”

  “Nothing,” I snapped and moved to walk around him.

  “Jess, I’ve known you for over twenty years, so I know when something is troubling you.”

  “Garratt is home,” I replied, hoping that would quieten his questions.

  “Why?”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. With all the talk of Addy, I hadn’t even asked my little brother why he was back on the ranch. A few days ago, I’d heard Dad mention something about him being in trouble with the Dean of his college, but that was all I took in.

  “Some trouble at college,” I replied evasively. “What happened to that calf?”

  Brandon shook his head. “Didn’t make it.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “Let’s get back out there.”

  “Why don’t you stay here, go have dinner with your family? You’ve been out there for fourteen hours straight. I don’t know,” he said with a grin. “Maybe spend some time getting to know Addy’s new nanny. I saw her this morning and she’s hot man. That ass is something else.”

  My eyes narrowed on Brandon. “Just get Drake to saddle me up a fresh horse, Brandon.”

  I stormed off, not wanting to hear any more thoughts that Brandon had on Millie fucking Braithwaite.

  Millie

  I had only been at the ranch for four days and could already see why Bonnie needed help with Addy. Normal play just wasn’t stimulating enough for her, well not for long anyway. After a few hours, she would start to get bored and, as Bonnie said on my first day, get mischievous. Only yesterday I found her drawing on the wall in the office, at the back of the house. It was where Ted did all the paperwork for the ranch. He couldn’t ride for any great length of time any more, due to a problem with his knee, so he ran the business side of things while Jesse ran the practical side.

  The scolding that Addy had received for writing on the wall obviously didn’t worry her, because I was now watching her fill Garratt’s trainers with soil from the garden at the back of the house.

  “Addy,” I scolded. “Why are you doing that to Uncle Garratt’s trainers?”

  Addy looked at me perplexed as though I was talking in a foreign language. She’d better not try the old ‘my invisible friend did it’ trick. As a nursery school teacher, I’d had to deal with that one a lot; it was old news.

  “Addy,” I pressed. “I asked you a question.”

  “But I didn’t understand,” Addy replied.

  “Okay. Why are you putting soil into Uncle Garratt’s trainers?”

  She screwed up her tiny little nose and shook her head. “What are trainers?”

  “Trainers? You don’t know what trainers are?” I picked one up, emptying the dirt back into the flower border. “This is a trainer.”

  “You mean a sneaker?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the way her brow wrinkled and her tone insinuated that I was pretty much the dumbest person she’d ever spoken to.

  “Yes, Addy,” I replied biting back a laugh. “I’m sorry, I mean a sneaker.”

  “Oh, why didn’t you say that?” She stood up and dusted her hands down against each other. “He put a toy spider in my bed and made me squeal. He knows I don’t like spiders. I’m the same as Daddy, he hates spiders.” Her little face looked grave as she shook her head in evident disgust of Garratt.

  So big, bad, Jesse Connor hates spiders, was my first thought, then I remembered that Addy was in trouble.

  “Well that isn’t very nice, I admit, but it’s also not very nice to put dirt in his trai…sneakers. You don’t have to do something bad back if someone upsets you. You just tell them that they made you sad.”

  “Grandpa always says ‘an eye for an eye’.”

  I gasped that she even understood what that meant. Then her next sentence explained where she’d gained that knowledge.

  “Uncle Garratt says that means if someone hits you then you kick them back in the shins. Harder.” She grinned at me and stretched out her hand. “I don’t want to kick Uncle Garratt, so can I have his sneaker back please?”

  Part of me wanted to give Garratt’s shoe back to her, payback for teaching her things he shouldn’t, but I’d been employed to care for her and teach her things, and not just those of an academic nature.

  “No, Addy, you shouldn’t be doing that, so empty the dirt out and we will take them back inside and let Uncle Garratt know what you did, and why you did it. Okay?”

  She looked at me as though she was going to argue, but then she sighed and emptied out the soil. Addy handed me the shoe and stalked off to the house.

  “You’re no fun,” she muttered as she stomped up the back steps to the house and then slammed the door behind her.

  “You’re good with her,” a deep voice said behind me.

  I turned around to see a tall, broad man with dark brown hair and eyes that looked like pools of melted chocolate. He was watching me with a smile that showed perfect, white teeth. What the hell did they put in the water around here? This man was like a model. He didn’t make my nerve endings jangle as Jesse did, but he was still extremely easy on the eye.

  “Brandon Reed,” he announced, offering his hand. “Jesse’s best buddy and part-time dogs body this time of year.”

  “Hi, Brandon, I’m Millie. I’m Addy’s new nanny.”

  We shook hands and Brandon held on to mine for a little longer than was necessary. As he pulled away, his fingers trailed slowly along mine.

  “Yep, I know who you are. I’ve wanted to come introduce myself for a couple of days, but we’re calving so…” His words petered off as his gaze drifted over my shoulder. “Garratt.”

  “Brandon.”

  The two men stared at each other in silence, and I half expected one of them to pull out a pistol and shoot the other at any moment. I looked from one to the other and the iciness of both their stares was positively arctic.

  “Well, I’d better go and find Addy,” I said. “Nice to meet you, Brandon.”

  Brandon’s face fell into an immediate smile and his eyes turned back to me. “You too, Millie. Maybe you’ll let me take you to Rowdy’s one night. Show you how we enjoy ourselves in Bridge Vale.”

  “I can take her,” Garratt said, his tone hard.

  Brandon laughed. “No offense Garr, but I think everyone around here knows you’re under age and that fake ID you use in the city won’t cut it here.”

  “Don’t have to drink, and I think you’ll find I’ll be legal this time next week.”

  “Oh yeah,” Brandon scoffed. “I forgot that you were finally becoming a man soon. How’s that growing up thing going for you then, Garr? Oh sorry, it isn’t, you’ve been sent home from college haven’t you.”

  My eyes widened. These two really didn’t like each other that was more than obvious.

  “Maybe we can all go together,” I said gaily, trying to diffuse the situation.

  Brandon smiled at me again and shrugged. “Maybe, Millie. Well, it’s been great meeting you an
d hopefully we’ll catch up again soon.”

  “You two don’t get on,” I said to Garratt as we both watched Brandon disappear around the side of the house.

  “Nope,” Garratt replied and stalked back inside.

  I followed him in and made my way to Addy’s room, sure that’s where she would be sulking. As I reached the top of the stairs, one of the framed photographs that hung on the wall drew my eye. It was a picture of Jesse, Garratt, and Brandon and looked as though it was around four or five years ago. Brandon was standing between the two brothers, with his arms draped over their shoulders. They all looked happy and Brandon appeared to be laughing down at a grinning Garratt. I had to wonder what on earth had gone on to change them from obvious friends to two men who evidently hated each other.

  Jesse

  When I reached the yard, I hadn’t expected to see Brandon. He was supposed to be mending a fence, not talking to her. I should have known. That damn woman was gonna cause trouble, I just knew it!

  Millie

  The day after Brandon and Garratt’s stand-off, the sun was high in the sky and there was very little breeze. It was hot and humid and I was sure that I was going to melt. Addy was doing some coloring at the kitchen table while I sat opposite her, holding a wet cloth to the back of my neck.

  “Sure is hot today,” Bonnie said as she kneaded some dough. “Have to be honest though, it’s not usually this hot at this time of year. You not used to the heat, honey?”

  “No,” I sighed. “But when I am, it’s usually sitting next to a pool wearing a bikini with a nice cold drink. I’m not sure I could get away with walking around here in a bikini.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” Garratt entered the kitchen, wearing sleep shorts and a t-shirt; evidently he’d just woken up. His hair was in all directions, and he was yawning while scratching at his chest.

  I was just about to respond when Jesse appeared behind him. He huffed and pushed at Garratt’s back.

  “Move, Garratt,” he muttered.

  Bonnie looked up from her dough and looked between her sons. “Morning boys.”

  “Morning, Mommy,” Garratt joked as he bent to kiss her cheek.