Three Dates (Paths To Love Book 2)

by Grahame Claire

  “Why do another movie after that?”

  “So I could make sure we had enough money when hard times came around again.”

  I relaxed into the seat. This made so much more sense now. I never could quite reconcile the man I knew with his occupation.

  “I probably could quit now. My sister’s got more money than—I wanted to say sense, but that’s not true at all. She’s smarter than me and my brother put together.” He looked over at me. “If you tell Mulaney I said that, I’ll deny it to the end.”

  He turned into a long driveway. “Here we are.”

  Chapter Five

  Stone

  Six Years Earlier

  “Anybody here?” Vivian’s voice called from the front of the house.

  “About time y’all got here,” I called back. “Come on in.”

  I pushed off the arms of the deck chair and stood to greet my friends as they followed my voice out onto the deck of the rental house.

  “We had a lot farther to come than you did.” Vivian hugged my neck and pecked my cheek, the movement stilted.

  “But you started earlier than I did.” I released her and shook Daniel’s hand. “How was the flight?”

  “A better question is how was the drive from Reno,” he muttered.

  Vivian glared. He gave it right back. Uh-oh.

  A few weeks ago, we’d decided to meet up in Mammoth Lakes for Labor Day. I’d opted to drive up from L.A. They’d chosen to fly to Reno and drive down to take in some of the scenery.

  “What happened?” I asked, hoping I didn’t regret the question.

  “Vivian drove.”

  From what I’d gathered from her, Daniel prefered to be behind the wheel. Judging by his scowl, he’d just spent three hours in the back seat of a rental car.

  “And operated the radio.” She lifted her chin proudly. “They were no help.”

  “You wouldn’t let anyone else touch the controls,” he pointed out, irritated.

  “I played some stuff you like.”

  Somebody needed to referee before this got out of hand. I patted her shoulder and silently gave thanks I’d missed that adventure. “Well you can all relax. I’m picking the music this weekend.” I gestured toward the speakers where “Come Monday” by Jimmy Buffett had been on repeat since I’d arrived.

  Vivian punched me in the arm.

  “Anything is better than three hours of—” Daniel began.

  Vivian shoved her finger into his chest. “Don’t you dare say it. Madonna is awesome. It should remind you of our first date.”

  “Believe me, it does.” He wrapped his hand around her finger and lowered it.

  “There were controls for the radio in the back seat, but you chose to just sit there and complain instead…for three hours.” Her voice echoed in the otherwise peaceful afternoon.

  Daniel’s jaw ticked. “You locked them.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  Hell, this argument was going in circles. Time for a change of subject.

  “Hope it’s all right, but I brought the food for the weekend. Something I know you’re gonna like.”

  My granddaddy had shipped a brisket to me when I’d mentioned I was coming to Mammoth Lakes for the holiday. Guess I hadn’t been able to stop talking about my new friends, and my family wanted to help me keep them around.

  Neither of them looked in my direction, so maybe my attempt to defuse this situation wasn’t working so well.

  “You absolutely did.” Daniel spoke to Vivian in a lethal tone as if I hadn’t said a word. The two of them were in a stare-off for the ages.

  “What are you going to do about it?” she challenged, and I looked toward the sky for guidance.

  “I’ll show you.” He grabbed her hand and took off toward the house.

  Now that they’d moved, the vision I hadn’t been able to get off my mind for months, and the real reason I was here, appeared. Muriella stood near the back door, stick straight, a look on her face that was some combination of worry and anticipation as she watched her friends leave the room.

  My pulse kicked up. I’d met thousands of people since the movie premiered, yet hers was the face I’d wanted to see. The first time we met, my reaction had been strong. I’d felt an irrational jealousy of the kinky relationship I thought she had going on with her friends along with a totally unjustified sense of possessiveness toward her. I wasn’t that guy. But with her, it seemed I was.

  My ass should’ve booked a flight to Texas as soon as I’d found out I had Labor Day weekend off. Instead, my first thought had been of her. How I could see her again. When I’d picked up the phone to feel things out with Daniel, I’d been fully prepared to have to go to New York. When he and Vivian had jumped on the idea of coming out to California, I’d fist-pumped the air.

  This weekend I planned to find out if my reaction to Muriella was a fluke, something I’d cooked up in my head to be more than it was. And if there was more to it, maybe take this thing a step forward, see if the interest was at all mutual.

  So far, she was everything I remembered and then some. I hadn’t seen or spoken to her since July, yet a sense of familiarity pulled me toward her. She held her breath when I got close.

  “Hello, darlin’.”

  She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. “Hi.”

  “Rough ride?”

  Her gaze darted through the open sliding glass door. “Not the best,” she admitted.

  Finally, her eyes met mine. Nothing had changed since the last time I’d seen her. Except I felt her, right in my gut, even more.

  “There’s something for you in that cooler.” I motioned toward the camo green Coleman, a little piece of Texas I’d brought with me to California. “I could use something to take the edge off myself.”

  She skirted past me and lifted the lid, giving me an odd look.

  I tugged on my ball cap. “That’s the kind you like, right?”

  “Yes.” She spoke with a little bit of wonder as she lifted the champagne bottle up by the neck. “Would you open it, please?”

  I popped the cork and poured her a glass, our fingers brushing when I handed it to her. She jumped, some of the liquid splashing out. She smoothed her reaction with a soft smile and wandered over toward the deck railing. I sidled up next to her, leaning my forearms on the railing, beer dangling from my fingers.

  “I checked out the stuff to do around here. Hiking. Fishing. We shouldn’t get bored.”

  I surveyed the surroundings and took in a pull of fresh air. This place might not be my roots, but it was good to be somewhere I could be outside and not see any neighbors.

  Her gaze was locked on some faraway spot on the horizon. “It’s lovely here.”

  The breeze blew her hair back from her face, and though her expression was somber, she was still stunning.

  “I’ve missed—” ‘You’ was on the tip of my tongue, but now wasn’t the time for confessions that would make me sound crazy. “Nature.” The word I finally settled on was also the truth.

  One dark brow rose. “It hasn’t gone anywhere.”

  I chuckled. She was making me work for it, a nice change of pace after the way men and women alike had been throwing themselves at me. “No. I have.”

  L.A. was not my kinda place. New York was worse. I needed somewhere I could drive for miles without running into another car. I’d take the brown dirt of Texas any day over the concrete and steel of the city. I’d never been away from my family for this long. Even in college, I’d roomed with my brother and sister, and home was only a few hours away.

  “Did you ever wake up one day and realize your life has turned out different than you thought it would?”

  She turned her head away for a moment before she looked at me. “Yes.”

  I smoothed my startled expression. “Are you where you want to be?”

  “Of course. Why would anyone stay in a place they aren’t happy?”

  On the surface, she did seem okay. Yet I sensed something deep,
a sadness that kept her in the darkness. Whatever it was, I felt a strong urge to take it away.

  “Obligation. Stuck. No choice.”

  She flinched. “No one will ever take away my choice.”

  Tension started in my neck and spread down my arms and back. I flexed my fist ready to deck whoever had in the past. Because someone most definitely had. “Don’t worry; I won’t let them,” I said through my teeth.

  “I don’t need your protection.” She seemed to recoil from my words.

  “Not sure I can stop myself.” I sounded as bewildered as she looked, but I’d make no apologies for speaking the truth. Being there for the people I cared about was who I was at my core. For reasons that were completely unclear to me, with her, that trait was magnified by a million.

  “Where’s your entourage?” Muriella pivoted to more neutral ground, smoothing some of my agitation at the unknown.

  “Now you’re just teasing me.”

  “No, I’m not. All the big movie stars have them.” She pressed her lips together as if fighting a smile.

  I sighed with resignation about what my life had become. “Never thought it would get out of control like this.” I tugged on the brim of my baseball cap. “I had to change my number because if it isn’t agents calling, it’s the press.”

  “Isn’t success what you wanted?”

  I clamped my mouth shut. The answer to that wasn’t a simple yes or no. The more money I made, the more secure the ranch was. But I’d never been driven by the dollar and didn’t like feeling that I was now.

  “I’m not sure I wanted this,” I finally said honestly. She canted her head to the side.

  “And I don’t need an entourage. Daniel hooked me up with his shark of a lawyer, Zegas, to make sure I don’t get screwed. That’s all the protection I need. Other than that, I’m used to long days, can keep up with my own schedule. The closest thing I’m going to get to security is the gate in the neighborhood where the studio put me up. And I sure as hell don’t need an agent taking a cut of my money when I get offers every day for endorsements and new films.”

  Her mouth twisted down. “Watch your language, please.”

  If that was supposed to hack me off, it had the opposite effect. The women in my life who scolded me for cussing loved me like nobody’s business.

  An odd-shaped hope took root in me. I’d spent a few hours at best with Muriella, yet I craved more time with her in a way I never had anything else. I wanted her to want that too something desperate.

  “I tend to let it slip when I get worked up.” I tipped the brim of my hat to her. “Apologies. My mother raised me better than to do that in front of a lady.”

  Her cheeks stained a deep crimson. “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad y’all made it out here. It’s been too long.”

  She glanced away before her eyes darted back to mine. Our gazes held for a moment, a sharp current sparking between us. “It has been too long.”

  Had she missed me? “I overheard some of the crew on set talking about hiking in Mammoth. Once I checked it out, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Thought you might enjoy it too.”

  “Is Hollywood too much for you?”

  I turned my hat around backward. “I’m from a place with big, open spaces. Sometimes I just want a little feeling like home. Sounds silly for a grown man to say that, huh?”

  Her features softened. “In the end, I think that’s what we all want, but home has a different definition for everyone.”

  I shifted to face her, setting my beer on the railing and propping my elbow next to it. “Do you—” I stopped short. If I asked her if she felt whatever this was between us, where would that leave things?

  A blush crept up her neck to her cheeks, like she’d read my unfinished sentence. “I feel it,” she whispered, so soft I barely heard.

  Wow. Okay. I wasn’t alone in whatever this was. That piece of knowledge made this entire trip worthwhile, and we were just getting started.

  “Want to go for a walk after supper?” I gestured toward the house. “Give those two time to cool off a little, and we could get to know each other better.”

  She gripped the stem of her glass, uncertainty clouding her features. “I—”

  “I’ll tell you about the time my grandmama caught me eating the pie she’d made for the contest in the county fair.”

  Intrigue sparked in those dark eyes, “You didn’t.”

  “Who leaves pie sitting around and expects nobody to touch it?”

  “You have a sweet tooth,” she said like she’d gained a precious nugget of information about me.

  That hint of a smile was all the encouragement I needed. I brushed my thumb across her lips.

  She squeezed her eyes shut and backed away. Suddenly she looked afraid of me. “Please don’t do that.”

  I dropped my hand immediately. “I didn’t mean—” What had I done? Did I misread her signals that badly?

  When she opened her eyes, they were full of pain and a deep-rooted sadness I felt as if it were my own.

  “Is that brisket?” Vivian streaked across the deck and tugged on my shirtsleeve.

  I ignored the pang of disappointment in my chest. I needed to know why Muriella had slammed on the brakes. She took the interruption as an opportunity to run like hell from me into the kitchen.

  I fixed an aggravated smile on my face. “You are the nosiest thing.”

  “I’m also starving.”

  “You seem better.” Vivian had done a complete one-eighty from when she’d arrived.

  “We worked it out.” She grinned and winked at me and then followed Muriella inside.

  Daniel sauntered out, hawk eyes trained on me. I leaned back against the railing and crossed one ankle over the other, taking a swig of beer.

  “Leave it alone,” he said with a warning tone.

  “I don’t think that’s up to you,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “There are things you know nothing about.”

  “I’m listening.”

  The muscle in his jaw ticked. “If you care anything about her, you’ll let it go.”

  “I don’t see how those two things connect.” I glanced past him. Muriella and Vivian were dancing in the kitchen to Jimmy Buffett. That was a sight I wouldn’t just give up for no reason.

  “Do you want to put her at risk?”

  What kind of guy did he think I was? “I’d never do that.”

  “Then you’ll leave her be.”

  “I don’t see—”

  He looked down as if trying to decide how much he wanted to tell me. “Let’s just say that Muriella has been through a lot in her life, more than most.” He paused like he was making sure I was listening. “She doesn’t want to be touched. Not in the way you want. If you push this, it will hurt her.”

  Fury that she’d suffered sparked as I recalled brushing my thumb over her lips and how right it felt. “What if it healed her?”

  He cast his gaze toward the mountains. “She has to be the one to decide that.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with getting to know her.”

  “If it makes her uncomfortable, there is.”

  I released a long breath and let his words sink in. They didn’t completely make sense, yet somehow I understood them. Hurting her was out of the question. I’m not sure what I thought would happen this weekend between us, but things had just changed. That was okay. I was good at playing the long game, and I had a feeling that waiting for Muriella was going to be the greatest exercise in patience any man had ever endured. And the most worthwhile.

  Chapter Six

  Stone

  Muriella gave me a quizzical look as we drove past a large home to an even bigger barn. A barking golden retriever ran up to the truck as we came to a stop.

  “That’s Charles. She’s harmless,” I said.

  “She?”

  “Ms. Dorothy, the woman who owns this place, is obsessed with British royalty. Told me she named the dog before
she’d even gone to pick one out.” I hopped out of the truck and in a second was opening the passenger door. An eager Charles nudged Muriella with her nose, asking for some attention.

  Muriella dropped to a squat, rubbing the dog’s ears. “Hey there, Charles.” A pink tongue darted out and swiped Muriella before she could back away. She laughed and kissed the end of Charles’ nose. “Got you back,” she said. Charles licked her again.

  Without thinking, I wiped her wet cheek. She quickly backed away. If the way she stroked Charles more fervently was any indication of what that touch had done to her, she was as affected by it as I was.

  “She’ll let you stay here all day and do that,” I warned. Proving my point, Charles rolled over onto her back, begging Muriella to rub her tummy.

  “All right, girl named Charles. I promise I’ll come back and love on you later.” She patted her head before standing.

  “Think I can get in on that too?” I asked, pointing at my stomach.

  “She’s got puppy dog eyes, and you don’t,” she said, never one to hold back. If true snappiness meant the girl liked me, Muriella was in love.

  “We’d have never come here if I’d known I was going to lose out to a damn dog.”

  “Now will you tell me what we’re doing?” she asked as we strolled toward the massive white barn. It had a burnt red roof and one cupola on either end.

  “No way. You’ll find out in a second anyway.”

  A man dressed pretty similar to me came out the barn door. “Mr. Jacobs. Welcome back, sir.”

  “Rick, it’s Stone. Please.” We shook hands. “This is Muriella.”

  “A pleasure to meet you, Muriella. I’m Rick. We’re so glad you’re here.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you also.” She twined her fingers behind her back as he extended his hand to her. Her pleasant smile disarmed him but didn’t fool me. She wouldn’t touch men no matter how casual the contact, and I was damn near bursting from waiting to find out why, certain when I did, I wouldn’t want to know.

  “Follow me. Jezebel and Cedar are ready for you.”