Breaking Even

by Lily Bishop

  He laughed. “I know I have a lot of suits. That’s what my guests expect.”

  “But you’re not working now. I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you.”

  “Even if I’m bossy and want to fix your problems?”

  “Even if.” She stretched up to kiss him, but what she intended as a quick peck became more as he leaned in and kissed her back.

  In the back of her mind, Ben’s words floated in her subconscious. She should ask Ric straight up what Ben could have been talking about, but she didn’t want to ruin the moment.

  They cuddled for a while and watched television, but Lindsey couldn’t stop yawning. Finally, she stood up, took his hand, and led him into the bedroom.

  “Wait here,” she said, and she disappeared into the bathroom. She emerged wearing her new gown, a frothy peach fabric with lace straps. It was the sexiest gown she saw that didn’t look ridiculous on her. As she walked, the hem brushed her mid-thigh.

  “I bought you a surprise,” she said, her voice huskier than intended.

  Busy draping his pants on the chair, Ric didn’t answer. When he turned around and saw her, his eyes widened. “Beautiful.”

  “It’s hard for me to believe you’re here,” she said, closing the distance between them in a few steps. “It’s been so crazy, finishing up the semester, that I feel like my head’s going to explode.”

  “Now you can have the relaxing weekend you deserve. I am going to pamper you like you’ve never been pampered.”

  Lindsey smiled, leaning into him. His arms fell around her as if they belonged. Before, she had shied away from being touched, but now she craved his skin against hers. She slipped her hand beneath his undershirt and explored his chest. She let her fingers play in the soft smattering of hair.

  “Mmm, you feel so good. You know you make me loco, right?” He said the words in her ear, his breath tickling her neck.

  “I want you to be crazy. I want you to be so crazy that you think about me constantly.”

  “Already there.”

  He nudged her backwards toward the bed, and she let herself fall back. She pulled him down beside her with both of them sideways on the bed.

  So much for shadows. She had always been so careful before to dim the lights, but this time, everything was out in the open.

  She handed him her glasses, and everything except Ric faded away, the rest of the room a blur. He set her glasses on the nightstand and leaned back into her. He started nuzzling and kissing her neck. Shivers swept the length of her.

  This time, no sounds of banging cabinets intruded from the other room. She answered to no one but herself. While he continued to play at her neck, Lindsey ran her hands across his chest and shoulders. She loved his controlled strength.

  “I’ve decided,” she whispered.

  “You’ve decided?” he asked, lifting up so that there was space between them.

  “Yes. I want you to be the one.”

  Ric looked at her for a long moment, started to say something, and then stopped. He shifted away from her and sat up against the pillows. He took her hand and helped her shift up beside him.

  “It’s late tonight. Your body needs time to warm up, and your mind needs time to process the idea.”

  Lindsey couldn’t believe he was shutting her out again. “I don’t need to process it. I need to do it!”

  He laughed softly, his fingers rubbing her palm. “We have tomorrow, remember? Let’s just cuddle tonight. You couldn’t even stay in the same bed with me in Calliope.”

  “That didn’t mean anything. I was just restless that night.”

  “Trust me. This isn’t something that we want to rush. Come on, let’s turn off the lights.”

  Lindsey stared at him, wishing she could fathom what was behind his dark eyes. Why did his mind work the way it did? Her whole life, she had heard men would do anything to get in a girl’s pants, and this one was hesitant.

  “It’s me, isn’t it? You want somebody sexier.” She bit back the threatening tears.

  “No, querida, there isn’t anyone sexier. Trust me on that one. I want you. I just think rushing into intimacy would be a mistake.”

  “Promise?” she asked, sinking back against the pillows and the comforter up to her chin.

  “Promise.”

  The urge welled up in Lindsey to tell him that she loved him, but now she worried he would take it that the wrong way.

  “I’m going to hold you to that. Good night.”

  “Good night.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek, and then pulled her into his arms. Lindsey yawned, trying to settle her mind so she could sleep.

  She felt so needy tonight. She had spent her entire life protecting her virginity. Now tha she had decided to take that next step, Ric wanted to wait. Maybe he was right. It was late, and she was tired and overwrought. Tomorrow would be a better day.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Best Laid Plans

  The next morning, they made their trip back up to Walhalla. They passed the city and kept driving up into the hills before they turned down a gated drive.

  Lindsey gaped at the structure ahead. It wasn't a house. It was a mansion complete with Doric columns and twin wings extending deep behind the house.

  “This is your friend's house?” Lindsey asked. She had not expected a large estate set well back from the road on acreage.

  “You’ve heard of Buck Sampson?”

  Lindsey nodded, recognizing the name of one of the bigger country stars in the past decade. “This is his place. He built it as his retreat. He planned to raise reining horses, but his new wife caught the acting bug, and she wants a house in Hollywood Hills. He is talking about liquidating this place and moving on to something else.”

  “So, we’re house sitting for the weekend?”

  “More like trying it on for size.”

  Lindsey gaped at him. “You’re saying that we’re staying overnight here because the owner wants to sell it to you.”

  “Sure, why not?”

  Lindsey shook her head, laughing. “The rich sure do things differently.”

  Ric shrugged. “Maybe. I’ve met him before, so we’re not complete strangers. I wouldn’t say we’re close, but he knows me and is familiar with my business interests. Mostly this place sits empty. The stable manager lives here on the estate, and his wife cooks and cleans for the Sampsons when needed. Buck asked her to stock the refrigerator and leave dinner in the slow cooker. She won’t bother us unless we call the number listed in the kitchen.”

  Ric parked outside the garage and entered a code on the garage keypad. The door opened, and he pulled the car inside. He entered a code to get in the door that led to the house, and then another code to turn off the alarm. They entered through a huge mudroom with a big sink and space for muddy shoes and outerwear. The room looked like it had never been used, certainly not for anything muddy.

  “Now this is a mudroom,” she said.

  “Sorry I couldn’t bring you in the front door. It’s not set up with an electronic lock.”

  In the kitchen, they found a slow cooker on the counter. Lindsey peeked through the lid and saw a roast with potatoes and vegetables. A handwritten note detailed instructions to reheat the rest of the dinner, still refrigerated. Lindsey found green beans and a cobbler, and fresh rolls on the stove protected by a cloth napkin.

  “Well, it looks like she’s taken care of dinner. I’m glad we’re not vegetarians.”

  “Oh, he confirmed that in advance.”

  “You know what you’re missing, don’t you?” she asked, rubbing her hand casually along the granite counter.

  “No, what?”

  “The hard sell.” She slipped into a heavy Southern accent. “Over here, we have the breakfast nook. You can spend hours sipping coffee in the mornings, watching the horses frolic in the meadow.”

  Ric laughed and came up behind her, circling her with his arms and pulling her back against him. “Frolic, eh? The horses are frolicking?”
>
  “Yes, frolicking.” She laughed when he leaned down and kissed her neck. “So, how many bedrooms does this place have?”

  “Eight, each with a bath. Two half-baths. Ten thousand square feet heated and cooled. Media room and pool table.” He sounded like he was quoting a real estate brochure.

  “This place is ridiculously big. I’d hate to know the size of the carbon footprint.”

  He laughed. “I’m not thinking about it as a house, but as a fencing training academy for elite fencers. I want to redo the rooms with two sets of bunk beds each. They're big enough, and that would let me host whole teams from other countries. There’s enough acreage to build a training gym and still have room for the horses.”

  Lindsey looked out over the huge lawn and horse paddocks. She didn’t see a stable, but it had to be out there somewhere. A fencing academy was the last thing she had expected. “I have heard of a place like that in Austria.”

  “Yes, but it closed a few years ago when the owner retired, and nothing has risen up to take its place. I hosted a few people in Calliope, but it’s difficult for teams to get there. It would be much easier for them just to fly into Atlanta.”

  “Could you do that?”

  He shrugged. “I have the connections.”

  “But why Walhalla?”

  “Why not? Come. Let’s take a look at the rest of the house.”

  “Did we step in the pages of a magazine, or what?” Lindsey asked when they had been through both wings of the downstairs area. Each room could have been its own designer study in color. The modern window treatments showcased the mountain views, but did not preserve privacy. With more than a hundred acres, privacy must not be as big of a concern.

  “Buck told me his wife enjoyed decorating the house, but then didn’t want to live in it.”

  “I guess for some people, new is always better.”

  Downstairs sported a large, traditional library and a small sitting room off the kitchen. “It's called a keeping room,” Ric explained.

  “For keeping what?” she asked.

  “I guess keeping an eye on the kitchen? I don’t know.”

  She counted several sitting areas—a keeping room, a sunroom, a library, a den, and a parlor. The library included a chess set that stayed set up, and the formal parlor had a big globe that opened up into a bar.

  “I don’t get it. A family would use only one of these rooms. Why so many spaces?”

  “I think for a fencing academy, each sitting area could be a separate lounge for the teams. That would give the trainers and coaches space to unwind away from the players.”

  The master bedroom downstairs had its own sitting area and two walk-in closets. The bathroom was as large as Lindsey’s second bedroom. The closets were almost empty and not a single toiletry graced the bathroom counters.

  Upstairs, another sitting area gave the gallery a view of the downstairs. On each side, a hallway branched off into the wings of the house. Each side sported four large bedrooms, each with its own bath. One bedroom on each side had furniture, but the others were empty shells, paint and carpet only.

  Lindsey waved off a tour of the basement with its requisite pool table and media room. She could only take so much opulence in one day.

  After touring the house, they donned light jackets and went exploring. The driveway split when it reached the house. One path went to the garage and the other continued to the stables. When they rounded the curve, a large barn and stables came into view.

  They found the manager in the office on one end of the barn. As they closed the final distance, he emerged to greet them. He stood taller than Ric and so thin that if he turned sideways, it seemed he would disappear.

  “I’m Stan Campbell, the Equestrian Manager here at Twelve Oaks farms.”

  “I’m Ric Salzana, and this is Lindsey Todd.” The three of them shook hands. Something about the man put Lindsey at ease. She didn’t know if it was his friendly smile or the way his shoulders drooped.

  “Buck said you’d be saying at the house tonight. My wife Stella has everything ready for you inside. It’s a shame for that house to be empty so much, but she does her best to keep it fresh.”

  “Yes, it was lovely, thank you,” Lindsey said. She looked past him to the wide aisle between the two rows of stalls. “Now that is a set of stables.”

  The barn looked bigger on the inside, with five stalls down each side, and a washroom and tack room at the end.

  “This? Oh, this isn’t big. If we build the expansion like I am hoping, it will double our capacity.”

  “How many horses are you keeping now?” Ric asked.

  “We have six, but one of our brood mares has gone to another farm for a cover.”

  Lindsey raised her eyebrows in confusion. Stan leaned closer with a twinkled in his eyes. “She’s going to get hitched.”

  “Oh,” Lindsey said, blushing as if on cue.

  “Do you mind if we go for a ride?”

  “Buck said he expected that you would. What should I saddle for you?”

  Lindsey thought Ric and Stan traded knowing glances between the two of them.

  Ric turned to Lindsey. “Have you ridden before?”

  Lindsey eyed the horses waiting behind their half-open stall doors. She didn't know whether she could sit on such a tall beast. She didn’t know Ric had actually wanted to go riding. She had thought they had just gone for a walk.

  “No—I’ve never been around horses.” She had never been one of those kids who wanted a pony. Her mother couldn’t afford such a luxury.

  Ric’s hand brushed her shoulder, reassuring her with his touch. “I’ll help you. We will go slowly. I promise.”

  “If you’re sure,” Lindsey said. Ric looked so excited that she couldn’t say no and let him down.

  “I have just the horse for a beginner. Mama Lynn is one of our brood mares, and she’s gentle. I’m assuming that you have more experience?” he asked Ric.

  “I grew up on an island north of Venezuela and my family raised Criollo horses. I’ve been around them all my life.”

  “Then I’ll let you ride Tracer. He’s spirited, but he’s not mean.”

  Each stall had its own nameplate with the name of its resident horse. Ric stopped in front of the Tracer’s stall.

  “Tracer, it is good to make your acquaintance,” Ric said. “Are you ready for an adventure today?”

  To Lindsey’s surprise, the chestnut horse nickered and bobbed his head. “I think Tracer and I will get along just fine,” Ric said. “He is a fine specimen.”

  Stan pulled out a map and gave them a quick rundown of the property boundaries. “For the best view, you’ll want to ride up this way and come out at the top of the hill.”

  While Ric and Stan pored over the map, Lindsey looked for the horse named Mama Lynn. She passed several empty stalls before she found the mare in the last stall.

  As she approached the stall door, the golden horse looked up from drinking water to stare at Lindsey. After a long look, the horse shrugged and returned to her water. Lindsey couldn’t shake the feeling that she did not make a good first impression.

  After Stan saddled the horses, Ric helped Lindsey mount and adjusted her stirrups. Her hands shook when she first took the reins. When the horse waited patiently for the group to start, she relaxed.

  The trails that Stan outlined on the map led to a creek that served as the eastern property line. They followed the creek until it fed into a small pond. After the first few shaky minutes on the horse, Lindsey gained more confidence. At one point, she almost slid down one side, then over-corrected, and almost fell. Stan was true to his word, and the horse ambled along behind Ric, as calm as Lindsey could hope for.

  Usually the path was wide enough for the two horses to walk side by side, with Ric’s mount leading the way. She looked over at his strong profile and felt a rush of warmth that had nothing to do with the bright December sun.

  “So, you never explained why you left Venezuela. If you
loved your family’s island and enjoyed raising horses, why did you leave and start the resort?”

  “It's complicated. My mother never wanted me to go to school in the United States. I had intended to move back to Venezuela and find an analyst job with one of the big oil companies. Then maybe I would live on the island at least part of the year. Then, when my mother died while I was at school, I went home for the funeral, but it was too painful to stay. Everywhere I looked, I only saw my mother’s ghost. My cousin took over the family businesses, one thing led to another, and over time, he shut me out.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Lindsey said. “So if you buy this estate, you want to build a fencing academy and raise horses?”

  “Sure, why not? This place is big enough to sustain two businesses.”

  “But what about the resort?”

  “I don’t know yet. Of course, this is all speculation.”

  She smiled. “I understand.”

  When they reached a fork in the path, he led them up a slight incline. “What is this way?” she asked.

  “You’ll see,” he said.

  Lindsey didn’t know how they had lucked out with such wonderful weather, but she took it in stride. She loved the feel of the sun on her face. As soon as they stopped, she planned to take off her jacket. It had warmed up sooner than they expected. After a gray, cooler-than-average week, the weekend had turned out to be perfect.

  Ric led them down the path that wound into the copse of trees following a stream. Lindsey heard the water even before they rounded a curve in the path. When the waterfall came into view, she just stared, transfixed.

  The waterfall wasn’t big—only about twenty feet—but it made a nice sound as it hit the pond below.

  “Where does all that water come from, out here in the middle of nowhere?”

  “There’s a steep hill here. The water gathers and then drops off this rocky outcrop,” Ric explained.

  “I just love it.”

  He turned and caught her eye. Lindsey thought he was going to say something, but then he didn’t. He swung off his horse and tethered the reins to a low-hanging branch nearby.