by Virna DePaul
Marina gave her a relieved smile. “Then, is there something I could help you with? You want to order a drink?”
“No,” Lexi said. “I guess I just wanted to ask about him.” She nodded her head toward where Eric waited for her at the bar. “Leaving with him. Safe? Not safe? Should I make an appointment to get my brain scanned instead? Woman to woman, what do you think?”
Marina looked toward Eric and didn’t even take a half a second before she answered. “Safe. Great idea. Even greater guy. You hooked yourself one of the good ones.”
And just like that, Marina was melting back behind the bar to keep working and Lexi was smiling harder than she had in a very long time.
Chapter Two
So, Eric noted as he drove up the twisty mountain road toward his ranch, yet another thing that was different in Montana. Picking up a woman. In L.A. it was all ritz and flash. Impressive, expensive liquor. Sliding her into the buttery leather seats of his Maserati. Zooming off into the glittery Hollywood night together. Ending up in his fancy glass house or in hers.
Not that he’d done that in about six years. Not since before… Nope. He wasn’t going to think about Brianne anymore tonight. Not while he had Lexi sitting shotgun in his truck, the windows rolled down and the velvety Montana sky looking so close and so far at the same time.
He watched as Lexi shifted in her seat, her fingers tapping out a rhythm on her leg. Her very pretty leg. Her very distracting leg. Eric whipped his eyes back to the road.
She was nervous, he could tell. And why wouldn’t she be? She’d just left civilization with a man she didn’t know. And now he was driving her up a mountain in the dead of night. He wanted to put her at ease.
“Best part’s coming up,” he told her and tried not to wince when she jumped at his sudden voice.
“What?”
“The best part of the drive to my ranch, it’s coming up in T minus five, four, three, two aaaaaand bam.” He fire-work-fluttered his hand as if he were presenting a magic trick as the car slid around a curve, out of a stand of trees, and the mountain fell away. Below them, a dark valley opened up and rolled for miles. The sky was suddenly five times as big as it had looked before.
“Whoa,” Lexi muttered. “I think we just stumbled into a galaxy far, far away.” She leaned forward over the dashboard to peer out the windshield toward the expansive night sky.
“I know. It’s crazy beautiful,” Eric agreed. “You ever notice how some night stars are just stars? And some nights they just…” He shrugged. “I can’t explain it.”
“No,” Lexi said, and Eric was pleased when she put one of her Chuck Taylors up on the dashboard. It meant she was more comfortable. “I think I get what you’re saying. There are some nights that you look at the stars and they remind you that they’re stars. Because, you know, duh. But then there are some nights that you look at them and they remind you that you’re standing on a planet. One tiny planet in the whole expansive universe.”
“Exactly!” He couldn’t believe that she’d understood what he was talking about so well. “And not just a tiny planet. But it also reminds you that you’re an even tinier person.” He held up his finger and thumb an inch apart.
Lexi reached up and pinched his fingers even closer together, her glittery rings flashing in the dark. “More like that.”
Eric grinned as he felt a warmth shoot from her hand to his. “See those lights down there? The two bluish ones and the orange one in between?”
Lexi sat up, looked where he was pointing. “Yeah.”
“That’s my ranch. Those are the porch lights for the homestead. And that fourth light over there, that’s where you’re going to show me your awesome demo skills.”
“You’re really tearing down a whole barn? Why?”
Eric grimaced. “Termite damage.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, but the ranch owner was honest about it, and tearing it down and rebuilding is a small price to pay given the plans I have for the land. The house is alright though. I’m already mostly moved in.”
“So you’re fixing it up to turn it into…” she prompted.
Eric turned the car down a small dirt road, the last twisting ride down the mountain until they got down onto the flatter land where his ranch was.
“A horse ranch.”
Lexi made a little noise that Eric couldn’t begin to interpret. He thought it might be half delight and half sadness. He paused, waiting for her to elaborate, but when she didn’t, he plowed right on.
“Yeah, I’ve got about fifty acres, so I could have a fair number of horses.”
“Maybe less than you think,” Lexi said, staring out into the darkness. “It depends on a lot of factors, what kind of soil you’re on, terrain, foliage.”
“You know a lot about horses?” He peered at her curiously through the dark as he steered his truck down the long, skinny driveway that split his land in half.
Lexi shrugged, sadness lancing across her face for a second before she hid it beneath a confident smirk. “I know a lot about a lot of things. Are you raising the horses for racing?”
“Could be. Not quite sure of the plan yet. Maybe once I get the hang of ranching, I’ll turn it into a B and B. Give city folks a taste of the simple life.”
Lexi squinted at him. “Pretty big financial commitment to not be sure of the plan.”
Eric pulled the truck up to the barn. He’d been pretty sure that she didn’t know who he was back at the bar. Not that he was famous or anything, but some women made a point of recognizing a billionaire’s face. If she thought this was a big monetary risk for him, then she didn’t know he was Eric Davenport, wasn’t with him for his money, and he definitely liked that.
In L.A., he was Eric Davenport, billionaire. Here in Montana, he was Eric Davenport, kid who came for the summers, got rich and fancy in California, and came back to find the good life.
Right now, to Lexi, he was just Eric.
And in a weird way, telling Lexi he was a billionaire didn’t feel right, but neither did telling her he was just an aspiring ranch owner.
Still, maybe that was his own identity issue rearing its ugly head. He was moving on, yes, but in some ways, he didn’t even recognize who he was anymore.
“Right now I’m running my grandparents’ hardware store in town while they’re on vacation,” he finally said. “So I’ve got a pretty steady income.” A version of the truth, yes, but would he tell her more? Maybe, but at this point he didn’t even know if there was a reason to. Right now, Lexi was just an attractive woman he’d met at a bar. One who had piqued his interest more than any other woman had in a long time.
Lexi nodded and jumped down from the truck like a pro. “Lucky duck. I find myself working like a dog to save up but somehow the money just seems to trickle through my fingers. Not that I’m a spend-thrift or anything, but there always seems to be that unexpected bill, you know?”
He walked with her, side by side, to the big, decrepit barn. The moonlight silvered the rotting wood, making it look almost like a pirate ship spearing out of his dark yard. Although he’d never had to struggle for money, he nonetheless understood the concept of being blindsided. Of your life taking an unexpected detour. He wondered what Lexi’s detours had been, and had just opened his mouth to ask her when she cocked her hip. Her shiny hair tumbling over one slim shoulder, she held up one finger, and her rings winked at him. “But wait a second. I thought we were out here to help me relieve a little tension, not to discuss my credit score.”
The business man inside Eric had him briefly wondering what her credit score was, but the man inside him wondered what her ass in those jeans would look like when she was swinging that mallet in the barn.
Grinning, Eric grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the barn.
“Wow, this thing is straight out of Children of the Corn,” Lexi murmured, stumbling after Eric and pulling cobwebs out of her hair.
“I know,” he grinned even wider, pulling her over to the back wall of the
barn that was already mostly torn away. They could see the dark mountain looming over the valley through the ragged hole. He walked to the corner and picked up the sledge hammer he’d been using earlier. He held it out to Lexi.
“I’m telling you. This is better than yoga.”
She raised an eyebrow, but took the hammer out of his hands. “What do you know about yoga?”
Now he was the one raising the eyebrow. “I lived in L.A. for most of my life. Trust me. I can chaturanga you under the table.”
Lexi tried not to smile. “Maybe we’ll have to test that little theory.”
“Anytime, anywhere. But first, stop stalling. Let’s do this.”
“Sounds easy,” Lexi shrugged, striding over to the wall and raising the hammer behind her head.
Eric caught her wrist in one large palm before she could swing more than an inch. “No, come on. You jump in like that, you take all the romance out of it.”
Lexi let out a surprised laugh and turned to face him. “Romance? In smashing a wall?”
“Sure,” Eric shrugged his shoulders. “There’s romance in everything. Trust me. You put a little effort into it, seduce the wall a little bit, the pay off is way higher.”
Now Lexi was really laughing. “You want me to wine and dine the wall? Yawn and slide my arm over its shoulders at the drive-in?”
He smiled too, took her by the shoulders and spun her to face the wall. The pressure of his hands was light, but constant. He stood just close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. He resisted the urge to slide his fingers over the smooth skin of her shoulders.
“Ok. Stay with me here, Lexi. That wall is not a wall. It is the physical representation of every shitty thing in your life. Every appointment you’ve been late to. Every nosy neighbor. Every flat tire.”
She cocked her head back to look at him and the movement made one of the straps of her tank top slide over his thumb. “Those are not my problems, Eric.”
“Well, either you can tell me your problems so I can really help you visualize, or you can just fill in the blanks in your own head.”
She nodded, but kept her lips pressed firmly closed and Eric found himself vaguely disappointed that she wasn’t telling him what had her so stressed out.
“Alright, I’m visualizing,” she said.
“Ok, so picture those problems playing on that wall like a movie from a projector. And when you take the hammer to that wall, those problems will shatter into the night.”
“Yeah,” she whispered and Eric knew that she’d been taken in by his words.
“Don’t just swing the hammer,” he told her. “Use every muscle in your body. Start from here.” He dropped one of his hands to her stomach, felt the warmth of her tight belly through her thin shirt. “You’re going to twist back and feel it burn in here. And then you’ll feel it here.” He slicked one hand up the sleek line of her spine, almost all the way to her hairline. “Your shoulders will be next.” Two hands lightly over her shoulders, down to her elbows. “Even your hands, tight over the handle, they’ll feel it too.” He clamped his hands over hers for just a second. “You’ll plant your feet.” He tapped the outside of each of her shoes with his own. “And then you’ll swing. All your frustration, all your stress, you’ll draw it out of you like water out of a well. And it’ll burn. Trust me. It kind of tears its way out of your muscles. But then you’ll smash the shit out of that wall. And you’ll feel a hell of a lot lighter. Freer.”
Her breaths had turned into panting gasps. And so had his own. His heart was racing, as if it were trying to jump the two-inch gap between his chest and her back.
She stepped away from him, closer to the wall, and he immediately missed the raw heat kicking off her body. He was almost hypnotized by her as she stepped forward, choking up on the mallet like a baseball player. She planted her feet, just like he’d told her, and swung for the fences.
Eric’s eyebrows lifted into his hairline. He was majorly impressed. She’d needed no test swings to get her bearings. The hammer exploded through the wall with a resounding bang. The old barn echoed with it as she prepared to swing again.
This time when the mallet connected, boards flung ten feet from the wall as an entire section of the barn shook with the force of her hit. Lexi let out a little satisfied noise that had Eric shifting his pants to get more comfortable.
She looked beautiful, was all he could think. She stood there in the blue shadows of the old barn, her arms bare and contoured with muscle. Her hair rained down her back. She had almost a coltish look, long and graceful, a body free of adornment except for the rings on her fingers. Studying her, Eric got the impression that she was a woman who was used to doing things. Putting her body to use. She had none of the delicate, refined look of the women he knew in L.A. Women whose bodies were more of a canvas for their own beauty art projects. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But there was something very appealing about this woman in her tank top and jeans, no makeup and sneakers. Something very appealing indeed about a woman who held a tool like she’d used one before.
And something painfully appealing about her ass in those jeans. Good lord. The woman had a perfect ass. Eric ruthlessly ripped his eyes away from it when she turned back to him, panting with delight and smirking when she realized what he’d been looking at.
* * *
Lexi cocked one hip out, playfully giving Eric a better view of her ass. He deserved to be rewarded for an idea as good as this one. The man was letting her destroy his barn for her own catharsis.
And it was working.
She was looser than she’d felt in years. She’d pictured her bank account on that wall. Working three jobs for the last two years and still having to kiss Maple goodbye that morning. She’d pictured her father giving up all his dreams just to give her a good life. A stable life.
That thought had Lexi turning away from Eric again. Back to the wall. She raised the sledge hammer behind her, squinted her eyes at the wall and pictured it there. Her father’s face, so handsome, so kind. She pictured him as he looked in pictures as a young man. Movie star good looks and all the hope in the world. He’d wanted to be an actor. Go to Hollywood. But her mother had gotten pregnant with her and he’d stuck around. Chosen his daughter and raised her right. Lexi swung the hammer. And she wasn’t smashing through her father’s image. She was smashing through the image of all the dreams, the ambition that he’d given up.
She’d spent years figuring out how to be thankful for it while never wanting it to happen to her.
Lexi raised the hammer again, a thin sweat starting to break out over her skin. She could hear Eric shifting behind her, his boots on the gravel. A quiet sound, but one that reminded her he was there. Not that she needed much reminding. Her body was still buzzing from each place he’d touched her. His hand on her stomach. Up her spine and over her arms. Even his shoes on either side of hers. Each touch, seemingly so innocent, had lit her up. Woken her up. Every touch had zinged along her blood so that it had all melted together into one buzzy cloud of energy.
Sexual energy zipped through her, giving her a strength she barely knew she had. Smashing the wall in front of her wasn’t going to dissipate it, she suddenly realized.
Only one thing would—touching the man behind her.
He was the kind of man you were lucky to have one night with in your life. Somebody you reminisced about screwing when you were old and rocking on a front porch. She wouldn’t usually have done anything like this, but here she was, smashing through her stress and considering jumping the bones of a man she’d just met.
But first things first. Lexi wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. She called up the last images she needed to smash through. A kaleidoscope of all the things that could keep her from her dreams. Every sticky spider web that life had to offer. Confusing, because some were as good as they were bad. Going broke was right up there with falling in love. Entanglements that could keep her here in Nowhere, USA. Illness, a broken down car, a very handso
me man…
A man like Eric.
A man she couldn’t get involved with.
At least, for more than a night.
But for tonight, could she do it?
Could Eric be her goodbye present to herself?
It wasn’t like her to turn to him and toss down the sledge hammer. It wasn’t like her, breathing hard, to stare him in the eye as she paced toward him. It wasn’t like her to peel the tank top right off her body.
And it certainly wasn’t like her to grab him by the back of his neck, hitch her legs up around his waist and drink from his mouth like it was the finest whiskey.
But she did all those things. Before the buzz could wear off. Before her head could catch up to her.
Eric’s hands immediately found her ass. His touch was strong and sure, nothing tentative. Lexi couldn’t get enough of it. His hands on her felt like anchors holding her in place. Without his touch, she felt like she might just spin right off the earth.
“The house,” Eric murmured ripping his mouth from hers.
“Too far,” she said back, raking her sensitive lips over the stubble on his chin. “Right here.”
He growled low in his throat and took her lips again, his strong tongue seeking out hers. Their flavors mixed. One strong, one delicate, and neither could get enough.
When his mouth dropped to her neck, to her collarbone, Lexi arched and let her head drop back. Seconds later he was setting her feet down on the ground and spinning her around.
Lexi shivered as he ran his hands down her arms the same way that he had when he’d been talking to her about smashing the wall. His front pressed into her back as he tangled his fingers with hers, lifted her hands and planted her palms on an old wooden beam in front of her.
He didn’t use anything to restrain her, but Lexi felt pinned in place. She could feel his hands on her body even when he wasn’t touching her. His hands worked back up her arms and over her back, tracing her spine. And then they graced over her belly. In a solid, sure movement, Eric’s hands went from her hipbones, up to cup the bottom of her breasts and back down.