by Virna DePaul
“You ever think you’re making this harder than it has to be?” Dylan asked quietly.
“You want to talk about making things stupid hard with girls we want to be with?” Eric challenged. “Because I’m pretty sure you wrote the damn book on that one.”
Dylan’s eyes flared for a second, first in anger and then in humor. He raised and dropped his shoulders. “Fair enough.”
“Look,” Eric said, with enough resignation in his eyes to get his friend’s eyes furrowing. “It’s not my first choice here. But it’s the one I’ve been given. Take it or leave it, she says. So, what am I going to do? Not be with her at all? Watch her be with somebody else? Nah. Pass. Hard pass.”
“I understand that, my brother.” Dylan passed a hand over his eyes. “Jesus, do I understand that.”
Eric surveyed Dylan as they came up to the front of the concessions line. “Five beers, five hotdogs with the works, five pretzels, five waters, and three large popcorns.” He turned to Dylan. “So you ever going to tell me what the hell is going on with you and Marina?”
Dylan opened his mouth. Clapped it back closed.
“It might help, dude,” Eric said, sliding money over the counter and easily accepting the cash that Dylan shoved in his hand. Just because he was a billionaire didn’t mean his friends liked it when he paid for everything. “Seriously. Talking about it makes it less confusing sometimes.”
Eric accepted the change and Dylan started loading up a tray with all the junk that Eric had ordered. “I don’t know, man.” He glanced around at the crowd as if he were trying to make sure they were alone. “Some days she’s like a little lost kitten. And some days she’s like a tiger. I never know what I’m going to get.”
Eric took the second tray and they started back through the crowd. “She’s been through a lot. I imagine that she’s had to develop a few different skill sets to get back to herself.”
“Sure,” Dylan nodded his head. “And I don’t mind her being complicated. Not one bit. Actually, it’s part of what I love about her.”
Eric’s ears perked up. He’d always known that Dylan had a soft spot for Marina. Even when they were kids. But here he was saying the “L” word.
“I just wish she’d let me be a part of it all,” Dylan continued. “The mood swings. The recovery. Her life. But she’s convinced she’s too far damaged for anybody to want to be around. She thinks she’s a burden or some shit. So I’m stuck out here. With you fools. In the fucking friend zone.”
Eric eyed Dylan’s button up shirt, his dark hair combed back off his head. “That’s an awful lot of hair gel for the friend zone, my brother.”
Dylan bit back a smile and elbowed Eric in the ribs. “Shut the fuck up. I know it’s not my usual look. And maybe I’m not completely in the friend zone. She takes me out of the bull pen every now and then.”
“Right. Sexting. Well…” Eric raised one of the beers off the tray and waited until Dylan did the same.
“Here’s to taking what we can get from women who are worth it.”
Dylan’s eyes flashed again. Half humor, half resignation.
“Here here.”
* * *
Lexi lay in her bed just before dawn. She hadn’t slept well. Maybe it had been all the junk food from the drive-in. Maybe it had been the excitement of seeing one of her favorite movies again.
She sighed. Who was she kidding?
It was because of all the residual energy from sitting side by side with Eric all night. They hadn’t touched except for their shoulders. The way friends would casually touch. But she’d wanted so much more. She’d barely restrained herself from taking more.
Lexi turned her face into the pillow and groaned. She’d wanted to hold his hand. Wanted to tilt her head onto his shoulder or slide her feet into his lap. She’d wanted to do all sorts of couple stuff.
God. What was she doing?
Her mind flashed back to a few minutes after the boys had gone to concessions. Marina had just gotten back from the bathroom, something bright and cautious shining in her eyes as she’d climbed back into the truck.
“So, Lexi,” she’d said, crossing her legs and facing her dead on. “About this whole casual hook up thing you’ve got going on with Eric…”
Lexi had been intrigued, although she was pretty sure they’d covered this subject less than an hour ago back at home. “Yeah?”
“Nothing could change your mind about that?”
“What do you mean?”
Marina had bit her lip, a little bit of her initial excitement failing and her nerves coming back. “Even if you knew something else? Maybe about what Eric wanted? It wouldn’t change how you feel?”
Lexi had squinted her eyes. “What do you mean? Are you telling me you know something?”
Marina had taken a deep breath. She seemed to be weighing something in her mind. Unsure if she should speak up or not. She was just opening her mouth again when Eric and Dylan returned from the concessions, their hands piled up with junk food and beers. Lexi meant to press Marina further, but there were too many people around. Too many distractions.
Jake came back as well. Swiped a beer off the tray and kissed Eric full on the cheek. “Thanks for dinner, big boy,” Jake had said and the laughter that overcame the group had driven the conversation from Lexi’s mind.
Until now. What had Marina been about to say? Lexi was fairly certain that she was better off not knowing.
Needing to remind herself of her goals, Lexi flipped her feet out of bed and went over to the small desk next to her. She flipped open her laptop and opened the file. It was her latest screenplay. The one she was the proudest of. She picked a page at random and read a few lines. Instantly the characters warmed her. Centered her. Reminded her who she was. This was it. This was home. As a kid who’d never stayed in the same town longer than a month or two; this, her imagination, her goals, her skills, was the only home she’d ever known. That and her dad.
The sky was just starting to lighten at the edges and she knew she’d have to get up for work in a few hours anyways. An idea wormed its way into her head. Deciding not to think too hard on it, Lexi jumped in the shower. She dried off quickly and unceremoniously, tossed the towel back on the hook and slicked away the rest of the water droplets with her hands. She pulled on her jeans and her work T-shirt, yanked her hair back in a ponytail and called it a good job.
Her laptop under one hand, she patted Tulip’s sleeping head on the way out of the house.
This was the right thing to do, Lexi told herself. She’d talked Eric’s ear off about her dreams and goals. And now she needed to show him. She knew she couldn’t completely trust herself not to fall for him. But maybe if she showed him what she was working with, then he’d double down on his own efforts to get her the hell out of here in August. She needed the reinforcements.
But that didn’t keep her stomach from flipping as she drove the windy roads through the mountains to get to Eric’s ranch. She hadn’t been there since that first night.
Three, two, one. Bam. She came around that special curve that he’d shown her before. The one that revealed the entire valley in one fell swoop. It really was breathtakingly gorgeous. The kind of beauty that you didn’t get used to. You just kept wanting to see over and over. The kind of beauty that somebody could build a life around.
That somebody like Eric could build a life around. Not her.
By the time she pulled up his driveway, the sky was a flirtatious pink, just starting to burn at the edge where the sun was waking up. And Eric was sitting on his front porch swing, cup of coffee in hand, just watching it. And grinning at her as she shoved out of her car.
“It’s gone!” she called out to him, her eyes pinned to the place where the dilapidated barn had been just a few weeks ago.
“I’m a busy man, Lexi.” He sipped his cup of coffee with a very proud, very self important look on his face.
“Well, not that I want to add to whatever is going on there,” she motion
ed to the purposefully pompous expression. “But, yeah. Jeez, Eric. You really did it. It’s like it was never even there.”
He nodded. “Yup. Kind of sad in a way. But my architect just got the plans for the new barn approved. We’re going to start rough construction next week. Then the next step will be the paddock.”
She stood at the bottom of the porch steps squinting up at him. She was proud of him. No question. It took more than hard work to get this kind of thing going. It took vision. And drive. Even though she was worried about getting too stuck on him, in a way, he was the perfect person for her to have met this summer. He was living proof that knowing what you want and working hard for it paid off.
“You got any more of that?” she asked, nodding toward his cup of coffee.
“Kitchen.”
She bounded up the steps and put the laptop in his lap. “Open it up, there’s something on there I wanted to show you.”
And then she disappeared into the house before she could watch him discover her manuscript. There was only so much a girl’s heart could take.
Lexi wandered through his house and was surprised to see that a lot had changed. Seriously. Did this man ever sleep? He was at the hardware store a few hours everyday. He’d had a complete barn demo on his hands, and somehow he’d still managed to paint the living and dining room and get some furniture in there? Nice furniture too. The kind that made you want to sink right in and put your feet up.
Lexi approved of all the changes he was making to the farmhouse. Mismatched pillows on the couch. Family pictures on the walls. Cutting boards. Apples in a bowl. It was a nice house and she was happy he was really settling in.
Even if it did kind of make her stomach drop to see how well Montana fit Eric. And how easily she could see herself here, living with him. Staying with him.
Oh well. That’s why she was only here for the summer.
She filled a cup of coffee and came back out onto the porch to the sound of Eric’s laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
He had the laptop open on his lap. “Scene two. The argument Sid is having with his mother.”
Lexi flushed. She’d laughed out loud when she’d written that scene, but she hadn’t known if anyone else would. She reached out and closed the laptop as she sat next to him on the swing. “Maybe you can read the rest later.”
“Yeah,” he took her cup of coffee from her. “Maybe you can scram so I can read the rest now.”
She laughed and snatched the coffee back. But for the life of her couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“It’s really good so far, Lexi. Thank you for showing it to me.”
She cleared her throat. “Well, I would have printed it. But I don’t have a printer. And I would have emailed it, but I don’t have your email. So, I just thought I’d bring the laptop.” She was rambling. But what else was she supposed to do when she had this annoying bumper crop of butterflies in her stomach.
“It’s exdavenport@gmail.”
“Huh?” E. Davenport. Eric Davenport. Something about the combination of the first name and surname stuck in Lexi’s mind.
“My email address. E for Eric. X for my middle name. And then my last name. Davenport.”
“Davenport,” she repeated, a little bit of snap on her tongue. “And X is your middle initial. Named for your father, no doubt.”
Eric swung his eyes around to hers. Took a deceptively casual sip of his coffee. “Yes, actually. Xander. I always hated it. Always thought it sounded like a vampire’s name or something.”
Lexi didn’t laugh. She was too busy getting tunnel vision on account of the rage-like feelings blaring through her. “Eric Xander Davenport.”
She rose from the swing with such force that Eric had to steady it with one foot. “Eric fucking Davenport?”
He winced at her tone, but held her eyes in a steady gaze. He set his coffee aside and crossed his hands in front of him calmly. Like he was in a business meeting. “I take it you’ve heard of my family then?”
She let out a long, low breath. “Yeah, Eric. I’ve heard of Xander Davenport and Davenport Enterprises. I’ve heard of his son Eric. Golden child and heir to the throne. It’s kind of hard not to hear about American royalty, Eric. Your company is only in the news every other fucking day. You’re only billionaires.”
This time he didn’t wince. His expression hardened. “I didn’t lie to you, Lexi.”
No, he hadn’t. But he hadn’t been honest about who he was either. She stood and paced down to one end of the porch and back. The sun was really rising now and it cast a ruby halo around her. “You still should have told me.”
* * *
At the anger, hurt, and yes, confusion on Lexi’s face, Eric’s defensiveness eased. Not because he necessarily believed he should have told his most closely guarded secrets to just any woman he’d slept with twice, and worked and flirted with. But because Lexi was special. And that’s why he should have told her.
“I don’t advertise my wealth, Lexi,” he tried to explain. “Especially where women are concerned.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, looking like she was going to argue with him, then her shoulders loosened and she sighed. “You’re right. I can only imagine the stuff people say to you. ‘Mr. Davenport, can I buy you a drink, I’d like to talk to you about an investment opportunity.’ ‘Mr. Davenport, you’re looking handsome tonight, can I offer myself on a silver platter for the low, low price of being your paid mistress?’”
Eric laughed at the disdainful and jealous expression that washed over her in that moment. “Something like that. But here it’s more like, ‘Eric, you need a ride tonight or will you meet us there?’ ‘Eric, come shoot some pool’ ‘Eric, you need a hand with that lumber delivery?’” He rose, and cupped her chin. “And then I meet this beautiful woman. Tough and nervous at the same time. And she came home with me. God only knows why. And all I wanted was to spend time with her. And she just waited for the rug to get pulled out. Any excuse to get the hell away from me. Even so, she treated me just like my closest friends. Like all the people who don’t want anything more from me than my company. And I didn’t have the heart to tell her the rest.”
He took a step back from her and landed back on the porch swing. He snatched his coffee back up, took a huge swig and eyed her over the rim. “I’m sorry for deceiving you. It just felt so good to be liked for being me, and not for my money.”
Lexi stared at him, then she came and sat down next to him. “Well, if you’d have told me, you’d have discovered that I would have liked you in spite of your money. Not because of it.”
“It really doesn’t change how you view me?”
“Of course it does!” She grabbed her coffee back up and took a huge slug of it. “You’re a billionaire. If anything, it’s just extremely uncommon, Eric. Randomly picking up a billionaire in a shitty bar in a one horse town is the equivalent of buying a ten cent goldfish at a pet store and finding out its a mermaid.”
Eric threw his head back and laughed. Really laughed. “When you write the movie about us, make sure you include that line.” He stroked a hand over her hair. “I get what you’re saying though. It’s just a lot of new information all at once.” He sobered. “Just so you know, I’m not just throwing money at this ranch; it means something to me. It’s a dream I’ve had in the back of my mind for a long time, ever since I’d come to visit my grandparents in the summers. I just didn’t know how important it was to me until I came back.”
Lexi nodded. “I understand dreams. I’m so proud you’re going after yours.”
He laid a hand over hers. “And I’m proud you’re pursuing yours. Because from what I’ve read, you have talent. Real talent, Lexi. And if you’ll let me read the rest, if the rest of this manuscript is as good as the first few pages, I’d like to pass it along to some people I know. Would you accept that kind of help?”
She blinked. “Because you really think I’m good and not because I’m sleeping wi
th you or you feel sorry for me? Then yes. I’ll take that help.”
“Good.” He set his coffee aside and hooked one finger in the collar of her T-shirt. He pulled, revealing her slim, toned shoulder. A groan escaped him when he saw his own teeth marks there. “Now, I couldn’t help but notice that this porch swing is, in fact, not a bed.”
She giggled and shook her head. “A real master of observation we got here, people.”
“Which, and correct me if I’m wrong, falls directly into the very strict set of rules you’ve set about where you and I can, you know, do the dirty.”
Lexi raised an eyebrow at him, but she was smiling. And she kept smiling as he dragged her across his lap.
Chapter Ten
“Iris Hardware,” Lexi answered the phone distractedly, one eye on the inventory sheet in front of her and one eye on the kid suspiciously lingering next to the magazine rack by the front door. That had been happening a lot since the Kardashians had started being on every single cover known to man. Didn’t this kid have an internet connection? “Make a selection or scram,” she called to the kid, holding the phone away from her voice. The kid jumped about a good foot in the air before scurrying out of the store.
“Sorry about that, how can I help you?” she spoke politely into the phone, crossing out a few things on the list in front of her.
“Yes, I’m looking for my son,” a refined voice said on the other end of the line. “Eric Davenport? He doesn’t seem to be answering his cell phone today.”
Lexi froze. Great, just great. The first time she ever interacts with Eric’s mom is when she’s yelling at a thirteen-year-old perv for getting his jollies in the front of the store. Grand. Exactly the way you want to be introduced to your boyfriend’s billionaire mother.
Lexi winced yet again. God. How many times was she going to do that? Refer to Eric as her boyfriend in her head? They were so not that. And in the week since the drive-in movie, she’d made double sure of it. She’d kept such a tight lid on her feelings, Eric had pretty much stopped flirting with her in person.