When he’d gotten out here and found this petite blonde, sorority-girl-looking woman who was supposed to be taking over his business, he couldn’t stop his mouth from expressing the smart ass sentiment that his brain had come up with on the spot. He was always bad at a filter, but it didn’t usually bother him much. Brutal honesty had always been one of his character traits. This new woman better get used to that as soon as possible if the two of them were going to be working together.
She was dressed like LA. That much was for damned certain. Those shoes would have paid for a month of groceries for most of the guys who worked for him, and they were about as practical as a screen door on a submarine. He could tell he’d thrown her for a loop with his comments. She was going to have to be a lot tougher than that if she was going to be working with him for any amount of time. Maybe this wasn’t going to work out, but he was going to have to give her a shot at least for now.
She was fiery. At least that was working in her favor even if she was still one of those city assholes. She hadn’t melted from his comments, and she’d stood up to him. She was going to need that attitude to get her job done, especially out here in Colorado. But if her goal was just going to be heading back to Los Angeles as soon as she got the chance, then she wasn’t going to get far. He may as well find someone new before he was going to be forced to by her moving.
He was leading her path to the construction site so that ridiculous car of hers wouldn’t get stuck or spin out in the snow again. She didn’t even have chains on the tires. She clearly had no clue about how to survive out here. Damned woman was lucky he’d come along when he had and that he’d been behind her instead of ahead of her. He might not have found her for a while at that rate.
He parked the truck outside of the site and climbed out, waiting for her to find a place to park and then join him. Those shoes caught his eye again, along with the rest of the impractical clothes she was wearing.
“I hope you’re more sensible about business than you are about those shoes. I didn’t catch your name by the way.” The two of them had chatted back and forth by email several times, but her name had escaped him completely in his frustration over the situation.
“Celeste Teller, and I guess I didn’t introduce myself.” He could see the fire behind her eyes as she continued her reply. “You’re going to have to excuse me for not wearing a pair of work boots into the office, Mr. Fulton. I’ll have to rethink my wardrobe next time we meet each other. Would you prefer I show up in a pair of jeans or maybe just coveralls?”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Miss Teller. Call me Drake, by the way. If we’re going to be working together, I can’t handle all this Mr. Fulton bullshit. That was my father, and he died ten years ago. It makes me feel old.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, warding off the cold air. It was an early snow, but they weren’t uncommon here. He’d been through snows earlier than this in his time here in Colorado. Snow was a way of life around here, and learning to deal with it began when you were a kid. Here was this grown-ass woman basically toddling across the ground, picking her way around in a pair of six-inch heels and making herself absolutely useless. It was beyond frustrating.
“If I’m going to call you Drake, then I suppose you’re going to have to call me Celeste.” She folded her arms across her chest, trying to sound tough, but she wasn’t fooling anyone with that act, especially not Drake. He’d been through this game before.
His ex-wife had hated it out here, too. Vanessa never minced words about that. She was headed to the city the first chance she got too, and he’d gone with her. The city wasn’t for him. He didn’t know how it could be for anyone, as a matter of fact, except for those spoiled rotten children masquerading as adults that thrived in a place like that. Take them out of the city, away from the places they could get Chinese delivered to their front door at 1 am and away from the pavement and valet parking into a place where they actually had to fend for themselves and they were lost. One thing Drake Fulton couldn’t stand was someone who couldn’t take care of themselves. He was starting to have his doubts about Celeste.
“Alright Celeste, I need to show you around the place, and point out a few things you need to research before we can finish up all these contracts and get this show on the road.” He glanced down at her shoes again before walking off and shaking his head. “Come on.” He walked off without waiting to make sure she could keep up. If she was going to come out here dressed like that, then she was just going to have to figure it out.
In the meantime, Celeste had whipped out a notebook and pen and started jotting something down as she tried to walk behind him, her heels sinking into the soft ground under the snow with every step. She was struggling to keep up, but she had that determined look in her eyes like she was just going to be stubborn enough to make this work.
Drake owned part of this land already, but he was going to have to purchase more to make this expansion happen. The land where his brewery sat was just down the road. The lot next door hadn’t been for sale, but with enough money he was able to talk the rancher who owned it into letting it go. However, he’d had to purchase the entire chunk of land in one package. This part was the far edge, and this barn was built nearly at the property line. The fence that ran behind it was the edge of what he was buying even if the expansion wasn’t going to come out that far. At the moment, it was zoned for agricultural use, which was another problem entirely.
“So the first thing we’ve got to work on is checking out the zoning on this property. I know it’s good for agricultural use at the moment, but I’m not sure about industrial. You’ll need to check out the zoning maps and get in contact with the county council out here to make sure that we can actually build out here or work on getting this place rezoned. Rezoning is the last damned thing I want to do because then we’re going to need environmental impact statements, which can be a real pain in the ass.” Celeste was steadily jotting notes as they walked out behind the barn towards the property line, not paying attention to where she was walking, even though every step she took was wobbly and questionable. She nodded every so often or asked a question in the appropriate place, so at least she knew her job well enough.
But Drake knew the inevitable was coming sooner or later, and he wasn’t surprised when she finally rolled her ankle and went down into the snow with a loud squeal. He rolled his eyes and walked back to where she’d fallen, leaning down to pull her twisted ankle up out of the snow and examine it. She tried to pull away, but he looked up at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Listen Celeste, with those damned fool shoes you insisted on wearing, I can’t promise you didn’t break something, so will you just hold still and let me make sure I don’t need to get you to a hospital before I try to let you stand up on it?”
“Fine.” She took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh, and just let Drake pull off her shoe and check out her ankle. He took a moment to run his fingers over the bones in the joint, making sure nothing was out of place or broken. Her ankle was already swelling up, but nothing was broken.
It was the first time he’d really stopped to take a look at her legs since they’d met though. When he first saw her, he was too frustrated at the fact that she was dressed for the office and not out in the field to really notice her. Now, here he was with a perfect view up her legs. He might have been annoyed at her, but he was still a man. She was gorgeous if you were into that kind of woman. She took care of herself that much was absolutely clear. Even her toenails were manicured and matched her fingernails perfectly. Her legs were long and her skirt was far too short for the weather they were out in, much less sitting down in the snow. She needed to get out of this weather as soon as possible.
He tried rolling her ankle around in the joint, and she winced making a face before making a noise.
“That hurt?” Drake knew without asking, but he wanted her to tell him the truth.
“Yeah, I’m afraid it does.” She frowned down at him, trying to pull her ankle aw
ay and get up off the ground.
“I’m pretty sure it’s just a sprain, but you need to stay off it for a while. I know it’s not broken.” He stood up and offered her his hand to stand up. “Keep your weight off it, and I’ll help you back to your car.”
She took one step on her swollen ankle and let out a loud “ouch” as soon as she tried to put any weight on it, nearly falling again even though Drake had moved over to her side to try to help her stay upright. He grumbled in frustration, moving to scoop her up into his arms in spite of her protests.
“Put me down, Drake. I can walk.” She tried to push off his chest and move out of his arms, but he wasn’t having any of it.
“Shut up. You can walk, but you’re going to hurt yourself trying to walk through the snow with only one shoe on and a sprained ankle. Then you won’t be any damned good to anyone. So hush and let me carry you back to the car. I realize your pride is just as injured as your leg, but I’m not going to have you hurting yourself just to get back to that car of yours.”
Celeste gave up her argument then and just folded her arms across her chest and let him carry her. He tried to pretend he wasn’t enjoying himself. It had been a long damned time since he’d had a woman in his arms. Celeste was attractive, and she smelled amazing. If she was anyone else and had a half an ounce of sense, this might have been a very different situation. As it was, Drake had to deal with the competing emotions he was feeling towards the woman he was carrying back around the barn and to the parked cars that waited on the other side.
At least Celeste had shut up when he’d called her on her bullshit. There was no way she was going to be able to make it back to the car in this snow over uneven ground on her own. At least she was smart enough to let him help her. Drake was in good shape from working around the ranch and carrying her wasn’t much of an effort. It wasn’t long before they reached the car, and he leaned down to let her reach the door and open it for him before setting her down gently in the driver’s seat. Drake half wanted to offer to take her back to his ranch house until he was certain she was good to drive back.
“I’d tell you to come back to my place and make sure you’re going to be alright before I let you head back into the city, but I’m pretty sure you’re just going to say no. Am I wrong?” Drake knew she was stubborn, and he felt like he knew what she was going to say. Celeste was already dropping her shoes in the floorboard of the passenger seat of the car and stretching her foot out gently before she shook her head.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine. I just need to get back and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.” Her focus was on her foot for the moment, but as soon as she got settled back into the driver’s seat, she glanced back up at him. “Thank you for your help, Drake. I’ll get on those zoning permits as soon as I can and get back with you when I find out any news. I’m sure you’d like to make this process as quick as possible. So, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to the office. Feel free to call or email me if you have any questions or need to discuss anything.” She reached in the purse that sat on the passenger seat of the convertible to fish out a business card and pass it through the still open door to Drake.
He took it, sliding the card in his back pocket before answering her. He was going to need her number at a minimum if they were going to be doing business together.
“At least let me follow you to the highway to make sure you don’t get stuck again and get back to the city before sunset. It’s supposed to start snowing again tonight.” The last thing he wanted was to be responsible for his new attorney getting in a car accident on the way home from all of this.
“I think I can manage.” Her voice was curt as she closed the car door and cranked it up without waiting for his reply or telling him she was fine with him following her.
Drake let out a low groan and ran his hand over his forehead on the way back to his truck. He was going to follow her whether she wanted him to or not. He could be just as stubborn as she appeared to be. The two of them were going to be like oil and water, but if she could get the job done then maybe, just maybe, this would be worth it.
3
It had been a few days since Celeste’s incident out at the build site for the Fulton account. She’d been nothing but embarrassed about it since it happened. She was trying to build a reputation, trying to impress a client, and all she’d managed to do was to fall flat on her behind in front of him. Her ankle was still aching from that afternoon, and every time she stepped on it wrong it was just another reminder of how she’d looked like an idiot. To add insult to injury, she’d been forced to wear flats ever since because walking in heels was too much for her irritated joint to handle. Every morning she looked at the heels lining the floor of her closet and sighed, shaking her head. It was just a reminder that she needed to get her act together.
In Los Angeles, Celeste had been in her element. Those heels would have been the talk of anywhere she’d gone. Here, they were just a reminder of how much she didn’t fit in. It made her miss Los Angeles more than ever, but it also made her determined to show Drake Fulton how wrong his first impressions of her were.
She knew he thought of her as a silly city girl with room in her head for nothing more than clothes and parties. He was dead wrong. She was good at her job and convinced that she could do anything she really put her mind to. That was why she was sitting on her couch at home, laptop perched on her crossed legs and hair pulled up in a messy bun, to work on his contracts.
He was right about the zoning. The land was only zoned for agricultural use at the moment, and she was going to have to pull some strings to get it rezoned for commercial and industrial use. There was going to be a lot of paperwork involved. Add into that the fact that it bordered protected federal land and had the potential to involve some protected species’ migratory patterns and she had a real quagmire on her hands.
Celeste was determined to get as much of it taken care of on her own as possible, but she was still going to have to take a stack of papers out to Drake to get signed in a few days. He was going to have to approve the surveyors and the land management inspectors coming out to get the entire process started. She was not looking forward to that visit, but she had a plan in mind.
Her ankle still ached as she walked over to her closet, pushing aside the business suits and cocktail dresses to dig out the lone pair of jeans at the back along with a worn flannel work shirt. This wasn’t her usual attire. Either she was dressed for work or an event or she was relaxing at home in a sweater and a pair of yoga pants. Jeans weren’t part of her normal wardrobe. However, going out to the Fulton ranch was going to call for some drastic measures.
Celeste was determined to make a better second impression than she had a first, and if that meant doing something out of her comfort zone then so be it. She was going to prove to him that she was capable of doing anything he could do, no matter what that meant.
❖
The next morning, she found herself driving out to the Fulton ranch. It was close to the place she’d met him the first time, and the snow that had fallen that day was still on the ground, though it was beginning to thaw. They were in for a bit of a warmer spell for the next week even though that meant it would still be freezing compared to the normal weather this time of year in Los Angeles. Celeste had at least remembered to pick up a winter coat in the days since she’d last seen Drake. She had it pulled tight around her as she got out of the Mercedes convertible and stepped onto the snow-dusted grass at the Fulton ranch.
She wasn’t quite sure what she’d expected out here, but this wasn’t it. She’d known he owned a ranch, but she’d assumed it was the typical ranch she’d only seen in the movies, filled with horses and cattle and maybe a dog or two. This place was a literal menagerie. Animals of every type she could imagine were in pastures and fences around the house that sat at the center, a typical ranch home, though it was sprawling with a pool and hot tub in the back yard.
All in all, it was beautiful, if a little noisy.
The sounds of the animals that milled around the open areas of the ranch filled the air, everything from horses and cows to llamas and birds along with cats, dogs, and just about every animal she figured could survive out on a ranch like this one. She even caught a glimpse of an ostrich peeking around from behind one of the barns.
Drake had known she was coming, but she wasn’t certain where to find him. The house seemed inviting, but it was the time of day she trusted that he’d be out working somewhere on the ranch instead of hanging out around the house. Saturday wasn’t her normal working day, but it was the only day this week she’d managed to get by without any kind of appointment that prevented her from coming out to the ranch. He would be home, instead of out overseeing things at the brewery, so it gave the two of them a chance in their busy schedules to meet at the same time.
Celeste decided to go for the door, taking the chance that someone would be there to tell her where Drake might happen to be. It was her best option since running around the ranch and peeking into buildings calling his name was probably the worst way to find him. The house was the closest thing, anyway. She made her way to the front door, and rang the bell, surprised to be answered by a chorus of barks from the dogs that appeared right behind the glass on either side of the door. She tried to peek through the windows, but the view provided no hint of where Drake might happen to be. She was so caught up in looking that she didn’t notice the person right behind her until a voice started her.
“Well Good morning, Celeste.” She didn’t recognize Drake’s voice at first, and the shock of being startled was enough to make her shout and jump in surprise.
Drake: A Rocky Mountain Romance Page 2