by Stacy Finz
“Yeah, she mentioned it once or twice. Why?”
Win hitched his shoulders. “I hadn’t known, that’s all.” And it bugged him that maybe she’d told him and he hadn’t been paying attention. She’d been good to him during the Britney situation, taking the time to listen while he went into panic mode.
TJ grabbed a couple of pickle chips off Win’s plate and popped them in his mouth. “I don’t think she goes around talking about it much.”
“I met him the other day … Lewis.”
TJ stopped chewing, his interest piqued. “Yeah, what’s he like?” Of everyone at GA, TJ worked the closest with Darcy. He’d been the one to hire her.
As far as Win was concerned she was the best hire they’d ever made. Though she didn’t know dick about extreme sports, Darcy was punctual, reliable, and … she got shit done. Her multitasking skills were off the hook.
“He seemed decent enough,” Win answered, though a bit overdressed.
“Huh,” TJ said as if he was expecting Win to describe an ogre. To everyone but Win, Darcy came off a bit on the timid side, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities that her ex was a pumped-up dickhead. “I guess it just didn’t work out.”
“Guess not.”
Gray wandered over and put both his sons in a headlock. “Heard we have a big Silicon Valley company on the hook.” Even though Gray was semiretired from the company, he still guided tours and kept his eye on the back office.
Gray and TJ became involved in a business conversation that bored the crap out of Win so he strolled off, looking for something entertaining. As the night air grew chilly, they moved the party inside and ditched the idea of taking the boat out. By the time Win got home, it was late and the neighborhood cat needed to be fed.
When he got into the office the next morning Darcy had her headset on and was talking to someone. He loitered by her desk, waiting for her to end the call.
“You get things straightened out with your mother?”
“Yes, no thanks to you.”
He sat on the corner of the desk, checking out her legs. Today she had a short dress on and a pair of high heels, similar to the ones she’d worn yesterday. “Does that mean we’re no longer married?”
“Yep,” she said, distracted by the message slip she was filling out. “The love is gone.”
“So we’re not even engaged?”
“Nope. You’re free to roam.” She didn’t even look up.
Her brusque way of treating him was starting to get on his nerves. “Want to go to lunch later?”
She picked up a brown paper bag on her desk, held it in the air, and continued to write on her damn pink slip. “I brought.”
Win took the bag and opened it, sniffing. “Bologna?”
“Don’t be gross. Nana made it.” She swiped the bag out of his hand, looked inside, and made a face. “You might be right.”
“No worries. I’ll swing by your desk at noon.” He took the bag from her and on his way to his office, tossed it in the staff refrigerator. Without a tour until three, he was at loose ends. He popped his head into TJ’s office but his brother wasn’t there. More and more, TJ was guiding short trips. Mountain biking, kayaking, mountain climbing, nothing that kept him from his CEO duties for too long but enough to quench his need for speed.
He sifted through the itinerary Darcy had given him. Not surprising, she’d even taken care of restaurant reservations for the entire weekend. There was a burger joint in Nugget he was hoping to stop in at during their trip to the bull rider’s ranch. Great curly fries. In high school, when their respective teams had played each other in sports, he and his buddies used to go there after games to get burgers and shakes. But Darcy had the group back in Glory Junction for lunchtime. He might have to change that, depending on the group. The place had no indoor seating and if the suits were fancy pants they might not like that. Usually he felt things out first, then tailored the tour accordingly. The scary groups had members who thought they were Sir Edmond Hillary. Then there were the folks who just needed a little encouragement. Maybe they weren’t the toughest or had the most stamina but the looks on their faces when they made it to the top of the mountain was the best. Just the best.
His cell rang and he checked the caller ID. It wasn’t a number he recognized but he answered anyway.
“Win Garner.”
“Hey, Win, this is Stephanie.” The name didn’t register and Win didn’t say anything, trying to figure out who she was. “Uh, we met kayaking the other day.”
“Oh, hey, Steph. Sorry about last night. I had a family thing and couldn’t make it to Old Glory.” He probably should’ve messaged her back but figured she was just trying to kill time while passing through. Ordinarily, he would’ve been down with a one-nighter, but he was trying to kick the habit.
“You interested in getting together tonight? I’m here for a couple more days and thought … you know, why not?”
Unfortunately, yes, he knew. He hated to offend her but … “I’m gonna have to pass, Stephanie. But it was really great meeting you the other day.”
“Um, okay.” There was a long, silent pause. Just her breathing on the other end of the phone.
Ah, jeez, he’d embarrassed her. “I’m seeing someone,” he blurted, hoping to soothe the sting.
“It didn’t seem like you were the other day.” There was a bite to her voice.
“It sort of just happened,” he lied, feeling a wee bit guilty that he was so good at it. But it was a white lie. He didn’t want to flat-out reject her. “I’d like to get to know her without a lot of distractions if you know what I mean.”
“I do,” she said, sounding somewhat mollified. “But it’s not serious?”
“Not yet but you never know.”
“Good for you,” she said like she meant it. “I hope it works out.”
“You’re a good person, Steph. You take care now.” He hung up.
“Who was that?” Colt walked in his door, uninvited. Hopefully, he’d only caught the tail end of the conversation.
“A friend,” he said, and cleared off a chair for his brother to sit. His office could use a deep cleaning. Mostly, he used it as an extra closet but as often as he was coming into the office these days it wouldn’t kill him to tidy up the place. “Things slow at the cop shop?’
“Not really. I just came over here hoping there were doughnuts.”
Win thought it was supposed to be the other way around. “I’ve got a protein bar if you’re hungry.”
Colt scrunched up his nose. “Nah, I’ll pass. Where’s TJ?” Everyone was always looking for TJ.
“I have no idea. Probably making a merger somewhere.”
Colt laughed. “What’s this about you buying a house?” News traveled fast in the Garner clan.
“I’m not buying anything yet. Eventually, though. It’ll depend on what I can afford.” Which would depend on what kind of bonus he got.
“There’s a place near us that just went on the market. It’s open Sunday if you want to take a look at it.”
The houses near Colt and Delaney’s were probably out of his price range. The neighborhood was walking distance from town and most of the homes there had been super-sized by city folk who wanted a country address near the ski slopes on the weekends.
“I’ve got FlashTag duties but maybe.” If the VIPs headed back to the city early enough there might be time to check out the house.
“Jenny Meyers has the listing.”
Shit! Win had slept with her a few times last summer. She’d just gone through a divorce and was looking to get back on the horse so to speak. He’d done his civic duty to help her with that. Then she started getting needy and he … did what he always did. Got the hell out of Dodge.
“On second thought, I’m looking for something near the lake.”
Colt raised his brows. “Good luck with that. Let me know when you win the lottery.”
“TJ found something there.”
“That w
as a couple of years ago. Prices have soared since then.” Colt stood up. “You sure there’s no doughnuts?”
“Ask Darcy but I didn’t see any.”
Colt went back to the station, leaving Win alone to keep his own company, which was too bad because these days he was so over himself. He started a game of Candy Crush on his computer and halfway through thought about TJ. This wasn’t the way his older brother would be spending his day. So Win stopped his game, picked up the phone, called an old corporate client, and cajoled him into booking a weekend of team building. Not bad for an hour’s work. At noon, he went to fetch Darcy.
“You ready?”
She put on her shoes, which she’d kicked under her desk. Her toenails were a bright pink that matched her dress. “If I must.”
“You know it wouldn’t kill you to pretend you like me. I do own an equal share of the company you work for.”
Her response was to look at him and roll her eyes. He opened the door for her and they walked up Main Street to the Morning Glory. The restaurant, popular with locals, was a fifties-style diner. Black-and-white-check floors, red pleather upholstery, and enough chrome to open an auto body shop. Felix, the owner, was a champion snow boarder, who’d crashed so many times he could no longer compete. But he made a damned good tuna melt. Apparently, Felix wasn’t the easiest to work for because he bled staff faster than anyone Win knew.
“Look what the wind blew in.” Ricki, the waitress, grabbed two menus and showed them to a booth toward the back of the restaurant. She wasn’t his number-one fan. Ricki was friends with Deb. Back before TJ, Win and Deb had had some unresolved feelings for each other—she was another woman he’d let down. But that was water under the bridge and he and Deb had patched up their differences. Ricki apparently hadn’t gotten the memo.
“Don’t spit in my food, okay?”
“I’ll try not to.” She pulled a pad from her apron pocket and a pencil from behind her ear. “What’ll you have to drink?”
They both got waters and ordered meals without cracking the menus, since they knew it by heart. The place started to fill up and Ricki ran off to seat a couple of city council members.
“I guess you haven’t won Ricki’s heart the way you have the rest of Glory Junction’s female population.” Darcy pulled the paper off her straw.
“I bet she wouldn’t throw me out of bed.” He winked, then gave her a slow, pointed look. “Some women just want me for my body.”
“If you’re talking about Saturday night, would you get over it already?”
“Why should I?”
“Because it’s humiliating.” She played with her fork, unwilling to look him in the eye. “I really would appreciate it if we never spoke of it again. Especially now that we’re forced to work together.”
“Forced? I think we’re a great team,” he lied for the second time that day. Darcy was way out of her league when it came to outdoor adventure sports. He was pretty sure she didn’t even own a pair of hiking boots. And their styles clashed. She was anal-retentive and he was … well, the opposite.
“I hope so because I want my promotion.” This time, she held his gaze, squinting her eyes at him. “Don’t screw this up for me.”
“Why does everyone automatically assume I’m a screwup?” Granted, he had a more laid-back way of approaching things. It didn’t make him a screwup. “I’ve got a bonus riding on us getting this account. So as long as you have my back, I’ll have yours.”
“Did you go through my itinerary?”
“Yep. Looks fantastic. But I may have to change things up a bit.”
She gave him the stink eye. “Don’t mess with my itinerary, Win.”
“Trust me. You’ll be happy you did.”
Darcy raised her brows and shook her head. “Only because you know way more about adventure sports than I do.”
That he did. But Darcy’s multitasking skills put him to shame, no question about that. The lodging and food planning alone was a headache and she’d booked it all without breaking a sweat. Impressive.
“So what’s the deal with Geneva?” Win didn’t want to just come out and say, “Your mom seems like a bitch.”
Darcy let out a long breath. “She showed up without notice, saying it was because Lewis told her I had gotten engaged but I don’t believe it. For that she would’ve just picked up the phone.”
“Doesn’t she come occasionally to visit Hilde?”
“Rarely. Only when she’s fighting with my dad and wants to recruit my grandmother to her side against her own son.”
“Does Hilde take the bait?”
“Hilde’s Switzerland, even though her son is no prize either.”
“I remember you once told me they have a loveless marriage.” At least Win had retained a modicum of Darcy’s personal life. From now on he was going to try harder to pay attention.
She nodded, took a sip of water and said, “I don’t know why they got married in the first place, except that my mother loves money and my father makes a lot of it.”
Just when it was getting interesting Ricki interrupted with their order. “Hope you don’t choke on it,” she told Win as she shoved a tri-tip sandwich in front of him, then gingerly placed Darcy’s bowl on the table. “Careful, hon, it’s hot.”
He glanced over at her soup. “It looks good but not in eighty-degree weather.”
“I feel a cold coming on.”
Darcy seemed fine to him. “What does your father do?”
“He owns a mortgage brokerage. My mother works there too but mostly in an ambassador role.”
“What does that mean?” Win took a bite of his sandwich. It tasted good, despite whatever hex Ricki put on it.
“She glad-hands a lot and passes out business cards at parties and functions between shopping sprees.”
“You like her a lot, don’t you?”
Darcy dipped a spoon in her soup. “I love her, she’s my mother.”
He arched a brow. “You know what they say, ‘you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family.’”
“They’re not the Garners, let’s put it that way. But they’re all I’ve got besides Nana. And she makes up for them. She’s the best grandmother a person could ask for.”
He had to admit Hilde Wallace had it going on. Brains and beauty, even at seventy-eight. And she could bake, which earned her major points in Win’s book. But it was sad that Darcy felt the way she did about her parents. He hadn’t missed the way she folded into herself when she talked about them.
“Your parents keep in touch with Lewis?” To hear it from Geneva she wanted her daughter to go back to the dude. There was a lot not being said here and Win wanted to explore it. Mostly because he was bored with his new life of celibacy and responsibility. At least that’s what he told himself.
“They do a lot of business together, him being in real estate and all.” She tore off a piece of her bread and popped it in her mouth.
“So they liked him, huh?”
“Yes.” The terse, one-word answer wasn’t good enough. Win was on a fishing expedition and he planned to catch something.
“Why?” He tilted his head and held her gaze.
“I suppose because he’s successful and reliable.”
Neither of those things could be said about Win, but he’d never wanted to be husband material. Still didn’t, especially after his catastrophic near marriage to nutjob Britney.
“Then why did you dump him?” he asked.
“What makes you think I dumped him and not the other way around?”
Good question. But something intrinsic told him it had been her choice to leave the marriage, not Lewis’s. Perhaps it was the way Lewis had hovered over her at the rodeo.
“Just a gut instinct,” he said. “It was those string ties he wears. They drove you nuts.”
She laughed, even though Win could tell she didn’t want to. “How about we talk about something else?”
“How about we don’t?” The more she resisted, t
he more tempted he was to dig in.
Maybe Lewis was a compulsive gambler. Nah, too interesting. The man had come off dull as dirt. Then again it was always the unassuming ones who turned out to be cross dressers or serial killers.
She stared at him over the rim of her water glass. “Why all the sudden interest in my love life?”
“If we’re going to work together there should be no secrets between us,” he said, and grinned.
The little witch shook her head. “It’s private … and painful.”
Painful.
That stopped him in his tracks. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pick at scabs.”
Yet, he still wanted to know.
Chapter Eight
The FlashTag group came Friday night and Darcy met them at the small airport outside of town. In recent years, the airfield had grown to accommodate the influx of wealthy part-time residents who flew up in their private jets from the Bay Area and Los Angeles to enjoy a weekend on the slopes or a summer at the lake.
FlashTag had chartered a puddle jumper out of San Jose. Darcy was going to shuttle the three VIPs—Remy, Sue, and Russell—to the Four Seasons, let them get a good night’s sleep, and pick them up the next morning for breakfast and a tour of GA and Glory Junction. Win was supposed to be with her on pickup duty to meet and greet their prospective clients but had run late on his white-water rafting excursion. No surprise there. As long as she’d known him he had trouble keeping to a schedule.
She had no intention of letting him screw this up for her. If need be she’d handle the orientation on her own, which would be no easy feat because she knew nothing about adventure sports. Win’s unreliability was infuriating.
Worse, she’d begun dreaming about him in her sleep. Erotic dreams that felt so real she’d wake up in a sweat, panting. She knew she wasn’t the first woman to fantasize about him. Win was the kind of man who could stir any female, even a dead one. But no one could accuse her of being delusional. That’s why she refused to be part of his adoring fan club.
“It’s really pretty here,” Sue said, staring out of the passenger-side window of the minivan as they climbed higher up the mountain. The pink-streaked sky was fading from dusk to dark and soon it would be too hard to see much of anything.