This client was a last second referral from across town so I only had ten minutes to prepare everything and get it packaged for delivery so the client could leave with it. It’s almost five and lots of people will be flying tonight for the holidays so the last thing I want to do is be slow.
I walk around the corner from Mister Dudley’s office and there’s Jared. He’s one of the brokers and he’s been putting the full court press on me since the moment I exited the elevator on my first day. I’m not interested in him, not to mention dating a guy from work is far from the ideal situation. But on the bright side learning how to manage this relationship in a professional manner is one of my first challenges of corporate life.
I doubled my course load this last semester which allowed me to graduate early at the end of the fall term. Doing so also gave me less competition in the job search and I was able to quickly land this position writing futures contracts for an agent with direct access to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. When I interviewed I just played up my New Mexico farm girl roots, and they ate it up.
But it was far from an act. I learned a lot about the business side of farming from my dad. And I learned even more about the business side of ranching from my dad’s best friend. Colt McCoy. I would have worked for him for free, and I owe him a debt of gratitude for everything he did for me.
He let me ride the horses anytime I wanted in exchange for keeping the stalls cleaned. Not only that he was generous about paying me. For a high school kid the hourly rate he offered was considerably better than anything else I could have got.
And the best part was he was always a gentleman…a true southern gentleman. Okay, technically we were more in the American West, but still…I wished his manners, politeness, and fairness in dealing with everyone he came across was the norm for men in this country, but unfortunately it’s not these days.
I was warned about the cutthroat, high-stakes world of finance and I was learning about it already.
I was supposed to answer calls for the first month in order to get the hang of things. That lasted all of four days before Mister Dudley’s assistant quit due to all the pressure and I was suddenly promoted into her role. Technically I’m not sure if she quit or was let go because the stories I got were conflicting, but either way she wasn’t here anymore. Today was my first day working with him and I was already starting to see exactly what might have drove the last assistant of his to go crazy.
But I have no time to think about that. This job came with a ninety-day probationary period and I need to be absolutely on my toes at all times these first three months.
“Headed to happy hour after work, Carol?” Jared asks.
“I think I’ll pass this time,” I say, trying to put on a happy face. I don’t want to come across as someone who’s not a team player, but I also don’t want to lead Jared into thinking anything might exist where it doesn’t.
“Come on. Just for one drink.”
“Not today.”
“I thought you weren’t going home for the holidays,” he says.
Doesn’t this guy get the hint? “I’m not, but I have a lot of stuff I need to do,” I say.
“Sure I can’t change your mind?”
I watch as Jared’s line of sight drops from my eyes to about a foot or so lower and I’m suddenly glad I wore a thicker blouse than usual this morning. It’s winter, but for some reason these guys seem to keep the offices a bit on the cool side. The last thing I need are my headlights coming on. When my nipples are popping I swear they are like beacons for every horny guy in a ten-block radius. The thick padding on my bra and the heavy blouse have got me covered this time.
And if Jared’s eyes weren’t enough I feel like Mister Dudley is checking me out from inside his office. He’s no more than five or so feet from me, but through the glass wall he can see me clear as day. The longer I stand here the more I’m starting to feel like I’m the meat in the middle of a man-which. The last thing I want to do is to be ogled over by my co-workers, not to mention whoever Mister Dudley’s meeting with.
“Not tonight,” I say, as I walk past Jared towards my cubicle. I can feel him following just off my shoulder and realize he hasn’t picked up on the hint. At least we’ve cleared the senior agent’s offices and I don’t have to worry about Mister Dudley and his client staring at me anymore. Just one more set of eyes to eliminate.
I walk past my cubicle and head to the ladies room. I go inside and enter the back stall before plopping down on the lid. I start counting backwards from twenty. That should give Jared time to leave. Nobody wants to get caught standing in front of the bathrooms like a weirdo, right?
And speaking of weirdoes what’s up with my life right now? I’ll be the loner weirdo in town all weekend for the holidays all by myself. I’ve never been alone by myself during this time, but I can’t afford to run to New Mexico and back right now. I just hope dad’s okay. It’s the first time he’s been alone since mom passed.
The good thing is at least I know Mister McCoy will be there with him. He’ll probably take him hunting or fishing or something guys like to do. Come to think about it those are the things I like to do.
I look down at my legs and wonder how I wound up in heels and a skirt. I like it and all. I mean I do feel feminine and nice, but I’ll never feel as much at home as I did on Mister McCoy’s ranch saddled up on Rocket’s back. She was an absolute beauty. Big, brown, built and as brave a horse as I’d ever seen.
Too bad I couldn’t spend the holidays in the saddle. Being around horses is so calming for me, although being around Mister McCoy is totally the opposite.
That man’s so white hot he could melt steel. Just one look at him and you instantly feel heat shoot through your veins. I wonder what he’s up to these days? Too bad I may not see him again in quite some time, if ever.
CHAPTER 3
Colt
“Last call for American Airlines flight 2375 to Santa Fe stopping in Dallas Fort Worth,” comes over the loudspeaker.
I look down at the ticket in my hand wondering if I’m crazy or not. Everyone else in the terminal has boarded, but here I sit in one of those uncomfortable pleather chairs just by the gate.
“Sir, are you flying with us to Santa Fe this evening?” the airline employee asks me.
I look up and see a nice woman in front of me and a man at the gate tapping his foot and looking at his watch. The entire terminal is empty except for us.
This was the moment I was looking forward to all day…getting on a plane and getting back home. Putting the big city behind me and passing out in my own bed when I get home. It’s the same bed my father slept in, and his father before him, and his father before him. And why did my great-grandfather sleep in that bed? Because he made it with his own two hands. He sawed down the oak tree and built it from scratch.
And right now I’m thinking about her. About Carol. And how much I’d like to have her in that bed with me tonight, but she’s here. I know she is. I saw her in that office today. At least I sure think I did.
It sure looked like her, just different. She looked so much more mature. So much more…filled out. Holy smokes she had become a woman. She left to get an education and in the meantime she got a whole lot more if you catch my drift.
But why was she scared to say hello? She sat those papers in on the table and took off without so much as a peep. And then she stood there in the hallway just a few feet separating us as she tormented me with that juicy ass of hers in that skirt. When did she get that? Maybe she had those curves all along, just choosing to hide them under her workwear when she was around me.
How did I miss that? Did I even miss that?
I knew she was a cute kid, but she was Volt’s daughter and she was completely off limits. It wasn’t even an option. She was too young to even notice back then…but not anymore. Goodness gracious.
But who was that guy she was with? That little knucklehead. I wanted to bust through that glass and tell him to leave her alone. I’ve n
ever felt like that before. I’ve never had that desire to stake my claim on a woman. I felt like a caveman. I didn’t even want to waste time with those papers. I just wanted out of there to see her and to talk to her.
But a few seconds later when I did exit she was gone.
Why did she run like that?
“Sir, your ticket,” the lady says.
I look up at her and then out the window to the plane. I can’t ever remember being indecisive in my entire life and now’s not the time to start.
“Sorry, ma’am. I won’t be flying this evening.” I hand her my ticket and walk right out of the terminal.
I feel an exhilarating rush come over me as I reach the curb in front of the baggage claim. Thankfully I only travel with a carry on.
I wait for a taxi to arrive but see none.
“‘scuse me,” I say to a young man standing next to me. “Do you know where I can get a taxi?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy. “No idea, bro. I think everybody just Ubers these days.”
“Ubers?” I ask.
“Yeah, the ride sharing app.”
“Okay. Thanks,” I say. I have no idea what he’s talking about but fortunately it doesn’t matter. A guy about sixty-years-old driving a taxi pulls up to the curb and drops off his passenger.
“Can I get a ride downtown?” I ask.
“You got cash, I’ll give you a ride anywhere,” he says.
“I like your style,” I say.
Not thirty minutes later I’m back in front of her office building. I try to enter but the doors are locked. I don’t see a security guard, but I do see about twenty or thirty security cameras. Now I know where all our jobs are going. Damn computers.
I walk down the block wondering if I should try and reach out to Volt to get her number. That would be way too fishy. Then it hits me. I still have her number from when she used to work for me.
I pull out my trusty Nokia and find her name. I hit the green button to call, but some voice says I can’t make calls in this area and I don’t have any credit. Guess that’s what happens when you don’t use the phone in months.
But I’m not about to give up that easy. Not when it comes to her.
I walk until I find the first business that’s open. It’s a sports bar and I know they’ll have a phone inside. I enter and look everywhere inside the joint but I can’t find the payphone.
“We took those out about…five years ago?” the bartender says. “You need to make a call you can borrow my phone.”
I take him up on his offer immediately. Nice to know that there are still friendly and helpful people about.
“Whatcha drinking?” he asks.
“Whiskey neat,” I say.
“Comin’ up.”
The call rings but she doesn’t pick up. I try a second time but this time it goes straight to voicemail. Damn! I’m closer I tell myself, but maybe I’m just lying to myself. If her voicemail is full and she doesn’t have my number stored anymore she may not see this call for a while. She may not ever see it if she changed her number to a Chicago number.
I pay the bartender and take a load off in a corner booth.
“Haven’t seen that in awhile,” he said when I handed him a twenty-dollar bill. What did he mean by that?
I watch a few people leave their groups and head to the bar to get drinks, but none of them pay. What in the world? I look a little closer and watch more intently. After each order he places a printout on a clipboard with a bunch of credit cards. Is that how they do things up here? More robots taking over I guess.
But what I really need right now is some super smart robot to help me track down Carol. Where in the hell can she be?
I ball my hand up in a fist and put my elbow on the table. I bring the side of my fist to my mouth and narrow my gaze. I’m not really looking at anything, just staring off into space trying to think where she might be.
“Drinking alone there cowboy?”
I look up to see two young ladies who look a lot like everyone else I’ve seen in these skyscrapers and walking around the city today. Everything is perfectly tailored, perfectly cleaned, and just well…too perfect. I like a girl a little rougher around the edges. A girl with some sweat on her brow so I know she was busy today. Know she’s not afraid to get down and wrestle with some work in order to get it done.
“Just thinking,” I say.
“About us?” one of the ladies says.
“Sorry miss,” I say, “but I’m thinking about someone else.”
“Well it’s almost Christmas. Maybe it’s better if we all just think about what we do have now, in front of us, than what we might have. Two in the hand is better than one in the bush, right?”
My dad used to always say that, and I tend to agree. Of course he said it the way it’s meant to be said, not with their little twist. The irony here is there are two of them, but there’s only one Carol. And when it comes to matters like this I don’t compromise.
“I think in this case I’m best off drinking alone,” I say.
“Suit yourself,” she says. “But Trixie and I are next door in room seven sixty-nine…if you change your mind.” She gives me a wink and I’ve forgotten about them before they even make it to the exit. I’m sure some other guy will be happy to take them up on their offer. They were nice looking young women, but just not the incredible looking young woman I’m interested in.
I tip back the last of my drink and decide it’s time to high tail it out of here. I didn’t come to Chicago to drink whiskey. I need to find me a hotel now and then find Carol.
I get up to leave and on the way out I hear the bartender shout a, “thanks for coming.”
I turn and give him a tip of the hat and there she is plain as day.
I freeze dead in my tracks.
There’s Carol in her same clothes from earlier today. She’s at the bar and the bartender’s pouring her a couple drinks.
And I’ll be damned if she doesn’t somehow look even better than she did in that office today. I can make out her legs from here. Those calves of hers are strong and firm. Those high heels are probably meant to make them appear muscular, but I know the real truth. She is muscular. I’ve seen her work. She’s a real woman. She can lift and toss and shovel with the best of ‘em.
And that white blouse of hers? From this side I can see the curve of her chest. The way her breasts fill that thing out before it comes back in around her stomach, tightening and then tucked into her skirt.
She’s got those beautiful locks of hers flowing down her back…about half way down. Damn she looks so good just natural like that. Just how Mother Nature intended. And from this angle it doesn’t look like she’s got a stitch of make-up on and I sure am glad to see that ‘cause she sure don’t need it.
I march right over there to the bar, not taking my eyes off her.
I watch as the bartender sets her drinks on the table and she puts her feminine little fingers around them and turns to go.
She makes eye contact with me and a half a second later those drinks are making contact with the floor.
CHAPTER 4
Carol
Colt McCoy.
The last person I ever expected to see here. What in the world is he doing in Chicago? I didn’t even know he ever left Santa Fe, let alone New Mexico.
“Clean up on aisle nine,” the bartender jokes, but this is no laughing matter.
I’ve had a crush on Colt since I was sixteen. I told him I wanted to work at his ranch so I could ride his beautiful horses and so I could make some extra money before I went off to college…and that’s definitely true.
But I conveniently left out the part about wanting to be on his property so I could ogle him all day long.
There was just something so sexy about the way his hands wrapped that rope around the horn of his saddle after he slung his leg over and was riding high. It was the two most beautiful animals in the world together. A horse and the perfect specimen of a man.
He taught me how to ride horses, but I always secretly hoped he was going to teach me how to ride something else. Him.
But he never did. He never made a move. I never flirted with him or came onto him but inside I was dying, just hoping one day he’d look at me as something more than his best friend’s daughter. I wanted him to see me for the young woman I was becoming and the individual I was, not just my father’s daughter.
Sadly enough the day never came so I pursued my other dream, which was to study at one of the most prestigious universities in all of America. I felt so fortunate to get accepted and Colt was moving slower than molasses in the romance department so I had to get on up out of there.
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