So Tough to Tame

by Victoria Dahl

  “He’s right,” Jenny finally jumped in. “The last two seasonal renters were a nightmare. And you say all the time how disgusting men are.”

  “Hmph.” She took up her cards again. “They are disgusting. And idiotic. That’s why I don’t keep any in my own house. But they’re nice from a distance.”

  Trying not to imagine that he and the other residents were just exotic animals in a zoo, Walker ducked down and met Rayleen’s eyes above her hand of cards. “It’s just for a few months, Rayleen. Please? As a favor to me? I’ll make sure she doesn’t play hockey in there. In fact, if she does, I’ll kick her out myself.”

  Rayleen scowled. “Goddamn women. They’re starting to breed like rabbits in there. Every time I look up, there’s another.”

  “Please?” he repeated, folding his hand around hers, cards and all. “For me?”

  She jerked her hand away. “Fine. Just cut the shit. She can move in, but she’d better not put up any pink paint. Or frilly curtains. It ain’t a damn henhouse.”

  Walker leaned in and kissed her cheek before she could get away. “I owe you, Rayleen.”

  Her face went pink as she shoved him away. “Oh, go on. Stand by the bar and look pretty before I change my mind.” She was grumbling as he moved away, but Walker tossed Jenny a big smile.

  “Refill?” he asked, pushing his glass toward her.

  “I can’t believe you pulled it off!”

  “Aw, she’s just a big softie.”

  Jenny laughed so hard she had to brace herself on the bar. “Yeah. Sure. You keep telling yourself that.”

  But Walker knew he was right. Rayleen was harmless, and she was going to love Charlie. He was sure of it.

  * * *

  “OH, CHARLOTTE, there you are!”

  Charlie gritted her teeth at the sound of Dawn Taggert’s voice, but she made herself smile as she turned around to greet the other woman. She’d known her boss would likely be at this baby shower. After all, the mom-to-be was one of their old friends from high school, another girl like Dawn and Charlie who’d been invited to all the after-school clubs and none of the parties.

  They’d all been good girls back then, and so far, Charlie was the only one who’d fallen from grace. Dawn had yet to miss a chance to remind her.

  As Dawn closed the distance across the crowded living room, Charlie realized that Dawn had the mom-to-be in tow. Charlie forced her smile wider. “Sandra! Congratulations! Thank you so much for inviting me. It’s been so long.”

  “It has,” Sandra said, hugging Charlie past her hard belly.

  “You look amazing.” She did. She had a smooth bob similar to Dawn’s, though several shades darker than Dawn’s blond hair. And despite the amazing bulge of her stomach, she looked as if she hadn’t gained weight anywhere else.

  “You look great, too.”

  “Thanks.” Charlie smoothed a self-conscious hand over the cardigan sweater she’d pulled on over her dress. She didn’t feel great. She felt dowdy and unnatural and thin as a stick in her modest clothes and ballet flats. She hadn’t dressed like this since she’d interviewed for college, but she’d been trying to change her image. Besides, Dawn had insisted her head of security couldn’t wear heels and be effective. Charlie wanted to protest that she felt much more badass in heels and a tight skirt, but unfortunately she wasn’t in a position to argue.

  “Your house is beautiful,” Charlie said to Sandra.

  “Thank you. Peter bought it as a surprise when I made partner.”

  Partner. Right. They both cleared their throats and shifted uncomfortably, but Dawn jumped right in. “Speaking of work, Charlie, will you come in early tomorrow? You’re going to need to put in a few extra hours in the next weeks before the grand opening of the resort.”

  Charlie ground her teeth together as she watched Sandra look away. Sandra was uncomfortable, yes, but she was also trying to hide a smile. “I’ve been in early every day this week. It’s not a problem.”

  “I know, although I’m surprised, considering the hours you keep.” She turned to Sandra. “I thought she would’ve settled down after that mess in Tahoe, but...”

  Both women turned to look at her with pity, but their pity looked suspiciously avid. Scandal was so delicious, after all. Or it was as long as you weren’t involved. Charlie had enjoyed scandals and gossip herself, up until a few months ago.

  She didn’t want to be defensive, but she was under attack yet again, and it grated against her bones. At least Dawn was masking her distaste in politeness this time. “All my late nights since I moved here have been spent working,” she said slowly, carefully.

  “Right,” Dawn answered with a sly smile. “That’s why the facilities manager was in your place until ten last night.”

  Charlie’s smile slipped as her heart thundered. She’d been worried her suspicions had been paranoia, but this was the confirmation she’d been looking for. Dawn had been watching her. Spying on her.

  “We were working,” she finally mumbled.

  “Oh, I’m sure,” Dawn replied.

  Sandra reached out to pat her arm. “Well, Charlie, we’re just happy to see you on the right track again.”

  The right track. Sure. That was why she’d come back here, wasn’t it?

  For a few months, she’d been lost. Utterly lost. Shut up in an apartment in Tahoe she could no longer afford and terrified about her future. But she was setting it right now. Working hard, toning down her life. Losing the heels. Keeping her head down. Biting her tongue and biting it hard.

  “I’m doing my best with her,” Dawn said, as if Charlie was her new pet project. Considering the effort she put into spying, the idea wasn’t too far off. But Charlie couldn’t be her project anymore. Anger was boiling beneath her skin. She wanted to bolt, but she couldn’t.

  She was trapped, and the urge to fight back was getting harder to suppress. But she couldn’t lose this job. She couldn’t.

  Her phone vibrated just in time, providing a reason to escape. “Excuse me. I’d better get this. It might have something to do with work.”

  Before she was out of earshot, she heard Dawn saying, “I just don’t know what happened to her. She had so much promise.”

  Charlie closed her eyes, took a deep breath and answered her phone. It was her knight in shining armor, otherwise known as her cousin Nate, calling with exactly the news she needed.

  “Oh, my God,” she whispered. “You really did it? I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Don’t move!”

  This time when she turned back to the party, it wasn’t hard to smile. Not at all.

  “Sandra!” she called out, hurrying back for one last fake hug. “I have to run, but congratulations again. You’re going to make a great mom.”

  She was. Sandra seemed great at everything. Unlike Charlie, she’d actually lived up to her promise.

  Before Dawn could ask where she was going, Charlie made her escape and rushed out to the valet to get her car. She pulled away with a groan of relief. Freedom. For a few hours, at least.

  When she’d moved back to Jackson, she’d thought reconnecting with old friends would be good for her. After all, she really was trying to get back on the right track. At first, she’d been so beaten up, she’d thought that track had started back with high school and the girl she’d been then. Hardworking, studious and so worried about becoming her mother that she’d never even gone out on a date.

  She’d obviously gone wrong somewhere, so why not start where everything had been good?

  But she was realizing now that everything hadn’t been good. In fact, she’d spent all of high school scared to be herself.

  Muttering a few choice curses, Charlie struggled out of the cardigan, holding the steering wheel with her knees as she yanked off the sweater and tossed it into the backseat.

  “Screw this shit,” she said triumphantly as she pulled up to the resort.

  Five minutes later she was back in the car in the clothes she’d worn back in Nevada. Tight jeans and he
eled boots and a pretty little striped T-shirt.

  Today she was going to get her groove back, damn it, and the clothes were only the first tiny step.

  Charlie turned on some music and drove into town with the windows down. The breeze was too cold, but she didn’t mind. It was the first time her nipples had been hard in months. She had to take her thrills where she could get them.

  When she pulled up to the address Nate had given her, she saw that the apartment building was right next to the Crooked R Saloon. Her cousin greeted her from the sidewalk with a wave.

  Thank God for Nate. Charlie had a brother in town, but he never offered any help unless it could benefit him, too. Nate, on the other hand...

  Charlie jumped out of her car and threw her arms around his neck to squeeze him tight. “Thank you, thank you!”

  “Hey, calm down. It’s no big deal. I’m sorry the place at the resort fell through.”

  “Well, you know...” She let him go and crossed her arms to hide the nervous flutter of her hands. She didn’t want to lie to him, but she didn’t know how to explain. “Construction on the hotel is behind schedule. Naturally, the last big push goes into the rooms people are actually paying for. Hopefully my apartment will be ready in a few months.”

  “I think Rayleen wants to rent this place out through the winter. Six months, Jenny said.”

  “Sure, I understand. Of course. I have no problem with that. It was so great of you to arrange this for me.”

  “Walker was actually the one who pulled it off.”

  Charlie shook her head in shock. “Walker Pearce?”

  “Yeah, you remember him?”

  “Of course I remember him! He’s still around?”

  “Living right here at the Stud Farm, actually.”

  Well, that made sense. Walker had been a hell of a stud in high school. She’d had a serious crush on him, though she’d been careful not to let him know. Half the girls in the school had had a crush on him. Any time she’d tutored him in the library during lunch, girls had made a point of sauntering by like a rotating show of blondes and brunettes and redheads. All the prettiest girls in the school. The cheerleaders and the rodeo queens. And Walker had made a point of smiling at each and every one.

  Charlie followed Nate into the apartment building and up the stairs to the second floor. The two-story entryway was clean and bright, sunlight shining through the old farmhouse windows that flanked the front door.

  “Here’s your key. You’ll need to go by the saloon to pick up the lease agreement.”

  “Cool.”

  “Just a warning. If Rayleen Kisler is there, you might want to lay low. You know Rayleen?”

  “I know of her.”

  “Walker talked her into letting you rent the place, but she’d much rather have had someone...” He stopped at the door to apartment C and shook his head. “Bigger and hairier.”

  Charlie grinned. “She hasn’t given up her hobby, then, I guess?”

  “Nope. She still likes to ogle. But she made an exception for you. Although there’s another woman living in the apartment below yours. Merry Kade. So it was a damn miracle that Walker managed to get you in here.”

  “I’ll have to find a way to thank him.”

  “Won’t be hard. He lives right there.” Nate tilted his head toward the apartment on the other side of the small upstairs landing.

  She shot a surprised look at the other door before unlocking her own. Walker lived right there? That would be interesting. Or just irritating, if the parade of beautiful women was still marching after all these years. Maybe she could sit on the landing with a book and wave to each one. Recapture some of the fun of her youth.

  Charlie let herself into the apartment and took in the simple white walls and the gorgeous shine on the wood floors. It was nothing like her studio at the resort. There were no fancy appliances in the kitchen or stained timber details. There was no hand-hewn rock fireplace. It was modest and empty and it was private.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ve got a few things in storage. I’ll pull them out as soon as I’ve signed the lease.”

  “Let me know,” Nate said. “I’ll help you move what you need.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “Come on. I know you’re a kick-ass security specialist, but you’re not that strong.”

  She punched him solidly on the shoulder, but he didn’t even wince. Yeah, she wasn’t that strong. Or kick-ass. Her specialty was really observation. Surveillance. Intelligence. Or it had been. Before.

  Feeling her smile go stiff and strange, Charlie turned away from her cousin, pretending to check out the apartment a little more closely. “Okay, I’ll call you when I need a hand.”

  “Perfect. You’ve got the key. Don’t forget to go see Jenny for the lease.”

  “Oh, the new girlfriend, huh?”

  Her cousin’s cheeks actually went a little pink. “Not so new, actually. We’ve been together since February.”

  Charlie grinned. “Wow. Your mother must be over the moon. I can’t wait to meet this woman.”

  “Want to come over to the saloon with me right now?”

  Aw, he was so cute. It must be nice to be one of those people who believed in love. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you there.”

  As soon as Nate left, Charlie let her smile vanish and moved purposefully through the apartment. Though their entrances were separated by the landing, she noticed that she and Walker would be sharing a wall along the living room, bathroom and bedroom. She hoped the walls were thick. The Walker she’d known hadn’t looked like a boy who’d inspired silence in the bedroom.

  Chuckling at the thought, Charlie checked off a mental list of things she’d need to make this place comfortable. Her boots knocked against the wood floors and echoed off the ceiling, reminding her of exactly how empty the rooms were.

  Her studio at the resort was fully furnished, so everything except her clothing and some knickknacks was in storage, but she had plenty of nice furniture from her old place in Tahoe. Some of it she could even move without help. She could rent a truck and have all her kitchen stuff by tonight, plus a table and chairs. Her lamps. Maybe even her bed. Hell, she’d sleep on the floor if she couldn’t move the bed. The resort was unbearable. Just the idea of spending another night there made her break out in goose bumps.

  Bad enough she had to work in that place. Bad enough that she couldn’t quit.

  Charlie shut off the lights she’d turned on and locked the apartment behind her. She wanted to get this part over with. Lying to her cousin made her stomach hurt, but she didn’t have any choice. She wasn’t going to admit another defeat. There’d been so many this year.

  Charlie blinked back the tears of frustration that sprang to her eyes. The worst was behind her. There was no question of that.

  All those years of living in Vegas and Tahoe, those years of building a career and a reputation, and it was all trashed, but it was going to be different now. She wasn’t going backward. Not back to who she’d been in Tahoe, and not back to high school, either. No, she was going forward.

  Charlie walked down the stairs of the Stud Farm, opened the front door and pasted a big smile on her face. If she wanted to be a new woman, it was time for the debut.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “I HATE HER,” Rayleen groused to no one in particular from her corner table. Somehow, Walker knew he was the one being addressed.

  He looked to Jenny, who rolled her eyes. “Charlie was in to sign the lease today,” she explained.

  Rayleen huffed. “She came in wearing skinny jeans and a big ol’ shit-eating grin. I thought you said she was a nice girl, Walker.”

  “What?” he asked in honest confusion. “Nice girls don’t wear skinny jeans?” In his opinion, the very nicest girls graced the world with skinny jeans. Tight denim was a gift to all.

  “No, they do not. And they certainly don’t walk in here like they own the place.”

  “Rayleen,”
Jenny sighed. “Charlie was perfectly kind. You just didn’t like that she didn’t take your bait.”

  “What bait?” the old lady snapped.

  “Oh, I don’t know. What about when you said you’d prefer a Charlie that damn well fit his name, and she just winked and said she’d take a cowboy over her own self any day, too?”

  “Impertinent.”

  “Kind of like you?” Jenny said.

  Walker tipped up his hat. “I like a lively lady myself. Why else would I be hanging out in your saloon all the time, Rayleen?”

  “Maybe because it’s right next door to your place and you don’t have a damn job!”

  “Hey, now. I’m picking up work and I’ve got plenty lined up for roundup.”

  Rayleen dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “You’re the one who got me into this. I’m not speaking to you.”

  “Are you just trying to get me to turn around so you can look at my behind, Miss Rayleen?”

  “That’s a perfect idea. Gives me a nice view and I don’t have to talk to your lying self. Go on. Turn around now.”

  “Only ’cause you asked nice.” He turned his back on her and raised his eyebrows to Jenny, who leaned closer.

  “Charlie was great. Rayleen just wanted her to be intimidated, and Charlie met every one of her barbs with a smile and a wink. Sort of like you. Only without the big cowboy part.”

  “Which big cowboy part?” Walker asked.

  “You’re awful.”

  “Come on, now. That’s not what you’ve heard.”

  Jenny threw her head back and laughed. “You really are incorrigible, Walker.”

  “That I’ll admit to. Is Charlie all settled in? I haven’t seen her yet.”

  “Nate gave her the key a couple of hours ago, and she took the lease to read over. Which Rayleen also didn’t like. She likes you cowboys who just sign the thing without even glancing at it.”

  “We are adventurers at heart.”

  “Or romantic fools.”

  “That, too.”

  She winked. “Want a beer?”

  “No, I was just checking in on the new tenant. I heard about some winter work up near Yellowstone, so I’m gonna head up there and check it out. I’m fine through fall, but I’m hoping to find enough work to get me through to spring.”