So Tough to Tame

by Victoria Dahl

  As they’d toured the resort, she’d pushed her employees to discuss weaknesses in the planned security and areas that needed improvement. It had started to feel a little bit more like a team, as if she actually had friends and support in this place. Despite her aching finances, she’d ordered pizza for everyone and commandeered one of the meeting rooms to discuss her plans for the opening weeks.

  Her mood also hadn’t been hurt by the relief she’d felt after talking to Walker this morning. He hadn’t gone out and met up with some other woman. And he’d apologized for getting angry the night before. They were still friends. Things would be okay.

  And now that she no longer felt sick over the way they’d left it, she could enjoy the fact that she was sore and weak and a little raw from the way Walker had used her the day before. Charlie smiled as she strode down the hallway toward her office.

  God. That had been...extraordinary. Just the thought of it made her feel giddy. Walker was like catnip for pussy.

  “You look happy.”

  Charlie’s heart sank at the sound of Dawn’s voice, but Dawn just shot her a wry look and brushed past her. Maybe after their discussion at the party, Dawn had decided to lay off. Maybe they really had called a truce.

  If so, Charlie was relieved. So relieved that when she opened her email and found the background report on Dawn waiting in her in-box, she actually felt a twinge of guilt. But just a twinge. By the time she opened the file, Charlie’s heart was quickening with anticipation.

  What would she find in here? A secret drug problem? An addiction to shoplifting? Maybe a series of involuntary commitments to mental health hospitals? Really, the possibilities were endless.

  Or...actually, they were pretty limited, because a quick scan of the pages left her slumped in her chair and pouting at the screen. Dawn Taggert was as pure as the driven snow. Certainly purer than Charlie, just as she’d been asserting, and purer than most of the public. No citations for underage drinking, no speeding tickets. Not even a failure to provide proof of insurance at a traffic stop.

  “Annoying,” she muttered as she read the report more closely.

  Still, there were a few nuggets of information. Her first child had either been conceived before her wedding or been born a few weeks early. “Scandal!” Charlie crowed, desperate for anything.

  More important, though Dawn’s credit was good, there had been ups and downs. Keith’s fortunes hadn’t been a steady climb, apparently. He’d filed for bankruptcy seven years before, and there’d been a few defaulted car payments a year ago, and then a lawsuit filed by some sort of real estate holding company. Charlie would have to look into that.

  She wrote down the dates of the financial problems, then closed the document and hid it in a folder with an innocuous name. Just in case.

  The evidence seemed to indicate that Dawn wasn’t quite as crazy as she seemed. It was a temporary affliction, brought on by...what? Maybe she was just going through the occasional bout of depression and anxiety, like everyone else Charlie knew. Certainly, Dawn wouldn’t be the type willing to go to a therapist and expose her vulnerabilities. She probably thought of that as something “other people” did. Like picking up big cowboys for a friendly sex romp. Or two.

  Oh, well. Her loss.

  Just as Charlie was about to pack up and go, an email from Keith chimed into her box. He needed her expense reports and budget sign-off tonight.

  She glanced at the clock. Almost six. “Crap,” she groaned. She’d taken a full day when she needed to do budget work at her last job, and he wanted this done in a few minutes?

  What the hell was the hurry? If this hadn’t been her first month on the job, she’d just matter-of-factly tell him she couldn’t get it back to him until tomorrow. But it was her first month, and she had to make a good impression.

  Damn it. I’ll be sure to get that to you this evening, she wrote back with a grimace at the clock.

  All she had to do was sign off on it and say yes to the expenses. Keith had told her it was all pretty much automated. She’d known a few managers who did that, but it wasn’t her style.

  A little anxious, she opened up the spreadsheet. The numbers appeared in rows and columns of black and red that meant absolutely nothing without context. Thousands of dollars in hourly and salaried wages. Benefits. Contractor costs. Equipment. Even the cost of office space within the resort itself.

  She clicked on the Wages tab, and it opened to reveal a list of half-blacked-out Social Security numbers with the hourly pay for each employee. None of them made very much, unfortunately. She closed that and opened the Equipment tab.

  “Holy shit.” Was that how much the extra cameras had cost to order and install? No wonder she’d had to exchange half a dozen emails with Keith and the construction manager about it. She closed that tab, too.

  She didn’t bother clicking on the Salaried Employees tab. She was planning to hire an assistant manager before ski season, but for now, Charlie was the only one on salary in her department, and she was more than familiar with the pitifully low total at the end of the column.

  But the whole thing, altogether? It added up to her being in charge of a ridiculous amount of money. Considering how small her security department was, she was shocked, but this was the opening phase. There were start-up costs, and some of those equipment expenses had been accrued before she’d even been hired.

  Shit. She didn’t even have anything to compare this to. Scowling, she fired off another email asking Keith if he had the numbers from the month before, then clicked through the spreadsheet again several times before her computer chimed.

  All expenses for previous months have been included in the development and construction budget.

  Charlie groaned and rubbed both her hands over her face. Maybe it didn’t matter if she was rushed. What the hell could she tell from one month’s worth of expenses anyway?

  She didn’t like it, she didn’t want to be rushed, but the truth was that it had nothing to do with Keith Taggert. She was still shell-shocked from Tahoe, and she’d promised herself that she’d set that aside. She wanted to do her job well, be thorough and not assume that everyone in the world was trying to screw her over.

  Keith was rushing her, but the resort was opening soon. Everything was rushed. She needed to be a big girl about it.

  The bottom line was that the budget seemed to be in the black, and the expense report numbers lined up fairly closely with the budget numbers.

  Two hours later, she’d looked at the expenses up, down and sideways. At least now she could tell herself she was ready for next month.

  Someone passed quickly by her office, and when she glanced up in surprise, Keith Taggert’s head popped into view as he backtracked. “Oh, hi, Charlotte. You’re still here.”

  “I am. Just finishing up the expenses.”

  “Everything look good?”

  “Everything looks great!” she said, adding extra enthusiasm to cover her irritation.

  “Good.” He stood there for a moment while they smiled at each other.

  “Can I help you with anything?”

  “Nope. I was just making the rounds before I leave.”

  “Great. Okay.” She fiddled with the mouse. “I’ll just get this to accounting, then.”

  He waved goodbye and left while Charlie typed up a quick approval of the budget and sent it off. She then printed out the documents, signed them and stuck them in a manila envelope to drop off on her way out.

  At least she had the numbers in her head for the next managers’ meeting. And at least she could go home.

  She’d meant to call her brother and ask if he could meet for dinner, but it was after eight now. Tomorrow maybe. Tonight...God, tonight she wanted to run right home and jump Walker’s bones. She wanted to text him and tell him to strip down and shower up and she’d be right there. But Merry had texted at seven-thirty and proposed pizza and margaritas with a few of the girls, and that was a good thing. After last night’s tension, it was good
to make Walker wait. He could spend his evening wondering if she’d really take him up on that drink.

  Charlie packed up and started making a mental list of margarita makings she’d need to pick up. And then she’d have to find her big pitcher. It was probably still in a box somewhere like half of her other things. And how in the world was she going to find her citrus juicer?

  Charlie had already locked her door and was turning away when her brain ejected a stray thought, nicely packaged and wrapped with a shiny ribbon.

  She froze and frowned down the hallway toward the elevators. Then she swiveled her head and looked toward the surveillance room.

  Where had Keith been heading when he’d passed her office?

  She stood straight and frowned down the hallway. He’d definitely been walking toward the surveillance office, and there wasn’t anything of interest past it. But after he’d spotted Charlie, not only had he stopped, but he’d turned around and walked back in the other direction.

  She walked to the surveillance room and looked in. Most of the monitors were dark and no one was on duty. There was no need to watch the monitors. If someone from the construction crew dared to steal anything, it would be right there on the hard drive in the morning.

  She walked the rest of the hallway, just to be sure she wasn’t forgetting anything, but there was nothing here that should’ve interested the owner of the resort. He’d said he was just making the rounds, but she didn’t remember seeing him down here after hours before.

  Charlie stopped to look at the monitors one last time.

  Was he spying on his wife? Were they playing some sick game of trying to ruin or control each other?

  More important...couldn’t Charlie just get a normal damn job for once?

  “God. I need a drink,” she groaned. Luckily, she knew just where to get one.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “WHO WANTS A margarita?” Charlie shouted over the music blasting from her stereo.

  Four hands went up, just as she’d expected. She passed out glasses to all the women and filled them to the top with homemade deliciousness. “Here’s to girls’ night, ladies!”

  The apartment swelled with the cheers of the women as they all reached to clink glasses.

  Charlie didn’t have to worry about the noise. Merry was her downstairs neighbor and she’d organized it. And if Walker was home, then...well, he could just deal with it. He was used to the screams of all sorts of women, after all.

  “Jenny,” Charlie called, “what time do you have to be at work?”

  “Not until ten! I’ve got an hour!” the bartender answered.

  Rayleen snorted. “Hell, not even then if I say so.”

  Charlie clinked glasses with her. She wasn’t sure why Rayleen scared everyone so much. She seemed sweet as pie to Charlie. A little feisty, sure, but funny as hell. “Thanks again for letting me rent here. I hope I can find some way to repay the favor.”

  “Well, you could start by bringing fewer chickens around this place and a lot more cocks. Where’s all the man meat at this party?”

  Charlie choked on an ice cube.

  Rayleen’s grand-niece Grace patted Charlie on the back. She was a striking woman with wildly cut, bright red hair and watchful eyes that missed nothing. “Sorry. My aunt has that effect on people.”

  “I know,” Charlie said once she could speak again. “She’s awesome.”

  “See?” Rayleen interrupted. “I’m awesome. You can stop calling me a mean bitch behind my back.”

  “Sure. As soon as you stop calling me trash.”

  Charlie’s shoulders tensed in anticipation of the imminent argument. This was obviously some long-simmering tension. But just as she was holding up a hand to stop it, the two women burst into laughter.

  “Charlie,” Grace chuckled, “if you ever hear that people soften with age, I want you to think of my aunt and laugh and laugh.”

  Rayleen elbowed her. “I don’t know what you’re laughing about. You’re a hell of a lot harder than I was at your age. You’re gonna be one cruel witch by the time you get to be this old.”

  “Nah. I’m offsetting my grumpiness by getting laid. Speaking of... Did you call Easy back yet?”

  When Charlie saw Rayleen’s face go pink, she leaned forward in nosy curiosity. “Who’s Easy?”

  “Some beat-up old cowboy,” Rayleen snapped.

  Her niece shook her head. “He is not some old cowboy. Rayleen has a crush on him, and he called to ask her out, but she’s afraid to call him back.”

  “That’s bullpucky! I’m not afraid.”

  “Then why haven’t you called him? You’re half in love with the man.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” she protested, but her cheeks were scarlet now. “You can’t tell if you even like a man before you’ve taken him for half a dozen test drives. Sheesh. Love! What a joke.”

  “Right. So apparently Easy is finally ready for that test drive. And after a year of you teasing him, you’re turning out to be all talk.”

  “I’ll call him when I’m good and ready!” she snapped, waving an irritated hand as she rose to head for the kitchen.

  Grace rolled her eyes at Charlie. “She’s scared.”

  “I think it’s sweet.”

  “She’s been teasing poor Easy mercilessly about how he’s too old to take her on, and he finally called her up and asked her to go to the movies. That was almost a week ago. She hasn’t called back.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  Grace winked as she pulled out her cell phone. “My boyfriend and I live in a little ranch house next to Easy. I’m going to text Easy and rat Rayleen out. He was planning to come to the saloon tonight and force an answer out of her.”

  “But she’s so nervous.”

  “Good.” Grinning, Grace typed away on her phone. “It’s because he means something to her. Not very many people mean anything to her. Not very many people put up with her. So I’ll be damned—” she typed a few more letters and hit Send with a triumphant gesture “—if I’ll let her fear keep her alone any longer.”

  “Won’t she be mad?”

  “She’s always mad. At least this mad could turn into something much, much happier.”

  Poor Rayleen. Charlie felt anxious about the whole thing and it had nothing to do with her love life. Grace’s phone dinged.

  “What did he say?” Charlie asked when Grace grinned.

  “He’s at the saloon, so he’ll be here in just a few seconds. She won’t have time to escape.”

  Charlie drank the rest of her margarita to calm her nerves. She wasn’t cut out for springing dates on the elderly, it seemed.

  Poor Rayleen was just over there minding her own business and in a few minutes... Or actually, she wasn’t minding her own business, she was scowling into Charlie’s fridge as she pushed things around on the shelves. “Ever think of buying some real food?” she yelled. “Maybe if you cooked once in a while, you could lure some men in here instead of all these women!”

  “I have other ways to lure!” Charlie yelled back.

  She thought Rayleen muttered something about skinny jeans and whore shoes, but she couldn’t be sure over the music.

  “See?” Grace said. “She needs a better way to spend her time than nosing through your fridge and shouting insults.”

  “She’s fine. I think she’s cute.”

  “Cute,” Grace snorted, but there was no missing the indulgent smile on her face.

  A hard knock on the door cut through the music.

  Jenny hooted. “Did someone order a stripper?” She danced over to the door and flung it open. A white-haired man stood there with his cowboy hat clasped to his chest and a bouquet of flowers in the other hand. “Easy!” she said.

  “Evening, Jenny. I’m looking for Rayleen.”

  All eyes turned toward the kitchen. Rayleen was frozen in the open door of the fridge, a bottle of olives clutched in her hand, her jaw dropped in shock.

  The old cowboy stepped i
nside with a tip of his head toward the whole room. “Ladies,” he said politely, but his eyes went straight to Rayleen. “Miss Rayleen, I believe we have a movie to see tonight.”

  Her grip tightened on the olives, and for a moment, Charlie expected the jar to fly straight at Easy’s head.

  “It starts in thirty minutes,” he added. “And it’s the last showing of the night.”

  All the pink had left Rayleen’s face. Just as Charlie started to worry she was going to pass out, the color returned to her cheeks with a vengeance. “Damn it, Easy. I never said I’d go to the movies with you.”

  “No, but you will.”

  She didn’t move or respond. Charlie considered her poor perishables for a brief second, then decided this whole situation was much more delicious than yogurt.

  Easy nodded as if something had been decided. He put his hat on his head and walked across the room to the kitchen. “Woman, you’ve been daring me to try something for over a year. If you didn’t want to draw my attention, you shouldn’t have waved your red cape every damn time I saw you. We’re going to the movies. Here are your flowers. Say good-night to your friends. I might not have you back before morning.”

  Charlie actually gasped, but everyone else just snickered. And then Jenny started to clap.

  “You tell her, Easy!” Grace called out over the friendly applause.

  Rayleen looked at the room as if an elephant had just dropped from the sky. Her expression made clear that no one had ever spoken to her like that.

  It took a few heartbeats, but she finally recovered and snatched the flowers from Easy’s hand. Her chin inched up. “Fine,” she snapped, taking the arm he offered.

  For all his big talk, Easy slumped a little in relief.

  “But,” Rayleen added, “let’s not pretend a man your age can even hold a conversation all night long, much less take on a woman like me in bed.”

  Easy rolled his eyes and walked her to the door. “We’ll see who cries uncle first.”