by Roze, Robyn
“Mr. Feel-My-Weiner-Schnitzel?” Kat snorted. “Hated dancing with that kid. I always risked a wet spot on the front of his bespoke pants if he got the chance to rub against me.”
Cassie chuckled. “Well, you managed to get unpaired from him as I recall.”
“Yeah, and Mrs. Stick-Up-the-Ass deserved the humiliation too. She refused to listen when I told her to put me with someone else.”
“I’m pretty sure telling Mrs. Castagnola instead of asking had a bearing on her decision. Manners 101.”
“Whatever. It was her fault I had to yell in front of everyone that I was tired of him pinching my ass and rubbing his slimy junk all over me.”
The friends belly laughed at the memory until their sides hurt and then blotted away their happy tears. After last night and then the run-in with Charlie, Kat had needed a good gut buster.
“At least no one ended up with a broken finger,” Cassie said.
“Oh, please, Charlie is just fine, and he deserved it. I’ve had it with his self-righteous act. He constantly cheats on his wife and runs a company that intentionally pollutes the environment. He’s in no position to judge me.”
“You’re really going to go after them, aren’t you?” Cassie asked.
“Wouldn’t you? Look at what we’ve built, Cass. We develop a product that’s environmentally safe. A product that makes an industry that’s already dirty, a little bit cleaner, because that was important to both of us.” She pointed to the images on her laptop screen. “Doesn’t this make you sick? It does me.”
“Of course, it does, Kat. I just want you to think it through, that’s all. You’re an outsider on this even though it’s your family. As it stands, you’re David going after Goliath.”
“And if I remember anything from my compulsory Sunday school days, David won.”
Cassie grinned and nodded at her relentless friend.
“So when am I getting a proper apology from Mr. Williams?”
“What do you mean?”
“For his behavior the last time he was here.” Cassie’s arm swept in a dramatic gesture. “You may have been the one who shattered the glass across the hall, but he was to blame. I think he owes me a lunch before he takes my best friend away. Probably never to be seen or heard from again once she knows what fresh air really smells like.” A grin danced on Cassie’s lips. “But I’m sure those Barney’s sales will help you find your way home.” A wet sheen glossed her eyes. “I’ll miss you. It won’t be the same without you here.”
“I’m only going for a visit, Cass. I don’t know where this thing with Tucker is headed, but I will be back.”
Cassie didn’t look convinced.
“He’s good for you, Kat. I can’t believe I’m even saying that considering how it all started. But you’re different now. Calmer. You laugh more, smile more, like you did when we were younger. And the look on your face when you talk about him, I’ve never seen that before from you, not in any of your other relationships. Even with Grant—when he seemed like the perfect man for you.”
Kat stretched her neck, rolled away the tension of the afternoon. “He has thrown me off a bit. He’s definitely not like any man I’ve ever been with. I’m not thinking too far ahead on this, Cass. I just want to have fun, enjoy myself for however long this lasts.”
Cassie’s pen tapped against her chin. “Oh, that is definitely the new and improved Kat James talking.” She bent forward. “And I like her—just so you know.”
“Yeah, she’s growing on me too.”
****
Kat observed the blinking light on the airplane wing, then pulled back to her reflection in the window. Her eyes traced the upward curve of her mouth; it seemed permanently affixed these days. The man squeezed into the seat next to her was fully to blame. The mere thought of him broadened her smile even further.
Whenever she analyzed Tucker and their relationship, looked for the reasons why it could never work, the sheer simplicity and relaxed nature of their give and take always smacked her between the eyes. Made her rethink long-held beliefs about jockeying for position, her need to be in charge, her unwillingness to change in order to appease a man. With Tucker, she headed down a new path, a land foreign to her. A course with enough space for both of them. The notion baffled her.
Could a relationship with a man really be this simple? This easy?
A strong hand grasped hers and the unhurried cadence she’d come to crave murmured in her ear. “Not too much longer now.” His fingers fluttered against her cheek. “Can’t wait to roll around with you in my big bed.”
A knowing grin drew across her face. “Yes, I know you’ve felt cramped in my apartment.”
“Oh, I’m not complainin’, darlin’. It’s harder for you to get away in tight quarters.” He nuzzled next to her ear, his hot breath like a feather against her skin. “Not that I’d ever let you get far.” He angled her face, tipped her chin up, and planted a deep kiss on her that made her toes curl. The man knew how to kiss. The best she’d ever had.
His soft lips lifted from hers. “Now I don’t want you worrying about this business with your family, Kat. You need some down time, just a few days, then we’ll compare notes. Okay?”
Such a hard man to refuse. “You’ll show me yours, if I show you mine?” Kat asked, her voice a sexy invitation.
Tucker’s thumb dragged across her bottom lip. “Somethin’ like that.” He kissed her again. “I just want you to unwind, slow down, and get the lay of the land first before you take down your brothers.”
Kat dismissed him with a wave. “I’m not trying to take anyone down, Tucker. I just want answers, and I want them to clean up whatever messes they’ve made—literally—that’s all.”
“Oh, that’s all, huh?” Tucker shook his head as if she were a naïve child about to experience a rude awakening. He settled back in his seat, closed his eyes, and spread his wide hands on his outstretched legs. “You’re in for a long haul, sweetheart. Get ready for lots of closed doors, zipped lips, unanswered calls, and a whole lotta pushback.”
Kat’s eyes swept over his fine, fit form wedged into his first-class seat, his long legs angled out into the aisle. The sight was laughable.
If his remark had been intended to dissuade her, he had another thing coming. In the past, whenever she’d been told she couldn’t or shouldn’t do something, or her personal favorite—it wasn’t ladylike—guess what she always did? Call her response a character flaw, obstinacy, bullheadedness, whatever. She’d always been a smart girl. Kat James hadn’t made it to this point in her life by adhering to the marginalizing opinions of others. And she sure as hell wasn’t going to start now.
Besides, she had an ace in the hole on this one: Kyle. He still hadn’t returned her calls. He was supposedly out of town again. But she’d get him to open up. It might take some extra effort, but she could convince him to do the right thing. And then she would take care of the rest.
At which point she would gladly hold her other brothers’ feet to the fire.
****
The drive to Tucker’s ranch filled Kat with anxiety. The property lay about forty miles northwest of the Helena Regional Airport. Night hadn’t fallen yet; the vastness of the open land and the Elkhorn Mountains rising in the distance with their snowcapped peaks sprawled before her undeterred. Tucker’s chattiness at the airport while they’d waited for their luggage to unload had dialed down to only sporadic interjections of points of interest, local history, or some funny personal story.
Kat appreciated him giving her time to quietly soak in the staggering change of scenery; it was a lot to absorb right up front. And had he known of the swirl of emotions and concerns whipsawing her as she surveyed the wide-open landscape sliding by, he most likely would’ve been surprised, disappointed, or even worse—hurt.
The big city girl who had only ever traveled to other highly populated destinations and luxury resorts had not been prepared for mile after mile of emptiness. This landscape came straight from a dy
stopian movie where humans had died off, except for the two currently riding in this dust-covered truck seeking out some pocket of life they’d contacted on their static-filled radio. She already felt out of place, and out of sorts. Pictures on Google Earth hadn’t prepared her for the harsh reality of being dropped down into no man’s land. No stores in sight. No restaurants. No clubs. No coffee shops around the corner. No blaring horns or sirens. No monolithic herds of pedestrians shuffling along endless sidewalks.
Tucker had probably thought she’d feel free for the first time in her life, able to breathe without bumping the person next to her. But in truth, she found the open space acutely suffocating.
How crazy was that?
A dull ache settled behind her eyes and nagging worry squeezed her chest. This was a mistake. She’d never make it here as long as Tucker had lasted in New York. No way. Just simple things like needing a bottle of her favorite shampoo or wanting a late-night chili cheese dog would require planning and advanced notice. Hell, there wouldn’t even be any place to get a late-night chili cheese dog around here. When she craved a caramel macchiato, she couldn’t grab her Starbucks card and make the two-minute walk to get her fix. No, she would be completely isolated from everything and everyone she’d ever been connected to, everything she’d ever known.
Everything that gave her a sense of control over her life.
She white-knuckled the leather padded handgrip on her door, gritted her teeth, and used all her mental fortitude to restrain the demand blaring in her head to tell Tucker to turn his big-ass truck around and take her back to the airport, right now.
Tucker pried open her fist, slid his warm hand around hers, and gently swept his thumb over her knuckles. “Breathe, Kat.” His tone was understanding and nonjudgmental.
She gulped in air, not realizing she’d been holding her breath.
Tucker braked, shifted the truck into park, and pushed the steering column back out of the way. Then he reached across the console and easily lifted Kat over, even against her protests. Now she straddled his lap.
“Tucker, you can’t just stop in the middle of a road.”
“Really? Look around. Think I’m in anybody’s way out here? Any chance of even bein’ in anybody’s way out here?” One corner of his mouth lifted.
Kat giggled nervously at her absurd comment. “I’m sorry, Tucker. I—”
His finger pressed against her lips, then his thumb brushed softly across them.
“Don’t say that. This is a big change for you, I know that. It’s not what you’re used to. I’m the only person you know here and it’s in the middle of nowhere with none of the stuff you’re used to havin’ at your fingertips. It takes some time to adjust to that. Trust me; I know how you’re feelin’.”
The story he’d told her about John Diamond bringing him here from Houston when he was just a boy, after money had exchanged hands with his mother, played in her head. A mother who had died years later of an overdose, leaving two sons, Tucker’s half-brothers, to bounce around in the foster care system.
Shame washed over her, exposed her self-centeredness. She would only be sacrificing her amenities temporarily while forgetting the permanent life change he’d survived long ago.
“I hope you’ll decide to stay for a while, Kat.” He stroked her cheek. “But if it only ends up bein’ a few days, well, that’s okay. We’ll figure somethin’ out.” His hands circled around her waist. “You can relax. You haven’t been roped into anything you can’t get out of whenever you want. Okay?” He looked hopefully at her.
And just like that, the barbed stress gripping her in sharp doubt released and faded away. The illusory logic of their tenuous relationship having a snowball’s chance in hell took a much-needed hiatus. And with unexpected, overwhelming emotion flooding her, no logic in sight for miles, Kat’s lips landed on his with an intense and desperate need to connect with him.
Their limbs tangled. Their frantic breaths laced with needy moans and curses. Highly charged bodies unable to squeeze close enough left them both feeling like frustrated, horny teenagers with no other option but to fog up the truck windows while sitting parked on a lonely, open road.
Tucker fisted his hand in her hair and pulled her fiery lips from his skin, her eyes now drunk with desire. “I need to get you home.” His voice was rough, dangerous.
She dipped forward. Her tongue teased a trail along his throat, then her teeth tugged at his ear. “I want to roll around every fucking square inch of your bed. So you’d better get this big-ass truck in gear, cowboy, or I’m pulling you in the back seat and putting your crew cab to good use.
“Don’t need to tell me twice, sweetheart.”
With Kat grinding against him, Tucker set them in motion, headed straight for his big bed with their names on it.
He watched from a distance, followed her every move, soaked in the view of her in his home, his world. He worked to reconcile the fantasy with the reality, the fantasies he’d had of this exact moment. He hadn’t been altogether sure they’d make it home tonight without ending up naked alongside the road somewhere, let alone that she would’ve agreed a few short days ago to come here at all.
He recalled the way her expression changed as she’d crossed the threshold into his home. How her eyes had shifted from him to the wide-open space and expanse of windows overlooking the Elkhorn mountain range. She’d moved to her present spot as if she’d been pulled by some invisible tether. She stood with her back to him, silently taking in the sweeping panoramic nightscape before her.
He edged up behind her, saw her awed reflection in the glass.
“What do you think?” Her answer mattered more to him right now than almost anything else. At first, he wasn’t sure she’d even heard him. Then her head swiveled slowly and her mouth opened, but no words came out.
When her voice returned, reverence marked the tone. “I’ve never seen anything like it, Tucker.” She scanned the night sky. “I mean, of course, I knew there were a lot of stars up there, but …” She shook her head in disbelief and pressed her palm against the window. “I had no idea that’s how it would look, how it should look. I had no idea what I was missing.”
He inched closer, dropped his head nearer to hers. “Does it make you feel small?”
Without hesitation, she answered. “No. It makes me feel privileged. Lucky to be here, able to see it at all. I feel like it could swallow me whole and I wouldn’t even care. I’d welcome it.”
His eyes slammed shut as he absorbed the echoes of his past, familiar in her awed words. He snaked his arms around her waist and tucked her against him, inhaling her scent and then opened his eyes to the star-filled sky.
“When John brought me here, I don’t mind tellin’ you I was scared shitless. He yanked me away from everything I’d ever known. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was no Leave It to Beaver kinda life. We moved constantly and my mom and—” he stopped abruptly, “the man I thought was my dad fought like wild animals most nights, ignored me most days. But it was all I knew, so it didn’t bother me much.
“But John Diamond scared the hell out of me. He was tall, mean-lookin’, and short on manners. I knew right away not to act scared, not to even look it. Somethin’ told me he hated weakness, and the last place I wanted to be was on his bad side.” He paused, tugged Kat closer, relished the feel of her hands as they skimmed along his arms. Her head dropped back against his chest.
“My first night at his house he took me directly up to my room, didn’t introduce me to anybody. He said it was too late. They’d all be asleep. He shut my door and I just stood in the middle of the room not able to move, not knowin’ what to do, feelin’ lost and outta control.
“Then I happened to look out a window. I don’t know how I’d missed it on the drive, but somehow I did. I couldn’t believe my eyes, couldn’t believe it was real. I remember blinkin’ and rubbin’ at my eyes a bunch and then the next thing I knew, I was on a deck outside. I laid down on my back and just stared all night
up at those lights in the sky. I was determined to count every last one of ’em.
“Lookin’ up at that sky made me feel like I wanted to be swallowed whole too.” He kissed her temple, nuzzled closer. “It also felt like home. Like I was part of all that, and it was all part of me, always had been. I just didn’t know it.” His finger skimmed along the side of her face, her eyes now angled up and focused intently on him. “It didn’t make me feel small, either. It made me feel bigger, stronger. From that point on, I wasn’t scared anymore. Somehow I just knew everything would be okay.” He looked out over the sparkling panorama. “How could I be a part of something like that and ever be scared of anything again?”
Kat turned in his arms and faced him. “You must’ve really missed this while you were in New York.”
His face clouded over. “I missed you a whole helluva lot more, Kathryn James.”
She shivered in his arms from the seductive rumble of her given name rolling off his lips. “You didn’t really know me back then. How could you have missed me so much?”
“You make quite an impression, sweetheart.”
“Like a force of nature.” She chuckled at her father’s description of her.
“Yeah, just like that. Just like the first night when I looked up at all those lights, I knew nothin’ in my world would ever be the same again.”
Kat gasped, her eyes searching his. Then her expression changed to pure determination. “I’ll be just fine here, Tucker. I’m sure I’ll make it more than a few days. Hell, you could end up being sorry you gave me an open-ended invitation.”
“Not gonna happen, darlin’.” His lips brushed across hers as his hands skimmed and squeezed her curves. “Now, there’s a really big bed upstairs callin’ your name, and I’m dyin’ to roll all over every square inch of it with you—under the stars.”
“You have a retractable roof?”