Chapter 11
INDYA
“Expect to hear from my lawyer,” Jonathan Lee said, his voice so loud I had to pull the phone from my ear.
“You can give him this number. Goodbye, Mr. Lee.”
Hanging up was pointless. He’d already ended the call.
“Shit.” With my elbows braced on my desk, I dropped my head into my hands and groaned.
So much for a productive, quiet Sunday morning in my office to catch up on emails. Not only had I been taking calls since six, but I couldn’t focus to save my life. Every ten seconds, my mind kept wandering back to West.
What the hell had I been thinking kissing him last night? As if things between us weren’t complicated enough. Maybe if I pretended like it hadn’t happened, he’d go along with it too.
I was blaming my complete lack of common sense on exhaustion and shock. West had woken me up from a dead sleep to drop the news about Jonathan. Then he’d touched my arm, and it was like we’d been tossed into the past.
Back to the times when I’d wanted nothing more than a touch from West. When I would have given anything for just one more kiss.
So I’d let him kiss me. And God, it was good. I’d forgotten just how good it felt to be kissed by a man who knew how to use his tongue.
West tasted the same. Spicy and masculine with a hint of wintergreen mint. Did he still carry Altoids in his truck console? I couldn’t eat an Altoid without thinking of West and a beat-up old truck.
What would have happened if I hadn’t stopped us? Would he have fucked me on that new couch in the Beartooth?
Probably. And I probably would have let him.
But my brain had engaged for a split second, long enough for me to slam on the brakes. And because I clearly couldn’t be trusted around West, I’d slammed the door in his face and bolted the lock.
What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I resist that man? The last thing I needed was a messy affair with West Haven—my personal life was already in shambles.
There could be no more kissing. I was here to do a job for Dad; then I’d move on. And I wouldn’t be returning to Texas. It wasn’t home, not anymore. Maybe I’d move to California next. Or New York. Or Paris.
Not that I loved Paris, but at least Mom would visit me often.
And I was guaranteed never to see West Haven.
But dreams of running away to France would have to wait. I was swamped. A slew of guests were leaving today, and a pile were arriving tomorrow. The housekeeping staff could use a hand, and I had two to spare. So as soon as rooms started being vacated, I’d pitch in.
But first, I called my lawyer and left a long message about Jonathan Lee. The idiot hadn’t read the contract in detail. Part of our general terms was a probationary period, exactly like the one I’d put into place with employees.
Jonathan would be paid for his time thus far, but not a chance I wanted him around this ranch. I hadn’t seen or spoken to West’s mother in years, but I wouldn’t have a man who made Lily uncomfortable on this property.
I pulled up Dad’s contact, about to unload my stresses to him, but nearly dropped my phone when West strode through my office door.
It was the first time he’d crossed the threshold. Usually, he just
glared at me from the hallway.
“Nice chair.”
“Um, thanks?” My replacement had finally arrived. My lower back was rejoicing.
He plopped into a folding chair, crossing his arms across his chest.
Then in true West fashion, he stayed silent and stared.
“Did you need something?” Please, please don’t bring up the kiss.
“Thought we should talk.”
Ugh. “Fine.”
“You hired Jonathan Lee.”
“Um, yes. We covered that topic last night.” Before he kissed me.
Before I kissed him back. “I also fired Jonathan Lee.”
“After I fired him.”
“Can you really fire someone when they don’t work for you?”
One corner of that delicious, talented mouth turned up.
He had this way of kissing hard and soft at the same time. Firm but gentle. It was the strangest conundrum that I never had figured out. No other man I’d kissed could do it either. Only West.
“Indya.”
I blinked. Shit. I’d been staring at his lips. “West.”
“Jonathan Lee. He’s a bastard.”
“Hence why he’s been fired and is now threatening to sue me. Tell me something I don’t know.”
“You don’t know the people in this community.”
“Actually, I did know that.” Still, it prickled to have it hurled at me like an accusation. “Your point?”
“The point is I can’t blame you for hiring Jonathan Lee when I wasn’t around to offer background information.”
“Oh.” Not at all what I’d expected him to say.
He blew out a deep breath, shifting forward to lean his elbows to his knees. No cowboy hat today. Just that dusty green baseball hat with the CMC brand and a brim bent down into a perfect U shape.
West had always looked sexy in a hat. Any hat. But I liked the baseball hat a lot.
He’d shaved today. The stubble that had scraped against my mouth last night was gone. It had been a long time since I’d kissed a clean- shaven West. I couldn’t remember it well enough to judge which version I liked better.
And I would not, under any circumstances, let myself find out. The kissing was over. Done. Never ever again.
Damn it, I wanted him to kiss me. Right now. On this desk. I wanted him to haul me out of my new chair and devour me whole.
I focused on an invisible spot on the desk, glad it was between us.
Then I crossed my legs, doing my best to block out the pulse blooming in my core.
“I don’t know where to go from here.” He spoke in a voice so low it made me hold my breath so I wouldn’t miss what he said next. “I never
thought this would happen.”
It shouldn’t have happened.
That statement was on the tip of my tongue, but I held it back.
It wasn’t West’s fault. During the negotiations, Curtis had made it abundantly clear that this was his ranch. His resort. He was making the decisions for his family.
He’d always shoved West out, long before the decline of the business. Maybe if he had taken West’s input, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.
The trouble had started after they’d bought that neighboring property. Curtis should have known better. Had West agreed? Or had he tried to convince his father otherwise?
“I can see the questions spinning in your head, Indya. Go ahead.
Ask.”
Oh, I had questions. Lots and lots of questions, most about the logistics I was struggling to figure out on my own. West could probably answer them in less than two minutes.
How many guests can go on an excursion at one time?
Do you have a fly-fishing guide anymore?
What paperwork do guests need to go hunting in the fall?
Except they weren’t what came from my mouth.
“Why did you buy the neighboring ranch?”
West’s face hardened, his jaw clenching. I regretted the question immediately. “Land is the one thing they aren’t making any more of.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“Reason enough.”
End of discussion. I held up my hands. “Okay.”
“Did Jax turn in his paperwork?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I assume you encouraged that, so thanks.”
“Welcome. He hasn’t been around as long, but he can answer your questions too. Tara’s a great resource. So is Wyatt. And I’ll help, where I can.”
Could we work together? With all our history, could we survive it?
“I’d appreciate your input on a few things with the resort.”
“Shoot.”
Before I could start through my litany of questions, my phone rang.
Mom’s name flashed on the screen.
“We’ll talk later.” West stood, and before I could stop him, he walked out of the office.
When the sound of his footsteps faded, I sagged in my chair and sighed, declining Mom’s call. I’d catch her later when my heart wasn’t racing.
Well, at least he hadn’t brought up the kiss. He probably regretted it. Did I regret it? Maybe. No, not really.
It had felt nice to be kissed.
I missed being kissed.
A yawn tugged at my mouth. The idea of sitting here for another moment, even in my new, comfortable chair, made my skin crawl.
Coffee. I needed more coffee. Then maybe I’d go through the website mock-up my graphic designer had sent over this morning.
We’d gone for vintage-style branding, inspired by old rodeo posters and Western art. It was impossible not to love.
I headed for the lobby, too tired to deal with the kitchen staff today.
Every time I walked into Reid’s space, I felt like I was going to war.
Instead, I’d raid the coffeepots set out for guests. Maybe visit with Marie, the weekend and evening desk clerk.
At the moment, she seemed to be my only ally.
Marie was a senior in high school and working here for the summer until she went to college this fall. Of all the employees, Marie was my favorite. Mostly because she smiled a real smile when I came into a
room.
I missed real smiles.
But as I walked down the hall, voices caught my ear from the lobby.
“I’m quitting.”
I froze. Who was quitting? Marie? No, not Marie.
“Deb,” West warned.
Oh, thank God. Marie wasn’t quitting. Wait. Why was Deb here? It was her day off.
“Don’t do anything impulsive,” West told her.
“She took away my lunch break.”
Excuse me? No, I didn’t take away her lunch break. I told her she had one hour, not two.
“Take it up with Indya,” he said. “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”
“Whatever,” Deb muttered. “Vanessa was just looking for you.”
Vanessa. As in West’s teenage girlfriend who he had been kissing at fifteen, Vanessa?
A surge of old memories, of feelings I hadn’t been old enough to understand, swelled so fast they made me dizzy.
“Okay. I’ll go find her,” West said. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“I ran out of eggs at home. I came to steal a few for breakfast.”
“What?” He huffed. “No. Go to the store.”
“What do you care? It’s not like you had to buy them.”
“I don’t give a damn who pays for the food around here. If you’re not on shift, it’s not for you. Understood?”
“God, you’re grumpy.”
“Go home.” The lodge door opened and, a moment later, slammed
closed.
“Do you think he’s fucking her?”
I cringed. A guest could have heard Deb’s question.
“Who?” Marie asked.
“Indya. Ron said that when he went over to take her dinner Friday night, West was there.”
Was that why I’d gone to bed hungry? So Ron could gossip with Deb?
“Oh, um . . . I don’t know,” Marie muttered. “I’m just minding my own business.”
“You’re so lucky you get to quit soon,” Deb whined.
“I know. I kind of hate this job,” Marie said.
Ouch. Maybe it had nothing to do with me. But still, it hurt.
“Okay, I’m going to go get some eggs and go home,” Deb said.
“But West said—”
“West isn’t here, is he? And besides, he doesn’t really care. It’s just a few eggs.”
Fired. Deb was getting fired. Fuck. Except I wasn’t ready to fire her yet. I didn’t have a backup plan. If I could just tolerate her for a couple more weeks, then I could let her go.
She breezed through the lobby for the dining room, oblivious to me in the hallway.
I gave my heart a few moments to recover; then I squared my shoulders and went to the lobby. “Hey, Marie.”
“Hi, Miss Keller.” She smiled. It wasn’t as real as it had been before. Or maybe it had never been real. Maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see and not what was actually there.
I went to the coffee station, then filled up a white ceramic mug and carried it with me to the dining room. If I was going to have a rough day, I might as well tackle all my headaches.
Time for war.
The moment I entered the kitchen through the swinging door, Deb came out of the walk-in refrigerator with a carton of eggs.
I arched an eyebrow as I sipped my coffee.
“Oh, I, was, um . . .”
“Leaving,” I finished for her. Before I caved and fired her today.
“For the grocery store. You’re out of eggs at home.”
She gulped, her eyes flaring with panic.
Reid, who stood beside the sink wearing a white chef’s coat and a green bandanna over his auburn hair, chuckled as she set the eggs on the stainless steel prep table and scurried away.
“She thinks she owns the place,” he said when Deb was gone.
“She doesn’t. But I do.” I nodded to the piece of paper on the counter at his side. “Is that my new menu?”
He plucked up the sheet and handed it over.
“Thank you.” I took it from him, quickly scanning the updates.
Curried cauliflower-quinoa salad. Creamy goat cheese polenta with ratatouille. Sesame-garlic ramen noodles. My stomach growled. “These sound delicious.”
“Just because I don’t want to cook vegetarian options doesn’t mean
I can’t.”
“I’m looking forward to trying them.”
“I’ll get what I need ordered this week. New menu starting the following.”
“Excellent.” I set the menu on the table beside the eggs and left the kitchen, drawing in the scents of bacon, hash browns, and pancakes from this morning’s buffet in the dining room.
My mouth watered, but rather than snag a plate, I retreated to my office for my purse and keys.
Deb wasn’t the only one who needed to hit the grocery store.
“I’ll be back in a bit,” I told Marie after downing my coffee and putting the cup in the bin for the dishwasher.
“Okay.” She waved. “See ya.”
I was digging my sunglasses from my purse as I walked outside, glancing up before I reached the stairs.
In the grass, on their way to the barn, walking side by side, were West and Vanessa.
The déjà vu hit so hard that I tripped on the top step. My hand shot out to grip the railing before I stumbled.
It was the same. It was almost exactly the same. All that was missing was my short hair and neon-green tee.
Vanessa’s hair was the same strawberry blonde from her youth. It was curled in long waves that cascaded down her spine. She nudged her shoulder against West’s, looking up at him with a smile.
He smiled back.
A real smile.
She said something that made him laugh. A deep, booming laugh that I hadn’t heard in a long, long time. He was still laughing as he tossed an arm around her shoulders to bring her into his side.
Maybe they were just friends. Or maybe they were together—he probably shouldn’t have kissed me if that was the case.
Even if they weren’t a couple, there was affection there. Affection that could turn into love. My stomach dropped so fast I almost threw up my coffee.
What happened if he fell in love this year? Either with his childhood sweetheart or someone else?
I’d be here to watch. I’d be forced to watch.
It would break my heart.
As West and Vanessa walked away, talking comfortably, his arm still around her shoulders, the reality of our relationship hit me so hard I
couldn’t breathe.
He had a life. This was his life.
And I was not a part of it. I had never been a part of it.
West had always meant more to me than I did to him. The relationship between us was . . . nothing. We had no relationship.
As a kid, I’d built it up to be something more in my head. But we
were nothing.
Nothing.
Why the fuck was I in Montana?
For Dad. I was here to do a job for Dad. That was the only thing keeping me going. That was the only reason to stay.
I walked to my car on wobbling legs and hopped inside, then drove off the ranch.
The minute I hit the highway, I could breathe for the first time in weeks.
Part of me wanted to just keep going. It would be so easy to just keep driving.
But I went to the grocery store. I bought food for my cabin. And when I made it back to the ranch, West and Vanessa were gone.
Maybe they’d sneaked off to kiss in the barn.
It didn’t matter. I was here to do a job.
So I went inside and got to work. The sooner the Haven River Ranch was fully functioning, the sooner I could leave this place.
And never look back.
