Open Life (Open Skies #5) (3 page)

“OK.” Dillon sighed. “So I’ll tell them we’ll keep them informed and I’ll start heading back in a few minutes.”

“Nope,” King said. “You’ve missed my point.”

“What’s your point?” Dillon ran his hand over his chin.

“That
you
stay and watch Maria’s back.”

“
Me
?” Dillon almost fell off the chair. “Aw, no… hang on a second…”

“Why not?” Now Jax was in on it, the bastard. “You’re trained, you’re qualified, you’re already there.”

“I bounce for you, Jax, and that’s it. I don’t
do
bodyguard shit. Not anymore.”

“Well, now you do.” King’s no-nonsense tone made Dillon’s heart sink. “Effective immediately, you stay put at Open Skies until we can get things under control over here.”

“But – what if they tell me to take a hike?”

“Then you sit outside the hotel on some public road and you keep an eye open.”

“Wait.” This was spiralling in to a disaster zone fast. “You expect me to sit in my truck and just watch the hotel? Maybe for weeks?”

“Yep. If anything happened, you’d be right there as back-up.”

“Yeah,” Dillon said reluctantly. “But –”

“But nothing,” Jax said. “I’ll be paying you double your usual salary and I’ll cover all your expenses, OK? I’ll send you an advance to your bank account right now, to cover any immediate costs. Get receipts for everything.”

“But –”

“No, this is what we’ll do, at least for a few days.” King again. “We’ll talk about it again on Friday, see how things are going. I want to talk to you every day until then, just to have you check in and to pass on any info from our end.”

“But –”

“Nuh-uh, Saunders. This is our final word. Go on and tell them and let us know what they say.”

The call ended and Dillon was listening to dead air. He stared at the phone in his hand, shocked and a bit confused.

What the actual fuck just happened?

Well, he couldn’t sit there all day with his jaw on the floor. With a groan, he dragged himself to his feet and went back in to the restaurant. A few guests had shown up in the meantime and they gave him startled, wary looks, which Dillon was well used to. He knew that he was an intimidating bastard – from his physique to his scowl. That was how he liked it, just fine.

He sat down again. “OK. Change of plan.”

“Oh, yes?” Julie was polite. “And what’s that?”

“I’ll be taking bodyguard duty, so don’t bother hiring one of Foreman’s staff.”

Despite his annoyance at the situation, Dillon couldn’t help but enjoy their reactions: ‘shock and awe’ didn’t even begin to describe it. He took a sip of his lukewarm coffee and calmly watched them recover enough to speak.

“No!” Maria managed at last. “No way!”

“Yes way,” he said. “You’d better get used to seeing my face, ‘cause it ain’t going anywhere.”

“And if I say get the hell off my property?” Julie asked between gritted teeth.

Dillon shrugged. “Then I go and sit out on the public road and watch things from there. You hiring someone from Foreman won’t change that fact. You can have me up here at Open Skies protecting Maria or you can have me out on the road playing stalker – but either way, you’re stuck with me until I get word from Denver that the coast is clear and Maria’s safe. Your choice, folks.”

“You qualified?” Jake asked him. “You trained?”

“Yep. I was a SEAL for six years and when I finished my last tour in Iraq, I got work as a bodyguard. I worked for Dallas Foreman for almost two years, actually, so feel free to call him for a reference.”

“Why’d you quit?” Julie asked.

“Got shot on duty, decided that I needed a break from the psycho ex-husband stalkers.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Dillon shrugged. “No biggie. The point is that I’m
more
than qualified to assess risks and read people and take care of any trouble that comes up.”

“You have a gun?” Maria said quietly.

“Always.”

They stared at him some more, then they stared at each other.

“Maria?” Jake asked. “What do you think?”

“I – I –” She felt tears starting now. “I don’t know. It’s all just a bit much, you know?”

“Look.” Dillon was amazingly gentle all of a sudden. “I get that. I really do and I’m sorry that I showed up and brought all this shit in to your life, Maria. You’ve done nothing to deserve it and that sucks. But my
only
priority right now is keeping you safe and I’ll do whatever I can and what you allow me to do to make that happen.” His eyes were bright in his tough, handsome face. “So, you tell me: what’s it gonna be? Am I parking my truck outside the gate or am I staying up here with you?”

“I…” She cleared her throat. “Where would you stay? Like – at night?” She blushed furiously at the question, but she had to know.

“Julie said something about staff quarters. You got enough room for me in them?”

“There’s Vicky’s old apartment,” Julie said. “It’s stood vacant since she and Sonia moved in with Phil. It’s got two bedrooms.”

“We could stay there?” Dillon said.

“Yes. It’s got a kitchen, living room area and two bathrooms and it’s just down the hall from Mattie’s apartment.” She smiled. “No charge for you two.”

“Separate entrance?”

“Yes. The staff quarters are around the back of this building and you need a code to get in to them. They can’t be accessed from the lobby or offices, either.”

“Good.” He turned back to Maria. “OK, so. I’d be in the same space, but you’d have your own bedroom. What else do you need to know?”

“You’d follow me everywhere? You’d hang around while I worked Reception? You’d watch me eat lunch? You’d – you’d always be there?”

“Yep. That’s how this works. You get on with your life and I just go with the flow.”

Maria relaxed a bit. “Oh. Well… OK, then. I guess.”

“Yeah?” Jake said. “You sure?”

“Yes. I mean – yes. I’m not thrilled, but if it’s not Dillon following me around, then it’ll be someone from Dallas Foreman’s firm, right?”

They all nodded.

“At least Dillon knows Gabi personally,” Maria said softly. “I like that connection. And Gabi told me that I can trust you. She said that you’d make sure I was safe.”

At her words, Dillon felt emotion move across his chest. It had been a long time since a woman had looked at him with total belief, and he found that he really liked it. Maria’s eyes were full of vulnerability and fear and he hated to see that there – he’d do a lot to make those beautiful dark eyes sparkle with laughter and warmth.

“OK, then.” Dillon’s voice came out a bit hoarse. “So that’s settled. Yeah?”

“Yes,” Maria said.

“I guess it is for the moment.” Julie got to her feet. “But I’m still calling Dallas Foreman for a reference, and I want the number to your boss and this King guy. I want to speak to them personally about what the hell’s going on in Denver.”

“What’s your cell number?” Dillon said. “I’ll send you their info.”

“I’ll give it to you,” Maria said.

“Good.” Dillon looked down at her. “Now. You going to have some breakfast before you go back to work at the Reception desk?”

“Oh, I had breakfast.”

“Coffee and one strawberry does not make a breakfast, Maria. You need more than that.”

Her mouth fell open again. “How – how did you –”

“I was watching you from outside. I saw you go to the desk and I saw you eat one berry. You’ve touched nothing since.” He glared at her. “Now, eat. No discussion. I hate when women pass out on me.”

“Ummm…” She blinked, wondering under what circumstances he’d had women faint around him. “OK.”

Julie and Jake grinned at each other and Dillon caught it. He narrowed his eyes at them.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“Nope.” Still grinning, Jake stood up too. “You’ve got this all under control, I see.”

“Damn right I do.”

“You need anything, just ask,” Julie said. “I’ll have housekeeping make up the bedrooms, stock the fridge, put toiletries in the bathroom.”

Maria and Dillon nodded.

“OK, you guys have a good morning,” Jake said. “See you later.”

He and Julie left the restaurant and got as far as the main building front steps before bursting in to laughter.

“Holy Lord,” Julie said. “What the actual hell?”

“I know,” Jake said. “This guy is… interesting.”

“You got that right.” Her eyes danced. “And I’m glad that I was able to keep my promise to Maria.”

“What promise is that, babe?”

“That her bodyguard be smoking, crazy hot.”

“He’s not
that
great, is he?”

“Oh, he is. Trust me.”

“Huh.”

“Jealous?” she teased him.

“Yeah. Insanely.” Jake ran his hands over her hips, leaned down for a kiss. “You want to go back to the Big House and have a shower?”

“Together?”

“Uh-huh.” His gray eyes were smoky. “Then maybe we can go back to bed for an hour.”

“Sounds good,” Julie said, breathless already at the thought of Jake inside her. “Sounds perfect.”

Chapter Two

Annabeth Wheeler sighed with pleasure as she stepped out of the taxi. She looked up at the Rocky Mountains looming above: as always, they made her feel both small and safe. Open Skies Ranch was hands-down her favorite escape – and this visit was very special, indeed. For more than one reason.

She grabbed her bag and started up the stairs. She’d walked maybe two steps when the door of the main building swung open and a huge man came down to her.

“Give me that,” he almost growled at her. “It looks heavy.”

Annabeth stopped and blinked up at him. His abruptness startled her; it bordered on rudeness even though he was offering assistance. “Ummm. Thanks?”

“Sure.” He took her suitcase and lifted it easily. He turned and she was treated to the sight of a very broad back: the muscle definition was clearly visible through the thin material of his white t-shirt. This guy was nothing short of delicious, though maybe a bit scary.

She followed him up the steps, walked through the door that he held for her. Maria was on the front desk today and the two women smiled at each other widely.

“Ms. Wheeler!” Maria said. “Welcome back!”

“It’s Annabeth and you know that perfectly well, Maria.” Annabeth came over to the desk. “How are you doing?”

Maria shot the glowering man a strange look. “Uh, you know. Good.”

“Yeah? Everything ready for the wedding?”

“Oh.” Maria sighed. “Well… no. Not really.”

“What’s wrong?” Annabeth asked. “Can I help?”

“Oh, no!” Maria plastered a smile back on her face. “You’re a guest and you have your own work to do. You’re writing another book, aren’t you?”

“I’m doing the final edits on my third book and then I’ll start a new one. Fiction this time.” Annabeth grinned. “I need a break from writing about grief, you know?”

Maria nodded. Annabeth Wheeler had lost her husband Cam to a drunk driver almost four years earlier and she’d started to write about it on a blog. Her candor and struggle had attracted a huge following and led to a book deal about her grief. That book led to a second one, then a third. It was the third book that had made everything fall apart.

Last year at this time, Annabeth had been at Open Skies doing the final revisions on her third book about coping with grief. The problem was that everything in the book was a lie. Annabeth wasn’t coping with her own grief well; in actual fact, she wasn’t coping at all. She’d decided to finish the book and then end her own life… but Eric Neilson had changed all of that.

“I’ll buy it when it comes out,” Maria said. “I’ll read anything you write.”

Annabeth ran her hand through her long blonde hair. “Well, thank you.”

“OK, so.” Maria handed over a key. “Your usual cabin is all ready for you and your reservation is confirmed for the next month.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll get Rob to help you with your bag. Hang on and I’ll call him.”

“Great.” Annabeth gave the scary hot guy a quick glance, but he was sitting on the sofa next to the Reception desk and watching Maria. Wow, he was intense to the point of intimidating. She wondered if he was a guest.

“Annabeth…”

She looked up and saw Rob Cathay’s handsome face. He walked over to her and gave her a tight hug, those massive arms wrapping around her. He dropped a quick kiss on her cheek, then stepped back to look at her.

“You look good,” he said. “How you doing?”

“Great. Much better than the last time you saw me.”

He nodded seriously. “Yeah, I’ve been reading your blog.”

“You have?” She blushed a bit.

“Yep. Sounds like you and Eric have some plans, huh?”

Now she blushed for real. “Yeah. He’s meeting me here in a few days and we’re going to sort some things out.”

“You think you can?” Rob said quietly. “You have quite a bit to get past.”

The man stopped staring at Maria long enough to flick a look over at Annabeth and Rob. Those green eyes were alert and intelligent, and they seemed to see far more than the surface of things. She felt exposed when he looked at her, somehow, and strangely vulnerable; not in danger, not threatened, though. Just –
seen
. This guy didn’t miss a thing.

“Yeah. We do.” She sighed. “We’ve been talking every day for the past few weeks, but this will be the first time that we’ve seen each other since last summer.”

“Well, he’s staying with you and we’ve got the second bedroom set up.” Rob grinned. “Just in case you need it, you know?”

She lowered her blue eyes, totally embarrassed now. “Thanks.”

“Come on, Annabeth. Let’s get you settled, yeah?” Rob hefted her suitcase. “Then you can get some lunch and relax.”

“The weather’s great, isn’t it?” she said, scrambling to change the subject. “Crazy mild.”

“I know. The wedding will almost definitely be outside, even if it pours. We’ll have a huge marquee set up.”

“Perfect.” She smiled. “The mountains are an incredible backdrop, huh?”

“Always.” Rob held the door for her. “Now, tell me about this new book.”

Dillon watched them go and turned to Maria. She was busy doing something on the computer and he let himself take her in. She looked tired and stressed and she’d been on the phone for the past four hours talking about flowers and fish. It was all incomprehensible wedding babble to him, but he knew that she was worried.

She looked up at him now. “I – I’ll be going for lunch in about twenty minutes. I’m just waiting for Laura to start her shift.”

“OK.”

“And…” She hesitated. “You’ll be with me at lunch?”

“Yeah.”

She nodded and looked away again. Just then her cell phone rang and she answered quickly.

“Bethany?” she said. Then she fell quiet and listened. Even from several feet away, Dillon could hear the woman on the other end; he’d been listening to her from across the lobby all morning. She had a very strident voice and all she seemed to do was shout at Maria and that made his stomach clench.
Nobody
should be shouting at Maria, in his opinion. He felt surprisingly bad now for the way he’d spoken to her earlier, and even the fact that he’d been trying to help her didn’t seem like such a great excuse anymore.

“Yes, but –” Maria began now. She fell silent again and Dillon knew she’d been cut off. “Bethany –” She stared down at the phone and sighed before setting it on the desk.

“She hung up on you?” Dillon said, disbelieving.

Maria glanced over at him. “Yes.”

“What a bitch.”

She jumped a bit. “Oh, no. Well, maybe a bit. She’s just – she’s challenging.”

“Why are you even talking to her if she treats you like this?”

“I don’t have much choice. She has the biggest flower shop in Clarity and I need her to provide flowers for the wedding.”

Dillon rolled his eyes. “Seriously? Call another florist.”

“It’s too late now.” Maria looked miserable. “Everything was fine until three days ago and now time is so short, I’m kind of stuck with whatever problems she causes. If she’d been like this even a month ago, I’d have had time to find someone else, but a little less than two weeks isn’t enough time.”

“Why not?” Dillon shifted his huge body on the sofa. “It’s just flowers. Christ, go to a shop on the day of the wedding and buy up all the red roses or something. What’s the big deal?”

Stupefied, she stared at him. “Ummm. Well, there’s a bit more to wedding flowers than just throwing some roses in a vase.”

“Why? Nobody’s there to see the
flowers
, are they? People come to see the bride and groom get married and drink too much free Champagne. You think they give a good goddamn about the table arrangements?”

She stared some more, at a loss about what to say. In actual fact, the man had a valid point and that kind of stumped her. Thankfully, her phone rang again – or maybe
not
so thankfully, because she saw that it was Victor and he was a whole separate headache. She closed her eyes and prayed for strength.

“Hi Victor,” she said, her eyes still shut as she braced for impact. “Any news?”

Dillon watched and listened some more. Victor seemed nicer to Maria, which was something, he supposed. But from the look on her face, the guy was causing her almost physical pain.

She talked for a while, scribbled a few notes on her notepad, hung up. She stared down at what she’d written and shook her head.

“You OK?” Dillon asked.

“Yeah. Fine.”

“You’re lying to me and I don’t like it.”

Maria gazed at him, surprised at his tone. God, this guy just had no social graces at all, did he? He was rough and uncultured and just called everything exactly like he saw it, not the slightest bit concerned about offending anyone else. For a few seconds, she wondered what that would be like – to just call people on their bullshit and not care if they didn’t like it. She imagined that it would be a kind of freedom.

“I – I’m sorry,” she stammered.

“Don’t apologize. Just don’t lie to me. We have to trust each other totally if this is going to work, you know. Tell me the truth, no matter what it’s about. I have to be sure that you’re being honest with me all the time and you need to expect the same from me.”

She paused. The man had yet another valid point.

“You’re right, Dillon. I’m sorry.”

He stood up and prowled over to her, his body strangely graceful despite its size. “I just said don’t apologize. Now talk. What’s up with the fish for the wedding?”

Maria cocked her head at him. But of course he’d been sitting there all morning, so he’d have heard everything.

He’d barely taken his eyes off her for the past few hours, not even checking his phone or going outside. He was completely, totally, one hundred percent focused on her. It made her self-conscious and uncomfortable, but it also felt incredible to be the center of this man’s universe. Yeah, he was hired to make her so and it was only for a little while. Still, though. Maria had never captured and held
any
man’s attention like this – and most definitely
not
a man like Dillon Saunders.

“Yeah, the fish.” She sighed again. “Victor’s usual supplier just went bankrupt, so he’s scrambling to find a new one.”

“And why is this your problem?”

She paused. “Well…”

“Well nothing.” Dillon’s gorgeous face was hard. “You got a contract with Victor?”

“Yes.”

“It says he’s to deliver the fish on the day of the wedding?”

“And the chicken and the rabbit.”

“So why the fuck is he bothering you? It’s
his
job to make it happen and as the client, all you care about is the food appearing when and where you pay for it. He should be
killing
himself to get the fish here and you should know literally nothing about any of it. It ain’t your headache, Maria.”

“I – I guess not.”

“For sure it’s not. The next time he calls, you should tell him that you’re paying him to deliver something, not to listen to all his problems in delivering something. You got shit to do and that
doesn’t
include trying to make him feel better if he fails to give you what you’re paying him for. Right?”

“Um. Yes.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“So you going to tell him?”

“Oh, no. I don’t think so.” Maria looked away. “He’s worked with Open Skies for five years and provides all the meat for the restaurant. I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”

“But it’s OK if he upsets you?”

“Well…” She stopped, realizing that Dillon was yet again making a lot of sense. “Well… no.”

He studied her for a few seconds, then softened a bit. “Listen, Maria, this is your job and I’ve got no place in telling you how to do it, OK? I know that. But come on, darlin’. These people are pushing you around and it’s hurting and upsetting you and I don’t really like to see that.”

She stared at her feet, deeply embarrassed and with no clue what to say to any of this. She was good at her job and she knew it, but Bethany and Victor were making her feel like an incompetent idiot. She
hated
this, hated feeling so beaten-down just because she was the receptionist and these people treated her like it. She especially hated looking incompetent and dumb in front of Dillon. The man looked like he’d never had a weak or insecure moment in the whole of his life.

“Hey. Hey, look at me.” Dillon fought down the urge to lift her chin with his rough finger.
No touching the principal unless absolutely necessary. It’s Bodyguarding 101, dickhead
. “Maria. Eyes up here.”

She wrenched her eyes off her plain black shoes and met his fierce gaze.

“How come you’re doing all this anyway, huh? Jake and Julie clearly have money. Why didn’t they hire some expensive wedding planner to deal with all of this crap?”

“The wedding is small and low-key,” she said. “Just forty guests, including the staff, and it’ll take place here at the ranch. The reception is in the restaurant and Manny’s making all the food. Julie’s best friend is making her dress, and Jake’s renting a suit and Phil’s his best man. It’s casual and laid-back and it just didn’t make sense to hire some wedding planner. Besides, Bethany’s local and Victor’s a long-term partner, and they were supposed to be easy to deal with. You know?”

“OK, I get it.” He thought for a minute, then went to his go-to solution for most irritants. “You want me to kick their asses for you?”

She laughed and he looked at her face, amazed. This was the first time she’d looked so relaxed and natural and he found himself smiling back, happy to see and hear her so happy. He also liked that
he’d
been the reason for her laughter.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”

“Uh-huh. Good.” He looked up sharply as the door opened.

“Oh, hey, Laura,” Maria said. “How’s it going?”

Laura stared at Dillon, taken aback at his frank perusal of her. “Uh, good. You?”

“Good.” She gestured at Dillon. “This is Dillon Saunders.”

“Hi.”

He nodded.

“OK, so let me tell you a few things and then I’ll go for lunch.” Maria clicked the mouse, opened a few files on the computer. Dillon retreated back to the sofa and sat down, watching the women carefully.