Taming the Moguls (12 page)

“I’m not sick in love. It’s been ten
years.”

“The heart can’t tell time.” Dodge picked up
his burger. “You’ve got questions. She’s got the answers. Unless
you want Garrity to keep poking around, I suggest you get her
alone, out of the way of everyone’s prying eyes, and ask. Truth’ll
come out one way or another. If it were me, I’d rather be
prepared.”

Chapter 23

Lyle looked up when Kevin came out of his
room and slung himself onto the couch. It was six in the morning,
and Kevin was already dressed and ready for the day.

“Why do you look so grouchy?” Lyle asked.
“Didn’t you get lucky last night?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You didn’t get lucky?”

Kevin glanced over his shoulder at Lyle. “I
can’t talk until I’ve had coffee.”

Lyle poured him a cup. Kevin grabbed it like
a lifeline and downed half the cup.

“You fall off the roof?” Lyle asked.

“Fuck off.”

“You went all the way over there, and she
didn’t let you in?”

“What are you doing up so early?” Kevin
asked. “You work from home and set your own hours.”

“I’m going for a run.” Lyle lifted his foot
to the arm of the couch and tied his shoelace.

“In this weather?”

“I love this weather,” Lyle said. “Besides,
Erica makes me breakfast when I’m done. She’s the best cook in the
world.”

“If she’s such a good cook, then why are you
so skinny?”

“Too much running and too much sex.” He
chuckled when Kevin growled. Getting a rise out of him was too
easy. “Go ahead and invite Shiloh over. I’m going to ask Erica if I
can stay the night.”

“I thought you wanted to wait?”

“I do, but I’m starting to feel guilty about
your marriage. Besides, Erica’s a little shy. She’s not comfortable
being here when you’re here, and I don’t have an aversion to sex
like you do.”

“I think Shi’s reached her limit. I could
have a penthouse suite at my disposal, and I think she’d say
no.”

“What are you going to do?” Lyle asked. “We
can’t live together forever.”

“I’m calling Skip this morning. If Manny’s
retiring, I need to know so I can adjust my pilot’s license and
make some plans. It’s not fair to keep Shi waiting.”

“That’s only seasonal work. What would you do
in the winter?”

“Flying lessons?” Kevin guessed. “Or keep
working with Dodge. I thought I’d hate it, but truth is, I don’t
mind. It’s honest work, and God knows it keeps you in shape. I
haven’t felt this sore in years.”

“He’d love the help. Mom said he’s thrilled
you’re back and taking on so much responsibility. Every winter he
grumbles about slowing down.”

“Slowing down? Dodge?” Kevin scoffed. “He’ll
take his last breath checking on cattle.”

“I think he’d like to dial it back a bit. She
seems to think he’d hand the responsibility over to you eventually
if you were interested.”

Kevin rubbed his chin. “I might be.”

“You going to talk to your wife about this?”
Lyle asked. “It’s not just your future.”

“I’m going to talk to Skip, and then I’m
going to talk to Shi. Hopefully I’ll have something to offer
her.”

Lyle watched his brother. They were cut from
the same cloth. Lyle didn’t want to sleep at Erica’s for the same
reason Kevin couldn’t live with his wife until he had a plan.
Stubborn Woodward pride plagued them both.

“I’ll see you later,” Lyle said on his way
out the door.

“Yeah,” Kevin said. “Enjoy your run.”

Erica made bacon. Lyle could smell it a
hundred yards out on his cool down through the woods. He loved so
many things about her, including the idea that she’d go to the
trouble of cooking his favorite breakfast. She acted as though it
was no big deal, but it made him feel special. Everything about her
made him feel special.

He’d thought about Kevin on his run. The way
he moped around reminded him of how his brother moped around right
after they’d moved from Atlanta to Hailey. The only thing that had
gotten Kevin out of his funk was Shiloh. The two of them had been
together for so long, Lyle could barely remember one without the
other. Lyle understood how deep his brother’s longing for her ran.
Poor guy was dying without her. Thank goodness Lyle didn’t have
that problem. He knocked on Erica’s door after stretching.

She answered wearing pajama shorts and a
threadbare T-shirt. “I hope you’re hungry.”

“Aren’t I always?” He toed off his shoes and
took an enormous whiff. “Smells divine.”

Her quick grin lit up his world. “Can’t you
talk like a normal person?”

“No.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “And you
don’t want me to.” She only grunted. “Do you mind if I grab a quick
shower?”

“You know I don’t mind. You left some clothes
here, and I washed them. They’re on the chair in the bedroom.”

“I’ll be out in a sec.”

The bathroom smelled like Erica: earthy,
wild, and full of passion. He intended to taste that passion as
soon as he filled his belly.
I could get used to
this
, he thought as he lathered up with her soap. Running
every morning, home-cooked meals every day, a beautiful and
fascinating woman to share his life with. No wonder Kevin was so
depressed. If Lyle couldn’t be with Erica, he’d be grumpy, too.

She was standing at the sink when he came
out, her dark hair cascading down her back. He sneaked up behind
her and wrapped his arms around her stomach. “I thought I could
wait until after breakfast to touch you but turns out I can’t. I
missed you last night.”

“I missed you, too.” She turned off the water
and dried her hands before leaning back into his chest. “I don’t
like waking up alone.”

He kissed her neck, and his hands wandered.
“Can I make it up to you?”

“You can. After you eat breakfast. Food is
fuel, and I want your tank full.”

“Oooh. I like the sound of that.”

She swatted his hands when he tried to untie
her pants. “Eat!”

“Yes, ma’am.” He sat at the table and
shoveled the eggs, bacon, and toast into his mouth.

“Slow down. I’m not going anywhere.”

“No plans today?”

“I’m studying.” She flipped her knife around
on the table in what he recognized as a nervous gesture. “Olivia
thinks I’m making good progress, so I made some calls. There’s a
GED prep course that starts in April. I want to enroll.”

Lyle dropped his fork and looked Erica in the
eye. Her cheeks had turned a lovely shade of pink. “That’s awesome.
I’m so proud of you.”

She lowered her eyes and shrugged. “I hope
I’m not jumping the gun. I want this, Lyle. I really do.”

She’d struggled to read her whole life. With
Olivia’s help, Erica’s hard work and determination had brought her
far enough to see a future, close enough to take a chance. If Erica
could take a chance, maybe Lyle could too.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” she
asked. “You think it’s too soon? You think I’m making a
mistake?”

“No,” he said and carefully stood. “I think
you can do anything you put your mind to.” He skirted the table. “I
think you’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.” He lowered onto
one knee in front of her. His heart clapped stronger and harder
than it ever had, even on his most challenging runs.

“What are you doing?” Her brows slammed
together, and she shifted to face him.

He reached for her hand. “Erica, I love you.
There isn’t anything about you I don’t love. I’ve been watching my
brother die a little bit every day being without his wife, and for
the first time in my life, I understand how he feels.”

She swallowed and ran a hand through his
still damp hair. “I love you, too.”

“I don’t want us to be apart because Kevin’s
at my place.”

“I told you before you can stay here.”

“I know you did, and I want to, but…”

“But what?” she asked.

“I don’t want to move in with you. I don’t
want to live with a woman unless we’re married.”

“That’s a little old-fashioned. Besides, we
wouldn’t be living together. Not really. You’d just be staying here
until your brother gets back on his feet.”

Lyle closed his eyes and shook his head
impatiently. “I’m getting this all wrong. I don’t want to talk
about my brother.” He jerked his eyes open. “It’s not about him
getting back on his feet. It’s about us. You and me and our
future.”

“Our future?” Her chest rose and fell with a
quickening pace.

“I’m in love with you. I want to spend the
rest of my life with you. I want to wake up with you every day, go
to sleep with you every night. I want to have babies with you and
watch them grow. I want to watch you grow old. I want to take my
last breath with you by my side.”

“Lyle…”

“Marry me, Erica. I don’t have a ring. I’ll
get one. I didn’t plan this out. I’ll get one.”

“Oh, Lyle. I…I don’t need a ring.”

“Will you marry me?”

She slid to her knees, their hands clasped
together. “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Fingers linked, hearts thudding, their lips
met and held. Lyle felt everything, her breath on his face, her
heart thumping, each fingertip where it touched his skin.

She pulled back and wrapped her arms around
his shoulders, swaying him side to side. “What the hell did I put
in those eggs?”

“Your heart,” he said. “You put your heart
into everything.”

“My heart belongs to you, Lyle. Everything I
have is yours.”

“It’s ours. I can’t offer you much, nothing
like your brother, but what I have is yours.”

“It’s everything. You’ve given me
everything.”

Chapter 24

Gretchen knew what she had to do, but that
didn’t mean she liked it. She’d put it off long enough. She
couldn’t will the environmental impact statement to be released,
she couldn’t click her heels three times and magically appear back
in Chicago, and she couldn’t quit the job that paid her bills. She
had no choice but to face Tommy and try to broker a deal.

She took deep breaths in her rental car after
parking in the lot of Golden Mountain Sports. The lone vehicle in
the parking lot could belong to Tommy, a late model truck with big
tires and a lockbox in the bed. A confrontation would go better
alone in the ski shop than with an audience across the street in
the restaurant.

She opened the car door but didn’t turn her
face from the blast of cold air. She wanted to feel numb, and she
figured the freezing air might help. Her stomach, however, had
different ideas. It jumped and sputtered, igniting an explosive
sensation that couldn’t be tamed. She laid a glove-covered hand on
her belly and walked to the door as if facing a firing squad.

She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin,
and took a fortifying breath that leaked out as she stepped inside.
The building was warm, so warm she had to shed her gloves and
pretty woolen cap. Her coat was next. She had it untied and halfway
down her shoulders when Tommy breezed around a partition with his
achingly familiar gait. His friendly smile dissolved the moment
recognition hit. He jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
“What are you doing here?”

She reached for her bag where she’d carefully
placed the drawings and graphs, but she realized she’d left it in
the car, along with her purse and her phone. She’d come to talk
business, explain facts and figures—the fabric of her
livelihood—and yet she’d left everything in the car. She stood
before him a woman only. A woman so exposed, so defenseless, she
may as well have been naked. “I’m here to talk business.”

“Business?” His voice sounded so disgusted,
his eyes appeared so penetrating, that she felt her bones calcify.
He could break her in half with so little effort. “We don’t have
any business that needs discussing.”

“Holcomb thinks we do. I work for him. I’m
his voice in this negotiation.”

“You think you can negotiate people’s lives
and livelihoods? I should have known Ryan’s God complex would rub
off on you.”

She swallowed the bile that rose in her
throat. “Nothing of Ryan’s rubbed off on me.”

“Really?” He moved closer, stopping next to a
rack of ski jackets. He rested his arm on the metal holder in a
casual move, but he held his body tenser than a coiled snake. “I’d
say there’s a ten-year-old boy who might think differently.”

She clamped her lips together and worried she
might draw blood. She wouldn’t discuss Alex. She couldn’t. “I’ll
get my case from the car, and we can at least try to discuss the
specifics in a civilized manner.”

“There’s nothing civilized about this
development and its effects on the valley. And I’m not feeling all
that hospitable at the moment. You should do what you do best and
run along before things get messy.”

She saw the tension around his eyes, the
finger tracks through his hair, and the unshaven face. He looked
exhausted and as brittle as a stick. She wasn’t the only one
affected by their reunion. “I’m not running. I have a job to do,
and I’m going to do it with or without your help.”

“Do you think you’ll get anywhere with STS
without me?”

“You’re a large and varied group. If I have
to contact every member, explain to them our plans, I will. I’m not
afraid of hard work, and I’m quite familiar with the valley.”

“Yes, so you’ve said.” He dropped his arm and
stepped closer. “Have you been to the pass? Have you seen the lift
and the land you’ll destroy with your village?”

Gretchen refused to budge despite her
instincts screaming for her to put distance between them. She
tilted her head back and looked into his molten eyes. He looked
dangerous and so like the angry boy she’d met when their parents
married. Just as before, she was infringing on his territory and
threatening to change what was his. “No, as a matter of fact, I
haven’t. I wasn’t sure my rental could navigate the roads.”