Brick didn’t sleep worth a damn, and it wasn’t because he was better occupied.
When he’d made reservations at the Yellow Kitchen for his second date with Jennifer, he’d had every intention of trying to romance his way into receiving an invitation back to her house at the end of the night. Ever since his conversation with Patsy, he’d been unable to banish the idea of getting laid. Yes, she’d been talking about Liliana’s dry spell, but Brick was working on one of those of his own.
The date certainly had started off well enough. Jennifer had answered the door dressed to kill in a little black number and do-me heels. She’d entertained him through dinner with amusing stories about some of her real estate clients and listened attentively when he talked about his abbreviated baseball career. When, at the end of the meal, he asked if she’d like to go somewhere for a drink and dancing, he’d sincerely intended to take her out to the new dance hall at his family’s compound on Hummingbird Lake. The Callahans’ arrival had been delayed, so he’d have had the place entirely to himself and Jennifer.
Just how they’d ended up at the Bear Cave instead he couldn’t say.
All right. That was a lie. Jennifer had asked to see River Camp, so he’d given her a tour. On the way back, he’d made a sweep through the RV camp to show her some of the vintage trailers they’d discussed at dinner and he’d timed it just right—or wrong, depending on your viewpoint—to see Liliana emerge from her trailer wearing a sexy little number of her own.
Red. Clinging, Christmas red. The kind of wrapping that makes a man think about tearing it. Off. She’d climbed into a car with Sharon. The same Sharon who had given the Alleycats a pole-dancing lesson recently!
He couldn’t get the woman in red out of his head.
He lost interest in getting the woman he was with into bed.
However, he’d been too much a gentleman to dump Jennifer and go running after Liliana when she left the Bear Cave with that double-left-footed cowboy. By the time Brick had managed to finesse his and Jennifer’s way out of the bar, Lili was long gone and Jennifer wasn’t very happy with him.
No lights had glowed in Liliana’s trailer when he’d returned to the RV resort and her curtains had hung open. She always closed her curtains when she went to bed.
She wasn’t home yet.
Okay, he hadn’t really expected her to be back. During the last week or so when she’d gone out at night, she’d closed the bars down.
Brick had told himself he wouldn’t wait up for her. It wasn’t his place. He’d gone straight to bed, but unfortunately, he’d been unable to fall asleep. He’d kept listening for the sound of cars returning to Stardance, and whenever he’d heard one he’d crawl out of bed to see who’d arrived.
Eventually, he dosed. When he heard an unusual noise around 3:00 a.m. he felt honor bound to check into it. If they were getting nighttime visits from a bear, his people needed to know about it. Never mind that the wildlife motion-sensing camera setup caught everything.
He did a security circuit of the camp in his golf cart. Lili’s curtains were still open. She still wasn’t home.
He braked the golf cart hard. The tires slid on the gravel. He sat staring at her moonlit trailer, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel, and told himself that maybe she’d come home tipsy and just forgotten to close her curtains.
Or maybe she’d brought someone back with her. Maybe he liked to sleep with window curtains open.
Don’t be an idiot. Her truck was the only vehicle in her parking lane. That cowboy certainly hadn’t carried her all the way home.
She’s not here. That trailer is empty. She didn’t come home tonight.
She’d gone and done it. Damned if she hasn’t gone out and hooked up with that cowboy and had her one-night stand.
Brick’s grip tightened around the steering wheel. His jaw went hard. He jerked his gaze away from the window above her bed and … focused on a soda can lying on the road two trailers down from Liliana’s. Scowling, he wrenched himself out of the golf cart and marched toward the can. He scooped it up and shifted course, headed for the Dumpster.
Exactly why he was picking up trash at three o’clock in the morning he couldn’t say. Maybe because he’d lost his mind?
Maybe because I’m jealous?
Maybe because my feelings are hurt?
“You pansy-assed wuss.” He drew back his foot and kicked a stone the size of a baseball. Hard. It sailed harder and farther than he’d anticipated, and it banged loudly against the metal Dumpster. He winced, as much from the sound as the pain radiating from his toes.
He was acting downright ridiculous. He had no claim on Liliana. For the past couple of weeks, he’d gone out of his way to establish that. She had every right to sleep with whomever she wanted, whenever she wanted. He knew that.
He just hadn’t realized how much it would bother him.
In that moment, fatigue hit him. He needed to get back to bed, back to sleep. He was on the early shift in the morning.
He tossed the soda can into the Dumpster, then returned to his golf cart. He drove home, went to bed, and eventually, fell asleep.
The alarm sounded way too early, but he made it to the office by the scheduled opening at seven. He checked out three campers in the first half hour but sat alone in the office drinking a strong cup of coffee when the sound of a car door caught his attention. He glanced out of the window to see the van belonging to his friend and town veterinarian, Lori Timberlake, pulling away from the Stardance Ranch entrance.
And Liliana Howe was striding toward her trailer, barefoot, head held high, seemingly not a care in the world, swinging her sandals by the straps. Wearing last night’s dress. Her grass-stained dress.
His Lili-fair was making the walk of shame.
* * *
Be Brazen.
It was the next item Lili intended to add to her Colorado bucket list. Brazen through the hangover. Brazen through the embarrassment. Brazen though the confrontation she fully expected to have with Brick.
Her luck wouldn’t allow it to happen any other way.
She’d lain sleeping … okay, passed out … in the honeymoon cottage’s backyard until about 2:00 a.m., at which point she went inside, swallowed two ibuprofens, and drank four glasses of water. She soaked in the luxurious bathtub for almost an hour until she felt sleepy again and climbed naked into the great big lonely bed.
Sunshine on her face had awakened her. She’d still been a little tipsy when she’d crawled into bed, and she hadn’t thought to pull the bedroom curtains all the way closed. She lay there snuggled in luxury, her head aching, taking stock of her situation. That nobody had been there to witness her full-blown pity-party meltdown filled her with gratitude.
The question she’d pondered this morning dealt with the next four hours. How did she want to play this? Should she call Patsy or Sharon or one of the other Alleycats and request a ride back to Stardance Ranch? Should she try to get someone from town to drop her off? If she weren’t wearing heeled sandals, she’d walk.
That wasn’t happening. Her feet were swollen this morning and those shoes had been tight to begin with.
And exactly what was she going to tell Patsy or Sharon or one of the Alleycats? It was a sure bet that word of how she’d left the Bear Cave had swept through camp before she made it back. She’d be the hot topic of gossip during the morning dog-walking circuits.
They wouldn’t all think that she’d had a hookup with Billy, but some of them would. Considering he’d made no secret of his fiancée, the very idea of that rumor going around made Lili feel bad for Billy and herself. So she wouldn’t lie to anyone. She’d tell the truth. She’d tell them she had rented a room at Angel’s Rest because she’d been in the mood to soak in a bathtub. The Alleycats would understand that.
Nobody needed to know just what room she’d rented. That’s where she drew the pity-party line.
Of course, some of those people wouldn’t believe her. She couldn’t say she’d blame them. After all, she had been acting slutty of late.
Which brought her to the big question of the morning. How did she want to play this with Brick?
Unless she tried to sneak into camp like a teenager late for curfew, she figured her chances of returning to Stardance without encountering him hovered somewhere between slim and none. He might not be standing there waiting for her arrival, but he’d darn sure make his presence known pretty darn quick. It would crush her soul if he knew she’d spent last night crying over him. Lili had her pride.
So she wouldn’t lie to him, either, she’d decided. Not to his face, anyway. If he made false assumptions about her based on what he saw … well … that was his fault.
And that’s how Be Brazen got added to her bucket list.
That’s why she accepted Celeste’s invitation to join her and Lori Timberlake, the town’s veterinarian, for breakfast in the Angel’s Rest dining room. Celeste asked about Lili’s night. She raved about both the bed and the bathtub and, in doing so, managed to convey her reason for renting a room for the night.
“I totally get it,” Lori said. “I’m a soak-in-tub girl myself.”
Despite feeling less than 100 percent, Lili did enjoy the breakfast, the company, and the conversation. Toast and tea were all she could manage, but they did help steady her stomach, and her head didn’t pound quite so hard. Also, she liked Lori Timberlake very much. She was around Lili’s age, friendly, down-to-earth, head over heels in love with her new husband, and an outspoken proponent of pet rescues.
When Celeste offered Lili a ride to the RV park, Lori explained that she had an appointment out beyond Stardance that morning and said she’d be glad to drop Lili off on her way. “Thank you,” Lili said. “I appreciate that. Maybe during the drive you can tell me about any small dogs in the area available for adoption.”
Lori’s eyes gleamed. “You’re in the market for a pet?”
“Just thinking about it. I’m not ready to commit yet.”
“Fresh meat!” Lori teased, speaking to Celeste from the side of her mouth. Then she patted Lori’s hand. “Be assured. I will find you the perfect companion.”
“In that case…” Celeste’s blue eyes twinkled and the slow molasses of the South hung in her voice as she said, “… I think you should concentrate on introducing her to some of the two-legged variety before moving on to four.”
Lori shared an amused look; then Celeste reached across the table and patted Lili’s hand. “Next time you spend the night in our honeymoon cottage, you should have one of those with you. It’s much more fun that way.”
Lili’s blush didn’t fade until she climbed into Lori’s van for the short trip to Stardance Ranch. At that point she turned her concentration toward getting her brazen face on.
They did talk dogs on the drive. And Lori asked if Lili had met her brother Devin yet. “No,” Lili said. “I don’t believe so.”
“I wasn’t sure. He’s in and out of town all the time these days on some sort of business he’s secretive about. However, when it comes to the two-legged variety of companionship, I have to say that Devin is downright fine. He’d like you. You’re adventuresome.”
Complimented, Lili smiled. “Do you really think so?”
“Absolutely I do.”
“Thank you very much, Lori.”
It was just the thing that Lili needed to hear as they arrived at the RV resort and she prepared to run her personal gauntlet. The next few minutes were bound to be an adventure. For a short time, she’d see how the wicked girls lived.
Somewhere between the day Brick took her fishing and now, she’d figured out that she wasn’t cut out for one-night stands. She wasn’t her old roommate. Lili never would fly off to Paris with a man who had picked her up in a bar. That wasn’t her. She still wanted to get a life, but she needed one that suited her. Not one that she thought should suit. Or one somebody else thought should suit. No, Mom and Dad, I don’t want to be an accountant.
However, since she did have that slutty item on her bucket list, she’d do a little role-playing and allow it to count. She was the boss of the list. She could do that.
But first she had to take off her shoes. They were killing her.
She slipped out of her high-heeled sandals just as Lori pulled her work van to a stop. Lili picked up the red leather wristlet containing her phone, credit card, and spare trailer key and said, “Thanks again for the ride.”
“My pleasure.”
Lili drew a deep, bracing breath, opened the van’s door, and stepped out into the cool mountain morning air. “Brazen,” she murmured, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin. “Act like you haven’t a care in the world.”
She took one step forward and halted. Except stepping on a sharp stone.
She eyed the path before her more closely in order to avoid hazards, then continued. She spied both Patsy and Mary-Ellen out watering their potted plants. Sharon sat on her yoga mat on the grass beside her trailer. Brick’s sister Courtney climbed down the outdoor staircase from the apartment above the office where she’d slept since moving to town. Channeling her inner actress, Lili pasted on a sunshine smile and gave them all a little wave.
As she’d expected, Brick stepped outside the office, a mug of coffee in his hand and an unreadable expression on his face.
Of course he’s here. I knew he would be.
Why couldn’t I have been wrong?
He watched her, deliberately sipping his coffee, but he didn’t speak as she walked past. Lili began to breathe easier. She might have even strutted just a little bit. Brazen. Yep, that’s me. I’m the GOAT. I’m the brazen GOAT. Brazen and doing the walk of shame. Halfway there. A piece of cake.
She got too confident just a little too soon.
“Why, Liliana Howe,” Sharon called out, a smirk on her face. “You naughty girl.”
Courtney added, “Those look like grass stains on your dress. It’s obvious you had fun last night.”
Lili spied dismay on Mary-Ellen’s face and she worked to keep her smile from slipping. And this is real embarrassment. I am so not cut out for sluthood.
She might have given up the charade, dropped her sandals, and dashed for her door had Brick’s gaze not rested so heavy on her shoulders. Because it did, she had no option but to continue to be brazen.
“Did you get a chance to try out what you learned at pole-dancing class?” Sharon asked.
The thunk, then crash of a coffee mug against the porch decking on the office brought Lili’s attention back to Brick. His expression was easily readable now. The man was torqued.
He looked down at the broken mug, then up at her. In a dry year, his glare could have started a forest fire. Suddenly he whirled around and disappeared back inside the office.
With Brick gone, beneath Mary-Ellen’s disappointed stare Lili’s brazen faltered. She picked up her pace, ignored the discomfort caused by rocks and debris against her bare feet, and dug her key from her wristlet long before she reached her door.
When she finally escaped inside, she shut the door behind her, leaned back against it, and whooshed out a breath. “I did it. It’s over. I’ll explain to Mary-Ellen and Patsy later.”
First, though, she needed out of this dress and into yoga pants and a T-shirt. And sneakers. In fact, maybe she’d go for a run.
Just as soon as she shook this headache.
Lili changed clothes, popped two more painkillers, and crawled into bed for a nap. She slept an hour and forty-five minutes and awoke feeling like a new woman.
Now what she needed was that run.
* * *
He didn’t follow her.
Okay, so, maybe he did follow her.
But he’d been planning to go for a run himself. Hadn’t he asked Josh to come in an hour early to cover him? Hadn’t he already changed into running shorts? He honestly had planned to go running.
After his nap.
But then he saw her leave and he knew the route she took when she ran—the mountain bike circuit that took her around the kid fishing hole and past the tent camping section to the footbridge over the river. It was a comfy little two-mile run. Something he sometimes did as a warm-up.
Without really thinking it through, he put on his shoes and headed out, going the opposite direction from her. He figured he’d go at a nice, slow pace and meet her at about the halfway mark where a picnic bench sat between the riverbank and a stand of aspen.
He didn’t figure on the extra speed that his anger gave him. He ran the mile in record time, then, winded, knelt beside the river and splashed cold water in his face.
He couldn’t believe she’d let that left-footed cowboy pick her up. Not Liliana. Not after she’d spent two weeks trolling him.
At least, he’d thought that’s what she’d been doing. He’d sent her mixed messages that day up at the waterfall, and he’d thought she’d been trying to tempt him, to seduce him. Liliana had been … cute … about it. A little awkward. Obviously inexperienced, something he found endearing. Trying to make a man jealous was a tried-and-true weapon in a woman’s bag of wiles, and she’d simply been … innocent … about it.
Until last night.
Boy, had she had him fooled.
He hadn’t believed she’d been serious about that nonsense she’d spouted up at the waterfall. Her and her ridiculous Life GOAT idiocy. He’d thought the entire rant had been a reaction to the mixed messages he’d sent her by kissing her senseless, then pushing her away.
Life GOAT. What a stupid idea. Stupid series of ideas. Pick up a biker. Pick up a banker. She’d never said a single word about a cowboy half her age.
And Brick had never believed she’d actually go through with it. She’s a Howe. Howes aren’t stupid. Howes aren’t hos.
So maybe it was something else. This behavior reeked of payback. Of manipulation. He wouldn’t have thought that of Liliana. That was Tiffany’s M.O., not Lili’s. It was exactly the sort of thing that Tiffany would have done. Hell, the sort of thing she had done. Dammit, he’d thought Liliana was different. He felt … betrayed.
Hell, Callahan. She’s a woman. What did you expect?
Standing, he gave his head a shake, sending the water droplets flying. Maybe he wasn’t being fair about the woman part. He knew plenty of good, decent, nonmanipulative women. His mother, for one. Annabelle. All of his aunts. Half the women in town. Before the events of last night, he’d have included Liliana in that company.
Now … damn, he was pissed.
He heard the crack of brittle leaves and the rattle of dislodged stones. He turned toward the path, his hands naturally lifting to rest on his hips.
She ran with a smile on her face, her long blond ponytail swinging from side to side. She looked fresh and energetic and beautiful. She looked happy.
While Brick was tired, achy, and cranky. He moved onto the path. Liliana saw him and abruptly stopped.
With scorn in his tone, Brick said, “Goats are barnyard animals.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Life goat? I thought you were all hormonal and making up stuff. I didn’t think you meant it. And you never said anything about a teenage cowboy.”
Liliana folded her arms. “Billy is not a teenager. He’s a college senior.”
“Well, whoop-de-do.”
She closed her eyes and softly counted to five. “What are you doing out here, Brick? Does the word ‘stalker’ mean anything to you?”
“It’s my property. I can go wherever I want.”
“Now who’s the teenager? Check that. I mean eight-year-old.”
“Are you proud of yourself, Liliana Howe?”
She advanced on him, her eyes flashing fury and her cheeks flushed. “Beyond your capacity as the lizard from whom I’m renting space for my fifth wheel, you have no say in what I do or who I do it with. You are not my brother, my lover, my mother, or my priest! You’re not my anything.”
“I’m your friend!”
“You’re everybody’s friend! I get that now. Heaven knows I’ve heard it enough from everybody in town. Brick Callahan, Eternity Springs’ Ambassador of Friendship.”
“No need to be snotty, Liliana.”
“I’m feeling snotty.”
“Oh? I thought that was ‘slutty.’”
She sucked in a breath as the arrow landed. “You jerk.” She pushed past him, ready to continue down the path. “Here’s a news flash, Callahan. I don’t need friends like you.”
He caught her arm. Held her. “I’m sorry. Sorry. That was mean.”
She flattened her lips in a grim smile. “Yes, it was.”
“I’m just … I wish … dammit, Liliana, I didn’t think you’d go that far. It shouldn’t have happened. If I’d known you were going to go that far I would have…”
“You would have what?”
He set his teeth, biting back the words that, once spoken, had the potential to change everything. And Brick wasn’t ready for that kind of change.
When he failed to answer her question, Liliana sighed. “Look, Callahan. You can quit beating yourself up over failing in your self-appointed guardianship duty. It didn’t happen. I wanted to soak my feet in a hot bubble bath, so Billy dropped me off at Angel’s Rest. I spent the night there. Alone. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
“A bubble bath?” The relief that washed through him was way too strong for his peace of mind. She tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip.
“My trailer only has a shower. Your shower rooms only have showers. I wanted a bath.”
“But this morning … you acted…”
“Brazen. It’s harder than it looks. And, frankly, less fun than I anticipated. After I finish my run, I’m going to take another look at my lists. Probably do some editing.”
“Oh.” Brick rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t know what to say to her. He didn’t know what he wanted to say.
Was he disappointed that he could no longer begin to justify finishing that unspoken observation? If I’d known you were going to go that far I would have asked to be your hookup.
“Liliana … look. I understand that you desire changes in your life. Those asshats at your firm shook your world. But I don’t think that the way you’ve gone about trying to make your changes is necessarily healthy.”
“You’re wrong. The last two weeks haven’t been about my job or the firm or anything but my inability to let go of old dreams. I’m glad they happened because I’ve learned something about myself. I’ve been focusing on the wrong thing. It’s not about sex. I’m not cut out for one-night stands. Trust me, I could have had a couple in the last weeks. You were right. It’s not me. I still want to be a Life GOAT, but I have to make that life one that is right for me. I still want that spur-of-the-moment trip to Paris. Only not with a man I’ve just met. I want a relationship, Brick.”
Crap. He’d known that. Hadn’t he known that? “I don’t, Liliana. Been there, done that.”
“I know that, Brick.” Regret softened her eyes. “We all have our issues to overcome. Mine is trying to please my parents. Yours is…”—she hesitated a moment before finishing—“… something different.”
Not something. Someone.
Tiffany.
“The sad thing is, I said I didn’t want regrets anymore. I regret that you won’t realize that not all women are like Tiffany Lambeau. I think you’re a great guy, even when I’m irritated with you. It’s a shame that you’re living with her shadow looming over you.”
Brick released Lili’s arm. She gave him a sad little smile, then jogged off toward the kid fishing hole.
He watched her go, feeling helpless. When she disappeared around a bend in the path, Brick experienced a sense of loss he knew was going to pain him for a very long time.