Chapter Eleven
“Vaughn just called. The actor’s requested a meeting with us this afternoon.” Will strolled into the chalet’s kitchen, rocking the bed head like a champ.
Ryan arched an eyebrow, coffee cup halfway to his mouth. “Why? I thought our work was done.”
“Guess not.” His friend shrugged and poured a glass of orange juice.
Hmm. “I met the older Mr. Roberts yesterday. Had a nice chat about Sweetgrass Contracting.”
“The old man’s in a nursing home.” Will shot a curious glance over his shoulder. “What the hell were you doing there?”
“How about you tell me what you and Vaughn are up to first?”
His buddy grunted. “Don’t get your panties in a bundle, Ryan. It’s just talk.”
“Maybe, maybe not, but you conveniently failed to mention your interest in the company when you invited us along the other day. Now Blake Reed wants a meeting?” He set his cup on the counter and eyed the other man carefully.
“Look, man…” Will turned with a sigh, leaning back against the counter, ankles crossed in front of him. “Cory and I have talked a lot about expanding the past couple of years. Granted, California is a hell of a long way from Nebraska, but even you have to admit the set-up out here is pretty sweet. Vaughn’s talking about making a change soon. Real soon. Like, this movie star job? It could be mine, man.”
That’s exactly what Ryan was afraid of and, worse, something felt off as hell about it. “Where do Jason and I come into this?”
“You don’t really. The timing was just right. We were here and Vaughn asked for a hand.”
“So you more or less wanted to flaunt this opportunity? Is that what I’m hearing?”
Will huffed out a breath, then shook his head. “No. I mean, yeah, maybe the prospect of landing a job this big blows my mind a little. But it’s not only about working for Blake McKenzie Reed.” The way he mimicked the actor’s name like all the news outlets did made Ryan cringe. It was obvious that Will didn’t think much of the guy, which made the matter even worse.
“What else is about then?” he asked, jaw tight.
“Family. Vaughn needs help and it just so happens I can offer that.”
Ryan kicked back on the barstool and crossed his arms over his chest. “I can respect that, but the problem is…Sweetgrass Contracting isn’t just Vaughn’s. His father is still part owner.”
“I’m not worried about the old man.”
A wry laugh rolled in Ryan’s chest. “You should be. John technically owns fifty-one percent of the company.”
Will’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Yep. I take it Vaughn didn’t mention that part.”
His friend was silent for a long moment. “The guy’s in a nursing home. What could his interest in the company possibly be at this point?”
“Maybe you should talk to him about that, huh? Hear what he has to say before you get too ahead of yourself.”
Will’s brow pinched and he cast his gaze out the chalet’s tall windows.
Sometimes life wasn’t about money and status and having nice things. Sometimes it truly was about family and happiness, and doing what was right.
A concept Ryan was becoming all too familiar with himself.
***
“I miss you.”
Rosemary ducked in and closed the door to Blake’s guest bathroom. “I miss you, too. I wish I could take vacation for the rest of the week and spend it in Tahoe with you.”
Ryan chuckled through the phone. “Skiing was fun, wasn’t it?”
“I was actually thinking about that big bed of yours.” She bit her lip and smiled at the reflection in the mirror. For late January, she had an awful lot of color in her cheeks.
“Oh yeah? What about my big bed?”
“Mostly how comfy it looked when I was there that first night. Maybe a little about what you’d look like on it naked.”
A low groan rippled through the line. “Woman, that is not the kind of thing to say to a man when he can’t see you for six more hours.”
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
“It also makes my dick throb.”
“You are so bad.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
She snorted. “I don’t?”
“I’ve got some of my own ideas for that bed, you know.”
“I bet you do. Care to share?”
He gave a soft, sexy sigh. “One of them involves you hanging onto the headboard.”
A full body shudder slid down her spine, settling torturously between her legs. “Sounds like I’m coming to Tahoe tonight?”
“I guess it does,” Ryan laughed. “See you then?”
“Not soon enough.”
***
“Can you take care of this, please?” Blake handed Rose a tabloid rag magazine with his picture plastered on the cover. His and Angel’s picture, to be specific. The headline below read: Reed Reunites with Illegitimate Child.
Rose groaned. “Where do they come up with this stuff?”
“At least I’m not gay this week.”
“Hey, you and Channing Tatum would make an adorable couple. I think they were onto something.”
Blake grinned. “Speaking of couples, rumor has it you spent the weekend getting friendly with the ex.”
“I’d prefer to keep my personal life out of our professional relationship, Mr. Reed.”
Her boss leaned back in his chair, still smiling. “You just took a five-minute call from him in my bathroom and you came out blushing like you’d drank half a bottle of champagne by yourself. In all the time you’ve worked for me, I’ve never seen you so worked up by a man.”
That’s because no one got under her skin like Ryan did. “That’s because I really like him, but that’s not why I’m here. We’re supposed to be talking about the Angel Alliance, remember?”
Rolling his eyes, Blake spun around to the windows behind him, the Sierra Nevadas looking absolutely picturesque with all the new snow. “It goes against my better judgment, but maybe there’s a way we can use the foundation to snuff out these latest rumors.”
Rose lifted her hands to the sky in silence. Hallelujah. “That would work very nicely, I’m sure, but I don’t think it’s necessary to give any credence to this story.”
“Of course it’s not. And with what I’m thinking, we wouldn’t have to acknowledge them, not directly anyway.” He pulled in a slow breath and exhaled just as easily. “I’ve been thinking about my attempts to keep Angel out of the social spotlight, but the truth is, she already has a following with her movie reviews. The video blogs could very well be a passing hobby, but I’d like to continue supporting her and maybe tying her into the Alliance is one way I can do that.”
A big grin stretched across Rose’s face and she practically bounced in her seat. “I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I’m going to get started on this right away.”
Blake glanced back with a knowing smirk. “As if you haven’t already.”
Um… She bit the inside of her cheek and held up two pinched fingers. “Only a little.” Janine chose that moment to knock on the office door.
“Vaughn is here with the gentlemen from the other day. Should I send them in?” her roommate and Blake’s assistant asked.
“Please do. And if you wouldn’t mind, put a pot of coffee on, too. We might be here a while.”
Rosemary frowned. “Is there a problem?”
Blake nodded. “I think so, but I want to see what Vaughn has to say first.”
Did it have something to do with what John had shared yesterday at the senior center? Maybe Ryan would know. “Okay. I’m going to camp out at the coffee shop and get some work done. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Will do.” Her boss waved goodbye and she followed Janine into the hall.
“I could really use a good coffee right now, you lucky witch,” her friend complained when they were alone.
“I wish you could come with me, but sadly I’m the only one with the benefit of a floating office. Which, come to think of it, isn’t always that wonderful. I have a mess in the study to clean up before I go.” Sighing, she made her way toward the opposite end of the big house, which Blake had temporarily opened up to her and Janine while they made the transition to Sweetgrass.
On her way, she spotted Vaughn and Ryan’s friend Will in the sitting room off the foyer. Instantaneous heat filled her cheeks when Will grinned.
“Hey, Rosemary. Didn’t get to tell you on Saturday, but you’re really something on a pair of skis.”
“Oh, that,” she laughed lightly. “Thanks for letting me tag along. I had fun.”
“Anytime.” He winked and she continued on her way.
As she approached the study, the door across the hall opened and Ryan appeared, filling up the space with his broad shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” She blinked up at him in disbelief. “You were just in Tahoe.”
He flicked off the bathroom light and tucked his hands into his pockets. “Actually, I was in the car. Driving here.”
“You!” Her slug turned into an embrace right there in the middle of Blake’s hall.
“Mmm,” Ryan sighed as his hands slid around her waist and his face nuzzled into her hair. “You smell good.”
“You do, too, but we can’t do this. Not here.”
“It’s a hug, Rosie. Relax.”
“Yes, but…” Angel could come around the corner at any moment. Not exactly the kind of role model Rose hoped to be for the girl. “Come here.”
Grabbing his hand, she tugged him into the study and shut the door. He had her pinned against the wall in less than a second.
“I need to taste you,” he murmured, slanting his mouth over hers before she could protest. Not that she would have. She’d melted at the first tease of his tongue across the seam of her lips.
“This is so wrong,” she whispered between kisses, pay no mind to the fact that her hands had slipped up the back of his Henley, smoothing over all the hard muscle, flexing beneath his skin. “And I’m still not sure why you’re here.”
“Does it matter?” He angled down and found the hem of her knee-length skirt with one hand while the other curled anxiously around her breast. He pinched her nipple between his fingers and she hissed, snagging his bottom lip between her teeth to return the cruel favor.
Dancing up the inside of her thigh and over the lace of her stockings, his fingers promised another kind of touch. One that would make her lose her mind. One she craved desperately. But did they dare?
“You feeling brave, Rosie?” His eyes flashed wickedly to hers before his hot mouth skated down the curve of her jaw to her collarbone. The sting of his teeth sinking into her flesh had her fingernails scoring down his bare skin, urging him on no matter how dangerous a rendezvous like this might be. Messing around in Blake’s house? She could be fired.
“Touch me,” she begged, helpless to turn him away no matter the consequences. Their opportunities together were too limited.
He pressed his forehead against hers, his gaze stormy as he slipped inside her panties. He braced her steady with his hip against hers, the evidence of his arousal so hard between them.
“I love feeling this.” She reached down and grasped him through his jeans, running her palm along his length. “Maybe if we’re really quiet…”
He shook his head and distracted her with a purposeful stroke across her clit. She whimpered, the friction of his rough and calloused fingers both erotic and perfect, and exactly what she needed.
“Can you come for me like this?” he whispered, covering her mound with his hand and giving a not-so-gentle squeeze that sent a liquid rush of desire straight to her core.
She nodded. “Just a little more. Please.”
“Like this?” He tweaked at her bud again and she shuddered. So, so good. “Or like this?” In two quick tugs, he snapped the lace at both of her hips, allowing more room to play.
Here we go again. Her reminiscent smile morphed into a long, needy groan as he pushed one, then two fingers inside, hitting all the right spots along the way. “God, Ryan,” she rasped. “What are you doing to me?”
“Making you as crazy as you make me.” He pumped in and out, his breath hitching as erratically as hers. “Hopefully making it hard for you to forget me, too.”
“Ohh!” She threw her head back, hitting it hard against the wall, when the first wave of orgasm ripped through her body. The pain didn’t matter though—all she could think about, all she could feel, was Ryan. In that moment. Stealing yet another piece of her heart.
He covered her mouth with his again, absorbing her cries and holding her through the last of the tremors. Ever so gently, he let her go, brushing the hair back from her face.
“You good, princess?” He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose.
Breathing hard, she nodded and closed her eyes. “I just need a minute.”
He chuckled and stepped away. The satiny slide of her shredded panties disappeared with him. “I think I’ll keep these.”
Her eyes sprung open as he tucked the pink lace into his front pocket. “Ryan Croft, you are the devil.”
“And you, princess, are my favorite sin.”