Chapter Nine
Gage left Whiskey River two days later. Driving up to Dallas gave him time to think and clear his head. He was riding better than he’d expected. He was pleased with his place near the top. This break was for twelve days and the last thing he wanted to do was fly to his parents’ ranch with Sierra so he’d countered with picking her up in his truck.
After two days in Whiskey River visiting with Nick, Reba and his goddaughter two-year-old Martina he was the most mellow he could be. They were the people who made him feel like it was okay to just be himself.
It was only a six-hour drive to his folks’ place from the Dallas area and she’d agreed.
They still hadn’t talked. Not really. He’d been part of a number of email chains about the new shooting schedule and what he should wear and he even got to weigh in on the model that he’d been out on the town with in one part of the photo shoot. That part they were going to do in Fort Worth at Billy Bob’s Texas, which was owned by Willie Nelson and had a mechanical bull, live music and other amusements. They were going to be shooting in the middle of the afternoon so would have the place to themselves.
It was odd.
They were making up a life for him and because he knew it was just for an advertising campaign it didn’t bother him the way it did when he dwelled on the fact that his dad thought he was Marty.
He’d talked to Nick about it who despite being pretty fun-loving and always goofing on everyone had a solid head on his shoulders. Nick had said that family was complicated. God knew Nicholas Blue knew that better than many. He’d found out he was the illegitimate son of Boots Kelly after the old man had died and left him a legacy that included a share in the world-famous boot-making company and a stake in the Kelly ranch in Whiskey River.
Nick, who’d been drifting a little after Marty’s death, had gone to Whiskey River and Reba had found him there. Nine months later they’d had a daughter and they’d had to figure out how to work as a family.
He’d just told Gage that the only person whose opinion mattered was his own. Only he could say what was right for himself when it came to his own father. And that had resonated with him.
Gage stopped feeling like a fool and stared feeling like he was doing the only thing he could. He had always craved his father’s love and attention and he had it now. And somehow seeing him ride was making his dad happy. Was helping him through the worsening of his condition. Every day he forgot more things according to Gage’s mom but when he watched Gage ride he seemed himself. Those were her words.
He rubbed the back of his neck as he pulled into the parking garage underneath the Montez Denim building. He was going to have to tell Sierra about his dad before they got to the ranch. He knew that. And he still wasn’t sure how he was going to do it.
Nick knew his dad, had known Marty, so he got the whole family dynamic without needing a bunch of explaining. What would Sierra think when he told her?
He didn’t know. Hell, she might not even feel like talking to him. He was getting a definite chilly vibe off of her.
He got out of the truck and took the elevator up to her floor. He walked into the reception area where three people were seated. Two women and a man. They all looked up when he got off the elevator. He felt uncomfortable as he noticed a huge poster of him in Montez jeans—no shirt, looking over his shoulder—was mounted behind the reception desk.
He cursed under his breath.
“I guess we can rule out airbrushing on the poster,” one of the women said with a wink. “Nice to meet you in the flesh, Gage.”
He walked over to her. She had short blonde hair with one strand dyed an Easter egg pink color and she had bright violet eyes. Her eyes were rimmed in a thin line of kohl eyeliner and she had an easy, flirty smile.
“Hello…” He glanced down at the desk but there was no nameplate.
“Milly,” she said. “Are you here to see Sierra?”
“I am,” he confirmed.
She typed something on her keyboard and then waited and typed again.
“Someone from that department will be down in a few minutes to get you. Can I get a selfie?”
He nodded and she came around the side of the desk and posed with him. He avoided looking at himself in the viewfinder and smiled as she snapped two or three photos.
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” he said as the elevator pinged and the doors opened. Sierra walked out of the car. She was dressed in a form-fitting dress that technically could be called office appropriate and he guessed it would be if he didn’t know the body beneath it intimately. But it hugged her curves and accentuated the fullness of her breasts and all he could think of was that she wasn’t giving off the icy vibe now.
“Sierra.”
“Gage. Thanks for coming by the office,” she said. “Do you want to follow me and we’ll head up to the meeting? Some of the team had an idea this morning for some new still photos. I hope you won’t mind indulging them. I know the new contract mentioned the possibility of a photo shoot.”
“I’m not going to hold you to the letter of the contract,” he said.
“Thank you for that,” she said, stepping into the elevator and hitting a button.
He didn’t see which one because he was busy staring at her. Reminding himself of details he’d forgotten like the tiny birthmark on the side of her neck and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was nervous.
The doors closed and she crossed her arms over her chest and looked over at him. There was something in her eyes that should have been a warning.
“So, was I just a booty call?” she asked.
*
He reached around her and pushed the stop button, glancing over his shoulder at her. She had her arms crossed over her chest, which emphasized the curves of her breasts. Her hair was pulled back in some sort of updo that he didn’t know the name for and she had on makeup but it was understated and highlighted her prettiness.
She was staring at him expecting an answer and he couldn’t help but think she was also angling a little bit for a fight.
“I thought that was what you wanted.”
She wrinkled her brow and shook her head. “I…how did you get that?”
“The entire evening felt like one big change. Like we were both searching for something that we couldn’t really find and then after…hell, I’m not good at this. I’m going to say something that convinces you I’m a jerk.”
She tipped her head to the side studying him for a long moment and he wondered why he’d ever come back from Scotland. On the rig he’d be doing his thing with a bunch of guys who didn’t want to do anything except work, drink and get laid when they were on shore leave.
“I don’t think you’re a jerk. I’m just trying to make sense of this.”
“I can’t help there. I left like I did because the entire night wasn’t real. I’m on the tour to win, not sleep with sponsors, and I know you weren’t looking to hook up either.” He took his hat off, ran his fingers through his hair and then looked over at her. “Plus, I didn’t know what to say. I figured if you wanted more than what we’d had you would come and find me. It’s not like you don’t know where I am.”
She let her arms fall to her sides. “Are you saying you felt like I just wanted to get laid?”
“No. See this is why I didn’t want to talk. I suck at discussing things,” he said, stepping closer to her. “I like you, Sierra, but we work together and I’m dealing with some other things that make me more like a dangerous bull than a good ride. I’m just trying to keep either of us from being gored.”
She reached up and touched the side of his face. Her fingers were cold and light as she cupped his jaw and then she went up on tiptoe and kissed him softly and gently before stepping back. “Thank you for that.”
She reached around him and hit the button to make the elevator start moving again and didn’t say another word. When the doors opened she walked past him and after putting his Stetson back on he followed her. He had no idea if anything was resolved or really where they stood.
She led him to a large room similar to the one where he did the original photo shoot and he was whisked away by the hair and makeup person. Damn if he wouldn’t get the crap ribbed out of him if his friends knew he was having makeup put on. But he just went where he was bid, trying to make sense of what had happened in the elevator.
He had plenty of time to think since the photographer wanted him to pose and stare broodingly off in the distance. The more they moved him around and posed him the more he thought that he was damned glad this wasn’t how he made a living because he’d never be able to do this full-time.
He scanned the crowd for a glimpse of Sierra but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. Nothing had been resolved by their little elevator chat. Maybe that conversation had given her the closure she needed. He’d left her in the early morning hours to avoid the chat he’d just been forced to endure.
Talking never did do him a bit of good and this was no exception. After four hours, they finally were done and he was told he could change and that someone would meet him in the boardroom to go over the photo shoot the next day. He had been so fixated on seeing her again it hadn’t occurred to him what he’d do when he did see her. She wasn’t going to just be all let’s hit the sheets again. She had too much class for that. Hell, she probably had too much class for him.
“Do you want to see the contact sheet from your shoot?” Sierra asked from the doorway.
“Sure. Did they turn out okay?” he asked, realizing that he—who’d never been nervous about anything, not facing down a tough bull or even flying through a North Atlantic storm to an oil rig—was nervous around her.
He’d tried to tell her how he felt, botched it as usual, but inside of him he still wanted her. And not just for sex. Though one night had definitely not been enough to sate his need for her. He wanted to sit and talk to her, to try to figure out what was going on between them and if when this AEBR Tour was over there was a shot for them.
But then he stopped his thoughts. A shot for them to do what? He was leaving the US after this tour. He wasn’t hanging around to watch the father he couldn’t ever figure out how to love to sink deeper into a disease where he recognized him less and less. And his mom…well she had her family near her and she had the ranch. It was home to her. But it hadn’t been home to him in a long time.
“Gage?”
“Huh?”
“You coming?”
“Yeah,” he said, putting his hat on and following her out of the room. He wished he could look at Sierra the way he did a bull before he got on the back of it. Analyze her strengths and weaknesses and figure her out. But he couldn’t. She confused him and made him want to be something he was damned sure he wasn’t.
*
She’d gotten the answer she thought she’d wanted from Gage so leaving him at his hotel and going home should have been easy enough. But instead she found herself coming up with ways to prolong the night and he didn’t seem to mind.
She knew he wasn’t ready for anything more than that one night they’d had together. She’d seen his face in the elevator and could easily read between the lines. Whatever was going on in his life it was complicated and she didn’t want to add to the pressure. Aside from the fact that if she distracted him and he dropped in the ranking before the new TV ads ran her dad would kill her.
Dinner at the Dallas area eatery was a lively affair with a few of the team from creative team at Montez Denim going along. Despite how Gage was one-to-one sort of quiet, in a group he was pretty funny and talkative. She had deliberately made sure she sat at the opposite end of the table from him, which had been a mistake because she’d had no choice but to watch him all night.
And as the evening had worn on, her resistance to him had worn down. So, when they were outside waiting for the valet to bring their cars and discussing who should take Gage back to his hotel room, she’d blurted out that she would.
Which had earned her an odd look from Marcos who lived closer to the hotel than she did.
“I want a chance to go over some logistics for when we get up to your ranch,” Sierra said.
And Marcos had winked at her before getting into his car and driving off.
“Do you mind?” she asked Gage.
“Not at all. I’m happy to answer all of your questions,” he said.
He got into the passenger side of her sports car. She got in on the driver’s side and then as she sat behind the wheel she realized that she didn’t have the wild out of control feeling that had ruled her the last time she was with Gage. Instead she felt solid and sure.
There was something about him that made her want to get to him know better. She didn’t want him to be her guilty pleasure anymore. And there had been way too much guilt over the last few weeks while they’d been apart.
“What kind of music do you like?”
“Anything,” he said.
She hit the button on her steering wheel and the local top 40 station came on. She pulled away from the restaurant, carefully maneuvering her way through traffic to the highway so she could head toward downtown and his hotel.
“I lied about needing to talk to you about the ranch,” she said. “I just wanted to be alone with you.”
“I know.”
“Really? I didn’t even know until I said it.”
He nodded. “We spent all night looking at each other and pretending we weren’t. There is something between us, darlin’.”
There was. Right now, it was bordering on some kind of obsession for her. She wanted to pretend it was because of the last few weeks. Her staring at his picture all the time and him being absent from her life. But she knew it was more than that.
“This is crazy. I can tell you don’t want to get involved. And honestly, I’ve just managed to earn the respect of the board so starting something with you isn’t exactly going to help me maintain it.”
He turned in the seat, took his Stetson off and set it on his lap. He ran his hand through his hair. “I’m in the same spot.”
“How? Everyone thinks you’re golden. I’m hoping I don’t do anything to mess that up.”
He shook his head. “Not everyone. My mom goes back and forth between being scared I’m putting my life on the line and proud that I’m doing so well. When I talked to her after the last win, she admitted she’d watched my ride through her fingers. That she wanted to look away but then was afraid if she didn’t watch something would happen to me like it did with Marty.”
Her heart broke a little when he said that. She didn’t watch him ride anymore either. Now that she’d slept with him and started caring for him it was hard to do.
She reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry. How’s your dad taking it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Does he comfort your mom and tell her not to worry?” she asked.
He put his hat back on and turned away from her, looking out the window at the passing landscape as they exited the highway and went past the American Airlines Center. He kept his silence and she realized he wasn’t going to say anything else to her.
She wondered what was going on there.
“Sorry if I asked something I shouldn’t.”
He sighed. “It’s not that. My dad and I have never had an easy relationship. And after Marty died…well things didn’t get better.”
She wondered at that. She would have thought that the senior Powell would have turned his attention to Gage. And she knew from watching the footage that Gage was a gifted rider and seemed to have a natural fluidity that his brother hadn’t. Marty had been more physical on the bull, almost as if it had been stubbornness keeping him in place.
“That stinks. Believe me I know how complicated dads can be.”
“You do, don’t you?” he asked. “Has your dad ever mentioned that he wished you were more like Savanna?”
She thought about how he’d said that he thought she was like Savanna. “Not in so many words. But he does tend to see us as two peas in a pod. Is that what you meant?”
He shook his head as she pulled into the circle drive in front of his high-rise hotel.
“No. Not that. More like: I wish you were more like your brother,” Gage said.
There was a bit of rage and old disappointment in his tone and it broke her heart to hear it.
“That’s horrible.”
“You don’t know the worst of it,” he said.
“Want to tell me about it?” she asked. Even though she knew that there was no way she could go into the hotel with him, talk and not spend the night.