CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“ARE YOU IN a philosophical space that allows you to visit Get Out of Dodge?”
Lindy’s sudden question shocked Olivia, and it sent her mind straight to Luke. Not that her mind had been far from Luke at any point during the day. An interesting change from when any mention of Get Out of Dodge would have put her in mind of Bennett, and no one else.
But, no. Her brain was completely fixed on Luke now.
Luke’s body, Luke’s lips, the way that Luke felt moving inside of her. Yes, she was having a full-fledged obsession, but really, a girl could hardly be blamed when she was twenty-five and had only just lost her virginity the night before.
“I am philosophically and physically able,” Olivia said, looking up from the spreadsheet she had been examining, trying not to sound too eager.
“Great. I’m taking samples over to Get Out of Dodge. Wine, and some Donnelly cheese, as well. Just trying to get Wyatt on board with this whole joint venture thing.”
“Yes. I can do that.”
“I find the whole thing with Wyatt difficult,” Lindy confessed.
“Why? Because he’s friends with your ex?”
“He hates me,” Lindy confessed. “I mean, he just really doesn’t like me. Never has. From the first moment I met him when I went on a partial tour with Damien years ago, we met in a bar and...he just took against me.”
“You want to partner with him why?”
“Because. Get Out of Dodge is the only dude ranch in the area, and he’s trying to revamp it. We are between Copper Ridge and Gold Valley, and I feel like we should reap the benefits of both.”
“I admire your avarice,” Olivia said.
“Thank you,” Lindy said. “It’s one of my best qualities. Okay. I have all the boxes loaded up in the back of the truck. Now we just need to drive down there.”
Olivia drifted behind Lindy, across the gravel lot. She toed some of the gray rocks with her brown ankle boots and looked around them at the towering pines, still defiantly green, even in the dead of winter.
Olivia wanted to be defiant in that way, suddenly. Wanted to weather these changes, this season, and maintain her color and life.
Or more honestly, get it back.
They both got into the truck and Olivia placed her elbow on the armrest and looked out the window as they drove down to the highway.
“You still seem awfully quiet,” Lindy said. “Is the whole thing with Bennett...”
“He asked if we could get back together,” Olivia said. “I refused.”
The words sent a little buzz through her. She really had refused him. And she had gone after Luke, who made her blood hot and her heart race fast. She’d satisfied herself for now, and who knew what would happen in the future. But she felt good. Resolute, if nothing else.
Lindy slapped the steering wheel. “Good for you. I don’t think he appreciated you.”
“Really?”
“Actually,” Lindy relented, “he always seemed like a really nice guy, and he treated you like a princess. But, there was something missing.”
“Chemistry,” Olivia said. “Which... I know I can’t ignore anymore.”
“I see,” Lindy said, carefully. “What brought about this change of heart?”
“I...” Olivia swallowed. “I slept with someone last night.”
“I see,” Lindy repeated, this time clearly not seeing at all.
“For the first time.”
“The first time ever with that person, or the first time ever?”
“The first time ever,” Olivia said.
She had felt very much like an outsider during the conversations her friends were having about love and sex over the past few months. Now she just wanted to talk.
“It was so much different than I thought it would be,” she continued. “And he’s so different than the kind of man I thought I’d be with. My feelings are...so complicated. I can’t stop thinking about him.”
“I’m having déjà vu,” Lindy said. “This is the second time someone has confessed virginity loss to me in my car.”
“Oh,” Olivia said. “Is that really a lot?”
“Considering it’s all been in the past couple of months? Yes. Which, more power to you guys. It’s been so long for me I can hardly remember what it’s like. Anyway, I would be too tired to have a relationship even if one presented itself. All this work on the winery. Every night when I get into bed I’m so sore I can hardly move. The other night I actually considered using my vibrator as a massager. For my shoulders. Because my predominant need is to relieve the aches and pains in my muscles, not anywhere else.”
Olivia’s face warmed slightly, but she found the line of conversation didn’t mystify her as much as it might have before last night. Or maybe even before she had kissed Luke in the back of the truck.
Suddenly, a whole lot more things made sense to her. Like why people made rash, impulsive decisions that would only hurt them when sex was involved. Like why it was difficult to go without once you started.
That specter loomed large in front of her, made her feel slightly terrified. Just because she’d had sex with Luke once didn’t mean it would keep happening. Or maybe it would happen a few more times, but then he would get bored and it would end. And then what? She would have to find someone else. Someone else that she felt this way about. It had taken her twenty-five years to find a man she felt this way about. She didn’t want to wait twenty-five more.
“Was it Luke Hollister by any chance?” Lindy asked gently.
Olivia’s head whipped around to look at Lindy’s profile. “How did you know?”
“Because I saw you with him that morning he brought you to work. And I know you said there was nothing going on, but, Olivia, the way he looks at you...”
“How does he look at me?” Olivia asked, suddenly desperate to pry apart every detail about the way Luke might see her.
“Like he’s starving and you’re food. Like he’ll die if he can’t touch you.”
Olivia felt like her breath had been sucked right out of her. “You got all of that from a look?”
“And more. Men are not very subtle. And he really isn’t.” Lindy laughed.
Olivia frowned. “I was such a virgin.”
“Nothing wrong with that. But that man wanted to eat you alive. I’m glad he finally got to.”
Olivia’s face went hot at that. Because it put her in mind of a very literal interpretation of what Lindy meant metaphorically. Which had happened. And shocked her at the time. But delighted her in hindsight.
Okay, it still shocked her a little bit, too.
“Luke is probably going to be at the ranch,” Olivia said, trying to sound casual.
“Well, as long as you don’t take off on me when I’m trying to deal with Wyatt.”
“I promise I won’t.”
They turned into the drive that led to Get Out of Dodge and Lindy parked the truck right in front.
Olivia went around to the back with her and lowered the tailgate, taking one of the boxes of wine, while Lindy took the other.
“Right now they’re probably in the mess hall,” Olivia said. “It’s time for their midmorning coffee and carbs.”
“You’re going to have to show me where that is,” Lindy said.
“Follow me,” Olivia said, pleased at least to feel like an authority on one thing. The rest of the world felt like a big endless mystery all of a sudden. Which was funny, because she had labored under the assumption that she had it all figured out for the last twenty-five years or so. That plans and control were all she needed. And all it had taken was that wildfire attraction to Luke Hollister to prove to her that she had been laughably wrong.
Suddenly, she saw so much more nuance in life. So many more variables. Understood why people made bargains with themselves about certain things and why they committed grave sins in the name of pleasure.
For a moment she wondered if it were the same with drugs for some people as it was with sex. If it all felt worth it for that momentary high.
It was so much easier to stand in judgment. She had liked her moral high ground.
But now that she had proven herself human, too, it was difficult to get back up on it.
She paused in front of the door to the mess hall and knocked gently. And a moment later Wyatt flung the door open. He looked at her, and then his eyes settled on Lindy. And Olivia suddenly understood what Lindy had meant only a moment before.
What it looked like when a man wanted to eat you alive.
But, just as soon as that heat in Wyatt’s eyes had appeared, it cooled.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” Wyatt said, his tone casual.
“I left a message,” Lindy responded.
“I didn’t confirm.” Wyatt leaned against the door frame, the muscles on his forearms shifting as he crossed them over his broad chest.
“I didn’t wait for you to confirm,” Lindy said, breezing past both Olivia and Wyatt and heading into the hall with her box of wine. “This is heavy,” she said, moving toward one of the large picnic-bench-type tables and setting it down in the center. “I brought you wine and cheese.”
“Lucky me,” Wyatt said. “As you can see and have probably guessed, I’m a big fan of having a glass of wine and a delicate cheese in the middle of my day spent shoveling shit.”
Olivia sneaked in past Wyatt and he followed behind.
“Everybody likes wine and cheese, Wyatt.” Lindy straightened, her blond hair flipping back over her shoulder. “It’s what makes shoveling shit bearable.”
The clash between the two of them was almost electric, and Olivia was caught up in it enough that she almost didn’t notice when the door opened again and Luke came walking in. Almost. Because whatever electricity was arcing between Wyatt and Lindy, it was nothing compared to what she felt as soon as she saw Luke.
The breath rushed out of her lungs, and her whole body went tingly.
“Hi,” she said, her voice sounding dangerously girlish.
She was not good at this.
“Good morning,” Luke said, making the decision to cross the space and come close to her, not kissing her, but touching her hand. “How are you today?”
It wasn’t a casual ask. But one laden with meaning. How was she today, specifically, the morning after they’d first slept together.
“Good,” she said, smiling shyly.
She realized then that they had attracted the attention of Wyatt and Lindy, who had stopped sparring long enough to watch their interaction.
Wyatt turned away quick enough, but Lindy kept her eyes on them.
Olivia took a deep breath and set her own box down on the table. “We brought samples. In case you want to stock wine here for the guests. And arrange vineyard tours and things.”
“Sure, sounds good,” Luke said. “Though I probably won’t be here anymore.”
“I know,” Olivia said. “Have you talked to my dad yet?”
“No,” Luke answered, keeping his voice low. “But soon. I will soon.”
“Good.” She took a deep breath. “I’m still going to vouch for your character.”
“I would think at this point you’re well aware that it’s disreputable.”
“That’s kind of what I like about it,” she said.
A slow smile spread across his face. “Are you flirting with me?”
“I might be.”
“Make your sales pitch, ladies,” Wyatt interrupted, looking from Olivia to Lindy. “I have work to do.”
“Shoveling,” Lindy said. “I’m aware. All right, you want a sales pitch, Dodge, a sales pitch you’ll get. I’m willing to give you a deep discount on the wine, the Donnelly brothers are willing to give a large discount on cheese—friends and family discount, seeing as they are now almost family to me, or close enough by marriage. I would also like to arrange for tours. And I know that you have been doing trail riding expeditions. If you’d like to, I’m willing to arrange for rides through the vineyard. That would be a nice thing to put on your website, don’t you think?”
“It would be,” Wyatt answered, “considering wine tourism is a big deal now.”
“Oh, I’m well aware,” Lindy said. “And I’m doing everything in my power to make Grassroots Winery the most successful in the area. Damien was cautious, and he didn’t want to expand. The only PR vision he had was for the rodeo, Wyatt, and wine isn’t a bull. I have a vision for how all this is going to work. We have the tasting room down in Copper Ridge, as well, so that will help direct some business from there to you. We have a long reach. We’re a more established business than Get Out of Dodge is at this point, more synonymous with tourists. Of course, we will return the favor by putting brochures about the ranch in our shop.”
“Sounds like a good deal to me,” Wyatt said, clearly surprising Lindy with his easy acquiescence. “But let me taste what you brought, and get together some figures on pricing and let you know.”
“Good,” Lindy said. “Very good. We’ll be in touch then.”
“I expect we will,” Wyatt said. “See you around.” He tipped his hat and walked out of the mess hall, leaving Olivia and Lindy there with Luke.
“Well, I guess our work here is done.” Lindy looked between Luke and Olivia. “I’ll return her to you later,” she said to Luke.
Olivia blushed. “I’m not his lost sweater. You do not need to return me to him.”
“I would appreciate it,” Luke said, smiling wickedly.
Olivia rolled her eyes. “God save me from alpha males.” She looked at Lindy. “And meddling bosses.”
“Yeah, well,” Lindy said, “this meddling boss is going to wait out in the truck so that you can say goodbye to each other.”
She waved slightly, and then walked out of the mess hall, leaving Olivia alone with Luke, who promptly took the opportunity to pull her into his arms and kissed her so hard it made her dizzy.
When they parted, she sighed happily.
“It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever,” she said, immediately embarrassed to have said that, because it was incredibly revealing if nothing else. Both to her and to him.
“It does,” he agreed, immediately putting her at ease.
“So, you talked to Wyatt about leaving?”
“Yes. And nearly got hit by Bennett, but that’s to be expected. He doesn’t like the idea of me being with you.”
She waited for there to be any kind of thrill over that. For her to feel anything at all. She did, but it was mostly just irritation.
“Too bad for him,” she said.
Luke chuckled and slung his arm around her, kissing her on top of the head. “I expect you have to go back to work,” he said, his tone sounding resigned.
“I do.”
“See you tonight?” he asked.
She wasn’t sure how to answer that. If she spent the night with him too often, her mother was going to notice. It wasn’t like she was ashamed of what was happening with Luke, she just didn’t know if she wanted to offer explanations to her mother right now.
It was different now that it was real. Because it felt fragile and fresh, because it felt personal. Like something she wanted to hold against her chest and examine all on her own without anyone else’s opinion or eyes on it at all.
“If it’s that difficult of a question to answer,” Luke said, “I can wait till it’s easy.”
She shook her head. “No. I’ll come over.”
She was resolute. She was going to have this on her own terms. And while that meant everybody and their mom would know about it, it also meant that she couldn’t do or not do what she wanted just because of what someone else might see or not.
In that, she was determined.
“All right then,” he said, “I’ll see you tonight.”
* * *
LUKE DIDN’T HAVE any experience talking to the father of a girl he was sleeping with. Hell, he hadn’t had entanglements with women that were serious enough for it to ever get there. And that wasn’t the reason he was having a conversation with Olivia’s father, either.
Still, he felt like he was going to ask for her hand in marriage or some kind of old-fashioned nonsense. Instead of going to talk about a business matter. He felt like I took you daughter’s virginity was stamped on his forehead. Ideally, he would have met with Cole Logan a little later than twenty-four hours after that event, but the man had said he’d see him today, so Luke didn’t want to reschedule the appointment simply because of that kind of discomfort.
Cole Logan was a tall man, age not doing a thing to diminish his presence and his appearance of strength. If anything, he was probably more authoritative now than he had been in his youth, and that only made him look more intimidating.
He invited Luke into the house, and took him back to his home office, which resembled a hunting lodge more than it did an office.
It had natural wood paneling and ducks mounted on the wall, frozen in midflight.
Luke had the strong feeling that he could easily find himself nailed to the wall if the older man ever found out what he had done to his daughter.
He figured it was best not to think about that.
“I hear that you’re interested in the property just outside of town?” Cole said, sitting back and regarding Luke with a critical eye.
“I am,” Luke said. “And I know that you’ve been hanging on to it for a long time out of interest for what happens to it. I understand that you didn’t want there to be any major developments or anything like that made on the property. And I appreciate the way that you’ve worked to preserve the community.”
“Is that so?” Cole laughed. “Luke, I know that Quinn Dodge has a high opinion of you. In fact, after you got in touch with me, I gave him a call and mentioned that you were interested in the place. He told me that there wouldn’t be a harder worker for the land. That’s why I’ve held on to it all this time. It’s part of my family history. I don’t need it, I can’t put it to use. So I don’t want it sitting there forever unused. If I kept on owning it, it would just be for the sake of that. But if I sell it to somebody who doesn’t have a sense for this place, for this town and the county, then I felt like it would lose its integrity. You want to have a ranch on it—is that correct?”
“Yes,” Luke said. “I intend to do a cattle ranch. It’s the work I enjoyed best at Get Out of Dodge. And, now that Wyatt is taking it more in the dude ranch direction again, I’m not as interested. I have money from a...” Luke cleared his throat. “A settlement. I’m more than able to pay a fair price.”
Cole regarded him closely. “I wasn’t worried about that. I figured that you knew your finances.”
“Well, I wanted to make it clear I’m not even waiting for financing. I’m able to pay cash.”
Cole nodded in approval. “That’s a point in your favor.”
“I thought it might be.”
“You’ve lived in Gold Valley for a long time,” Cole said. “And you put a lot of work into Quinn’s place. He said that you work as hard as his own sons on that land, if not harder.”
“Harder,” Luke said, nodding in confirmation. “Just a fact. I haven’t had any other vocation. I’ve poured everything I have, everything I am into that place. But now I want a place that carries my name.”
“Make sense to me,” Cole said.
He named his asking price and Luke agreed to it easily, finding it more than fair for his plans. It struck him, right then, that this had been so much easier than he had imagined. That Cole Logan was willing to give this to him based on his merit. Based on the work he had done on the ranch, work that he was beginning to think had gone unnoticed.
“Now,” Cole said, “a bit of unofficial business. I hear you were out with my daughter the other night.”
He should have figured that was going to come up. He’d thought he might have dodged it.
“That is true,” Luke said, speaking slowly.
“You know she was pretty hung up on Bennett Dodge,” Cole commented.
“Yeah,” Luke said, “I know. She also knows that you talked to Bennett about dating her,” Luke said, wondering if his honesty was a little bit too much, but he had always been honest about the things he chose to talk about, so it was too late for him to change that now. “She wasn’t too happy about that.”
“Things get a little bit frantic when you’re staring down your mortality,” Cole said. “I don’t know if you know, but I had a heart attack, and I was worried about Olivia. Worried that she wouldn’t have anyone to take care of her. You know, my other daughter has gone down a very bad road. And Olivia has always been...responsible. Responsible but sheltered, and sometimes that is scary in its own way. We were hard on her. Strict. More so than we should have been sometimes, I think. And I just don’t want anything to happen to her. So, I made the best decision I could at the time, and when the two of them did start dating it seemed to me that it might all work out.”
“You like him,” Luke commented.
“I do,” Cole said. And then he fixed his brown eyes, very similar in color and determination to his daughter’s, on Luke. “I like Olivia’s happiness more than I like any one person. Just so we’re clear.”
Luke nodded. “Her happiness matters to me, too.”
“As I said before,” Cole said, “Quinn Dodge said you were a good man. Quinn Dodge doesn’t hand out compliments easy. And you have to do a hell of a lot more than smile nice to impress him. I trust that what he says is true.”
“All right then,” Luke said.
“You know what else I like about you?” Cole said. “You’re honest.
Not that the whole thing with Olivia had started out with honesty, but then, the attraction between them sure had. There were no lies between them in the bedroom. None at all. “I aim to be.”
“And you aim to put down roots.”
“I do,” Luke said. “This was the place I always wanted to be. I came to Gold Valley because it seemed like the promised land, and it’s turned out to be that for me. I want to make it permanent.”
“Glad to help with that.”
But as Luke left, he couldn’t help but ponder the fact that all this was a bit convenient for Cole, if he thought that Luke and Olivia might have a future together. To keep her here, to keep her close.
And that was a tricky situation. A minefield. He and Olivia had been pretty honest with each other about the situation, such as it was, but he was afraid that it would ultimately look like he hadn’t been completely honest with her father.
Like he had been manipulating the situation in order to get the land.
He wasn’t sure why he cared. Olivia knew better. Olivia knew that he wanted her, and that the land had come up separately. But he really didn’t want that kind of a rumor circulating around town. That Olivia Logan had compromised herself with Luke Hollister so he could get her father’s land.
Now that he thought about it, he knew that he would be suspicious of himself if he were an observer.
Dammit.
He needed to talk to Olivia. He just needed to make sure that she understood. And that she didn’t need to talk to her father. Yeah, that would be the last thing he needed. Her talking to her father and compounding everything.
It had been one thing when it was fake. But now that there was actually something happening between them...
It was different. It was just a hell of a lot different.