Her brows lift, and her pink lips part. “Denver?”
“I have a big condo. There’s a gym and a pool in the complex, and?—”
“You want me to quit my job and move in with you?” The furrow across her forehead deepens. Is she astonished or horrified?
“I don’t want this to end,” I repeat. My feelings pile on my tongue, an unusual sensation. Expressing emotions and discussing them isn’t my thing. “I don’t want us to end.”
Her expression softens. “Me either, but I love my work, and even if we have to sell…the new people might hire me.”
She’d go from owning the place to being an employee again? Even if she had less power than she had with my dad? “There are breweries in Denver, and they’d run each other over to have someone with your experience.”
She tilts her head, considering me, her hazel eyes guarded. “What else is in Denver for me, Calder?”
“Me.” I clench my teeth for a heartbeat. How did I think this conversation would go? Easy? She’d agree and start packing? I didn’t think it’d go well. That was why I surprised us both with it.
“And there I’d be, moving for a guy again, like I did with Tanner. I never wanted to leave Scandal in the first place.” Her soft laugh has traces of bitterness. “I thought, eventually, Ransom would give me more of a role, but it was like—” She licks her lips and looks away.
“You can talk to me.”
She nods and draws herself up. “It was like he was holding on so tightly to keep from losing more of her. More of all of you.”
It’s a punch right to the throat, but I swallow past the pain. The worst part about getting kicked out was seeing our indominable father so damn flawed. “Maybe.”
“I think that’s why I came back after the breakup. I didn’t get anything different in Williston. Slinging beer is slinging beer, but at least here, I had people who cared about me.”
Now they’re gone. No wonder she’s gun-shy.
“I care about you.”
Her sigh is quiet. “Can you blame me for thinking this through after how it turned out last time? I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Or anything that was mine.” She chews on her bottom lip. “I still don’t.”
“We can build something together.”
She searches my eyes, but the crinkle stays between her brows. “We’ve only known each other a couple of weeks.”
“I don’t need long to know when I have something good.” I rise and walk around to her side of the bed. “It’s never been like this for me.”
Vulnerability shines bright in her eyes. “Not for me either, but Calder, my life is getting upended.”
“And you don’t have a safe place to land.” I slide my fingers around her ankles. Her skin is smooth and warm. I tug her down the mattress, and her shorts ride up, her shirt rolling to under her unbound breasts. “I can be that place.”
I crawl on top of her and settle between her legs. The cats are watching us through half-closed eyes.
She twines her arms around my neck, but she’s not fully relaxed, and I know what she’s like when she’s boneless and all mine. “Why don’t you want to come home?”
I nearly flinch when she says it like that.Home.My home is more than ten hours away, a place surrounded by glass andconcrete. I’m not drawn there, but I’ve never been one to live by my passions. Dad did that, and the businesses suffered. The people suffered. Later today, I’ll pick up another one of his passions—a smashed-up classic convertible. The one that finally got him.
“This is where I grew up,” I say carefully. There’s a disconnect between my brain and my dick. My pulse beats through my erection, but our conversation isn’t more complicated than an orgasm. “It’ll always be important, but I’m not moving home to become my dad.”
She frowns. I prop myself on an elbow to smooth the line between her dark brows.
“He was a flawed and stubborn man, but he had a lot of good qualities, too.” She captures my wrist. “His laugh cheered up anyone who heard it. He donated every time the school had a fundraiser. And he was the first guy the Millers called to help when their cows got out. Would it be so bad?”
“He ruined everything he loved.” I feather my fingertips over her cheeks, with her hand still wrapped around my wrist.
What am I admitting here? I’m not rash or impulsive. I’ve known who Meredith was for years, but our relationship can still be counted in days. We don’t have a definite beginning, other than when I walked into Jules Creek and became captivated. Was that how Dad felt about her sister? Mama was sick in bed, then in walked a vibrant, optimistic Holly? He knew who she was for years, but then he became enraptured and gave up everything.
She cups my face, her expression solemn. “I need to think about it.”
