Page 90 of Wild and Wanted

The mountains remind me of you

Clay

Yeah?

Stevie

Solid, craggy, immovable

Clay

Fucking A

She almost laughed out loud at that one. Stevie didn’t know too many men that would take such stark descriptors as a compliment even though she had meant them as such. But Clay had understood what she’d meant because he owned those things and out there, in the middle of Wyoming, strength and implacability meant more than any pretty words.

God, just thinking about his steadfastness made her chest ache.

‘Stevie?’

Glancing up guiltily, Stevie found her mother, her agent, two people from the record label and the director of the video all looking at her as if maybe she had laughed out loud. Smiling confidently, she went for a neutral, ‘Hmm?’

‘Just need to sign off on the location,’ Jaycee Drummond, her agent, said.

Stevie nodded at him like she’d been listening all along. She wasn’t sure when they’d moved on from the schedule but it was clearly time to make decisions with the shoot only two weeks away. The only reason it hadn’t been decided on yet was because Stevie, who had the ultimate say – thankfully – still hadn’t made up her mind.

‘As you know, we have temporary bookings at these four places.’ Jaycee brandished the glossy brochures Stevie had been looking at for weeks now.

‘I think the one in Texas is perfect for it,’ her mother said.

Yes, Stevie knew her mother’s thoughts because she’d reiterated them enough. And she was right, the ranch ticked all the boxes. Not least because, Stevie suspected, it was a long way from Wyoming. But the truth was the two in Montana and the other one in Iowa also ticked the right boxes.

It was just that… none of them were the Redemption Valley Ranch.

The RVR hadn’t been one of the options and she’d been fine with that – or so she’d thought. The production company had location scouts for a reason and Stevie didn’t want to rock boats. Even when they’d come back with these four options, Stevie had nodded and thanked them and told them she’d make a decision soon, but as she sat here looking at these brochures yet again, she knew that while they were all perfect in their own way, none of them were right.

Glancing at her phone again, she saw Clay’s snap of the mountain and her chest filled with a rush of nostalgia and a deep, gnawing desire to go back, and she knew there was only one choice.

The RVR was right.

Ignoring the brochures and avoiding looking at her mother, she said to Jaycee, ‘I want to go back to Redemption Valley for the filming.’

Four men around the table looked at each other as her mother quietly said, ‘Stephanie.’

Taking a beat to centre herself, she turned to her mother, who clearly did not like the idea at all. But damn it, Stevie had said yes to everything; they could give her this.

‘If this is about Clay, I⁠—’

‘This isn’t about Clay,’ Stevie cut in.

Her voice was a little sharper than it should have been, but the truth was she’d spent every day of the last six weeks wishing she’d put her foot down about leaving the RVR early and she didn’t want to regret this decision. Not when the Calhoun ranch would be such an amazing backdrop.

It was the right decision. And she had Clay to thank for giving her the strength to finally advocate for herself and what she wanted.

In this at least.

‘It’s about me knowing the ranch and the terrain. I know the people and the horses. I’ll be comfortable and relaxed there. Plus I think the Calhouns deserve some quid pro quo for going above and beyond for me during my stay. Also—’ Stevie lifted her chin. ‘I won’t do it anywhere else.’

Jaycee cleared his throat as he glanced between mother and daughter, clearly taken aback by Stevie’s quiet determination. ‘I don’t know that they’d be able to… accommodate us. On such short notice.’