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Charlie closed her eyes and shook her head. She’d been so determined to make a secure life for herself. So determined never to be stupid or clingy or taken advantage of. Maybe she’d gone too far the other way.
She tried her brother one more time. It went to voice mail. If he was avoiding her, she had no way to track him down.
“Shit!”
Now what was she supposed to do? Go to work? Pretend everything was fine? She had no idea who was involved. It might be Keith. Or Dawn. Either of them. The only one Charlie could be sure of at this point was...
“Nicole,” she muttered.
That was a beast she didn’t particularly want to poke. The woman was married and having at least one affair, and Charlie had no idea what her husband knew. So instead of tracking down Nicole, she used her phone to look up the address of her brother’s development company. It was a P.O. box, of course. Damn.
She didn’t see much choice. She’d have to at least drive out to Nicole’s ranch. She certainly couldn’t ask Walker for the woman’s number.
Walker.
Her throat went thick and her eyes burned. Walker thought she was disgusting now. Beneath him. And she probably was. It wasn’t as though she’d been totally innocent about what sleeping with her boss had meant. She’d eaten up the attention of getting such an important promotion at such a young age, even though she’d been suspicious it had been more about the sex part of performance than the job part. She’d known she hadn’t deserved that title.
But God, it had been exciting, being the golden girl for a few months. And knowing that she was just getting started and nothing could stop her.
And now even Walker looked at her with a sneer. He’d been happy enough to mess around with his boss’s wife, though. Maybe she should skip the ranch and just check Walker’s apartment.
Her tears dried at the sudden rush of anger, and Charlie slammed the door of her car and took off for the Fletcher Ranch. Screw all these people. It wasn’t her job to protect Nicole’s marriage. Or Dawn’s marriage. Or Walker’s ego.
Fucking men. Maybe she didn’t need to ask any more questions. What else could it be except that Fletcher and Brad and Keith were mixed up in some shit together and they were screwing every woman in their lives over, physically and metaphorically? The men were either working together or trying to ruin each other, and they didn’t care who got hurt.
She tried her brother again, then snarled at the road when he didn’t answer.
She’d been right. She should just open a cozy little shop somewhere. A store that only sold girl stuff so asshole men wouldn’t accidentally wander in. Pretty teapots. Or kitten posters. Or knitted dildo cozies. Yeah. The last was probably the best idea, because she was never going to have sex with a man again. Ever. Not even Walker, who could turn her on with one fucking look and make her come harder than she ever had before.
“Shit,” she croaked, the tears coming again. She couldn’t even hate him, because he was a good guy. A sweet guy. And he touched her as if she meant something to him, even if she didn’t.
I always knew you were better than me.
Charlie pulled onto the county road that would lead her closer to Fletcher Ranch, but she didn’t keep driving. She eased the car to the shoulder and put it in Park, too blind from tears to see.
Was that what he’d thought? Was that what she’d encouraged him to believe? That she was better than him?
She wanted to call him. To apologize or yell at him that he was wrong or beg him not to think badly of her. Just to hear him. To know that he’d talk to her. But there was nothing to say yet. She couldn’t even deny what Nicole had told him.
Charlie wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater and rummaged in her purse until she found a tissue. Screw Nicole’s marriage. Charlie needed to talk to her.
She drove the last fifteen minutes to the dude ranch with no tears. No panicking. Just a determination to end this awful purgatory she’d found herself in. She’d either get clear of it or go straight to hell. At least it would be over.
She looked around as she drove past the ranch gates, imagining Walker working here for years. He must have fit in perfectly here, the ideal handsome cowboy to go with the perfectly maintained corral and the pretty flowerpots in the windowsills of the lodge.
She drove into the small parking area and was met by a blond man in scruffy jeans and a cowboy hat who was toting rope toward the corral. “Howdy, miss. Can I help you?”
“Hi. I’m looking for Nicole Fletcher?”
“Sure. If she’s here, someone at the lodge will know.”
She thanked him with a smile, telling herself he couldn’t be the guy who’d hit Walker, because his nose looked unmolested. She hoped she would run into that guy. She hoped his nose was still twice its normal size and painful as hell.
The girl at the welcome desk smiled brightly at Charlie’s question. “Oh, sure! Nicole is helping set up for a wedding reception tomorrow night. We’re all super excited about it. Who doesn’t love a wedding?”
Well, Charlie didn’t, but she always made sure to have a good time at them anyway.
She followed the hallways of the lodge down to a far room. The place was beautiful, with Western touches like elk-antler chandeliers and dark red carpets patterned after Navajo blankets, but there were signs of luxury in the expensive wood doors and molding. Charlie noticed it all in passing. She headed straight for the farthest doors and the woman’s voice echoing into the hallway.
