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He smiled at her, those straight white teeth dazzling and brilliant. “Sorry I’m early,” he drawled. “My nerves got the best of me, and I couldn’t sit still at home.”
“Silas?” she asked, though that hadn’t been the name he’d gone by in college.
“Yep.” He stepped back. “You good?” When she didn’t trip or fall, he bent to pick up the folders. “I’m afraid these are all out of order now.”
“Shoot.” Holly crouched to retrieve the things she’d so carefully prepared for today’s interviews. She felt slow and sluggish, because she didn’t normally work quite so early in the day. Her veins trembled with anxiety and adrenaline. She hadn’t been so attracted to a man since her last boyfriend.
He can’t be your boyfriend, she told herself. For the man currently helping her sift through resumes and references was not Silas Money. Well, he was, but Holly had known him as Prince Charming, as he’d played that part in the university play their senior year. All of the women had been in love with him, and according to campus gossip circles, he’d dated three of them at the same time.
His real name had definitely not been Silas Money in college, but he’d taken on the name afterward, when he’d started working in Hollywood. She’d seen every movie and every TV show this man had ever been in, and she couldn’t believe he was kneeling in front of her, handing her a paper she didn’t even look at.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
He smiled again, and wow, he had to practice that day and night to make it look so shiny. At the very least, he’d had a talent agent teach him how to make women forget their own names with that smile.
What had been his name? Holly wondered. Her mind raced, but she couldn’t come up with it. Her fingers felt numb around the pages, but they had them all now, so she stood. She turned in a full circle, completely discombobulated from this man’s appearance at the lodge.
“We can’t interview in here,” she said.
“No?”
“No.” She didn’t want to parade him through the kitchen either, as there were several younger, prettier women who worked the breakfast service. “Let’s go outside.” She nodded to her right, and Silas looked that way.
“It’s already a million degrees outside,” he said.
“You applied for job at a ranch.” She cocked one eyebrow at him, and she knew it was perfectly sculpted. Her makeup was flawless, as were her clothes. Holly made sure of that before she left her cabin, each and every time. When one worked in the customer service industry, one was expected to be perfect all the time.
Her earrings brushed against the side of her neck as she inched past him. “We’ll talk on the picnic table. It’s in the shade.” She’d have to march across the gravel again, but she honestly didn’t think falling in front of Silas was the worst thing that could happen. Maybe then he’d touch her again and that lightning would course through her, jumpstarting her heart.
She’d believed the organ to be stone cold and dead, but one more movie star smile from Silas had it hopping like a caffeinated frog beneath her breastbone.
“All right,” he drawled, sounding Texan and tantalizing, before he moved to open the back door for her.
A movie star, a gentleman, a cowboy,andPrince Charming. Holly actually hoped he’d have zero experience on ranches so she could send him packing. She didn’t have time for a boyfriend—or her current heart palpitations—and the only reason she kept her head as she crossed the parking lot was because she told herself that a man like Silas Money would never be interested in a woman like her.
ChapterThirteen
Silas Money caught up to Holly easily once he made it down the steps he’d come up only a few minutes ago. “You’re Holly, right?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, sorry,” she said. She seemed completely flustered, and he didn’t blame her. She’d obviously spent some time putting those files together, and he’d gone and knocked them right out of her hands.
The woman was downright gorgeous, and Silas told himself to act professional. He wasn’t the man he’d once been.You left him in LA, he told himself with every step. The silence between him and Holly stretched, only the sound of their feet crunching over the gravel filling the air. Other than that, the world was quiet, and that was exactly what Silas needed.
What he craved. What he wanted. Why he’d applied here and had been praying he’d get this job.
He’d always had a weakness for brunettes, and Holly’s hair held a shine and a chestnut sheen he really liked. She was obviously put together and prepared for the interviews, and from her outward appearance, she didn’t have a single flaw.
Silas knew better than most that someone could pretty themselves up on the outside but be suffering immensely on the inside. Some wounds could be hidden and lay dormant for years. Some bled slowly, the person suffering with them not even realizing how much they hurt until it was too late to fix them.
It’s never too late, he told himself. For him, it was too early to be thinking about a relationship at all. He’d known a lot of women in his lifetime thus far, and he’d only met a handful he could trust. Most of his experiences with women had been quite the opposite, and he wasn’t looking to repeat any of his past mistakes.
They arrived at a long picnic table, and the breeze blew in from off the ranch here. Shade covered them in every direction, and while June in Texas could make a man wet from head to toe in a matter of minutes, Silas hadn’t started to sweat too badly yet.
Holly let out a long sigh as she sat down, her back to the ranch. “Is this okay?” She looked up at him, her eyes the color of amber. They captivated him and made the world stop spinning for a moment. She blinked, and he remembered not to act like a fool.
“This is fine,” he said. He sat opposite of her and folded his arms on the table. He hadn’t brought anything with him to the interview, because Holly had requested all of it be emailed prior to their meeting.
“I had everything ready,” she said, her voice trailing off at the end. “I’m sorry. Give me just a minute here to get things put back together.”
