Broken Hero

The Ranch is a mess as I walk back towards the main house. Sarah is running from place to place, trying to finish the last details for the wedding in a few days. The ranch really pulls together for events like that, and I know I’m a lucky bastard for finding these people. The place would have been a wreck without them. Worse-it would have been sold.

I don’t know what my father and grandfather would have thought about my decision to turn it into a hotel, but I do know what they’d thought about selling. It would have broken their hearts.

If nothing else, I made sure it stayed in the family, and that it gave both Sarah and myself work for decades to come. I’m not mayor, but the Morris name is still respected.

It’ll have to do.

I’m rummaging through the fridge in the staff kitchen when I hear a familiar voice in reception. It’s too early-we’re not done yet.

“Hi, Mandy.”

“Hey, Luce.”

“Is Oliver in?”

“Yes, I think he’s in the staff kitchen, actually.”

The door swings open. Lucy’s wearing her shorts again, her long legs on display, and her hair is loose around her shoulders. She’s so beautiful it hurts. I want to pull her close and kiss her, take the edge off our day apart.

My gorgeous girl.

“Hi there.”

“Hey.” She tugs at the hem of her t-shirt and nods towards the stairs. “Can we go to your office?”

There’s something off in her voice. “What’s wrong?”

She shakes her head and hurries up the steps with me in tow. She shuts the door to my office carefully behind us. It’s not like her, this quiet, careful demeanor. Something’s happened.

“Lucy, tell me what’s wrong.”

She pushes her hair back. “People know about us.”

“I’m sure.””No, Oliver, everyone knows about us. Someone saw your truck parked overnight outside the bakery… It’s the talk of the town.”

I lean against my desk and cross my arms. “Okay.”

“That doesn’t bother you? I thought you hated being the talk of the town.”

“It doesn’t bother me. Hey, hey… stop.” I grab her by the shoulders and meet her worried gaze. “It only bothered me when it was negative.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but the talk going around isn’t exactly positive.”

I frown. “It’s not a bad thing that people know about us.”

“Well, it might be.” Lucy shrugs off my touch and begins pacing again. Back and forth, worrying her lower lip, until she stops and faces me. “I don’t know. I just… I’m not sure if we can do this, not this way.”

“Why not?””I can’t have people talking, Oliver!”

“They’re just people.”

“They don’t think what I’m doing here is respectable, and they certainly won’t take me seriously if I…”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“If you do what?”

“If I’m sleeping with the boss.”

For a long moment, all I can do is look at her. Sleeping with the boss.

“I need this job, Oliver. I need it, and I’m not sure how to… Oh, God. We were so foolish.”

I frown. “This isn’t like Dallas, Lucy. Your job has never been on the line.”

“You’re right.” She takes a deep breath, stopping in the middle of my office. “I know that. I just need some space. Some time to think, you know. Sort this out.”

“That’s fine. You take whatever time you need.” My voice is casual, but I feel like I’ve been punched. Clearly, we were expecting very different things out of this relationship if this was how she reacted to people finding out about us. And here I thought things were going well? That we might have a future together?

She gives me a nod, like we’ve finished this discussion, and heads to the door. She stops and glances back at me over her shoulder. Her eyes are hesitant. “So I’ll talk to you later?”

“You know where to find me.”

“Okay. Well… See you soon, Oliver.”

I nod. My office door swings shut behind her and I’m left in reeling silence. It only takes her a moment or two to disappear down the stairs.

Fucking hell.

What just happened?

It takes me a solid half-hour to get my bearings back enough to return to the spa. Logan is sitting on one of the benches in the sauna, playing around with the settings to the new stove.

He looks up. “Took you long enough.”

“Yeah.””No beers?”

“Shit. No, no beers.”

Logan frowns. “You look like you’ve taken a hit, man.”

I sigh and sit down next to him. “Lucy was just here.”

“Damn! Did she see this?”

“No. She wanted to talk.”

Logan leans back. “Ah.”

“Yeah.””And it didn’t go well?”