Page 5 of Winning His Wager
“Well, living right here works just fine for me. Maybe I don’t want to just fall in line with the Talley script. Maybe people should consider that for once?” She wiggled in his hold. Some perverse part of Fletcher made him tighten his hold on her. “I made it twenty-three whole years without being a realTalley.So why should my father care if I am one now or not anyway?”
She wiggled again. His blood pressure skyrocketed. Just like that.
Hell, he just liked the way she wiggled against him right now. She might annoy him more than any woman on the planet ever had before, but he wasn’t damned immune.
That’s when it hit him.
It was awomanhe held right now. In his house. All alone.
Just him. Just her.
Things could go wrong in an instant.
Hell, he didn’t care about some damned bet. He had to get her out of there. Fast.
He started to say something. But…the lights flickered above them. And went straight out.
Dylan squealed and reached for him.
Somehow, Fletcher found her right in his arms. Pressed against him. Clinging. He wrapped one arm around her back and just held her close as he carried her back down the hallway toward the living room. She could have walked, but, well, it was simpler just to carry her. Not like she weighed much at all. “Relax, brat. The power just went out. From the storm. It’ll be back on within a few hours, I’m sure. It usually is. I’ll need to light the kerosene heater. And crank the lamps.”
“I just don’t do so well in the dark, you know? Never really have. Gotten a little worse since coming to Wyoming.”
He heard the nerves in her voice, but he suspected she was trying to come off as all big and bad and tough. Damn it, she was going to be a real pain in the ass. Six months. He was never going to make it through.
Best to just end it. Save himself the trouble. He could not have her here, alone with him, every day and night. He just couldn’t.
He would make it through tonight and send her home in the morning. That was the smartest option. Before he did something he’d probably regret with the sister of one of the women he loved most in the world. “Hold on to me. I’ll get you to the couch. Then I’ll light the lamps. I keep flashlights in the side table drawers.”
He hooked his arm around her waist and lifted a little more. Until he had her close again. Damn, she was so small. She was the smallest Talley of the bunch. Even Charlotte was bigger.
It was so easy to lift Dylan. To move her where he wanted. There were a lot of ways he could, would, move a woman like her if he had the chance.
Fletcher’s body tightened in the sharpest way.
Enough that he almost stopped right where he was. As he imagined just carrying her down the hall to his bed and tucking her in. Right next to him. Where he’d keep her close and warm all night long.
Holy hell, what was he thinking?
He didnotfind this pain-in-the-ass attractive. And he wasn’t going to. He grunted and sat her down next to the couch. He had to get his hands off her—fast. “Stay here. It’ll just take a moment or two.”
“You know, this is a really bad omen. For at least one of us. In the movies, this is where someone gets chopped and everything. Since I am the utterly adorable heroine, your future is not looking too good, Fletchie.”
It surprised a laugh out of him. No doubt about that. The woman was quick. And maddening. “Just stay here. We’ll be fine. But…we’ll have to camp on the couches for a few hours. The kerosene doesn’t reach the bedrooms. I had two heaters once, but one broke. Since it’s usually just me here, I didn’t bother to replace it. I can put a few logs in the stove, but that’ll take a while to heat up.”
“I’m good. As long as the boogeyman isn’t watching or anything.” She pressed a button, and a light glowed on her watch. Big eyes stared at him from the shadows. “Scraggle-Popps watch has a glow-in-the-dark feature—and I can text from it too. Or…send a distress signal to phones I’ve preprogrammed in and everything. It’s technically a toy, but it still works. As long as my cell phone is nearby. If I get lost here in your living room. My sisters gave it to me so I could always find my way. My sisters have my back. I should call them when I can. Make sure they are okay, too.”
“The inn has backup generators. They are fine.” The Talley Inn had been in Dylan’s family for a century now—it had stood the test of time and would continue to. He knew all about the inn and how it ran—his sister had spent most of her waking hours there as a teenager with Dusty. And he’d spent hours there with Dusty’s cousin Charlotte. The Talleys were just a part of his life and always would be. It stood in the middle of town, and their property butted up against the far western edge of Fletcher’s own ranch in a stretch of about fifty feet. He was almost as home there as he was here.
“Yeah, I’m sure they are. It’s theinn.Everyone’sperfectplace. But still, I always tell my little sisters good night. Dahlia will expect it. That girl loves her routine more than anything, you know.”
3
Abby Vanderguard clockedin on the employee time clock at the back of the inn with four minutes to spare. Her brother Will was such an asshole. He was mad at her again since she’d made him drive her to work. What else was he going to do with his stupid time? He was such an idiot, but her brother actuallyhadgas money. And she cooked and cleaned for him too. He owed her something for that. Her dad had agreed when she’d told him. Will brought her to work to repay her, and then he was free to do whatever it was he did all the time.
She didn’t even know where Will got money from. Not since he’d quit his job with Tyler Contracting two months ago. He’d said he was too good to work for a loser like Martin Tyler. Abby didn’t think Martin was a loser, really. He just didn’t have a whole lot of money. He had some, but not like Calloway Grady or Brandt Barratt or anything. Martin was also seriously hot and had that really nice brand-new house and everything.
She’d considered Martin once, but they had argued a few times before. He had a temper and everything. And was really kind of rough around the edges. He scared her a little.