Miranda answered on the first ring.“Aurelie.Are you all right?I was so worried.I thought I’d find you in here on a table!”she exclaimed.Aurelie’s shoulder sagged with guilt for letting her own personal fears come between her and letting her boss know she was okay after a near-hit.She felt even guiltier that she couldn’t stop picturing the offending driver’s hands on her waist and elsewhere.
“I’m okay.Just a motorist who wasn’t watching where he was going.”
“Oh, I’m so glad.Listen, are you on the schedule today?”
“I’m not.Friday.But, Miranda,” she said, using her boss’s first name in an attempt to make the conversation less awkward, less painful for them both, “I know my paperwork didn’t come through.I’m hoping you’d be willing to write me a letter of endorsement for another visa.There’s no guarantee it’ll work, but—”
“Of course I will,” Miranda interrupted.“We need you here, full stop.What do you need, and when do you need it?”
“Thank you, Miranda.A letter stating how vital my services are would be great, and according to the immigration agent, I need it yesterday.”
“I’ll have it to you by the end of the week.And your current visa is good for another two weeks, so that buys us a little time, at least.”That meant only two weeks loomed between her and an uncertain future.The only certainty was her father waiting to exact revenge for his incarceration if she was indeed sent home.Combined with what she’d lose in Banberry—her family—leaving was even more of a nonstarter.“I’ll call you tomorrow to get you on the schedule until then.”
“Thanks again, Miranda.”
Aurelie hung up and sat there, deflated but not defeated—not yet.She was hanging on by a thread, but she’d go down fighting.
Jace hung up the phone at the same time, and before she could think too much more about her conversation with Miranda and what it meant for her life, he smiled at her in a way that made her feel like she was the bed and mouthwatering meal he’d just given away.One look from him and she was halfway back to the calm she’d felt before she’d called her now-almost-former boss back.
“That was nice of you,” she told Jace.
“I don’t mind at all.The Connors and I go way back, and if I’m here for good, they’re more than old friends; they’re neighbors.”
“Well, it’s appreciated.So, what will you do now?”The image of him in her bed flashed in front of her again, and she shoved it back where it belonged.It was as unwanted as thinking about being deported.
“Work in the yard and on the house for a while, then see if you’ll join me for a cocktail once Owen and Paige take off.”
“Oh, um, sure.”A cocktail with her handsome new neighbor?It was better than doom-scrolling legal ways to stay in Montana.“But I’ll be babysitting.”
“That’s fine, I’ll come to you.Can I bring dinner, too?”She nodded as Brad and Owen met up on the deck.“Good.See you around six.I can’t wait.”
His smile was so lethal it might as well be 300 mg of morphine.The thing was, she couldn’t wait, either.
The afternoon dragged, but six o’clock finally arrived.She paced Paige’s room as her friend got ready for the evening.All she wanted to do was spill to Paige about how lonely she’d been, about her fears regarding the visa situation, and how Jace’s smile somehow eased the pain of both.But her friend was in her own world, and Aurelie couldn’t be happier for her.They’d have time to catch up when things calmed down, just not right then.Instead, Paige filled the silence with Maddie’s milestones and some small talk about how Bozeman had changed over the years.The topic of Maddie always kept Aurelie focused, but everything else slipped away, became empty words behind the image of a tall, rugged, cowboy-turned-actor-turned-cowboy-once-again.
Something about the way Jace had looked at her the night before, as if he truly saw her while her friends talked circles around her, had infected her.
When the doorbell rang, she jumped off the bed.
“I’ll get it!”she exclaimed, as if anyone else in the house was rushing to beat her to the door.Owen was showering, Paige was applying makeup for the first time in ages, and Maddie, well, wasn’t doing more than being adorable.
Aurelie stopped outside the door and tamed her hair, her nerves, and her smile.Whatever it said about her, she was horribly curious about the man on the other side, but wanted to play her cards close to the chest.For now.Too much rode on her future in Banberry, and adding a man, alluring as he was, to the mix wasn’t fair to her heart.
Feeling better, she opened the door, only to be bowled over again.Jace stood there, flowers in hand.Not just flowers, but lilies, her favorite.The aroma wove its way through her senses, choking out her desire to keep at arm’s length from this man.
To make matters infinitely worse, the man himself looked like a bouquet of handsome wrapped up in sexy paper.He wore snug jeans she didn’t dare investigate too closely, lest she discover how fine the man filled them out, as well as a fitted black button-down that appeared soft to the touch, with sleeves rolled half up his forearms.Aurelie had never understood Paige’s obsession with Owen when he’d roll his sleeves and don a backward ball cap…until now.
She swallowed, but her throat was dry as the Montana summer.
“These are for you,” he said, handing her the lilies.“An Aurelie fan told me I should always show up with flowers for you, and damn if he isn’t right.That smile alone is worth it.”
She held the bouquet in one hand, touched her fingers to her lips with the other.Was she really that transparent?The upturn of her mouth saidyes, you are.
“Well, thank you.They’re beautiful.”She gestured inside, and he made his way in.As he strode past her, she allowed herself a quick, cheap glance at his backside.
Yep.He filled out those jeans just beautifully.
“You know, it’s not just your smile, Aury,” he said, turning and catching her eyes still on his butt.Heat flashed on her cheeks.He brushed a hand along where the fire blossomed.“It’s this specific shade of red you have when I’m around.If you’re not careful, it’ll give a guy an ego.”
