His land, or at least his until he could offload it, was the other half of the bequest.It was like something out of a nature magazine, but more majestic, more surreal than anything a photographer could capture because it spread around him 360 degrees.
He got out of the car and was met with a rush of air that felt heavy and inviting at the same time, like it carried life itself on its breeze.He shuddered as the chill snaked its way beneath his collar, but the slight tremble that remained in his hands was solely a result of the rugged peaks surrounding him.
When he was a kid, this world had seemed myopic.Now…
Now that word held no meaning.It was stunning, full stop.
The way the supple, green fields rolled like the waves in front of his Malibu apartment, crashing against the peaks that soared above them, left Jace slack-jawed.The horizon—not as straight across as he was used to recently—boasted a line of peaks he’d seen the equal of only in Colorado and Switzerland, the tips of them snow-capped already.It was a little early in the season for lingering moisture, but maybe his memory was betraying him there.The peaks jutted back toward the jagged horizon for miles, sharp layers of them resembling shark teeth.The light above them cast a pale yellow hue on the sparse clouds in the sky and the deep blue mountains below it.
He’d worked in show business long enough to be a little jaded when it came to beauty.Too much of what was shoved down the throats of the public from his end of things was phony.Fabricated 3D sets, enhanced CGI muscles, augmented breasts, computer-generated whole characters… It was enough to make him cringe at his role in the scheme to manipulate the fans and viewers.
But this,thisplace, was authentic.Jace’s throat was suddenly dry.
“Dad, I-I’m sorry,” he whispered.“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to say goodbye.”
The loss was fresh even though he’d had months to get used to the idea.The words were still seared in his brain from when he’d gotten the email from his father almost a year ago to the day.
Cancer.
Stage three.
Then the worst one.
Can you come back?Help me run the cattle this year?I’ll find someone else if…
Theifhung in the open air, chillier than the mountain breeze.Theifhad stolen his dad’s future, upended Jace’s life in LA.Even now, he felt the pulsing in his chest again, the pull to give up who he was and what he wanted for his old man.
What is it you want?
He wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t his past, reincarnated, that was for sure.Even if his past was something pretty spectacular to look at.Jace was assaulted with every shade of red, green, and purple on the land that rolled toward him from the base of the mountains.The leaves of the deciduous trees that bordered his property along the front and to the east were in full spring splendor, blooms as gorgeous as they were fragrant.
He was no stranger to the changing of the seasons.Hell, just last spring he’d been up at Harley’s parents’ cabin in Vermont to see the cherry trees in bloom.But he’d never witnessed such vibrant colors juxtaposed against the rest of the view spread in front of him, the bright jade-green fields that seemed to radiate a light of their own as if they were touched by Midas himself.The forest that bordered the south end of his property boasted the rich emerald hues of evergreen trees for miles.
When his gaze caught a glimpse of small breaks in the foliage that promised trails leading up and out of the valley, his pulse sped up.He remembered the view from the ridgelines above him, what gazing down on the valley was like from the runs he’d taken in high school.He had half a mind to throw on his trail shoes and explore before he did anything else.
It was all too much.
He felt his father’s loss and presence in each blade of grass, each jagged piece of timber.Not only was his goodbye stuck in a half-written email that his father would never get to read, but he’d be saying goodbye to the place that, for better or worse, had raised him.
Maybe it was the thin mountain air, but he couldn’t pull in a full breath.
He’d expected to come here for a few weeks to close his father’s estate, to use the time away from Hollywood to think through what he wanted to do next, because he wasn’t convinced the path of cowboy roles he was on in Hollywood was the future he wanted, either.But now an array of beauty and adventure just outside his childhood home called to him with a siren song he hadn’t felt in years.
Fuck.
A disturbance of gravel behind him stopped him from overthinking.He whirled around, only to be assaulted again with a stunning view, this one entirely corporeal.It was the woman he’d come close to running over earlier, but anything he’d thought about her in his snap judgment on the road was forgotten as he took her in.
She was pissed, that much was obvious as she lifted her chin to him, resolute in the anger that wafted off her in waves.But she was also drop-dead gorgeous.Her skin was dark, her hair darker.
For some damned reason, he wanted to know what it would look like draped across his chest, a thought that sent a shiver down his spine.The instant wave of lust caught him off guard.
“You,” she growled, her finger pointed accusingly at his chest, bringing his chill to full freeze.The single word was spat out at him, and it slapped him across the face.He didn’t need this, not right now.
Still, he stood his ground, intrigued to say the least.
“Whataboutme?”he replied, his mouth pressed into a thin line.Other answers, nicer answers, came to mind, but none of them made it to his lips.
Worse still was the surge of heat and blood below his waist when she swung her mass of hair around her neck to one side, giving him a glimpse of her bare left shoulder peeking out from her sweater.It was delicate but toned, and an urge to nibble on the area boiled through his anger and fear.
