Chapter 28
Mike had his cup of green tea with honey sitting at the corner of the desk. With his
new pair of reading glasses and a good night’s sleep, he was as prepared as he’d ever
be. He flipped open the screen on his new laptop and pushed the power button. After
a few seconds’ wait a multicolored screen appeared with different small bright squares.
He took a sip of tea, moved his mouse in a few circles, then quietly closed the screen
and took out his trusty green-covered legal-sized ledger book.
A bell rang near the back. Someone must’ve let themselves in through the back door.
Mike checked the clock on the wall—nine in the morning—too early for employees to
start trickling in. Must be a delivery.
He looked toward the door and waited. He was surprised by the person standing in his
doorway, but as in all things concerning love and money, he hid it well. He took off
his glasses, placing them on the desk in front of him, and then leaned back. The worn
leather chair groaned under his weight, the only sound he made. There was no way he’d
be speaking first.
Nikki was fresh-faced, with all traces of her dark eye makeup gone. Her black dyed
hair was smoothed back behind her ears, and she wore a simple pair of jeans and a
T-shirt. No combat boots in sight.
For a moment, Mike let himself remember how young Nikki was. Twenty-three was still
a kid in his mind. How long had it taken him to get his act together?
Nikki dug in her pocket and pulled out a wad of dollar bills. “Here,” she said, placing
the money on his desk. “Suzy told me you didn’t take Jett’s money. This should cover
most of the damage to the bar.”
He picked up the cash, counted it, and then looked back up at her—a thousand dollars.
The damages had been paid when he’d sold the pool table, but he didn’t have to tell
her that. In fact, he didn’t have to tell her anything. He’d let her squirm for a
little bit.
To her credit, she didn’t squirm much. Instead, she looked him in the eye. “I’m sorry
about the bar. Really, I’m sorry about a lot of things, but the bar fight seems to
be a good place to start.”
Mike nodded. “How did you get the money?”
“Pool. But it was my last game. Well, for money anyway.” She shifted on her feet,
then notched her chin and took a deep breath. “I also wanted to ask you for a favor.”
Mike raised his eyebrows.
Nikki exhaled. “A job.”
Mike had spent some time in Vietnam. Even took a bullet in the shoulder. He remembered
the pain. A man tended not to forget the things that brought him to his knees. His
comrades had told him to shut up, afraid he’d give away their position. But he hadn’t
been able to stop screaming—even after they’d gagged him. The pain was that bad.
Putting Nikki up on that stripper pole would be ten times worse.
“Why?” He had to know her reasoning.
“I need to make something of myself.”
Mike choked. “By working here?”
“By making some fast money. I need to leave this town, Mike. The sooner I have some
cash, the sooner I can get out of here. I need a couple of weeks, maybe a month. I
won’t be your problem for much longer than that. I have some friends in California
I can live with. There might even be a job opening up as a bartender at the place
they work.”
Mike crossed his arms over his belly, a belly that had once been flat as a board.
When had his body started to fail him? He had no idea, but his mind was as sharp as
ever. This plan Nikki had wasn’t a plan at all, but more like a road map leading to
disaster. “Why now, Nikki? What happened?”
She shook her head, her eyes growing moist. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me. You wouldn’t believe what I can understand.”
“Jett said that he loved me.”
“Not really a shocker from where I’m sitting.”
“Yes, but the shocking thing is . . . I love him more. I love him too much to allow
him to go down this road. Possibly even to marry me, and then watch what loving a
Logan does to a person. I saw it every day of my life when my parents were alive.
The look in my mother’s eyes, the hate, the resentment, then finally the slow death
of loving a man as stubborn as my father.”
He’d known that Mary Beth had been unhappy, but hearing Nikki verbalize it broke his
heart. After Dakota had died, Mike had thought maybe he had a chance, but Mary Beth
was too far gone. She’d been a broken woman, an easy victim for cancer. “You’re not
only
a Logan. You have a lot of your mother in you. It’s true, your parents were hell
on each other. They never did realize they were better together than apart. But you,
you have the best of both of them. You could make this work.”
Nikki’s smile was a sad ghost of her usual confident one, and for a moment Mike saw
Mary Beth, but Mary Beth after all her fight had left. “I’m a Logan, Mike. Didn’t
your momma tell you there’s no happy endings for Logans?”
“My momma told me a lot of things and half of them were bull crap.” One of which was
not to be chasing after Mary Beth. “I’m not gonna give you a job. But I do want to
give you something.”
He stood up and walked over to the large floor safe. He dialed in the combination
and opened the door. He grabbed three stacks of bills, and then placed them on his
desk. “Each stack is ten, so I’m giving you thirty grand. That should be enough to
get a good education at a state college.”
“This is not what I wanted. . . .”
He raised a hand and his voice. “I don’t give a damn what you want, Nikki. This is
something I shoulda done years ago, but it was my own stupid pride getting in the
way. I never wanted anyone to know how much I loved your momma. I didn’t want people
to know that she chose a poor nobody with great hair over me.” He smoothed his long-ago
receded hairline. “But she did, and that was her choice. But this is mine. After graduation,
come back here and work for me. Run my business. Take this dump and really turn it
around. I don’t have any kids, never married, but I shoulda. I shoulda married your
mom all those years ago. Shoulda really fought for her, but I didn’t. But if I had,
I’d like to think that our daughter would’ve come out like you. You’re as smart as
they come, Nikki. You just need someone to give you a chance. To believe in you.”
She crossed her arms and glared at him. “For a girl who couldn’t even afford shoes
to get on the track team, I’ve had a heck of a lotta people try to give me money today.”
He crossed his own arms and did a little glaring of his own—a look that had been known
to cause grown men to run. “Well, that’s where I differ from the others, because I’m
not giving you squat. It’s a loan and it comes with those terms.”
“I don’t think I can do that, Mike.”
“I’m offering you a chance, Nikki, to go out and make something of yourself. So that
one day you can come back here and bring something to the table besides skill with
a pool stick and a great pair of legs. Because I understand. You have to have a sense
of self-worth. I didn’t get that when I was younger. I didn’t get that your momma
didn’t feel worthy all those years ago. I didn’t get that it was easier for her to
marry below herself, instead of having to fall short for the rest of her life.”
Nikki lowered her head. “All I’ve ever dreamed about is leaving this place.”
There was a lump in his throat. He’d miss her. “I know.”
“I’ll pay you back.”
The tension in his shoulders eased. He’d be able to face Mary Beth. “I know.”
“Jett’s family would never accept me.”
“It’s not Jett’s family you have a problem with.”
Nikki looked up, confusion in her eyes.
“It’s you. Get yourself right, Nikki. Come back strong.”
Nikki nodded. She walked over and took the money off the desk. “Thank you. You have
no idea.”
Mike smiled. “I know. Trust me, I know.”
After Nikki left, Mike sat there and wondered if he’d done the right thing. He had
no reservations about Nikki. She would get her degree. She’d pay him back, follow
through with running the Pitt. But what he hadn’t told her was life was all a gamble.
And love even more so. She was taking a huge gamble that Jett wouldn’t end up hating
her, much less be waiting for her when she got back.
Cole watched Katie, sure and purposeful, walk up his drive. Well, not his drive for
much longer, hers and Thomas’s. The thought twisted his gut, but he stood proud and
took a deep breath.
She stopped at the front steps. He studied her face and out of habit read it like
a book. Her brown eyes were wide and bright, a secret smile hovering around her full
mouth, and he swallowed. “You look happy.”
The warm smile spread, brightening her face. “I am.”
Pain burned straight to his gut, making his empty stomach clench in protest. To see
her happy was too much, so he focused his gaze on the long side of the barn instead,
anywhere but on her. “Well, things worked out for both of us. You get the ranch and
the guy, and I get Thomas’s money to fix my truck.”
He felt brave enough to send her a smile, but realized the mistake when he got caught
by the warmth of her whiskey eyes.
He cleared his throat and absently toed the duffel bag at his feet. “So I’m thinking
of doing a bit of traveling. Haven’t been out of the state much, couldn’t leave the
horses for that long. Thought this was a good time to start.”
He watched her red boots walk up the front steps and couldn’t help himself. He walked
over to the far rail, needing the distance. Yesterday’s anger had faded as soon as
he’d accepted Thomas’s offer on the ranch. Cole wasn’t happy when he found out what
lay underneath his rage—a grief so profound that he questioned whether he was man
enough to face it.
Cole braced his hands on the rail and for a brief moment thought about hopping it
and running for safety. To a place where she wouldn’t see just how devastated he was.
How much this was killing him.
But last night, when he couldn’t fall asleep because of Katie’s scent on his sheets,
he found something else buried alongside the grief—dignity. He remembered his father’s
words.
Sometimes the right thing isn’t always the easiest.
And this was the right thing. Sometimes life didn’t always agree with him, but it
didn’t mean he had to compromise. So whatever he did, he wasn’t going to make this
harder for her. He would stand here and let her go like a man.
“Cole?” Her voice was soft, filled with husky longing.
But that was the problem, he was just a man. And Katie drew his gaze like the beauty
of an eclipse—a choice he’d pay for later.
It didn’t help that she was so damn pretty. Her hair was pulled back in a loose braid,
strands floating around her face. A tight, low-cut tee was tucked into jeans that
molded her legs like a lover. He’d known this would be hard, but she looked good,
happy even, and that’s what hurt the worst—knowing he was the fool that loved the
most.
He stared straight ahead. “Katie.” He closed his eyes at how choked up he sounded.
“Katie, I need you to leave.”
Now, please just walk away.
How many times had he begged her to leave?
“No,” she said.
And how many times had she refused?
Cole laughed, but quickly stopped when her hand covered his. He watched as her delicate
fingers laced with his larger, scarred ones.
He closed his eyes again. He couldn’t afford hope. It was too costly in soul money.
She lifted his arm, and he felt her body slide between his and the rail. Her stomach
quivered as her chest brushed against his. And air whooshed from his lungs.
But he wouldn’t hope, not yet. Katie couldn’t have chosen him. Hell, he wouldn’t have
chosen him.
He felt her fingers brush his hair out of his face. She was close. Her scent inflamed
his senses. He moved his head back and gave up the fight to calm his breathing.
“You need a haircut.”
Her breath fanned his neck, and it took everything he had not to grab her, shake her
. . . claim her. Instead, he gripped the rail and let the wood abrade his skin.
“Cole, why would you sell your ranch?”
He’d known she would ask that question and he’d planned for it. He’d been ready with
that flippant remark about needing to fix his truck, but at the moment, he couldn’t
speak because her lips brushed the skin along his collarbone.
“Why would you work at something so hard, and then just give it away?”
He was losing his mind. He grabbed her arms, meaning to push her away like he’d tried
to a hundred times before. But instead, like all the times before, he caved and lifted
her to him. She sat on the railing, and wrapped her legs around him. He quickly pinned
her arms to her sides in a desperate attempt to keep some control.