Fly Like You've Never Been Grounded (Summer Lake, #4) (22 page)

“Fair enough. Let me talk to Joe.”

“Thanks, Ben.”

Ben looked puzzled. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“How can you afford to even think about buying the house on Cottonwood
and
our acreage? And more to the point, why would you want to? Last time we talked you were asking about renting it out if you changed your mind about living here. You hardly need—what will it be, six hundred acres total?—to make it rentable.”

Smoke blew out a big sigh, wondering now whether he'd come here because he thought Ben needed to talk, or because he needed to himself. “No, I don't
need
all that land, but if I'm going to live there, I want it. I don't know, Ben. Maybe I'm just getting old or something, but the idea of living here...of settling here, appeals to me. But if I do it, it's partly because I love the country and the open space. And let's just say I can afford it. In fact it'll be a cash deal.”

Ben raised his eyebrows. “You do realize that raises more questions than it answers?”

Smoke laughed. “I do and this way I make you ask instead of getting into a major info dump!”

Ben laughed with him. “Okay, so first off, back to my original question.
How
can you afford it?”

Smoke had already decided that since he was going to be living here, becoming one of the gang, they probably should all know who he was. Jack and Pete knew, of course, and he'd already given Laura the bare bones. “My family is what you could call wealthy. I didn't stick around and go into the family business, but I did sell part of my interest and made some investments that turned out pretty well. I'm not surviving on a pilot's salary. I own the plane and another one like it. The guys lease from me.”

“Cool. What's the family business?”

Out of all of them, Ben would understand, once he made the connection. He was in the industry, he must already know the story. “Do you have a wine rack?”

Ben gave him an odd look. “Sure, why?”

Smoke stood up. “Show me?”

Ben led him back inside and into the kitchen. “Right there.” He pointed at the wine rack on the counter, then dumped their beer bottles in the trash and pulled two more from the freezer. He handed one to Smoke, who was going through the bottles in the rack.

“This should give it away.” He held up a bottle of the same red blend he'd had at Laura's place.

Ben's eyes grew wide. “You're kidding me?”

Smoke shook his head. “I kid you not.”

“So, Smoke Hamilton, the pilot, is the son of Hamilton Groves Wines? Shit, Smoke! You could buy the entire frigging town, let alone Cottonwood Creek, right?”

Smoke shrugged.

“So, hang on. Your dad is
the
Cole Hamilton? And your brother is Cameron?”

He nodded, wondering how much Ben knew, waiting to see if he would piece it together.

Ben was squinting his eyes, apparently trying to remember details. “Then that makes you Cole Hamilton Jr.? The one that...?” He raised his eyebrows at Smoke now. “You know what they said about you?”

Of course he did.

“I always wondered what the real story was. I met Anabel Groves a couple of times at tourism fairs.” He gave Smoke a questioning look. “She was beautiful.”

Smoke nodded. “She still is, from what I hear. On the outside, at least.”

“Was she as psycho as she seemed?”

That took Smoke by surprise. He'd always thought she'd had everyone else fooled, just as much as she had him—and his family. “A whole lot more than what she seemed. Yeah.”

Ben shook his head. “Wow! I'm guessing you weren't really in rehab after all the scandal?”

Smoke shook his head. “No. But I agreed to go along with the story. It was better for everyone that way.”

“Do you want to tell me what really happened? There were all kinds of rumors flying around for months.”

Want to? No. Smoke didn't want to even think about it. Like Ben, he'd rather just forget, but part of him needed to. Like Pete had said, it
was
time for him to finally get over shit. He'd discovered that talking about it was cathartic somehow. “Some of the rumors were true. I did beat the crap out of the guy I found her with in Malibu. I'm not proud of that, but....”

Ben simply nodded, waiting for him to go on.

“You know the industry, so I'm sure you know that our engagement was perfect publicity and the perfect match for the Hamilton and Groves companies coming together. Our families had been friends forever. Anabel and I had dated on and off since high school. It was always expected that we would end up together. I'd never really questioned that. What I questioned was the expectation that I would go into the business. I had no interest. Cam was the one that loved all that, I just loved to fly. But since I'm the oldest the expectation was there. Anabel expected it too. And she
hated
me flying. She wanted to be married to the head of the new Hamilton Groves enterprise.”

Smoke stared out at the water for a long moment. Remembering all the fights, all the manipulating she'd done to try to shape his life into what
she
wanted it to be.”

Ben said nothing. Giving him the time to continue or not, as he chose.

Apparently he did need to talk about it. “She told me she was pregnant. So I asked her to marry me.” He shrugged. “I wasn't even sure I wanted to be with her at all by then, but it was too late. You do the decent thing, right? After all the big fuss and announcements, after the engagement had been tied in to the whole publicity campaign about Hamilton Groves, she told me she'd lost the baby. I was devastated. I was hardly ready to be a father, but I'd gotten used to the idea, you know?”

Ben nodded, but still said nothing.

“I know now that she'd never been pregnant at all. But I didn't know that then. She thought she had me trapped, that there was too much on the line for both our families for me to walk away. She thought I was suckered and would have to marry her at that point. And I would have, too. If I wasn't a jealous, possessive jerk. She said she needed some time alone, to recover, come to terms with the loss. That she was going to stay at a friend's Malibu beach house. I offered to go with her, but she didn't want me along. The first time she went I thought I understood. Then she got over the so-called miscarriage real quick, and kept going back to Malibu. It was odd, but it seemed to be keeping her happy. She was still after me all the time about flying, though. She wanted me to give it up, to be around for her when she wanted me. She hated that I worked weekends. She hated when I had to change our plans and go fly. I thought her little Malibu trips were some kind of vengeance, as if she wanted me to feel the same about her going off and doing her own thing. I didn't, I was glad she'd found something she enjoyed doing that didn't involve me being responsible for her happiness. At least I was glad, ’til my little sister told me that Anabel was going down there to spend time with a guy. I kind of lost it.”

“I can see why,” said Ben.

“I flew down there. Found them out by the pool, messing around. I almost killed the guy, Ben. She actually fucking laughed in my face! She honestly believed I was still going to marry her. That I had no choice, because of the business. She wanted the status, she wanted me. She even told me, right there to my face that since I wasn't prepared to make her the center of my world, she'd need to have other 'friends' too.  She knew I was a jealous bastard and she thought she could play on it. She found out she couldn't.

“I called the whole thing off. It nearly cost the merger, but she twisted everyone, including my family, into believing a bunch of horseshit. I went along with it—let them lay all the blame on me, say I'd gone into rehab. I took off. It seemed their business was more important to them than their son. They were disappointed in me that I wasn't stepping up to run it. It just seemed best for everyone that I disappear. My folks got the merger they wanted, my brother got to run the business like he wanted, Anabel got the sympathy and attention she wanted, was viewed as having had a lucky escape from marrying the useless heir to the Hamilton fortune.”

“How was it best for you though, Smoke?”

Smoke gave a short laugh. “It set me free. It allowed me to make my own way in the world and not be a part of Hamilton Groves. It taught me that to be what a woman wanted I'd have to stop being who I am. So I learned that it's best to keep moving. And that when it comes to a woman it's best to give her what she wants in bed and not stick around long enough for her to want anything else. It was all for the best.”

Ben nodded. “I guess so. But now you're talking about making this place a base, not keeping moving. And you you've stuck around Laura for a quite a while now. What's the deal?”

“I don't know yet. All I know is I want to stick around to see what it might be. She's the first woman I've ever met who seems to get me. She understands how much I love to fly. She doesn't want to ground me so that I'll spend time with her. In fact she's as likely to fly away as I am. She doesn't want to be grounded herself. I just don't know yet. All I know is that I'm prepared to take the risk of finding out.”

“I can see that. You two are good together.”

“I hope so, thanks Ben. But what about you? I came here to give you the chance to talk, instead all I've done is talk myself.”

“That's okay. You took my mind off my own stuff for a while. That's better than talking about it.”

“Are still going to go to the fundraiser?”

Ben shook his head vigorously. “No. Like I said. I'll probably end up needing to be here anyway. It sounds like you're moving on, Smoke. You're ready to put the past behind you, right?”

“Yeah. I guess I am, and it feels good. You might want to try it, too?”

Ben gave him a sad smile. “I might want to, bud. But I'm not ready to. But it's different, for me the past is the happiest place I've ever been. That's why I don't want to let it go.”

L
aura piled up all the pillows on her bed and snuggled up to watch TV. She loved British TV; they had such a weird sense of humor! And the commercials were so civilized and sedate compared to back home. She found it fascinating. She was enjoying just chilling out and doing something mindless, she was tired. It had been a long and fruitful day, touring the offices and warehouse, meeting the in-house design team. They were a great bunch, and she was looking forward to working with them.

She turned the sound down when she heard her cell phone ringing. Who on earth would that be? She checked the screen. Leanne!

“Hey! You do realize I'm in London and this will cost you a fortune?”

“Hey Laura. It's okay. My phone bill is ridiculous anyway, so it’s not a problem. I just wanted to ask you something.”

“What's that?”

“Who is Michael, and why is Ben not coming to the fundraiser?”

“Oh. He's definitely not coming then?”

“Apparently not. Dan called and told me there's been a change of plan. That I still have a date, someone called Michael, but that Ben can't make it. You know what Dan's like. It was obvious that something had gone down, but he wouldn't tell me what. At least it gives me an excuse to check in with you, see how you're enjoying London, if you've found yourself a cute Englishman—I just love an accent, and you're surrounded by them. I'm jealous!”

Laura laughed. “No, I'm too busy with work to be on the lookout for a cutie. But I'll tell you what, if you love an accent then you'll like Michael. He has an Australian accent, he lived there for years.”

“Ooh, sounds promising, but do you know what happened to Ben? I've ogled him from afar the last couple of years when he's been there with Pete. I was hoping to get my hands on him.” Her raunchy laugh rang its way across the Atlantic. “I mean, get to know him!”

Laura shook her head. “No, I don't really know. We were all talking about the fundraiser on Friday night and there was talk about some girl being over from England and maybe she could go. I can only guess she's an ex, cos he went all quiet and said he wouldn't be able to make it, he'd be busy at the resort.”

“Too bad. I could have helped him get over her.”

“Maybe it's for the best, Lee. He didn't look like he wanted to get over her.” Laura was a little relieved that Ben wouldn't be going with Leanne. Michael, on the other hand, would be more than capable of keeping up with her, and giving as good as he got. “I think you'll do better with Michael anyway. He's a lot of fun.”

“What's he look like?”

“Brown hair, green eyes, nice. Good looking.”

“Does he look anything like Ben? Ben's gorgeous.”

“Not really, no. He's pretty hot, just in a different way.”

“Speaking of hot, are you still screwing the smoking hot pilot?”

Laura frowned. She wasn't just screwing him...she wished Leanne would accept that. “Yeah.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to touch a nerve. Don't tell me you're still wanting more than that?”

“Lee, it's complicated, but I assure you whatever we are doing it's a whole lot more than just screwing each other.”

“Whatever you say, Laura. As long you don't say I didn't warn you.”

“Lee, you'll see when you meet him, okay.”

“Yeah, we will see.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing. I'm just agreeing with you. Now tell me more about this Michael. Am I likely to need to keep him in LA for the week? Is he that kind of hot?”

Laura laughed. “He is that kind of hot, but I doubt you could keep him for the week. He has a son he'll need to get back to.”

“Really? Ooh, I like it. There's something sexy about a single dad, don't you think?”

“I don't know, Lee. I've never dated one.”

“Well, we'll have to find you one, after you're done with sexy-pants the pilot.”

Laura had to giggle, she could just imagine Smoke's face if she called him that. “Let's just focus on Michael, can we? He's a good guy. A lot of fun. One of the few men I know who will be able to give you a run for your money.”

“This gets better and better! Maybe I'll keep the weekend after the fundraiser free too, go up to Summer Lake for a second helping and finally visit Dan and Missy. Will you be up there then?”