Love Me Reckless (Love Me Dangerous #2)

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

SAWYER

“Got it?” Zach eyes me from across the mattress. I nod, and together we lift it then carry it into the hallway. We pass William’s room where he’s packing his things into boxes. His girlfriend Charlie is helping, but they’re doing more flirting and laughing than packing. Why do I get the feeling they’re eager for me and Zach to leave with this load?

“How are the ski lessons going?” Zach asks as we clear the front entryway.

The maintenance crew has been so busy with the holiday ski season that I haven’t had to do much skiing, and thankfully I’m skilled enough to get around when I do. It’s not fun without Kirilee though. I keep thinking I’ll see her in the lift line, maybe skiing with her brother, but it’s like she’s gone into hiding.

“They’re not.” I slide the door open with the heel of my sneaker. The winter air hits my back and bites into the bare skin of my neck. Zach told me that January is the coldest month of the year here.

It might be the coldest month of my life.

It’s better if I go.

How is that better ?

That’s really what you want?

Why didn’t she answer me?

“Why? Too busy?” Zach asks as we navigate the two steps down to the walkway.

“I don’t think douche date likes me spending time with her.”

I set my end of the mattress on the bed of the moving van and Zach slides it into place against the wall.

“I don’t get him,” Zach says. “He’s either ignoring her or trying to control her, while behind her back he’s doing whatever the fuck he wants.”

We close the tailgate and hop into the cab.

“If she were mine, I wouldn’t waste a single second with her.”

Zach’s expression turns wary. He sits back in his seat. “She’s not yours. Unless I missed something?”

Shit, did I say that out loud? I rub the back of my neck. “The night she got a tattoo, things got a little heated.”

“Kirilee got a tattoo?” His wide eyes turn curious. “Define heated.”

“A kiss that was more like a lap dance. In my truck.”

“Shit.” Zach blinks at the windshield.

“Yeah.” I release a slow sigh. “Douche date tracked her phone to where I was parked.”

“Did he know what you two were up to?”

“I’m sure he put it together.”

He starts the van and we creep to the end of the driveway. “Is that why she left the Huttons in tears?”

An ache tightens inside my gut. I didn’t see her leave, and when I went outside hoping to find her, she was driving away. “Go ahead and say it.”

“Say what?”

“I told you so.”

“Fuck that,” he says. “It’s obvious you care about her, and she cares for you too. I just wish her situation wasn’t so complicated.”

“Watching her walk down that aisle is going to kill me. ”

He winces, then shoots me a thoughtful glance. “Maybe you shouldn’t go to the wedding.”

“I said I’d always be there for her, and I meant it.”

Zach turns left out of the driveway. The snowy roads have been plowed but are still a little slick, so Zach takes the turn with care.

“I got some intel from Rowdy about what went down last year, do you want to hear it?”

I shrug.

“Finn River Ranch violated the Clean Water Act. Some kind of wastewater issue. Finn River is a blue-ribbon trout stream, and a huge draw for members, so it was a big deal. Sounds like several of the ranch’s bigger investors pulled out, and the future of the ranch looked dire.”

“Enter Dunk’n Birchnuts.”

“Yep. He was brought onboard as a consultant. He specializes in renewable energy resorts.”

“Which soothed the investors, I take it?”

Zach puts the van in low four to descend the steep hill. “Yep. He’s got big plans to make Finn River a net zero property. It’ll be the first of its kind.”

Learning all types of power systems was part of my training, so I’ve worked with alternative energy before. “Solar energy won’t be enough to power those ski lifts.”

“Maybe he’s going to take them out, make people hike,” Zach says with a grin. “Talk about green energy.”

Without ski lifts, there would be no need for mechanics. I doubt members would support such a plan, but more than that, the idea of not starting my day with opening the mountain and being greeted by so many happy faces is like a punch to the gut. People cheer when I start the lifts each day, and go out of their way to thank me when I show up to fix something. The Men in Black are here to save the day.

“I doubt he’d be able to pull that off,” I reply.

“Maybe he’ll require members to have electric cars,” Zach says.

“Half of them already do. ”

Zach turns right, into their new neighborhood. “What’s powering those charging ports? A lot of people don’t know that just because the energy comes from the wall and not the gas pump doesn’t automatically make it cleaner.”

Electricity is generated in lots of ways, and the user doesn’t get a say where it comes from, unless they are off the grid. “Wouldn’t that be the rub? He makes everyone feel good about going green but the resort’s electricity is coming from a coal-fired power plant.”

“He’s gotta be smarter than that.” Zach pulls into the driveway of their three-bedroom house, the SOLD sign still in the front yard.

“Maybe about business.” Frustrated, I toss my gloves on the dash. “But his intellect ends there.”

“Remember you asked me about Gold Coast? Get this. Apparently it was a fancy resort in the Cook Islands that got shut down because of a slew of environmental violations.”

“Huh. That would fit, then, wouldn’t it?” Birchnuts to the rescue.

At the house, we unload the mattress first, passing by Sofie unpacking a box in the kitchen. “There’s fresh coffee and I picked up donuts,” she says with a bright smile. In her hands is one of Kirilee’s bowls. Her style is impossible to miss. She likes bright colors—turquoise, cobalt, crimson, and on each of her mugs and bowls is a pronounced lip, like she’s inviting the user to linger there.

I think about that kiss in my truck. What would have happened if we had more time?

When I cruise through the kitchen for a pit stop, before I pour my coffee, I take a peek at the underside of the mug. Sure enough, the bottom is imprinted with Crafted by Kirilee arching over the bird.

“Something wrong?” Sofie asks, looking over her shoulder.

I swallow the tight lump forming in my throat. “Nah.”

“Kirilee gave those to us for a housewarming present.”

Zach comes in and wraps his arms around Sofie from behind and sighs into her hair. “Coffee tastes better in her mugs.”

“Made with love,” Sofie replies with a laugh, hugging Zach’s arms closer to her. “A difference you can taste.”

I think back to that question Kirilee posed in the tattoo shop. Have you ever been in love?

I knew the answer then, just like I know it now.

Is that why this already hurts so much?