She narrowed her eyes, pointed at him. “Don’t sweetheart me.”
“We don’t want you to leave. That’s just it. We want you to stay. Last night was…amazing. You’re it for us.”
She laughed, but she shook her head, closed her eyes as if blocking us out. “It? Right. Look, I’ll just go. That’s what you want, right? No clingy goodbyes, no texting or stalking. No misguided woman wanting more.”
She stomped into the living room and we followed. I sat on the arm of the couch as Sam went into his room. She grabbed her dress from the floor, stripped out of the robe and stepped into it, working it up over her bare body. Sam returned by the time she got the zipper up at the back of her neck. I’d have helped, but I didn’t dare get near her.
“Here.” He held out her file, her paperwork. I could tell by the thickness that it was all of it, not only the details about the inheritance Riley had written up, but the information we’d collected on her. “This is everything.”
She stared at the folder and it was obvious for the first time she thought we were telling her the truth.
“Riley Townsend’s the executor of the estate. His information is on the first page. Call him.”
“But…wait.” She looked down at the carpet, deep in thought. Blindly, she went over to her heels, picked them up.
Sam afforded me a glance and we remained quiet, let her think. He still held the folder.
“Whatever’s in that folder is one thing. But you guys picked me up knowing all this.”
“I tried to tell you last night,” I said. She’d asked us why we were in town and I offered to tell her, but she’d shut me down. And then I forgot everything altogether because I hadn’t been thinking with my big head. Just my little one.
And look where that had gotten us.
Her eyes narrowed again. “You tried. You tried? Why didn’t you try again?”
Shit, I realized I’d sounded all defensive and attempting to spin this back on her. No wonder we were still fucking single.
“This is a big deal. You were following me! Stalking me, even. I mean, you came to the restaurant, not my house or work. You didn’t even call me. God, that’s even more creepy than Alan.”
I assumed Alan was her boss, and grudgingly, she was probably right. It didn’t help the gut punch feeling, especially when we’d brought this on ourselves.
“One look, sweetheart, and you ruined us.”
“Yeah, well, you ruined me, too,” she replied. Her voice broke a little, but her spine was like fucking steel. Yeah, she was a Steele daughter all right. And not only did we fuck her, but we’d fucked up, too.
Balancing on one foot, she slipped on her heel, then the other. Reaching out, she tugged the file from Sam, then grabbed her purse and briefcase.
I stood then. “Wait, you’re not leaving.”
She spun and faced me. If looks could kill, I’d be dead. So dead.
“Watch me.”
She went to the door in her day-old dress and heels, her hair wet ropes down over her shoulders. No makeup, no underwear.
She opened it and stormed out, the heavy metal making it slam behind her.
Running my hand over my face, I began to swear. The one and only woman we wanted in our life just walked right out. We forced her to do the walk of shame, which was like a kick to the balls to alpha males like us. We didn’t make a woman do that, and not Natalie. Shit, not her. We’d hurt her deeper than I’d ever imagined.
And now she was gone. Out of our lives, all chances of something more completely gone. Dead. And it had been all our fault.
5
NATALIE
* * *
Montana was not what I expected. Well, I expected it to be cold, but it was cold. C.O.L.D. And it was April. Boston was cold, even occasionally snowed this time of year, but there was some kind of sharp bite I hadn’t expected. Perhaps it was the wind that didn’t seem to stop blowing since there weren’t any trees to stop it. In my haste to leave, I hadn’t packed a heavy coat, so I was wearing the one I just bought at the clothing store on Main Street in Barlow. With lots of puffy down, it was really cozy, but the woman at the store had also sold me a hat, mittens and sturdy shoes. As in cowboy boots. Where I’d been unprepared when I got off the plane four hours earlier, now I was over prepared, but at least feeling like I blended in.