Open Arms (5 page)

“Right,” she laughed. “After dinner. Tammy’s coming over at six.”

“Girls’ night? Or can I drop by?”

“Oh, definitely drop by.” Julie’s eyes sparkled. “Tammy wants to get to know you, she said. So brace yourself.”

“For what?” Reluctantly, Jake pulled out of her hot, sweet body.

“Let’s just say that you’re going to be grilled,” Julie said. “If Tammy is almost back to herself, she’ll be all about the questions.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Get ready, cowboy.” Julie smiled. “She’ll have you for dessert. Trust me.”

**

“So, Jake. How did you get to be a cowboy?”

Julie grinned over at them from the kitchen. Jake and Tammy were sitting on the sofa together, cradling glasses of wine. Jake’s massive shoulders almost completely blocked Tammy’s slim frame from her view; her friend was almost as tall as Jake, but was dwarfed by his powerful body. Julie continued spooning vanilla ice cream on the warm homemade brownies and listened.

Jake looked down at Tammy’s face and marvelled at the change in her. Tammy’s violet eyes were bright with humor and curiosity, and her body language was relaxed and open. He thought back to when he first met her at the hospital in New York: she had backed away from him every time he came within five feet of her and never met his eyes. He’d done everything he could to make her feel relaxed around him, but there was little he could do about his physical size. He’d been upset at making Tammy afraid of him, and had kept his distance ever since.

But tonight – tonight she was like a whole new person. Smart and sassy, joyous and funny. All through dinner he had watched Julie and Tammy talk and laugh, and he had been pulled in to their warmth and love for each other. Tammy had charmed him within an inch of his life, and he had found himself testing the waters and teasing her gently. She’d responded with flashing eyes and smart-ass answers. She was great.

“Am I a cowboy, Tammy?”

She leaned back against the sofa arm. “There’s only one way to be sure.”

“OK. What’s that?”

“Stand up and walk over there.” She pointed across the room.

Julie dropped the spoon she was holding. “Tammy!”

“What?” Tammy stared at her, all wide-eyed innocence.

“I know what you’re doing.”

“Of course you do.”

“I don’t,” Jake said. “Why do you want me to walk over there?”

“Because,” Tammy said. “I need to see how you look in your jeans when you walk away.”

Jake stared at her for a second and then, as he realized what she meant, he blushed bright red.

Tammy giggled. “You want to weigh in on this, Jules? You know that cowboys look damn good in their jeans – I imagine you’ve spent some time staring at Jake’s butt as he moseys away from you.” She added to Jake, in a confidential tone, “Cowboys all
mosey,
you know.”

“You keep me out of this,” Julie said with great dignity. She returned to the living room and set the plates of brownie and ice cream in front of Tammy and Jake.

Tammy’s eyes sparkled. “Actually, Jake, one of the first things Julie ever said about you was that you looked good as you walked away.”

“Aw, really?” Jake stroked Julie’s hair. “You said that?”

“Yeah,” Tammy said. “But only ‘cause you were such a jerk. She found it a
relief
when you left the room.”

“Tammy!” Julie said again.

Jake laughed. “Well, no arguing with that. I
was
an asshole.”

“You were,” Tammy agreed. “But you’re not so bad now, really.”

“Thanks,” Jake said to her. “Glad you think so.”

“OK, you two,” Julie said. “Eat your dessert before the ice cream melts.”

“Thanks, Jules,” Tammy said. “It looks great.” She took a bite and closed her eyes. “Oh, my
God
. That is awesome! When did you learn to bake?”

Julie shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to try it, you know, but I never really had any time for it in New York, with my job and the crazy workload and schedule. But here, I have more free hours, it seems.”

“Though I imagine
you
take up quite a few of those hours, huh, Jake?” Tammy said to him. “A big, strong guy like you – you’d last hours and hours, am I right?”

Jake blinked at her and then blushed again, choking a bit on his brownie. Tammy laughed, delighted.

“OK, my work here is done,” she declared. “I’ve made your sexy cowboy blush twice in as many minutes, and I never thought I’d see
that
happen.”

“Yeah, well,” Julie said. “My sexy cowboy is a bit shy.”

Jake looked at the two of them, sitting side by side on the sofa and eating their dessert, and thought just how many guys would kill to be where he was. There was Julie, all soft curves and red-gold hair, as ripe and warm as a sun-drenched peach, and Tammy, with those long legs, her midnight hair spilling over slim shoulders and her flashing violet eyes. They were complete opposites in almost every way. Jake smiled.

“OK, ladies,” he said standing up. “This is where I leave you.”

“You’re going?” Tammy said.

“Yep.” Jake looked at them again, saw that tonight was the first night that they had really connected since Tammy had been attacked. He wasn’t about to ruin that. “You two enjoy your night.” He bent over and kissed Julie, his lips lingering on hers, giving her something to think about, some reason to miss him. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Jake,” Julie said softly.

He grinned down at her, his gray eyes warm and dancing. “You’re welcome, baby.”

“Wait, you really don’t mind?” Tammy said. “I thought you’d stay here tonight.”

Jake shrugged. “It’s OK. You two have a sleepover or something, maybe. Talk and catch up and hang out and drink way too much wine. Tomorrow’s Sunday, so you can sleep all day if you want.”

Tammy stood up, impulsively, and hugged him. He wrapped his huge arms around her, holding her carefully. “Thanks, Jake.”

He smiled at her; she was tall, much taller than Julie, and it felt weird to have female eyes at almost the same level as his own. “My pleasure, ma’am.”

“Oh! That reminds me!” Tammy said. “Do you wear a cowboy hat in bed and call Julie ‘ma’am’ when you’re…”

“Tammy!” Now Julie was bright red.

Jake and Tammy laughed together.

He put on his coat and boots and waved goodbye from the door. “’Night, ladies,” he drawled with a twang. “Y’all be good, now.”

“Goodnight,” they chorused.

Jake stepped out in to the winter chill and paused on the front porch of the Big House, breathing in the pure, crisp air. God, he loved living here, loved Open Skies Ranch, loved Julie. For the first time in his almost-thirty-six years on this earth, Jake felt like he was exactly where he was meant to be, doing what he should be doing, with the right people. The right person.

Even through the closed door, he heard their laughter behind him and he smiled again. Julie had her best friend and sister back now, he knew, and her happiness added to his own. He had never wanted to please anyone more than himself before – not this way – and that’s how he knew that Julie was the one for him. Long-term; forever.

He started to walk down towards the stables, to the small private cabin that was located about twenty paces from the stable doors and which he had called home for the past seven years. He loved his small, snug space; it was all golden wood and big windows and simple, sturdy furniture. Julie liked it down there, too, and stayed over often. She loved the Big House, with its space and airiness, but she said that his cabin was just so much like him, with its unassuming strength and quiet light, and she loved to wake up there, warm and safe.

As Jake approached the stables, he heard something in the distance, in the open prairie beyond the fence that enclosed the corral area. He paused and squinted in to the darkness. He waited.

A soft whisper, then cracking; something was brushing and moving the powder and breaking the hard snow hidden beneath. There was no wind at all, the prairie was black and silent, the stars very bright overhead. Jake held his breath and strained to place that sound. Footsteps? Yes. But not human – these were too light, too careful, too hesitant. Some kind of animal.

In his seven years at Open Skies, Jake had seen many coyotes on the prairie and wandering around the Rockies. They generally stayed away from the ranch and the hotel, and Manny and his staff were careful with the waste from the restaurant kitchens. Coyotes often scavenged through human garbage, looking for food. It was the depths of a hard, freezing winter now, and Jake wondered if coyotes were venturing closer to where they knew people were, hunting for an open garbage bag, left in a moment of carelessness.

He swung open the fence door, headed in to the massive corral. He heard some of the horses moving around in the stables. They sounded restless and agitated and Jake was suddenly more alert: animals were always more attuned to danger than humans. If the horses were worried and sensed something was wrong, then he’d be willing to bet that they were right. He grabbed a flashlight from the small wooden box that Phil kept outside, and flicked it on. Its powerful beam cut through the darkness like a knife, and he swung it around.

About a hundred yards away, he saw a glint and trained the light that way. That’s when he saw them: silver eyes. Unmoving, unblinking. His breath stopped for a second as he realized that he was being steadily watched. He stood still and stared right back.

His eyes adjusted to the darkness now and he saw clearly what was out there: a wolf. A gray wolf, from what he could pick up in the flashlight beam. This was unreal – Jake had heard that some lone wolves had been spotted in the Colorado Rockies, but he’d never seen any himself. And what was this animal doing so close to the ranch?

Slowly, he backed away, reached for the stables door handle behind him without taking his gaze off those eyes still observing him from beyond the fence. He knew there was no way a wolf would be able to get in to the stables – Dave, Julie’s father, had built a stable as impregnable as Fort Knox – but still. A desperate, hungry animal may well try.

When the horses saw Jake come in, they shuffled and swayed. Jake walked over to each and every horse and spent some time with them, murmuring to them, comforting them. They nickered and nipped at his sleeve, nuzzled in to his warm, large hand. They knew they were OK now, and they started to move away from the stall doors, started to settle back down to sleep.

Jake went out the back door of the stables and walked in to his cabin. He picked up the business landline phone and called Julie.

“Jake? What’s up? Are you OK?”

“Listen, baby. I think I just saw a wolf out here.”

“A what? Where? In the stables?”

“No. No, outside the fence, out on the prairie.”

“Are the animals all OK?”

“Fine. But listen, I saw just one wolf, and there may be more.”

“Right.”

“So I think it best for Tammy to stay with you tonight, until Phil and I can go out tomorrow and see what’s what. If she really wants to go back to her place, you call me and I’ll come and get her and take her back to her cabin.”

“Jake, do you really think this is necessary? I mean, what are the chances that a wolf would come right up the hill to the cabins and main buildings?”

Jake heard Tammy’s voice in the background, asking a question.

He sat down. “You’re right, baby. Normally, they’re pretty skittish about being too close to people. But we don’t know much about wolves, me and Phil, and I’m not sure what to expect.”

“So, it’s not common for wolves to be around here?”

“Nope, not at all. Coyotes, sure. We see a hundred of them a year. But wolves are unusual for the Colorado Rockies – most of them are much farther north.”

“I see. But we’re not going to
hurt
it, right?”

“Of course not. Not unless it attacks someone, and I really, really doubt it’ll come to that. But just to be safe, OK? Let me take Tammy home if she wants to go.”

“Hang on a sec.” Julie turned to Tammy. “Do you want to stay here tonight, or go back to your cabin?”

Tammy snuggled deeper in to the sofa. Her eyes were soft in the firelight. “I was thinking I’d stay here.” She took a sip of wine. “Drink all the wine in the house with you and gossip about Jake.”

“OK,” Julie laughed and turned back to the phone. “She’ll stay here, Jake. We’re going to get drunk and talk about you.”

He laughed too. “Sounds good. I’ll call Phil tomorrow morning and he and I will head out to where I saw the wolf, get some sense of how big it is, and where it came from. And we’ll have to inform all the staff about the wolf, OK? Can you call a staff meeting for Monday morning?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll send out an e-mail tomorrow.”

“Thanks, babe.”

“Are the horses safe in the stables?”

“Oh, for sure. Don’t worry about that. I’ll keep an eye on things, but I think the wolf is long gone for now.”

“And you’re safe?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve got a rifle, if things get bad, but I honestly don’t see that I’ll have any need to use it. I have no plans to hurt or kill that animal.”

“OK.”

“Goodnight, Julie. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Tammy jumped to attention from the depths of the sofa cushions. “You
what?
”

Jake heard her through the phone and laughed. “Oh, man. And so it begins.”

“Have you two said the three magic words to each other?” Tammy said, excited. “Really?”

Julie rolled her eyes. “Goodnight, Jake.”

“Good luck, babe.”

Julie hung up the phone and turned back to Tammy. Her friend’s eyes were brighter than she had seen them in a month, and she smiled.

“OK,” Julie said sitting down again and picking up her wine for fortification. “Ask.”

“Did he tell you he loves you?”

“Yes. Today, for the first time.”

Tammy grinned and Julie grinned back. Both women knew that it was going to be a very long night.
**
The next afternoon, at somewhere in the neighborhood of three o’clock, Tammy managed to drag herself to a sitting position. Her head hurt, and she was insanely thirsty. She groaned and gulped the full glass of water she had set on the bedside table; OK, that was a bit better. Oh wait, no it wasn’t. She needed more.