Page 12 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)

CHAPTER

EIGHT

C ora had filled pages and pages with her own handwriting this week, and it was only Wednesday.

She’d seen Boston again a couple of times, but since she’d packed her schedule with meetings and demonstrations that always ran long, she’d only been able to continue their relationship through texts.

He’d be leaving tomorrow with the family hunting party, and Cora only had one meeting with the resort manager. She had a massage after that and planned to spend her evening by the pool—her reward for the last several days where she’d worked herself to the bone.

She reminded herself she wanted to know all of the behind-the-scenes things that it took to put on an amazing wedding, and she listened to the wedding coordinator as she flipped another page in the binder and started talking about cake.

They had chefs here who could do everything for weddings, and they also had a vetted, verified list of suppliers they worked with.

Cora nodded and noted in all the right places, almost desperate to get back to her house, though she wasn’t sure why.

She tried to unpack a couple of boxes every day and clean something before she put the contents away, but her cabin still didn’t feel like home.

It was hers, though, and Cora’s brain simply felt stuffed too full to listen for much longer.

Morgan, the woman in charge of coordinating weddings, went over photographers, photography spots, linens, and the setup of tables and chairs. She went over the sound system and the different rooms available for rent.

When she finally reached the end of the binder and the meeting concluded, Cora sighed, wishing it didn’t sound quite so frustrated.

“That’s a lot,” she said.

Morgan smiled and gave a half-laugh. “Yeah, it sure is. I deal with all couples when they come to look at the facilities. And of course, we have kitchen staff and administrative staff over other things.”

Cora nodded because she knew Boston was helping to coordinate and plan his cousin’s wedding, which would be at Silver Sage in September.

She tucked everything in her bag and got to her feet. “Yes, I’d love to come to one of your next full staff meetings.”

“We do them twice a month,” Morgan said, lifting the hefty binder into her arms. “First and second Thursday. So we’ll have one next week.”

“Shoot,” Cora said. “I’m going to be off the property next Thursday.”

“Well, then you’ll come in July,” Morgan said, and she probably didn’t want Cora there at all.

She told herself not to think like that. She had not come to the lodge to gut it and revamp it, fire everyone, and hire new people to do things her way. She simply wanted to learn how they did things now, to see where they could improve, cut costs, and offer even more amenities.

She thought she’d been well-received at the lodge, but she also knew that small towns had their own brand of gossip, and she’d be stupid if she thought no one here had been talking about her.

She left through the back door of the resort, which housed their spa, fitness center, two restaurants, and a small boutique, as well as conference space and ballrooms. They had two pools and a bank of hot tubs outside, and all of this sat separate from the lodge, which towered into four stories of custom log work and boasted seventy-two guest rooms, an additional restaurant and bar, a theater, a library, and a game room with a pool table, foosball, puzzles, board games, and even a two-lane bowling alley.

They had to have parking for all their guests, and the Silver Sage Mountain Lodge and Resort had individual cabins as guest housing and an additional outdoor area with a gazebo, an open-air amphitheater, and a wide expanse of lawn for other group gatherings, games, sports, and events.

It took a lot of people just to keep the grounds in pristine condition, and even more to change over the guest rooms and two dozen cabins, sometimes on a daily basis.

Cora rolled her neck and stretched her arms above her head. Once she reached the outdoors, she took a deep breath of the Wyoming air and let it take away some of her tension.

The sun had started to sink behind the Tetons in the west, and she smiled at the way they glowed and offered her the most beautiful view in the world.

Her cabin sat several hundred yards from the lodge, and when she reached the edge of the parking lot, she ducked onto a path that wound through the woods.

This was a well-used footpath with guests and employees alike, as the employee parking lot sat just on the other side of it.

She skirted around that and then down the dirt lane to the family plots where her cabin waited.

Maybe I’ll just heat up my lunch leftovers and crawl into bed with my tablet. She could put on one of her favorite reality TV show reruns and ignore the physical mess around her for another day.

After all, there was no rule that said she had to have everything unpacked and put away within the first week that she moved across the country. She’d done enough to wear clean clothes and cute shoes, shower, and feed herself. Did she really need to do more?

She hadn’t made it to the car dealership when she’d gone to town with Boston. Thankfully, she didn’t mind walking around the grounds. The problem was she couldn’t get off the property, and Cora knew herself well enough to know she’d feel trapped soon enough.

She looked at a few cars online, and perhaps she could set up an appointment to do some test drives this weekend. “Just one more thing to deal with,” she told herself.

Thankfully, Cora had checked off enough things in her life to know that eventually she’d get everything done and dealt with.

Her cabin sat in the family row—not the biggest or the best or the furthest away—and it took her a few steps to realize that someone had pulled into her driveway. With one more step, she recognized the big, beautiful, brown truck as Boston’s.

Her heartbeat immediately thrashed like a fish being plucked from water, and she felt the tail of it whipping against her ribs.

“What is he doing here?” she said right out loud, and then she picked up the pace to get to her cabin and find out.

He must have spotted her approaching, because his door opened and he got out only a moment before the other three doors also opened, and more people spilled out of the vehicle.

Cora’s visions of running to him, laughing, and throwing herself into his arms just before he kissed her vanished. Not that they were anywhere near a kissing level yet. Still, she had a very active imagination, and Boston had taken up full root inside it.

He’d also brought four people with him, and as she continued toward her house, a woman with white-blonde hair opened the tailgate and lifted out what looked like a blue mop bucket. A tall, broad-shouldered man with sandy hair joined her, and he pulled out another bucket.

“Howdy,” Boston said, raising one hand.

“Hey,” she said, still trying to catch up with the situation unfolding before her. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t answer right away, but strode toward her, putting distance between him and the people he’d brought with him, effectively blocking them from Cora’s view.

“I brought some help,” he said.

“Help for what?” she asked.

He ducked his head and pressed his cowboy hat to the top of it with one palm.

“You mentioned the other day that your cabin needed to be cleaned from top to bottom, and you had no idea when you’d find time to unpack.

A couple of my cousins were totally bored today, and I told them to come on out and I’d put them to work. ”

“Yeah, I was totally bored ,” one of the men said, plenty of sarcasm in his tone.

Cora liked him already. She smiled and focused on Boston’s handsome face.

“If you’d rather we didn’t,” he said. “It’s fine. They’re showing Jurassic Park in the theater tonight, and I figured they could go over there if you didn’t want them poking through your stuff.”

He took a couple of steps closer, one hand reaching out to slide along her forearm. “I’m half inclined to have them do that anyway,” he murmured. “Then me and you can be alone together.”

Cora did like the sound of that, and her grin widened as an idea filled her head. “Why can’t we have both?”

Boston laughed and said, “Why not, indeed.” He turned then, and he didn’t take her hand as he started back toward the truck.

“All right,” he said. “This is my cousin Joey and her fiancé, Adam. They’re getting married here in September.”

“Oh, of course,” Cora said, feeling herself slip into hostess mode. “It’s great to meet you.”

Adam shook hands like a professional, but Joey pulled her into a hug. “You too,” she said kindly. “This is Harry,” she said, indicating the last cowboy, who wore a black shirt and jeans to go with his black cowboy hat. “Our other cousin, and his wife, Belle.”

The dark-haired cowboy and the blonde woman went together perfectly, though Harry didn’t smile at all, and Belle seemed to be made of them.

Pieces slipped around in Cora’s head, landing in place only a moment later. “You’re Harry Young,” she said, noting that Adam took one step in front of him.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Harry said, finally unleashing his smile.

“Do you live here?” Cora asked.

“Sure do.”

Harry put his hand on Adam’s arm as he moved around him. “Dude, you’re not my bodyguard anymore.”

Adam looked at him, and his face colored slightly. “You’re right. I’m not.”

Harry chuckled and hooked his thumb at the taller man. “He used to be my manager.”

“Personal assistant,” Adam said. “I never managed any part of Harry’s career. I got the man his milk and eggs.”

“That too,” Harry said. “He manages Country Quad now.”

“I actually do manage them,” Adam said.

“Joey’s daddy is Otis,” Boston said. “He’s in the band. Harry and Belle are retired from the country music scene as artists, but they write songs from their house in Coral Canyon.”

“That’s great.” Cora reminded herself that she’d met plenty of celebrities in Miami, and that they were just people too. “Well, I don’t know what Boston promised you,” she said, smiling over to him. “But I’ll take whatever help I can get.”

“I can get these guys to do almost anything for food,” Boston said.

“It was the steak for me.” Adam chuckled. “I’ve never had anything as good as the T-bone here at your Carver’s restaurant.”

Joey beamed at him and linked her arm through his. “It’s one of the reasons we decided to get married here.”

“Meat and potatoes,” Boston said. “It gets them every time.”

Cora grinned along with everyone else and bent to pick up one of the buckets. Boston promptly took it from her—a gesture that seemed small, almost nothing, but that spoke volumes about his character.

“The door’s not locked,” she said. “And I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

“Only forever,” Harry said. When Belle bumped him with her hip, he simply grinned, picked up the second bucket of supplies, and turned toward the house.

Boston’s family didn’t need to be invited twice, and they didn’t wait for Cora to go first. In fact, they left her alone with him as the four of them moved, chatting, up her front steps and into the house.

“They’re great,” she said.

“I thought you might like to meet them before cousin night,” he said. “In a smaller crowd.”

“My place is a mess,” she said.

“Don’t worry, Cora-Cat. We’ve all moved before, and no one’s going to judge you.”

That made Cora’s soul swell and sing, and she took Boston’s hand in hers and led the way up to her porch.

“Hey,” she said when she got to the top of the steps. “You’ll be back on Saturday night, right?”

“Yep.”

“Do you want to come here and have dinner with me when you get back?”

Boston crowded closer and took her in his arms, his hands settling easily around her and landing on her waist. “I absolutely want to do that.”

“I mean, I can’t promise an amazing T-bone,” she said. “But I’m not bad in the kitchen.”

“I’ll take anything I didn’t have to cook over a fire.” He chuckled gently. “But it probably won’t be until seven or eight.”

“That’s all right,” she said. “Now let’s go see if we can get this house ready, so that our dinner when you get back will be amazing.”