Page 7 of Forever Finds Us (Wisper Dreams #7)

Chapter Five

Roxanne

Why did the presence of this man in my truck make me a bad driver? And when he’d declared himself “all country”?

Could vaginas twitch? I was pretty sure mine had.

Twice, I’d almost veered off the side of the road leading away from Brand’s family’s houses on our way out to Old Fish Creek Road when he did nothing more than clear his throat and turn his body toward mine in the passenger seat.

I kept looking over at him, which was why I almost missed the glare of headlights headed straight for us.

Dang him and his baseball hat. Brand Lee made me more nervous than I could remember being in a long time.

By his sister’s account, the sexy, quiet man sitting next to me, with his sinful lips, dark stubble covering a jaw cut from glass, and eyes the color of a summer sky, was loaded.

Not like me. If I had more than twenty bucks in my bank account and a pot to piss in on any given day, it felt like God was raining fortune down on me.

The skinny gravel lane didn’t allow two big trucks at the same time, so I pulled over and put mine in Park, and confusion crossed Brand’s face when he recognized the other vehicle stopping next to us. I rolled down my window and nodded hello at Bax and Bea.

“What are you doin’ here?” Brand asked. “Shouldn’t you two be holed up, naked in a hotel somewhere?”

I couldn’t stop the flush that traveled up from my navel to my face or the elicit images in my head the man sitting next to me had just conjured.

It felt like the heat would scorch me from the inside out as I pictured myself and Brand, lying clothing-less and spent in a pile of messed-up bedsheets, bodies slick with sweat after fucking like bunnies.

Not that that was even a remote possibility. No, Brand would probably rather be doing it with someone like Tabitha, pretty and perfect. Maybe he already had. She looked like a vixen of a woman. I’d bet she was like a little mewling bomb in his bed.

One-two-three .

But dammit. Book club had turned me into a shameless slut, because after reading all the romance our librarian, Sam, could fit on the shelves, all I could imagine was the authoritative sound of Brand’s voice when he told me to get on my knees to suck his dick and his hand tangled in my hair, pulling and guiding my mouth on him.

“We got halfway to our hotel,” Bax said, “and realized there was no way we’d enjoy ourselves with Natalie missin’.”

“Is that where you’re headed?” Bea asked, leaning over Bax’s center console. She held her husband’s hand, and seeing the simple display of affection between them made something clench in the pit of my stomach. “Can we join you?”

“It’s your special night,” I said. “You don’t have to do that. There’s a mass of search and rescue people up there already.”

“We want to,” Bea said with a gentle smile. “Bax here’s good with his hands. He can thwack at some brush with a machete, and I can holler with the best of them. If Natalie doesn’t hear my voice, she ain’t on that mountain.”

I intended to let out a sexy little laugh, but it came out more as a guffaw. Could I be any more embarrassing? But I said, “Follow us up then?”

“You got it.” Bax rolled up his window and they made a U-turn on Bear Lane, the dirt road that led to the cabins, and then they followed my truck out to Old Fish Creek Road and further onto the highway.

Brand was quiet for a while. It seemed to be his way, but finally he spoke, and the sound of his deep voice I’d just been imagining set sparks to bursting in my belly.

“Is this common? A missing hiker?” he asked. “I remember one or two from my childhood, but I haven’t lived here in almost twenty years now.”

“It happens. But there hasn’t been a missin’ kid in a while. It gets everybody in a twist, imaginin’ their own kids lost in the night.”

“Do you have kids? I don’t remember if my sister ever mentioned if you were mar?—”

I shook my head. “No kids. Never been married. You?”

“No. Same. I’m better as an uncle.”

“Same.” I laughed. “I’m Auntie Roxi to fifteen nieces and nephews.”

“ Fifteen ?”

“I have five sisters.”

“Ah.”

“One of my sisters only has one kid, but the others made up for that with three or more. Put my parents over the moon.”

“And did you not want children or—” He cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive.”

“No.” I shook my head. “It was just a question. And to answer it, no, I’ve never wanted kids. I thought when I got older and more settled in my career, I might, but that time came and went and I’m happy with my decision.” I shrugged. “Why do you think it’s insensitive?”

“You could’ve been unable to have children or maybe were in a bad relationship or somethin’. I don’t know your story.”

“Ain’t much of one to tell,” I said as I turned onto Highway 191 in Jackson.

We could’ve taken Moose Road, but it would’ve been a lot slower with all the mountain switchbacks. The highway to Teton Park Road was quicker, and I could use my lights if I needed to. Neither route was direct. Direct routes didn’t really exist in Jackson Hole.

“Grew up in Okie and moved to Wyo after the academy. Worked as a beat cop for a couple years in the eastern part of the state and then moved over to Yellowstone. That’s where I met Sheriff Michaels. He offered me the position in Wisper, and I’ve been here ever since.”

And probably would be until the day I died. Wisper, Wyoming had become my home. Oklahoma would always be my beginning and my touchstone, but the autonomy of living somewhere my sisters and mama didn’t had become more important to me than the desire to be close to Choctaw.

I peeked at Brand out of the corner of my eye. “What about you?”

“Me?”

“How’d you end up in Sheridan?”

“Oh.” He laughed softly. “Well, I graduated high school and then got the hell out of Dodge. Our father wasn’t the easiest guy to live with or work for and I wanted out. I started on a house crew at eighteen, saved every penny I could, went to school at night, and worked my way up from there.”

“That’s impressive. Your sister said those contracts you sold up north went for a nice price.”

Ah, crap . I felt like a heel bringing up money. I hadn’t meant to, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He just kept staring out his window at the fields whizzing by and the moonlit mountains in the distance, nodding silently.

“Aren’t you happy about that?”

“Of course I am. I’m fortunate. I’ve made some good decisions and had some good luck.

We just passed the billion-dollar mark in revenue.

” He looked at me. “I’ve never told anyone that.

I’m sure you know, in certain areas in Wyoming, house prices are insane.

That worked in my favor, and we don’t only build houses.

We’ve worked on some pretty big commercial projects too. ”

Jesus . How much even was a billion dollars? I couldn’t count that high on my fingers, that was for sure.

“But it’s just?—”

“What?” I asked, daring to look away from the road now to see the discontent in his eyes. “It’s just what?”

He turned to face me. “Bein’ back home, it feels different than I thought it would. You know?”

“I don’t,” I said, “but I can imagine. If I had to move back to Choctaw, Oklahoma, I’d go out of my mind.”

“No, it’s not like that. I’m happy to be home. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed my brother and sister. My niece and nephew. Even Merv. But I feel different inside now, and it’s almost like I don’t fit anymore. Does that make sense?”

God, does it ever.

Turning left onto the road leading up to Jenny Lake, I said, “It makes perfect sense. To be honest, I’ve never felt like I fit in with my family. Too many expectations I’ve never been able to meet, but maybe I’m projectin’.”

Evergreens blurred outside his window now while he thought about what he wanted to say.

It was dead quiet between us, and night surrounded us on all sides.

It wrapped around my truck and flowed beneath my tires, and it felt like we were the only two people in the world.

A tentative familiarity with him eased my nervousness, and I breathed a little easier.

I hadn’t expected to have anything in common with Brand Lee.

“It’s ridiculous for me to feel this way, but I guess up in Sheridan I was always so busy that I never really had to face the fact that somethin’ was missin’ from my life, but now I’m home, I feel it everywhere I go.”

Whoa. I’d never met a man so honest with his feelings. Had I entered some kind of twilight zone?

“It’s not ridiculous,” I assured him. “It’s honest.”

“We’re here,” he said, pointing to a wooden Jenny Lake sign on the left-hand side of the road.

He didn’t reply, and we drove a bit further, until we saw trucks and cruisers parked in the lot that led to the Jenny Lake boathouse, a sea of lights flashing in front of us.

Pulling up behind Abey’s truck, I parked next to the county sheriff’s, and we stepped out into the chilly air.

Bax and Bea parked behind me, and when they climbed from Bax’s rig, I noticed they were prepared and dressed in jeans and hiking boots.

Either that was what they’d worn for their drive up to Montana, or they kept hiking boots in their vehicle.

Either way, they were my people. Nothing fancy about them, or me, and they made me feel a little more at home in a place that wasn’t my actual home.

As a group, we set off to find my bosses.

“Roxi?” Abey saw us approaching from where she stood next to the sheriff. Her blond hair looked like a rat had taken up residence underneath her hat, all tangled and tied hastily in a low bun. She was worried. “Did you find somethin’ at the Mannings’ cabin?”

“No. We just came up to see if we could help.”

“Thanks.” She frowned at her recently married brother. “Bax, Bea, shouldn’t you be in Montana by now?”

“We couldn’t sit around waitin’ for news,” Bea said, and Abey smiled and nodded.

“Actually, it’s great you’re here,” Sheriff Michaels said, standing tall and stoic next to Abey.

He tipped his hat up off his forehead, his rusty red hair sweaty and disheveled beneath.

“We could actually use a few more bodies on the trails around Jenny Lake. The rangers are focused on the Lake Solitude trail since it’s further and more remote, but we’ve still got the paths around here we need to search.

Just make sure you sign in.” He pointed to a woman holding a clipboard standing next to a volunteer ranger in a yellow jacket by the trailhead that led south around the lake.

“And make sure you have water and warmth. And Roxi, I know you’re not technically on duty, but consider yourself clocked in. Keep your radio on.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re in charge of these hooligans.” He smirked at Bax and Brand. “Their mama will sue my ass if anything happens to her precious baby boys.”

The guys laughed, and Bax delivered a playful but powerful punch to the sheriff of Teton County’s midsection. Carey grunted and knocked Bax’s cowboy hat off his head.

Bax retrieved it from the dirt with the swipe of one hand, stuck it back on his head, and introduced his new bride.

“Carey, this is my wife, Bea. We just got hitched this afternoon.” A big smile showed his teeth, and they gleamed under all the lights that had been set up to illuminate the parking area.

“Bea, this man here is the big bad county sheriff, Carey Michaels. You’ve eaten his wife’s donuts.

It’s that place in town Athena loves to stop off at after school. ”

“Frannie Goes French? Your wife is Frannie? Grace and Gabby are your daughters?”

Carey nodded proudly.

“Please tell Frannie that Athena and I are big fans. Also, tell her I have a bone to pick with her ’cause I’ve gained ten pounds since Athena got me hooked on her mousse au chocolat and éclairs.” She winked. “Athena adores Grace, and little Gabby is cute as a button.”

“You’re preachin’ to the choir.” Carey chuckled and patted his stomach. “Thank you. Will do, and congratulations. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too. I wish it wasn’t because of Natalie.”

Everybody grumbled agreement.

“Alright, y’all,” Carey said. “Get to work. Radio in anything you find, even if it’s just an empty water bottle.”

“Have you brought in the dogs yet, boss?” I asked.

Carey shook his head, and Abey answered. “They should be here in an hour or two.”

“Good.” That made me feel better. The SAR dogs could find Natalie faster than any human. The trick was keeping up with them. “Is there any sign of foul play?”

“No,” Carey said, “not so far. Natalie’s parents and brothers are at the ranger station. They’re worried sick.”

“We’ll get started.”

Abey motioned again to the lady with the sign-in sheet. “When you sign in, she’ll give you maps and point you in the right direction. She has flashlights with new batteries.”

Brand asked, “What was Natalie wearin’?”

I should have asked that. He had good instincts and clearly seemed to care about finding the girl.

“Jeans,” Abey answered her older brother, “and a gray Nebraska Cornhuskers hooded sweatshirt with a big red ‘N’. Purple sneakers.”

As we walked toward the woman with the clipboard, I noticed Brand surveying all the law enforcement officers poring over trail maps spread over the hoods of their vehicles.

“I feel a bit underdressed,” he said, smirking at me. He nudged his arm against mine. Was he flirting with me? In the middle of a missing persons case?

And people thought I was weird?

But I nudged him back.

“You got the right shoes for a midnight hike,” I said, looking down at his worn, tan work boots.

I imagined him wearing them with a pair of roughed-in jeans and a dirty white T-shirt on a construction site somewhere, sweat running down his neck as he lifted raw lumber, and a tingle sparked between my legs.

And when he turned his ball cap backwards and nodded, I practically groaned out loud. “Just keep your ankles loose, and if you get scared in the dark, you can hold my hand.”