Page 39 of Hotshot
“That’s more like it.” I gestured to the floor. “Got anything to clean this up with? I think we’ll need a mop.”
“Yeah, I’ll stick your jeans in the dryer too. Be right back.” Denny gathered the discarded clothes and disappeared down a short hallway off the kitchen.
He returned a couple of minutes later with a damp towel, dressed in sweats and a Condors tee. I put my boxer briefs and T-shirt on and helped wipe up the mess we’d made. Then I wandered into the living area and sat on a corner of the sectional, thanking him when he handed me a water bottle.
“Nice place,” I commented.
Denny perched on the edge of the sofa, leaving a cushion between us. His body language was all over the map—ankles crossed, fingernails scratching at the label on the bottle, yet…his posture was the epitome of relaxed. Evidence suggested he was nervous in a “What the fuck am I supposed to say to this guy now?” way. Totally understandable.
“Thanks.” Denny worried his lips as he tore the paper sleeve from his water bottle. “So…if we’refriendsnow, I think I need to know more about you.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t google me.”
“I did. There’s not much info, and your social media feed is Zen quotes and pictures of horses.”
Fair enough.
I rested my knee on the cushion between us. “I’m an open book. Ask me anything, but first…I have a couple of questions for you.”
“Shoot.”
“You seemed to know what you were doing.” I made a lewd gesture with my fist. “Was that really your first time?”
Denny’s ears turned pink. “Yes. I’ve just done my research, and it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Like…years.”
“My dick?” I joked.
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Next question.”
“Why did your grandmother summon me? What did you tell her?”
He chuckled, shaking his head with fond exasperation. “The truth minus the naked proposition part. I had to. Grams lives next door and saw me come home that morning just before my ex dropped my truck off. She’d already run into my friends at the bakery, so she knew I wasn’t out late with them. She thought I’d hooked up with someone new and that I didn’t want Mary-Kate to find out. That would have blown up in my face, big-time.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah,” Denny agreed ruefully. “I learned a long time ago that it’s easier to stick to the truth. Elmwood is a small town, and people talk. That’s why…if we’re friends, I need to know more about you.”
“Well, okay. I’m twenty-nine, just finished my second stint of grad school. I have a master’s in business and psychology, and I recently opened my own business—which I’ll have to put on hold for a few months. It’s a bummer, but this little assignment in Wood Hollow will help me fund and expand faster.”
“You’re a horse whisperer therapist. How’d that happen? Aren’t you supposed to be a logger?”
“If you ask my dad, the answer is yes. I have an older brother and sister, and he fully expected one of us to take over the family business. I’m the only one who stuck around and gave it a shot. I went to college in Boulder, fell in love, and figured the mill was my destiny.” I opened my hands like a preacher at a pulpit, shaking my head ruefully. “I interned for Dad and tried to learn the ropes. It wasn’t…terrible, but my father likes to call all the shots. My great contribution to RM Mill to date is that fucking billboard.”
Denny flashed a Cheshire cat grin. “My favorite billboard. Tell me everything.”
I sank into the upholstery with a sigh as if hoping it led to a magic portal. “In addition to being a shameless opportunist, my ex is a photographer. My dad mentioned at dinner one night that the mill needed a brand makeover, something sexy. It’s my dad’s mantra. ‘Make it sexy.’ You gotta understand, my dad has this larger than life, super exuberant personality. He was always the loudest, the funniest, the most charming guy in any room. You wanted to be the one he noticed, you know? Seth, my ex, got caught up in Dad’s sunny orbit. He wanted to do the photography. It would have been a huge career boost for him, and I didn’t have anything to do with marketing, so it didn’t matter to me. But get this…one day, Seth says, ‘Hey, baby, let’s take the horses out and check out sites in the forest. For inspiration.’ He took dozens of photos of trees and a few of me with Bess.”
“Your horse?”
“Yeah, she’s a beauty. Those were supposed to be for him…for fun. I didn’t care that he showed Dad, but I did care that he took them to his meeting with the head of marketing. They loved them. They wanted me to be the face of RM Mill, and wasn’t that an honor?” I huffed sarcastically. “It felt like betrayal. He sold me out for a buck. Needless to say, that was the end of us.”
Denny frowned. “Did your father know you were against those photos?”
“Of course.”
“And he still used them?”
“Of course.” I chuckled at Denny’s irate expression. “My dad loves money. He thought I was being ridiculous. It was a photo, no big deal. But I had a business degree, damn it. I wanted to help lead the company, not be a fucking model. It was insulting.”