yours. Merry Kade. So it was a damn miracle that Walker managed to get you in here.”
“I’ll have to find a way to thank him.”
“Won’t be hard. He lives right there.” Nate tilted his head toward the apartment on the other side of the small upstairs landing.
She shot a surprised look at the other door before unlocking her own. Walker lived right there? That would be interesting. Or just irritating, if the parade of beautiful women was still marching after all these years. Maybe she could sit on the landing with a book and wave to each one. Recapture some of the fun of her youth.
Charlie let herself into the apartment and took in the simple white walls and the gorgeous shine on the wood floors. It was nothing like her studio at the resort. There were no fancy appliances in the kitchen or stained timber details. There was no hand-hewn rock fireplace. It was modest and empty and it was private.
She breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ve got a few things in storage. I’ll pull them out as soon as I’ve signed the lease.”
“Let me know,” Nate said. “I’ll help you move what you need.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Come on. I know you’re a kick-ass security specialist, but you’re not that strong.”
She punched him solidly on the shoulder, but he didn’t even wince. Yeah, she wasn’t that strong. Or kick-ass. Her specialty was really observation. Surveillance. Intelligence. Or it had been. Before.
Feeling her smile go stiff and strange, Charlie turned away from her cousin, pretending to check out the apartment a little more closely. “Okay, I’ll call you when I need a hand.”
“Perfect. You’ve got the key. Don’t forget to go see Jenny for the lease.”
“Oh, the new girlfriend, huh?”
Her cousin’s cheeks actually went a little pink. “Not so new, actually. We’ve been together since February.”
Charlie grinned. “Wow. Your mother must be over the moon. I can’t wait to meet this woman.”
“Want to come over to the saloon with me right now?”
Aw, he was so cute. It must be nice to be one of those people who believed in love. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you there.”
As soon as Nate left, Charlie let her smile vanish and moved purposefully through the apartment. Though their entrances were separated by the landing, she noticed that she and Walker would be sharing a wall along the living room, bathroom and bedroom. She hoped the walls were thick. The Walker she’d known hadn’t looked like a boy who’d inspired silence in the bedroom.
Chuckling at the thought, Charlie checked off a mental list of things she’d need to make this place comfortable. Her boots knocked against the wood floors and echoed off the ceiling, reminding her of exactly how empty the rooms were.
Her studio at the resort was fully furnished, so everything except her clothing and some knickknacks was in storage, but she had plenty of nice furniture from her old place in Tahoe. Some of it she could even move without help. She could rent a truck and have all her kitchen stuff by tonight, plus a table and chairs. Her lamps. Maybe even her bed. Hell, she’d sleep on the floor if she couldn’t move the bed. The resort was unbearable. Just the idea of spending another night there made her break out in goose bumps.
Bad enough she had to work in that place. Bad enough that she couldn’t quit.
Charlie shut off the lights she’d turned on and locked the apartment behind her. She wanted to get this part over with. Lying to her cousin made her stomach hurt, but she didn’t have any choice. She wasn’t going to admit another defeat. There’d been so many this year.
Charlie blinked back the tears of frustration that sprang to her eyes. The worst was behind her. There was no question of that.
All those years of living in Vegas and Tahoe, those years of building a career and a reputation, and it was all trashed, but it was going to be different now. She wasn’t going backward. Not back to who she’d been in Tahoe, and not back to high school, either. No, she was going forward.
Charlie walked down the stairs of the Stud Farm, opened the front door and pasted a big smile on her face. If she wanted to be a new woman, it was time for the debut.
“I HATE HER,” Rayleen groused to no one in particular from her corner table. Somehow, Walker knew he was the one being addressed.
He looked to Jenny, who rolled her eyes. “Charlie was in to sign the lease today,” she explained.
Rayleen huffed. “She came in wearing skinny jeans and a big ol’ shit-eating grin. I thought you said she was a nice girl, Walker.”
“What?” he asked in honest confusion. “Nice girls don’t wear skinny jeans?” In his opinion, the very nicest girls graced the world with skinny jeans. Tight denim was a gift to all.
“No, they do not. And they certainly don’t walk in here like they own the place.”
“Rayleen,” Jenny sighed. “Charlie was perfectly kind. You just didn’t like that she didn’t take your bait.”
“What bait?” the old lady snapped.
“Oh, I don’t know. What about when you said you’d prefer a Charlie that damn well fit his name, and she just winked and said she’d take a cowboy over her own self any day, too?”
“Impertinent.”
“Kind of like you?” Jenny said.
Walker tipped up his hat. “I like a lively lady myself. Why else would I be hanging out in your saloon all the time, Rayleen?”
“Maybe because it’s right next door to your place and you don’t have a damn job!”
“Hey, now. I’m picking up work and I’ve got plenty lined up for roundup.”
Rayleen dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “You’re the one who got me into this. I’m not speaking to you.”
“Are you just trying to get me to turn around so you can look at my behind, Miss Rayleen?”
“That’s a perfect idea. Gives me a nice view and I don’t have to talk to your lying self. Go on. Turn around now.”
“Only ’cause you asked nice.” He turned his back on her and raised his eyebrows to Jenny, who leaned closer.
“Charlie was great. Rayleen just wanted her to be intimidated, and Charlie met every one of her barbs with a smile and a wink. Sort of like you. Only without the big cowboy part.”
“Which big cowboy part?” Walker asked.
“You’re awful.”
“Come
