Roxie really didn’t want to hear that Dylan had been seeing Nicole when they lived in Denver. Especially since she really liked him. She sighed. “I’m glad you hadn’t dated Nicole.”
“Nope. It was strictly a business matter. No drinks or dinners out, no movie nights, no kissing, nothing.” Dylan smiled at Roxie, assuaging her worry that he ever liked Nicole in a boyfriend-girlfriend way.
“Good. I don’t know how Blake would take it if he knew you were Nicole’s old boyfriend.”
“He doesn’t have to worry. It was strictly business between us. Besides, it sounds like the two of them were meant for each other, and that’s all that matters.”
“Absolutely. So do you have any siblings? Any other family in Denver or elsewhere?” Roxie asked.
“No. I was an only child, which was the same for my parents. That was one of the things that attracted them to each other. But then they died.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Roxie and her siblings had moved on after their parents had died, though they been really close to them. That was part of the reason she and her siblings had left Vermont to move to Silver Town. The whole family had worked together running the ski lodge there, and they had wanted a fresh start.
“There’s no need to be sorry. My dad and mom loved to fly, and he and Mom got caught up in a bad storm and crashed. I miss them, but I know they were doing what they loved most of all in the world at the very end.”
“You were lucky you weren’t with them at the time.”
“Yeah, my dad was a good pilot, but he loved to take risks. Mom loved it too, but I–I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’d get airsick every time. So I wouldn’t go with them.”
“Oh, no.”
“Yeah. So of course I felt guilty that I hadn’t gone with them. Maybe I could have done something to keep them from dying like that, but when my dad took control of the plane, he was in charge. I couldn’t have talked him out of flying so recklessly for anything.”
“I understand. How old were you?”
“I was sixteen at the time and without any other family to take me in.”
“Oh, no. I was thinking you were already an adult and on your own.” She couldn’t imagine him being on his own like that at such a young age and fending for himself.
“I grew up really fast, believe me.” But then he changed the subject. “So you have your two brothers, a sister, their spouses and…?”
“My sisters-in-law, Nicole and Gabrielle, each have three-month-old twins with their husbands Blake and Landon. Nelda and Gary Grayson, parents of Nicole and my sister Kayla’s husband, Nate, opened a brand-new stationery and gift shop here and have adopted us as their family since our parents are gone too.” Roxie couldn’t wait for the babies to start walking and talking. Even now, she loved to see them smile and grasp at her fingers.
“That’s wonderful. Twins, eh? I’m really glad for them.”
“They’re so happy to have them.” Roxie was too.
“I bet.”
“I’ll tell Jake you’re staying here with us at the lodge.” Roxie texted Jake, and he texted back that he was glad about it. She knew Dylan had been hurting. He’d winced several times while they were on the search for the hunters and then while looking for the teen wolf and had rubbed his head a couple of times too. Then he appeared so eager to take the medicine with his water that she figured he had been hiding how much he’d really been in pain.
She pulled her phone out while they were waiting on their meals and checked the lodge’s room reservations. “Okay, we have a couple of rooms available for five days that have views of the mountains. Which would you like me to book and for how long?”
“I…” He smiled and took the phone from her to check out the rooms, brushing his hand over hers, and he pointed at the first room. “This one.”
“Okay. For how long?” She hoped he was staying for a while.
“Five days. If I get this wrapped up, I can cancel early.”
“All right. It’s done.” She set her phone down on the table.
“I’ll settle up after lunch.”
“We’ve got this.”
“I do have an expense account.”
“I know, but after what happened to you on our property, we’re taking care of the bill.”
“All right. Thanks so much.”
Then their meals were delivered, and Dylan took a bite of his sandwich. “Hmm.”
“Good, huh? We pride ourselves on having really great food. The same with the other restaurants in town.” Maybe she and he could try out one of the other restaurants if he was here long enough.
“Yeah, this is great. I know where I’m coming when I want a pulled-pork sandwich from now on.”
She smiled. “Thanks. Do you have extra clothes with you to wear for the next few days?”
“In a bag in my pickup truck parked here at the ski lodge. I parked here when I found Eddie’s SUV in the lot, then followed their scent into the woods. When I’m trying to hunt these guys, I always take a week’s worth of clothing so I’m prepared. It saves me having to buy clothes in a hurry.”
“Do you want me to get your bag for you after we eat so you can go lie down in your room?”
“I don’t have to wait for a later check-in time?” He sounded surprised.
She smiled. “Nope. Your room is ready. That’s one of the perks of being a co-owner of the lodge.”
“Oh, well, thanks. I can grab my bag though.”
After they ate lunch, Dylan looked like he was really feeling worn out. Roxie walked with him out to his double-cab black pickup truck. She hadn’t planned to, but he really didn’t look well. He grabbed his bag and thanked her again for the meal and the room, but she wasn’t letting him out of her sight until he was settled in his room. She wouldn’t forgive herself if he suddenly collapsed someplace before he was able to lie down on his bed.
They went back inside to the check-in counter, and he got his key card. After that, she showed him where his room was on the second floor.
She exchanged phone numbers with him. “If you feel poorly at all, call me, the doctor, or 911. Don’t tough it out.”
“I will call for help if I need it. I just didn’t sleep well last night because the nurse kept disturbing me, making sure I was all right when I just wanted to sleep.”
“She was making sure you didn’t take a turn for the worse.”
“Right. Are you going back out on the search with Rosco?”
“Without you? No. When you’re feeling perfectly fine, I will. That’ll give Rosco time to recuperate too.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Roxie left Dylan to sleep and was about to head down the hall when she saw Deputy Sheriff Trevor Osgood carrying a chair in her direction. “Have you got guard duty?” she asked.
“You bet. Jake sent me. Is Dylan getting some bed rest?”
“He is. He should never have been on the search with us earlier today.” She really thought he should have been at the clinic longer, but then she figured the doctor had to know best.
“I know how he feels though. It’s his job and he wants to get it done right.”
“You guys are all the same,” Roxie said.
“Don’t tell me you wouldn’t feel the same way.”
Yeah, she would, but she wasn’t going to tell Trevor that. “Take good care of him.”
“I will.”
Then Roxie went downstairs and got the master key to check out the hunters’ rooms. She knew the sheriff and his deputies were thorough, but for her own peace of mind, she wanted to check the rooms out, smell their scents, and make sure nothing was left behind before the rooms were released to new guests.
“Are you going to check over the hunters’ rooms?” Kayla asked, coming in to work on some promotional stuff for the summer.
“Yes.”
“Everyone’s been up there already.”
“You too?”
Kayla smiled at her. “Of course.”
“Well, I don’t expect to find anything, but I have to reassure myself that at least I looked the rooms over.”
“I don’t blame you. I needed to do that for the same reason.”
“See you in a bit.” Roxie went back to the second floor and checked out the hunters’ rooms that were only a few doors down from Dylan’s room but across the hall.
Trevor smiled and saluted her, knowing just what she was up to.
When she opened the first door, she smelled the scents of all the law-enforcement guys, her brothers, sister, and brother-in-law, Nate, and the four hunters they’d been tracking.
She peered under the bed and checked between the mattress and box springs. The safe door was unlocked and empty. She looked in all the cabinet drawers but didn’t find anything. She pulled a chair into the closet and checked behind the extra blankets folded up on the top shelf but there was nothing there. She searched the cabinet under the bathroom sink, but all she found was the hotel hair dryer, spare rolls of toilet paper, and wastepaper bags.
She hadn’t really expected to find anything, though she’d been hopeful. She left the room and saw Trevor raise his brows at her in question. Smiling at him, she shook her head, telling him that she hadn’t found anything. She gave the other room the same kind of inspection. In there, she smelled that all four hunters had been there too.
Then she went downstairs to see what she needed to do in a managerial capacity. They had a few functions going on in their ballrooms. Blake was handling a wedding anniversary, Landon a birthday party, and Kayla was working on managerial issues.
That was when Roxie saw a party of two women and two men with beer bottles in hand in the lobby, waving them at one another, spilling their drinks, laughing and looking way too inebriated. Then one of the men started to throw up all over the lobby floor. Roxie called the custodial person and went to lead the man to the restroom, but he told her to get the hell away from him, pulled back his arm and made a fist, then swung at her. She caught his arm in a combat defensive maneuver and knocked him to the floor.
Damn it anyway. She was just trying to move him to where he wouldn’t be making such a mess—and in front of kids and parents in the lobby too. Kayla saw the whole situation right away and was immediately on her phone calling for backup.
The other guy hit Roxie in the face with his fist, connecting with her eye, and that hurt like hell!
It didn’t take long for Blake and Landon to race from the ballrooms where they’d been working to help her. A couple of wolf ski instructors were on their way in for a break and they rushed to her aid too.
She’d gotten the sick guy down on his belly, his arm pinned up against his back. One of the girls tried to kick Roxie with her ski boot, and that would have hurt! Roxie immediately released the guy she had pinned to the floor and grabbed the girl’s raised boot and pulled up hard. The girl landed on her backside hard on the floor and she cursed out loud.
Trevor was hotfooting it down the stairs to arrest the four troublemakers, and Dylan was right behind him. He should have stayed in bed, and Trevor was supposed to be protecting him.
Kayla rushed forward with zip ties for the four drunks. The last woman to join the fight had been punching Blake and Landon for trying to tie up the two men, so all four were going down to the station.
Dylan took hold of Roxie and pulled her into a hug. Which she welcomed since her own family was trying to get the drunks in hand while Kayla had rushed off saying, “I’m bringing an ice pack for you, Roxie!”
Deputy Sheriff CJ Silver arrived to take the four suspects in. The sheriff arrived shortly after that.
Roxie hugged Dylan back, smelling his delightful all-male scent and the complimentary gift soaps he must have used while taking a shower, his hair still damp. When she released him, she realized that he had removed his head bandage. She looked his injury over. It was bruised like her eye would be, but his had a cut that was healing too. “Are you okay with not wearing the head bandage any longer?”
“Yeah. It stopped bleeding. I wish I had been down here quicker,” he said.
“You just suffered an injury and are supposed to be resting.”
Kayla ran back with an ice pack while the custodian began cleaning up the mess.
Roxie thanked her and put the pack on her injured eye.
“Are you okay?” Kayla rubbed her arm soothingly.
“Yeah. I’ll have a shiner for sure though. The ass.”
“I’ll say. All you were doing was trying to lead the one man to the men’s room. I saw everything,” Kayla said.
“Yeah, well, you never know how someone who has had too much to drink might act or react.”
“Damn,” Blake said. “You should have called on us to handle the guy.”
Roxie let her breath out in exasperation. “I hadn’t planned on taking him down until he tried to hit me. I couldn’t believe his friend threw a punch and socked me when I wasn’t prepared.”
“I loved the way you gave that woman her comeuppance,” Kayla said. “Did you know Roxie was former army? So watch yourself around her, Dylan.”
Dylan laughed. Roxie smiled. The difference between her sister and her brothers was profound. Her brothers were overly protective; her sister praised her for her actions. Trevor and CJ took the four offenders out to the sheriff’s vehicles while Peter gathered everyone’s witness statements.
“I should have been there to help you out. Do you want to sit on one of the lounge chairs in the lobby?” Dylan asked, not leaving her side.
“You need to go home, Roxie,” Kayla said, and Roxie agreed with her.
Now Roxie needed something for the pain! And she was ready to just lie down for a while.
“I’ll take you home,” Dylan offered.
She smiled. “Sure, let’s go.”
Landon and Blake were smiling.
“Do you want me to send one of the deputies to watch the house?” Peter asked.
“We’ll be fine. Roxie’s got all the right moves,” Dylan said.
She chuckled. “We’ll be all right. We’ll call everyone if we have any trouble at all.”
“Okay,” Peter said.
“But I’m walking with you,” Blake said, “and then I’ll return to the lodge.”
Roxie knew there was no convincing her brother that they would be okay.
Dylan went to his room to get his parka while Roxie and Blake got their parkas out of the office where they had their own storage room for ski equipment.
“Are you sure you’re going to be all right?” Blake asked her, pulling his parka on.
“Yeah, we’ll probably both just settle on the couch or recliners and watch a movie. Thanks for coming with us to make sure we’re okay, Blake.”
Blake scoffed. “You don’t want me going with you, but I’ll feel better if I make sure that you get home and that no one is gunning for Dylan. Though I’m sure the hunters are long gone by now. If the two of you are feeling okay tonight, you can come over to have dinner with Nicole and me. I’ll ask Landon if he and Gabrielle want to join us and if Nate and Kayla do.”
“Let me ask Dylan if he wants to go too. I promised him dinner at my house otherwise.”
“Okay. Just let us know one way or another,” Blake said.
“Of course.”
Dylan joined them, and they headed outside. Roxie still had the ice pack, and she began to apply it to her eye again. “Blake wants to know if we would like to go to his home and have a meal with the gang or not. It’s totally up to you, Dylan, since I said I’d fix a meal for us otherwise.”
“Yeah, I’d like to have a meal with the family, particularly since your eye is swelling already. We’ll take the night off from cooking,” Dylan said.
She smiled. “All right. That sounds good.”
Blake said, “Great.” He got on his phone, and Roxie knew he was texting the siblings to let them know they were having dinner at his and Nicole’s place. Once they reached Roxie’s home, he said, “It’s all confirmed. Everyone’s coming.”
“Good.” Roxie was glad. She loved to cook, especially when she and Kayla made meals together, but the way her eye was feeling… Yeah, she liked the idea of taking off the night from meal preparation.
When they reached her house, she unlocked the door and let Dylan in. He shook Blake’s hand and then she hugged Blake and he took off.
“So this is my home. Would you like something to drink?” She closed and locked the door.
“Your place is lovely, homey. I’d like some water but let me get us some.”
“You don’t need to baby me.”
“Yeah, I do.” He gave her a quirky smile. Then, as if he had lived here for years, he started looking through cabinets to find the glasses while she turned on the TV.
“Sorry, they’re in the cabinet above the counter, next to the fridge. I guess Blake will take Rosco out for his walk.”
“We can take him tonight if you want to walk him then.”
“Yeah, sure. Maybe we can all take him for a walk tonight if you’d like.”
“Sure.”
She suspected Dylan wanted to go with her alone. “I was thinking we could run as wolves tonight afterward, if you’d like to. I think a lot of our people will be running as wolves tonight if they don’t find the teen before then and keep searching for him some more.”
“And the hunters?” He brought the glasses of water into the living room, and they sat down on the sofa together to watch a movie.
“They won’t have the advantage like we do because we can see at night. And we’ll have the sheer numbers.”
He sighed. “I sure didn’t expect to be having this much downtime on the job.”
“Yeah, but you need it. They have an APB out on Eddie’s SUV so if Jim and the others end up returning to Denver, someone will pick them up. Also, they’ll be watching for them to return home as persons of interest in the shooting death of their friend. I guess Peter is going to send word up to Denver about Eddie’s death and they’ll have someone notify the family, since you positively identified him.”
“Right. I don’t envy them the task.”
She and Dylan snuggled on the couch, and she really liked this. She had dated a lot of the guys in Silver Town, but nothing had ever clicked. She certainly had never cuddled with one of her dates on the couch to watch a movie.
For the first time since her sister moved out, her brothers having moved in with their mates before that, she didn’t feel so alone. But this would be for such a fleeting moment. Dylan would be off on another adventure and return to his home base in Denver within days, if not sooner.
They watched part of the movie, but they both ended up falling asleep in each other’s arms. It wasn’t until much later that she woke up and realized it was nearly time for dinner.
“Hey, are you ready to go to dinner?” she asked, surprised she’d fallen asleep with him.
“Yeah. Is there any dress code?”
She chuckled. “No. It’s always come as you are. We’re family after all.”
“Okay, well, I’m ready when you are,” Dylan said and put on his parka, then helped her into hers.
And then they headed out into the snow to the house next door. She hoped her family wouldn’t overwhelm Dylan with questions because he was the newcomer in their midst.