Trigger Happy (Girls with Guns, #2) (4 page)

Two of his employees that worked in the lending department had called in sick. Thank God, he had made the decision to train one of his New Accounts specialists to be able to work in the loan department as back up. With rates so low, they were receiving large amounts of loan applications every single day. He thought it was just good business to have adequately trained back-up in case a situation like this happened. This also meant that he had to take one of his best tellers off the line to fill in for his New Accounts specialist. Which then meant the teller line was short a person and customers had to wait

He didn't like lines. He didn't like when employees called in sick. And he sure as hell didn't like a tiny little blonde with her tight ass taking up much needed space in his brain.

A
fter Gage's surprise visit Amber couldn’t concentrate in her young adults dance class. They had a recital in less than a month and today was not going well. It had been a fine morning when she woke up and had done her paper route. She came home, read her horoscope and then did yoga on her terrace before she had her tiny tots class. She wondered about how her day was going to play out after she read her horoscope:

In some instances you cannot see change, Gemini, and you may not see how your life is any different from a month ago but there will be a huge change taking place. It will be for the better, although it may not be presented that way. Hang in there, Gemini.

Now she was curious if this had anything to do with Gage or work-wise. If the way Gage had treated her today was any indication, her horoscope had nothing to do with him. She was a firm believer in karma, fate, and signs from Mother Nature - whatever people wanted to call it. Reading her horoscope every day was just one small part of her beliefs and interests as a whole. Did it shape what she did every day? Sometimes, but it didn't keep her from going outside. Did it determine her outlook on life? Sometimes. Did it guide her in making decisions? Yes it did. If she read her horoscope one day and it said today is not your day, then so be it. She wouldn't be buying a lottery ticket that day. She definitely wouldn't be making any life-changing decisions. But on the other hand, she would continue to live her life, go about her day as she intended.

Her life, as she saw it, was guided by the Farmer's Almanac, in a sense. You could look in that handy guide and see which days were better to plant certain vegetables versus which days not to plant. Her life held that same philosophy. Did it always work? No. There were days her horoscope said something so far from what was happening, she even wondered where they got that shit.

This was her last class for the rest of the day and fifteen minutes into it, she wanted to call it quits! How could her body still want that man even though her mind was screaming jerk - steer clear! She was hurt that he treated her the way he had.

Also, that he thought their encounter was a mistake.

She found it humorous how a person could build up something in their mind that seemed so perfect and the other person could think the complete opposite. For Amber, that night wasn't about a mistake or her lowest low or her highest high. It was growth, in her eyes. It helped shape her into the person she was today. It was one of those things that she wanted and needed to do and there was no changing it.

She had a threesome, a ménage a trois, whatever people wanted to call it. She had really enjoyed it but it wasn't something she had ever done again. She got it out of her system and moved on. She never classified it as a mistake though. For her, it was growth and a great experience.

Trying to get
him
out of her mind, she put her energy toward dancing. The team had less than a month to practice for their upcoming dance recital in the Fall Festival and she wanted them to be perfect. Her team would compete with other teams from surrounding cities and the team that won the final would not only win bragging rights, but would be
the
team to open for Colorado’s professional football team’s home games for that season. Amber wanted that to be them. Badly.

"Everyone, focus. Please. We have less than a month to get in sync. You girls perform together all the time. You know each other, rely on each other. Use it to your advantage. Be confident. Listen to your body and the music. Let your body do what it was born to do. Let's take it from the top, once more and we'll call it a night."

After a few grumbles from them, she started the song from the beginning and let them go. After a few seconds she realized that pep talk must have helped somewhat. This round was a hell of a lot better than that last one, that was for sure. There were a few hesitations but not bad. If they could keep up what they were doing right now, they had a fighting chance. She could feel it in her bones. They could win this thing. She believed in that.

All of the girls finally left and Amber closed up the studio. Exhausted, she got into her
brand spanking new
cobalt blue BMW. The best car she had ever owned. She absolutely loved it, she sang to herself as she brushed her hand along the door. She had wanted to trade her old car in for quite a while but nothing popped at her when she went car shopping. Then, one day as she was driving past the interstate heading into Loveland, there it sat. She couldn't take her eyes off it. When she came back in that direction, she impulsively pulled in and purchased it. Ahh, best purchase she'd made in a long time.

Amber enjoyed living in Windsor. She loved her beautiful home that sat atop a hill overlooking the town below. She liked all of the outdoor activities the town had to offer as well as the local farmers markets that happened every weekend during the summer months.

She loved autumn in Colorado. This was her favorite time of year. In the past years, the fall festival took place over Labor Day weekend but there wasn't generally fall foliage at that time. So, the town board decided to hold it at the end of September, beginning of October when the leaves were actually changing colors and it really smelled and looked like fall. They thought that would enhance the lure of people coming out to the festival.

The weather was generally nice during this time, too. Cool, but not freezing. And definitely not hot. Colorado weather was something else. The sun typically came out ninety percent of the time during the year. But on the same day the sun came, so could rain, hail, snow, or on the hill she lived on, wind. Weather here was unpredictable. But there wasn't any other place she'd rather be.

She had an awesome view of the mountains to her west and a gorgeous view of Windsor and a view as far east as her eyes could see. She pulled into her driveway, grabbed her mail and pulled into one of her garage bays. The house she had fallen in love with was more than enough for a single woman like herself but her stars were aligned right the day her realtor showed it to her. When she had walked inside, it felt like she had finally found her home, finally found where she belonged. Which was actually ironic, considering Windsor was home.

The Prescott family was to Windsor what Clint Eastwood was to Hollywood. Her great-great-grandfather, Wilson Prescott, was one of the very first settlers of the town. He had made his money raising and selling cattle. Eventually, he had been able to purchase thousands of acres just outside of the town, as it was way back when. But now with growth, all of that land was no longer 'out of town' but was part of the town. At least some.

The land, twenty-two thousand, four hundred and thirty one acres to be exact, was passed down from Wilson to his only son, Warren Prescott, Amber's great-grandfather. Once Warren passed away, the land was divided amongst his two sons, Wyatt and William Prescott. Amber's grandfather William and his wife Margarette bore only one child, which was her father, Ward Randolph Prescott.

Fortunately, her great-grandparents were able to work the land and earn a living and were never forced to sell it. In this day and age, it was virtually impossible to keep ownership of that much land and not sell it off to investors and homebuilders, etc. Especially due to its prime location.

That is what Ward and her grandfather had finally done. They sold most of the land and that is how the town continued to grow. When Mr. and Mrs. Ward Randolph Prescott were killed in a private airplane accident, Amber was the sole beneficiary. Amber was literally living on land that used to be owned by the Prescott family. She inherited half of everything that was once her great-great grandfather’s. Amber's family kept the gas and mineral rights for the land they had sold. She still held the rights to the land she currently owned as well. Yes, Amber owned gas and mineral rights for just over eleven thousand acres all around the town of Windsor.

With horizontal drilling nowadays, Amber was making more money then she knew what to do with. Marilyn, her best friend, teased her about being a trust fund baby all the time. And she was, she supposed. But she would give it all away in a heartbeat if it meant she could have her mother and father back. With no other siblings, Amber had no family left from her father’s side of the family except for extended cousins and whatnot from her great uncle's family. Her mother's two sisters lived in Illinois with their families so she spoke with them on occasion.

But for all intents and purposes, she was alone. She hated it. She hated how her parents were taken from this world too early. She hated how she felt like if it weren't for herself, they might still be here. And she especially hated being the sole heiress to a fortune when she felt a little ungrateful for the massive amount.

Some days she missed them so much she couldn't breathe. It felt like someone was holding a plastic bag over her mouth and nose and instead of succumbing to suffocation, she was at a standstill. The agony of trying to capture a breath never passed, never ended. It was like she was just suspended in that moment of time, trying to catch a breath far beyond her grasp. Even though it had been over three years, she still cried herself to sleep some nights. Being an only child, Amber was close to both of her parents. More than close. She liked them, she spent time with them, and she did everything she could for them and with them. In her mind, they were her shining stars, the apples of her eyes, even though they would just laugh and reason with her that she had no idea what that meant until she had a child of her own. But they were amazing parents and they were the loves of her life.

Amber changed into her stretchy shorts and tank top, poured herself a glass of Riesling and went out onto her patio. Her thoughts immediately drifted to Gage Alexander, CEO. After all these years she was finally able to put a face to a name. Knowing what his name was now, it was hard to believe she went all these years without knowing. She hadn't realized how much she wanted to know his name until he introduced himself that day at the credit union. Finally, everything felt complete once they were officially introduced.

Now, she was a mess. She knew his name, what he did for a living and the fact that he really didn't want anything to do with her. And he lived here in town! She stared at the town below wondering where he might live. How was she supposed to get over that? She didn't think she imagined the sparks between them. She could absolutely feel them and if she had to guess, he did too. She wasn't sure why he was so hell-bent on staying away from her. What would be the harm in having a little more fun?

As Amber crawled into bed that night, she wracked her brain trying to think of ways she could run into that man: Gage Alexander, CEO.

G
age woke up earlier than usual the next day and hit the gym. Yesterday, he hadn't gone to the gym and he felt like it made his day crappy from the morning on. His normal routine was to wake up by five thirty, promptly, every day and be at the local gym for an hour, every day. There were days he didn't go, like yesterday, but he went more often than not.

He was a creature of habit. He got into a groove and rarely if ever, went astray. Ever since he went into the Army, where he was trained to be disciplined, he continued to follow that same motto outside of the military. It had been a while since he was enlisted, but some things just stuck with a person.

He had grown up in Nebraska, where he promptly enlisted in the Army after graduation. His dad was a soldier, his grandfather fought in World War II and his great grandfather fought in World War I. Being in the military was in his blood, in his genes. He knew as a young kid that he would go into the military, but he knew he wasn't a lifer. He wanted to do it, honor his country and make his parents proud. But he didn't want to devote his life to it. No. He wanted to be successful owning his own business or running a company that he knew was successful because he was able to manage a group of people and as a team, could run that company well.

After he went to college in Nebraska, he began running the distribution department of his parents business, El Jimador, which distributed food all across the country to Hispanic businesses. Those were typically carnicerias, taquerias and Mexican restaurants. It was a slow business at first but they had worked hard to gain the trust of many of their clients. Gage's parents, Claudia and Dominic Alexander, promised companies that they were the best option at finding products fresh, and at competitive prices compared to any of their counterparts. Keeping that promise over the years had garnered them new business and a long list of clientele whom had been with them since the beginning.

Gage worked in distribution long enough to expand their distribution locations and therefore, gain more business. He moved out to Colorado, specifically Windsor, to open a distribution center for his parents. The need for what they did was huge in that area. With so many businesses in neighboring towns needing Mexican products for their grocery stores and restaurants, it was essential to open a plant near by.

It turned out to be well worth the effort. The plant had grown so tremendously in the first two years that Gage had to find a bigger place. Once that was accomplished, the old building sat there in limbo. Unsure if they should sell it, Gage came up with the bright idea of turning it into a brewery. Craft beer was on the rise in Colorado at the time and he jumped at the chance.