Vacation Crush
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Yahrah St. John
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Never let ’em see you sweat. That’s what Natalie Hastings reminded herself when she walked into the Royal Diner and all eyes trained on her. She kept her head high, letting her jet-black microbraids swing in the wind as she sat down in a booth in the corner of the diner. Natalie had maintained a low profile since the infamous Texas Cattleman’s summer bash last month. She had made a horrible fool of herself in front of the entire club by confessing her secret crush on Jonathan Lattimore to her best friend, Chelsea Grandin, while on Facebook Live.
Her feelings for the sexy rancher had been on display for the entire crowd. She had no idea they had switched from the prerecorded videos to going live. Luckily, only her voice was heard on the jumbotron as she talked to Chelsea while Aubrey Collins set up Facebook Live. But to make matters worse, she was certain Jonathan had heard every word. Once she came from the filming tent, she’d been stunned to see everyone pointing and snickering at her. Her grandmother Claudette Hastings pulled her aside and to her horror filled Natalie in on the details. She wanted to talk to Jonathan and explain, but he was nowhere to be found. And since then, he had actively avoided her. Although they weren’t close, they did run in the same social circles. She was hurt that Jonathan wouldn’t at least talk to her. If nothing else, she thought they were friends, but it sure didn’t feel that way now.
When is this going to blow over? Natalie thought. Wasn’t there some other gossip the citizens of Royal could talk about? Like Chelsea getting engaged to Nolan Thurston, the hunky twin of Heath Thurston who was making a claim against Chelsea’s family’s ranch. No...instead, they were gossiping about why Natalie was crushing on a man who never paid her one ounce of attention.
“Natalie, so great to see you,” Gloria Brown, the diner’s waitress, said when she came to her table. “Where have you been hiding yourself, darling?”
“Hiding?” Natalie played dumb but Gloria knew how much she loved the diner’s peach pie. She treated herself to the delicious confection at least once a month.
The older woman smiled and patted her shoulder. “Don’t go being a stranger because some tongues in this town are wagging. You have nothing to be ashamed of. That Lattimore boy would make a fine match for any woman, especially a woman as smart as you.”
“Mrs. Brown,” Natalie whispered to make sure no one else heard her. “Can we please change the subject?”
“Sure thing. What can I get you?”
“I’ll have the buffalo chicken salad and a Coke Zero,” Natalie responded.
“Coming right up.” Blessedly, Mrs. Brown left without another word about Jonathan.
After the Texas Cattleman’s party, Natalie had been afraid to show her face in town, so she did what she always did when she was stressed: she comfort-ate ice cream and ordered Chinese and pizza and kept to herself the last two weeks. She even ignored Chelsea’s calls. Consequently, she gained five pounds.
After Natalie saw the scale ticking in the wrong direction, she knew she had to shake off this depression and get on with life. So what if she lived out her worst embarrassment in front of the town? She would take it on the chin and move forward.
It wasn’t, however, easy to forget her infatuation with Jonathan Lattimore. Why? Because when she was thirteen, Jonathan saved her from a band of bullies who relentlessly teased her about being overweight. Although he’d been a few years older than Natalie, he’d been kind and it had meant the world to a young girl with poor self-esteem. Natalie quietly tracked him over the years, which was made easier since Chelsea’s family and the Lattimores were neighbors and close friends.
As the years went by, her admiration led to a healthy dose of lust, especially when at sixteen she began working at the diner. Jonathan would come in with the ranch hands and he looked so darn sexy in his jeans and plaid shirt that Natalie’s heart went pitter-pat. If she was on shift, she always made sure he got an extra-large piece of pie. Peach was his favorite, too. And she knew he liked gravy over his french fries and didn’t like onions but loved pickles on his cheeseburgers.
God, what’s wrong with me? Natalie thought.
She was embarrassed that everyone learned during the livestream that she had a crush on Jonathan. She’d told Chelsea that “Jonathan is the most amazing man I’ve ever met. I can see myself with him because he would make a great husband and father.” Chelsea had been shocked by her confession. She hadn’t realized the depth of Natalie’s feelings.
Chelsea and Jonathan grew up together because their ranches bordered each other. Both families were powerful and wealthy, the Royal elite. Natalie often saw Jonathan at social engagements she went to with Chelsea, but he’d never shown any interest in her. When Natalie came home after her freshman year in college twenty pounds lighter, she had been ready to go after what she wanted. Instead, she discovered Jonathan had married. She felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her, but surprisingly his marriage hadn’t lasted long. Natalie thought she might be the woman to help heal his broken heart, or so she’d hoped, but in the years since his divorce, Jonathan had become a workaholic and rarely dated. And so her feelings remained unrequited and hidden—until last month.
The glass doors of the diner swung open moments later and to her dismay, Jonathan walked in alone. A convulsive shiver ran down her spine as she stared at him. He looked like a double scoop of Ben & Jerry’s chocolate ice cream in faded jeans, a crisp white shirt, a Stetson and his famous well-worn cowboy boots.
What was it about this man that spoke to her every female mating instinct and made her want to have his babies? Perhaps it was his height. At six foot two, Jonathan towered over her own five foot seven inches. Or was it his taut, sexy butt outlined in those jeans? Jonathan was no stranger to physical labor, having worked on his family’s ranch his entire life. Or maybe it was his sinfully sexy lips and hella fine smile surrounded by a scruffy beard that did the trick? Or was it the sexy Ford F-450 Platinum truck he drove or the opulent ranch-style home that she’d heard from Chelsea was an architectural dream? She’d never been invited, but she would love to see it. Whatever it was, she was drawn to him like catnip.
Quickly, she pulled out her phone and tried to appear engrossed in the device. Would he come over and finally talk to her so they could quash this like two adults? Or would he turn tail and run? Dying to know the answer, she looked up and her nerves leaped in shock when she found his gaze on her. His dark brown eyes were sharp and probing, and panic plunged through Natalie.
Was he going to make a scene? No, that wasn’t in Jonathan’s character. So why was he staring at her intently as if she knew the secrets of the universe, which she absolutely did not? She needed to do something. She had to take control of her own fate and when she was about to get up, Mrs. Brown came strolling back with her buffalo chicken salad.
“Here you go, darling.” Mrs. Brown laid the delicious-looking salad in front of Natalie with a flourish. “Hope you enjoy it.”
“Thank you.” Natalie slid out from the booth, but when she did, Jonathan was already gone. She glanced around the diner, but he wasn’t there. Just then, she heard the slow rumble of a truck outside and rushed out the door to see Jonathan pull away from the curb.
So he was taking the “turn tail and run” approach. Just great! Natalie huffed and walked back to her seat. This standoff between them had to come to a stop, but if Jonathan refused to talk to her, she would respect his wishes. She would focus on work instead and clearing her plate before her upcoming vacation. Picking up her phone, she glanced at the calendar. One week until her trip to Galveston. And it couldn’t come fast enough.
Damn. Why had he done that? Jonathan Lattimore thought as he pulled out of the Royal Diner’s parking lot and edged onto Main Street. Because he couldn’t bear to see the hopeful look in Natalie Hastings’s eyes. As soon as he walked in and saw her, he’d been unable to look away.
Natalie was every man’s wet dream. She had a voluptuous figure with a behind and full breasts. Her face was angelic and encompassed by big brown eyes, a pert nose and kissable lips. He’d always thought she was attractive, but dating someone so close to home was a no-no for him. After his divorce from Anne, he’d kept his relationships casual, but Natalie? She was the type of woman you got serious about. And he was done with commitment. Marriage to Anne had been one of the worst mistakes of his life and their split was acrimonious. The entire fiasco had done a real number on his head. Made him doubt himself and not trust members of the opposite sex. Consequently, he refused to ever marry again.
He’d always known Natalie had a crush on him, but he’d kept her at arm’s length even though they had a lot of the same friends in town. She was friends with Chelsea Grandin, whom he’d known since childhood. But last month, everything came to a head when he heard her voice through the speakers at the Texas Cattleman’s party. Her sweet declaration of how she thought he was amazing and could see herself with him because he would make a great husband and was father material had been disconcerting because Natalie had no idea who he really was. He wasn’t deserving of her—or anyone’s—admiration.
If Natalie really knew him, she’d run in the opposite direction and never look back, just like his former wife, Anne, had done. Anne told him he was a workaholic with no time for a spouse. Said he loved the land more than her. When all he was trying to do was expand his family’s legacy. Anne hadn’t understood. She’d told him he was cold, unfeeling, and incapable of loving and caring for another human being. Maybe she was right. They’d both been unhappy in the marriage and were thankful when it ended so they could go their separate ways.
Jonathan wasn’t interested in dipping his feet into those muddy waters again. The divorce weighed heavily on him, and he’d been unable to let go of the pain. He felt responsible that he couldn’t make it work and that his ex-wife had been forced to do the unthinkable without even telling him. The guilt ate at Jonathan. He must be a horrible human being if she felt she had to do that to them. So when he saw Natalie at the diner moments ago, he did the only thing he could—he ran as fast as his long legs could carry him. He didn’t want to give her false hope there could ever be more between them.
Out of his rearview mirror, he saw her exit the diner and watch him flee. He knew he was being a coward by not facing her, but he wasn’t altogether certain he could do the gentlemanly thing if the situation ever presented itself for them to get to know each other. Hearing her spoken declaration of her desire for more between them was tempting. It made him want to throw caution to the wind and take her up on the unspoken offer in her eyes and lose himself between her thighs.
Jesus, he had to get his mind out of the gutter. He was due to meet his parents this evening. He’d gone to the diner so he could bring dessert. Instead, he would come empty-handed because he’d been afraid to face a beautiful, sexy woman in a figure-hugging maxi dress. He was hoping the dinner wouldn’t be about Heath Thurston’s claim that the oil rights on the Lattimore and Grandin ranches belonged to him. Both families had devoted a lot of time and energy to uncovering the truth. Jonathan didn’t believe it for a second. There was no way his grandfather would give up rights to their land to an outsider. Jonathan wasn’t about to let Heath come in and take what was theirs. He would fight for his legacy.
When he pulled his Ford F-450 into the Lattimore family ranch a half hour later, it was nearly sunset. It was one of his favorite times of day. He loved to sit on his parents’ wraparound porch and watch the sunset across the vast horizon that was the Lattimore ranch. The ranch comprised hundreds of acres that had been in his family for generations, and was now at risk because of Thurston’s claim against them.
Turning off the ignition, he headed inside. He found his parents in the living room of the sprawling five-bedroom, two-story home. They were seated on the sofa. His father, Ben Lattimore, was in his usual button-down shirt and dark-washed jeans. His hair was short and trimmed with bits of salt and pepper. His mother Barbara Lattimore’s jet-black hair was styled in a chic bob, and she had on a tunic and palazzo pants. Jonathan favored her with his rich honey-brown complexion.
“Hey, Mom.” Jonathan walked forward and leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek. “Dad.” He gave him a quick one-armed hug.
“Jonathan, I’m so glad you could make it,” his mother replied, putting down the book she’d been reading. “Please have a seat.”
Jonathan’s mouth curled into a frown as he sat across from them in an adjacent chair. “Have I done something wrong? I feel like I’ve been called to the principal’s office.”
Both of his parents looked very serious and Jonathan wondered if they were worried about him. He knew he had been putting in a lot of hours for a long time now. He’d used the divorce as an excuse, but then the oil claim came up. There always seemed to be a need for a little extra man power.
His father let out a big belly laugh. “Nothing so dire, son, but it has come to our attention how many hours you’ve been working at the ranch.”
“There’s a lot to be done.” There was a dizzying array of activities to keep their horse and cattle ranch in operation. Their father was general manager. Jonathan handled the office administration as well as sharing operational duties with his younger brother, Jayden. His sister Alexa was an attorney and was handling the oil case for the Grandins and Lattimores.
There wasn’t any friction between the Lattimores like there was with their friends. The Grandins were in disagreement over who would take over the ranch one day. Although he was eldest, Jonathan was happy to have someone to split the workload with.
“True, there’s a lot to do,” his mother said, “but you don’t know when to stop and smell the roses. That’s where we—” she glanced at her husband “—come in.”
Jonathan leaned back and regarded them. “I get the feeling I’m not going to like what you have to say.”
“We’ve paid for a week’s vacation for you in Galveston,” his mother responded. She stood up and handed him an envelope.
“Vacation?” Jonathan said as if it were a dirty four-letter word.
“Yes, vacation,” his father reiterated with a smirk. “You need one. You’ve been working much too many hours and it’s time you took it easy and let someone else do the heavy lifting.”
“That’s not necessary, Dad,” Jonathan said, sitting forward. “I’ve got things handled.”
“We know you do,” his mother said softly. “And this isn’t some sort of punishment, Jonathan, but ever since you divorced Anne, you’ve become a workaholic, never taking time for yourself.”
“I take time when I need to.”
His father folded his arms across his chest and asked, “When was the last time you took a day off?” When Jonathan began to speak, he added, “And not because you were sick, which you rarely are.”
Jonathan paused and had to think about the question. He couldn’t recall the last time he had any sort of real vacation. Since the oil claim, he’d been busier researching the case with Alexa, all the while keeping himself busy so he could forget about Natalie’s confession and not be tempted to take their relationship to a more personal level. “All right, fine. I admit I’ve been a bit busy.”
“Then you’ll admit you need some time off to recharge the batteries,” his mother responded.
“And before you say anything, you should know that this isn’t a request,” his father stated, looking him dead in the eye. “We are ordering you to go on vacation. Your mother has already taken the liberty of paying for a full week at the resort.”
“But, Dad...”
“It’s a done deal, Jonathan,” his father replied. “Now how about we eat one of your mother’s delicious meals.”
“Sure, but where’s everyone else?” Jonathan inquired.
“Caitlin and Alexa are having a double date with their fiancés, Dev and Jackson. I think they are talking wedding shop. And as for Jayden, you know your brother likes the ladies,” their father responded.
Jonathan laughed. He would have loved some reinforcements to help convince their parents to change their mind, but he was on his own.
Reluctantly, Jonathan left his parents’ home a couple of hours later. He wasn’t happy about the forced vacation. There was a lot on his plate, but he couldn’t deny his parents had a point. When was the last time he’d taken some real time away from the ranch?
Too long.
Maybe while he was away, he would find a beautiful lady to spend some time with. In bed later that night, Jonathan dreamed of a curvaceous woman twining her legs around him as he thrust deep into her body. The passionate entanglement sent fireworks exploding through Jonathan’s chest and he wanted more. As she came into focus, he realized who it was he craved.
Dammit.
Natalie Hastings.
