Forever Cowboy (Montana Brides Book 5) (3 page)

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve bought other buildings, but not in Bozeman.” A blind man could see the smoke signals Emily was sending her sister. Her bright red hair was almost sparking with annoyance. She wanted to be as far away as possible from him and that suited him fine.
 

After they’d broken up he’d spent too many months trying to figure out what he’d done wrong. And when he found out, he’d spent another few months wondering how a woman he thought he’d loved could have had so little trust in him.
 

Nicky turned to her sister. “It’s always good to get a second opinion.”

“Cody and Sam will look at everything. I don’t need other help.”

Alex felt a knot in his stomach tighten. Emily might as well have yelled from the roof that she didn’t need his help. Didn’t want his help in whatever scheme the two of them were hatching.

“I know you want to buy it,” Nicky whispered. “You’ve bought and sold more apartments than most people go through in a lifetime. But Alex knows about commercial property. What can it hurt to ask for his advice?”

“Do you really want me to answer that question?”

Nicky narrowed her eyes and Emily had the grace to blush.
 

“I want to see the contract before I discuss anything with him.” Emily held out her hand.

Gracie pulled the chair out beside her. “If you two are going to have an argument you might as well do it sitting down. I’m getting a sore neck watching you.”

Emily bit her bottom lip. “Sorry, Gracie. I’m being rude.”
 

Alex noted that the same apology didn’t come his way. But the quick, embarrassed glance she sent toward his shirt almost made up for it.
 

Nicky passed over the envelope and Emily took a deep breath before sitting down. She slid the papers onto the table in front of her and ran her finger down the fine print.
 

Alex didn’t want to look as though he was butting in on something that was none of his business. But he couldn’t help noticing the purchase and sale agreement Emily was looking at. Or the way her eyes started misting over when she re-read what he assumed was the asking price.

“What are you buying?” Gracie didn’t have any trouble asking the question working its way around his head.

Emily closed her eyes for a few brief seconds. When she opened them, Alex swore they’d turned as dark as a prairie storm. “I’m not buying anything.”

“It’s not that bad.” Nicky pointed at the contract. “It’s a starting price. You know how it works. After we’ve factored in the remodeling costs we cross this out and make another offer.”

“Even if we only do the basics, I don’t see how I’ll be able to afford it.”

“You won’t know until we get someone to have a look. Regardless of what Alex said, he knows enough about commercial property to give us an idea of what it could be worth.” Nicky looked across at Alex with an apology in her eyes. “I spoke to Jacob a few weeks ago.”

His brother was in serious trouble. Alex didn’t know how his property investments had come up in conversation with someone who was almost a stranger, but he sure as hell was going to find out.
 

He leaned forward and saw the frown on Emily’s face. “I might be able to help. Where is it?”

“It’s the old library building,” she said quickly. “Two stores away. Beside the handcraft store.”

Gracie frowned. “You mean the boarded up building? I peeked inside last week when the realtors were looking around. The staircase is amazing.”

Emily let go of the breath she’d been holding and turned the contract toward Alex. “If you’ve got a few minutes to spare I’d appreciate your opinion.”

Two years ago he would have done anything for her. He would have spared the rest of his life for her if she’d only given him time to explain what she’d seen. But she hadn’t, and their lives had moved forward in different directions.

He glanced at the contract, then at Emily. The freckles on her nose were bright against her pale skin. She looked determined and worried and focused on getting answers that she might not want to hear.
 

It seemed such a small thing to help her look around a building. But it felt like the beginning all over again. The beginning of something that had nearly destroyed him.

He picked up the contract and pushed his seat back. “We’d better take a look before Gracie needs to use the bathroom again.”

“I’m not that bad,” Gracie said as she passed him his crutch. “Wait until this baby gets to full term. Then I’m really going to be in trouble.”

Emily’s gaze darted between Alex and the crutch he was holding. “I knew you’d hurt yourself, but I thought you’d be okay by now.”

If he hadn’t been concentrating on flexing his leg, stretching the muscles so that his first steps weren’t painful, he would have laughed. ‘Hurt’ required band aids and antiseptic. He’d done more than hurt himself. He’d damn near ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

“It’s nothing.” He headed over to the door and held it open.
 

Gracie and Nicky went outside. Emily stopped in front of him. “Thank you. For looking at the building,” she stammered. “And, well…just thanks.”

Sometimes life had a way of slamming you into a brick wall, knocking all the common sense out of your head in one swift blow. He looked down at Emily and remembered what it had been like between them. The fire and chemistry and total wonder of everything that could have been.

And then Doris and Jessie, two seventy-if-I’m-a-day women bustled into the café, and the moment was gone.

CHAPTER TWO

Alex disappeared toward the back of the old library, muttering something about building regulations and heritage codes. He hadn’t said much as they’d wandered around, just grunted a couple of times and poked and prodded a few floor boards and wall linings.

Emily felt like a fool. When she’d first seen him her heart had raced so hard that she’d had to force air into her lungs. And when his gray eyes had landed on hers, the spark of chemistry had all but knocked her senseless.

She hadn’t seen him in nearly two years, which said something about the amount of traveling he did around the country. Even though his family lived a few miles east of Billings, most of Montana knew Alex Green’s business quicker than he did. Especially when that business included the latest gossip about Montana’s favorite World Bull Riding Champion.

Since they’d broken up, Cody had shoved newspaper articles about Alex under her nose, casually keeping her up-to-date with what he was doing. But she didn’t want to hear any of it. She’d focused on creating her online business and a career. Something she could be proud to call her own.
 

When Alex’s accident had hit the headlines she’d refused to go to the hospital with Cody. She’d thought Alex would bounce back like he had all the other times he’d been thrown. But this time had been different, only she’d been too busy ignoring everyone around her to pay much attention to what was going on.

Alex walked over to the check-out desk, opening the set of plans that Nicky had pulled out of her truck. His eyes skimmed the ceiling, settled briefly on her face before heading up the stairs. The same old zing of chemistry burned between them only this time she wouldn’t let it matter.
 

Alex Green lived life like each day was his last. He’d traveled from one rodeo to the next for years. She’d thought that some day it would be different. That one day he’d be happy to stay in one place and make himself a home. And it nearly broke her heart when she saw how wrong she’d been.

She didn’t know why he’d agreed to look at the building. The entire time they’d been dating he’d never told her about his property investments. Never mentioned that he had any other interests in the world other than riding bulls. And, as it turned out, the buckle bunnies parading around the arenas each night.

Now here he was, discussing joists and drywall like a regular guy. Anyone listening to him would think he’d been born with a hammer in his hands to match the hatchet in his heart.

As he moved toward the front door, Emily watched him out of the corner of her eye, stubbornly refusing to believe that he knew more about renovating than she did. She’d knocked out walls, sanded, painted and tiled four apartments in the last three years. She knew her way around a tool belt and orbital sander and she’d never been more excited about a project.

She knew she was being impulsive, probably downright foolish wanting to buy the old library. But if there was even the smallest chance she could afford this building, she’d buy it.
 

“It’s in the right location, and with a bit of remodeling it could look incredible.” Emily wasn’t about to let a little singed wood and smoke stand in the way of her dreams. She could understand how someone could overlook the beauty of the building. But she saw it and it made her excited just thinking about it.
 

Alex turned around and she could have sworn he was in pain. “Are you okay?”

He leaned against his crutch before answering. “I’m fine.”

For the second time in her life she didn’t believe him.

Alex glanced at Nicky. “Before either of you get too excited, you’ll need a structural engineer to take a look. An electrician would be a good move, too. This place is a death trap.”

Emily sat on the stairs. A death trap sounded expensive to fix. After reinvesting the profit she’d made from each of her apartments, she now owned a mortgage free home in a great area. It would sell for a healthy profit, but that still left her well short of the library’s asking price. Let alone the cost of taking the building from death trap diva to sassy and spectacular.

“How much do the owners want for the building?” Alex asked.

Nicky handed him the contract. “It went up for sale yesterday. There’s a list at the back showing recent commercial sales in the area. Sam’s organized one of his engineers to take a look tomorrow morning.”

Alex opened the envelope and started flicking through the papers. When he got to the page he was looking for he glanced up. Emily saw the doubt on his face. “Can you afford anywhere close to what they want?”

She shook her head. “I’m hoping they’re being over optimistic.”

He kept turning the pages. “How optimistic?”

“About two hundred thousand dollars worth.”
 

Alex didn’t say anything, but his face said it all. He thought she was mad to assume someone would be that desperate to offload the building. Emily probably was, but lots of buildings were sold out of desperation. Especially fire damaged buildings needing lots of repairs.

“Sounds like you should consider leasing a place.”

“I’ve been looking for months and nothings come close to what I want. The bank might be able to structure a loan so that I can afford this building.”

“You still need to be able to make the payments. There can’t be much profit in selling clothes.”

“You’d be surprised,” Emily muttered. No one understood her need to create, to be different, to make something that made women feel beautiful. And no one, except Nicky, knew just how fast her business had grown. Or how much profit there was in her one of a kind designs.

She knew she could make her boutique into something special. She just needed time, a truck full of money and an understanding bank manager.

Alex passed her the contract. “What about asking your mom and dad for help?”
 

“I can do this on my own.”

“You always were stubborn.” The scowl he sent her should have nailed her to the floor. It probably would have if Gracie hadn’t appeared beside him.

“I need to collect some supplies before I head home. What’s the verdict?”

Alex took one last look around the building. “It’s too expensive and needs too much money spent on it to make it a good short-term investment. The only way I could see it working was if you separated the building into four work spaces. That way you could sub-let the different areas and help cover the loan payments.”

“It’s not going to be four work spaces,” Emily said. “And I’m not here for the short-term. This is where I want to be. Forever. I can understand how that must be a foreign concept to you. Long-term commitment wasn’t something that was high on your list of priorities.”

Alex jammed his hat on his head. His gray eyes glittered beneath the brim. “I’m done here, Gracie. I’ll meet you by the truck.” He tipped his hat in Nicky’s direction. “It was nice seeing you again, ma’am.”

And then he was gone.

The silence that filled the old library building was as thick as the black soot covering the walls.

Emily dropped her head into her hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s not us you need to apologize to,” Nicky said.
 

Gracie carefully lowered herself onto the step beside Emily. “What’s going on?”

Emily lifted her head. She didn’t want to discuss one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Especially when that mistake was Gracie’s half brother. “Alex and I dated for a while. We broke up before you arrived in Montana.”

“What happened?”

“You’ll have to ask Alex,” Emily said. “I haven’t seen him in a long time and I guess a lot of stuff bubbled to the surface.”

Gracie rubbed the side of her tummy and smiled. “Men have a habit of making things bubble. Especially men as stubborn as Alex.” She looked around the building and sighed. “This will make a beautiful boutique. I hope you can make it work.”

“So do I.” Emily stood up and held a hand out to Gracie. “From all of the huffing and puffing that got you down onto that step, I’d say you could do with a hand getting up.”

“More like three.” Gracie held onto Emily’s hand as she pulled herself upright. “This baby is so big that sometimes I feel like I’m going to pop.”

“That’s what you get for falling in love with a tall cowboy.” Nicky laughed.

“Being five-foot-one doesn’t help much, either,” Gracie said. “I’ll just be glad when the next two and a half months are over and I can see my toes again.”

Nicky took the keys out of her pocket and headed toward the door. “On that happy note I’d say it was about time we all headed home. Thanks for coming to have a look, Gracie.”