Mine to Steal (Mine to Love) (12 page)

“Count on it,” he says while standing up.

He excuses himself and follows the older man to the cockpit. Cavette, Faith, and I turn to watch as they maneuver themselves through the small opening to take their seats. It looks awkward, but somehow they manage and the captain prepares everything to fly us to Texas.

Faith pulls her legs together and tucks them underneath her as she attempts to get comfortable. She leans down to get something out of her bag, giving me a view I’m sure she doesn’t intend. I can’t
peel my eyes from her, even though my head is warning me to turn away. She glances up and our eyes meet, causing my pulse to quicken. There’s a smile playing on her lips and a tinge of red touches her cheeks, but she quickly narrows her eyes at me and adjusts her shirt as she sits up.

Faith kissing my neck.

Faith removing her shirt.

Faith dancing against me.

In a single moment, flashes of her inundate my head and now the papers in my hand are wrinkling from the frustrated grip I have on them. I roll my neck and release a breath as I try to relax and focus on whom I’m here for, and it’s not Faith.

This is going to be a long weekend.

* * *

I closed my eyes shortly before takeoff. I was so stressed about the meeting I didn’t get much sleep last night. Hell,
the entire running around today didn’t help either. I’m aware Faith has her laptop open because I can hear her tapping away on the keyboard with rapid movement. Cavette, on the other hand, I’m not quite sure. I haven’t opened my eyes to check, but if I had to guess, I’d say he’s reading something.

“So, Cal,” Faith starts, waiting to get his attention. “What is it you’re looking for in your
marketing fir -”

“Ms. Young,” he interrupts with a soft tone. “There’ll be plenty of time for that this weekend. Let’s enjoy the
flight. Tell me, have you been camping before?”

When he asks the question, I raise my head and
wait to see what her response is. I’m curious about this, too. She squirms uncomfortably under his spotlight but pushes through.

“It’s been a long time
,” she admits with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “My family used to go a couple of times a year when I was growing up, but the last time I went, I was about ten.”

My stomach does a weird drop inside
, and it has nothing to do with flying. If Jett’s right, that’s around the age she was when her brother died.
I wonder if they stopped going because of that?

Cavette nods, accepting her answer and turns
to me. “What about you, Trey?”

I’m still looking at her when she turns to me
, and there’s some unspoken agreement taking place. I can’t describe the moment, or what it does to me, but it takes everything I have to drag my gaze from her to answer Cavette. I can tell she’s still studying me, but I don’t look back.

“Yeah.” I fumble over the word and laugh. “Same. Used to go with my family every year. We’d plan it out months in advance and traveled all over the country checking out different spots. I still manage to get out and fish, but the camping part, I haven’t done in years.”

“What kind of fishing do you do?”

“Since I’m in Denver, freshwater. But I’ve gone on a few trips with some buddies. We chartered a boat out in the
Gulf to do some saltwater fishing a few years ago. That was pretty crazy.”

“Catch anything good?”

“Me?” I laugh and shake my head. “Nah, but my buddy caught a blue marlin. He still brags about the thing.”

“I’d love to catch one of those babies,” he says with a wistful smile. “What about you, Ms. Young, do you fish?”

“I’m afraid not.” She grins. “I never could get over touching the bait. I always made my dad or my brother do it for me.”

We settle in to light conversation about our camping experiences
, and I notice Faith is careful not to divulge too much about her family. It’s none of my business and apparently it’s something she is trying to keep to herself, so I’m careful not to ask any loaded questions or corner her into answering something.

As much as I am eager to steal this client away from her, I have to admit I can see why she’s in the running. She’s easygoing and charming, and not only is Grayson interested in her, Cavette seems to genuinely enjoy her company.

In my experience with Rock Solid, we were trained to keep our distance from the clients, relying on email and phone calls for interaction. They wanted our focus on the big fish, and someone like Cavette was barely a blip on their radar. As she talks about her work, her enthusiasm is contagious. Hell, I find
I
think Rock Solid sounds like a great company. She’s engaging and animated as she gushes about loving what she does.

I’m curious how it is that Rock Solid has been able to hang on to Faith, because she has something you don’t see from their representatives.

Passion.

“I’m going to check on Gray,” Cavette bellows after unbuckling his seat
belt. “Don’t go killin’ each other.”

The older Cavette
heads to the cockpit and kneels on the ground and begins talking to the two men navigating the plane. The silence that he leaves behind is louder than the roar of the engine.

My eyes remain trained on the small window, although there is nothing but blue sky to look at. I can feel her eyes on me
, and I’m tempted to turn her way. Instead, I opt to channel my inner-Jett. “Keep staring and everyone will know you’re into me.”

I turn to her and see Faith gaping at me with shock-filled eyes. “You are not seriously that arrogant, are you?”

“So you weren’t looking at me then?” I plaster a smug grin and ask for clarification.

“I was wondering how you and Jett could possibly be related, but I see it now.
Ass
must run in the family.”

I lean toward her and drop my voice
. “You were checking out my ass?”

She groans and a laugh escapes
. “
How
are you the same boy who was so nice to me all those years ago?”

“How are
you
the same sweet girl?”

Her eyes meet mine, and for a fleeting moment, she is that girl.

“Guess most of us grow up.” She smiles a sad smile.

Cavette had two Jeeps waiting for us when we landed at the airport in Midland. I was happy to be back on solid ground, but I was also impressed with Grayson’s co-piloting abilities; they were better than I expected.

I couldn’t understand earlier why we couldn’t fly out first thing Friday morning, but I didn’t ask because I figured there was a logical reason. Now, I get it. Considering this
three-hour drive, we’ll be lucky to get there by six. Mulling all of this over, I turn to Cavette and ask, “Will we have enough time to set up our tents tonight?”

He looks at the clock on the radio briefly
and then stares ahead at the road. “Depends on how long it takes you to put up a tent.”

His laugh irritates me, but I force a small laugh in return. From everything I’ve learned about him and his company, he started out young and brought as much of his family into the business as he could. His wife handled his accounting until she passed some years back. Pictures I found of him online must have been old because he has very little black hair left
since the grey has taken over. The old man reminds me of my granddad. Not that he looks like him, it’s more of his personality and constant attempts at humor.

I’m at a loss for what to say to fill
the void in conversation, but at the same time, I don’t feel the need to say anything at all. He effectively hushed Faith earlier when she tried to pitch, and I don’t plan on making the same mistake. I’ll bide my time and do it when the opportunity presents itself. Faith opted to ride with Grayson, so I have easy access to Cavette, but I get the feeling, right now, he wants to keep things light.

“Ever been married?” he asks, out of nowhere.

Surprised by his question, I pause for a moment. “No, sir.”

“I was married to my wife for forty-three years. She hated camping when we first got
together. I had to bribe her for the longest time. When the boys came along, she enjoyed it more and eventually, she was the one scheduling our trips.”

So much for light.

“How many kids do you have?” I already know the answer, but I can tell he wants to do the talking.

“Three. James, Christopher, and Joel. Chris is Grayson’s dad. James is divorced, no kids and Joel never married, but has three kids.”

“Is Grayson your only grandson?”

“Yeah. The other three are granddaughters, and all of th
em are as pretty as they can be and not a single one of them are interested in the family business. Just Grayson. So someday, the company will be his.”

“Lucky guy.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it. Hard work. That’s the only way he’ll get it,” he insists in a way only his generation can. I appreciate his work ethic, and the fact he doesn’t expect to hand things to anyone.

We continue with our small talk
, though the conversation is forced at times. I really think Cavette is a good man. We make our way to our campsite, and I fight the urge to check my phone because I don’t want to appear rude. He drives toward a spot in the middle of a clearing, and I recall the signs I saw on the way out here. Warnings for bears, mountain lions, and snakes caught my attention, but I know the chances of seeing any of them are slim.

Cavette finally stops and parks the Jeep. He looks around and smiles broadly
before pounding on the dashboard. “We’re here!”

He jumps out of the vehicle and heads to the back
to open the tailgate. We make quick time of unloading the tents, duffle bags, and chairs, but they remain on the ground by our feet. Grayson finally drives up and parks next to us before getting the rest of the camping gear out of his Jeep. He hands some bags to Faith, and I watch her carry them to the center of the clearing. She bends over and places them on the ground, but when she heads back toward the vehicles, our eyes meet. She quickly averts her gaze to continue what she was doing.

“Trey,” Grayson calls, garnering my attention
. “Can you take these tents and toss them out there? We need about twelve feet per tent, so if you can figure out the best places for these, that’d be great.”

“No problem.” I walk off to figure out where to put everyone, dropping the bags in each place.
I should put Faith further into the brush.

“Don’t even think about it,” she remarks with a tight grin as she pushes past me with chairs slung over her shoulder.

“Think what?” I ask with wide eyes, wondering if she can, in fact, read my mind.

“You’re a Miller. I’m sure you’re coming up with something evil; so don’t.”

The laugh that escapes me startles her, but her smile actually grows wider.
Maybe she’s warming up to me.

Once our spots have been selected
, I help to finish unloading. There isn’t much left, and I can’t help but check out Faith as she takes out her tent pieces to put it together. Cavette, Grayson, and I bring over the last of the gear and set it in the center before following her lead and putting our own together.

“Faith,” Grayson says, trying to catch up to where she is with her tent. “Need some help with that?”

“Actually -” She stands up with her hands on her hips, flirting with him, “I’m good. You might want to check on your guy, Trey, over there. He looks like he might be struggling.”

I look down and see the frame strewn about, but I know what goes where. “
Don’t worry about me. I’m good.”

Faith isn’t looking at me, but she’s smiling as she pieces her tent together with an expertise that is impressive. I
notice Grayson and Cal are watching her with the same fascination. She wasn’t kidding, this woman knows how to camp.

* * *

Setup didn’t take too long because we all had a job to do. It seems we were running like a well-oiled machine. We made sandwiches for dinner and talked about the drive out here, but now everyone is starting to get tired.

“We should turn in for the night,” Cavette announces as he stands up. “We have an early hike, and sunrise comes at
seven. I want to get moving before then.”

I nod in understanding, not at all worried
, because I get up earlier than that every day. It’s rare that I sleep in, and I’m pretty sure I’ll have no problem waking up after sleeping on the ground all night.

“How far are we going?” Faith asks, before he disappears.

“About two miles. There’s a spot I want to show you guys, and when we get back, maybe we can get out on the water somewhere.”

“Kayaking?” I ask, noticing we don’t have any gear with us.

“I’ve made a few calls, and we might be able to rent some in the afternoon.”

“Looking forward to it,” I say with more enthusiasm than I feel. “Be sure to check your sleeping bags for scorpions before you climb in
,” I add.