Page 86 of Against All Odds

Before she walked away, she hesitated, glancing back at me. “Hey, Sable?”

“Yeah?”

She shifted, suddenly looking a little nervous. “You know Daddy’s been sending influencers here, right?”

I smiled. “Yeah, Juno, I know.”

She nodded. “He’s been talking to people, convincing them to check out the Wildflower. He, um…he feels bad about what happened.Reallybad.”

“I know,” I assured her, my throat tightening.

She bit her lower lip. “He’s really sorry, Sable. He knows he messed up, and he’s trying to fix it.”

I swallowed hard. This was tricky. I didn’t want to have this conversation with my ex’s kid.

“Juno, darlin’, thank you for telling me.”

She looked up at me with her big, earnest blue eyes, her father’s eyes. “Will you give him a chance?”

I leaned down and tapped her nose. “You know that’s out of the scope for your age, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she replied cheekily. “But I was kinda…you know, hoping it would give Daddy some brownie points with you.”

“It does, Juno,” I told her honestly. “Now, why don’t you get to your table, and let’s see if you can win those rodeo tickets.”

I watched as she walked back to her friends, my chest aching.

Heath Falkner was trying to fix what he’d broken. And part of me wanted to let him. But the other part—the one that had been hurt too many times—wasn’t sure if I could take the risk.

CHAPTER 29

heath

Iwas a grown man of forty-two, and I was nervous.

“Seriously?” Wyatt asked when he saw that I’d changed my tie twice and my shirt once.

“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing,” I muttered.

“Can we go before you’re late for a party you’re hosting?” Wyatt looked pointedly at his watch.

When I told my brother about my plan for the annual Royal Golf & Ski Resort event—a gathering for local hospitality owners, the Aspen elite, and their families to mark the start of the tourist rush—he immediately insisted on being my plus-one. The fall colors would soon reach their peak, signaling the beginning of the busiest time of year, and this party was the perfect way to set the stage.

We walked into the resort's Grand Ballroom, which was decked out and opened into the large garden. A band was playing, and a dance floor was set up. String lights draped across the vaulted ceilings, and long tables linedthe ballroom with platters of fresh seafood, farm-to-table hors d'oeuvres, and elegant floral arrangements that screamed understated luxury.

“She’s going to be here,” I said uneasily.

“Is that a question or…?” my brother teased.

I sighed. “I’m behaving like a fucking wet-behind-the-ears teenager.”

“No shit.”

Wyatt and I looked like brothers. We were around six-three, both of us, but he took pleasure in telling me he wasslightlytaller, which he was. He kept his hair long, now tied into a ponytail, while I kept mine short. He worked out a whole lot more than I did, so he was jacked—while I wasfit. But we had the same eyes, the same demeanor, and expressions.

Casey and Mackenna had promised they’d get Sable here, but my stomach was tied in knots. I didn’t trust anything until I saw her walk through that door. And if she didn’t? What the fuck would I do? Well, I’d just find her and drag her here. That was that. The hell with being careful and giving her time. I was tired of giving her space. I was tired of being the jackass who fucked my life up. I wanted Sable back! I wanted my second chance at love to flourish, not flounder and die as it was threatening to.

“Relax,” Ellie, my assistant, murmured as she came up to us, a glass of champagne in hand. “She’ll come.”

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