“I saw all the activities, and some I’ll want to do with Mason after he loses, but until that happens, I tend to stick close—with one eye on the game, the other on relaxing.”
“You don’t expect him to win?”
“Honestly, I don’t think he ever expects to win. He’s competitive, but not when it comes to this. This is about hanging out with his friends outside of Silicon Valley and letting his hair down. It’s good for him.”
“You both travel in different circles than I do,” I tell them. “I’m worried about people who know me. You have people who think they know you to worry about.”
Caroline shrugs. “I pushed Mason away for a long time, worried the baggage that came with my family name was too much. But he was persistent.”
“I don’t even want to think about men right now.” Claire fills us in on Nick, her latest relationship failure.
“I know someone perfect for you,” Caroline assures her. “I’m working on it. Please be a little patient with me. And you…” She turns to me. “How are things going with Landy? That boy has it bad for you.”
I blush and shrug noncommittally. “We’re stuck together here, trying to finish up this software.”
“How did he actually break his ankle?” she asks, an eyebrow raised. “Was it some fancy sex move?”
“Oh my God, don’t answer that!” Claire covers her eyes and ears. “I don’t want to know what my brother does.”
We all giggle.
“What’s so funny?” Landon crutches in with Mason behind him, holding his drink.
“I want the real story about how you broke your ankle,” Caroline says. “I think it was some fancy sex move with Tinsley.”
“How did you know?” Landon teases.
“I have stories—”
“Not with me,” Mason quickly interjects.
Caroline shuts her mouth and grins while Mason blushes. It’s rather cute and definitely funny.
I hear the roar of a plane coming in. “Who’s due to arrive next?”
“Walker Clifton is flying in with a guest, along with Mia and her latest,” Landon says.
“Who’s she seeing?” Caroline’s interest is piqued.
“His name is Quinton O’Hara, and he’s out of Austin. They went to CalTech together. He’s substituting in to play for Christopher Reinhardt, who can’t make it this weekend.”
It isn’t long before the house is overflowing with people. Everyone’s in jeans, new western shirts, and cowboy boots that haven’t been broken in. I chuckle. It’s out of respect that these people want to blend in rather than stick out.
Of course, Viviana’s red and black boots with sparkles don’t exactly scream Montana.
Chapter 32
Tinsley
When Fiona decided to stay until the poker weekend, I was sure she’d come to Montana for Landon, and I mean romantically for him. But now that I’ve seen them interact, I know she has no interest in him beyond his legal needs. We asked her to stay here to work through the weekend in case something happened with the investigation.
“It’s slow in San Francisco anyway,” she declared.
While we’re waiting for our massages on Saturday morning, I turn to her. “Do you think Landon is going to get out of this mess with Heather McCoy unscathed?”
“I guess it depends on how you define unscathed. He’s already taken quite a bit of heat for it. And Landon’s crazy about you. If you walk away, despite him being exonerated, he’s not unscathed.”
What does she know that I don’t?
“But I think it’s going to be difficult for them to pin this on him,” she continues. “If Robards is persistent, my next step is to go to the media and put pressure on his bosses, and I’m sure they know that.”
I nod. That’s what I’m looking to hear.
“How do you feel about all of this?” she asks.
I shrug. “There’s been so much going on, but I’ve tried to be supportive of Landon.”
“What’s been going on?” she asks.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Actually, I do. The more information I have, the better. What if something troubling you factors in to what’s going on with Landon?”
I chuckle. “Then they knew we were going to join forces long before we did.” I walk her through everything with Tomas and the Stanford crew, and eventually we’re called into the massage room.
Fiona continues to ask questions intermittently. She’s not relaxing, and her masseuse tells her as much.
She finally stops talking, and as the room falls silent, I begin to let these problems go and focus on the fun of this weekend. We have the western dinner and a show tonight, and I may also try to offer Landon some therapy, so he’s relaxed for his game tomorrow.
Claire and Corrine rotate into the massage room as we finish up and move over to the pedicure chairs.
I’m about to drift off to sleep when Fiona asks, “Do you know if Jim and his team have had any luck breaking into the closed group on PeopleMover yet?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I think he’s been working on it, and I got him some additional information yesterday.”
We walk back in our sandals, and Fiona grabs me by the hand as we enter the house. She leads us back to the security room.
I’m a bit stunned when we walk in. The room has become a network operation center. I look at the wall of monitors and see feeds from all over the property and throughout the hallways in the house.
“Do you have cameras in the rooms?” I ask, feeling mildly panicked.
Gage laughs. “No, you’re safe. Although rumor has it, you guys had a serious sex swing going, which is what broke Landon’s ankle.”
Jim looks at him, and he shrivels.
“Nope, I pushed him off a rock.”
Jim smiles.
“Have you had any luck getting into the private group that’s targeting Tinsley?” Fiona asks.
“We’re trying, but currently struggling
