“Okay.” She straightened up and checked her watch. They were set to meet in five minutes and Rachel always left extra time. Those were the rules when you had a two-year-old. Scott was busily tugging at the blankets on the king-size bed. “Come on, buddy. Let’s ride the elevator.”
“Evator!” he squealed, rushing to the door to pull on his shoes. Rachel tucked a toy truck under her arm and helped him with his shoes, one after the other.
They headed down the hall toward the elevator. The alpine theme was understated here, with polished trim that gleamed and snow-white walls. Plush blue carpet boasted a silvery pattern that reminded her of winter, but that would look equally good in the summer.
Less than a minute later, she passed through the lobby area in search of the private elevator. Jonas had mentioned it when he hired her and it was used for access to the family suites and offices, something off-limits to guests.
Jonas insisted the photos reflect the real people. Lifestyle was the way he’d put it. Photos of how we are when we’re not with customers.
The Elk Lodge was a massive building, and it had space for two family suites—one for Elin, their grandmother, and one for visiting family when they preferred to use the penthouse rather than their own homes. Not to mention, Jonas’s offices were up here next to his grandmother’s suite.
He opened the door before she could knock, ushering them in and shutting it tightly behind them. Scott’s non-stop chatter had more than likely alerted him to their arrival.
“Hi,” Scott said, using one of the few words he’d learned early on.
“Hi, there.” Jonas’s face softened. He pushed a hand through his hair and blew out a breath, meeting Rachel’s eyes. “I was hoping we could talk about our situation.”
“Okay. Do you have a room that’s safe for Scott to play in where we can keep an eye on him?”
“The sitting room should be good. We’ll both be in there with him and I don’t think there’s anything dangerous. The fireplace has a gate on it.” Jonas led the way from the reception area to the sitting room attached to his actual office.
Rachel loved the panoramic view of the ski hills, the afternoon light golden on the snow. Her hands itched for a camera, except now wasn’t the time for photographs.
“How’s this?”
“It’s good.” She let go of Scott’s hand, and he made a beeline for a leather sofa, squeezing one of the arms to test it before crawling up to investigate.
Jonas hadn’t acted this flustered the first time she’d met him. He’d been in control in a way that soothed her. Rachel’s life had felt very out of control at the time, what with the called-off wedding. That trip to the Elk Lodge was supposed to have been so she could reconnect with her ex-fiancé. Something that hadn’t worked out as planned.
Rachel edged closer, sitting down on the sofa so she could be close to Scott. She also wanted to be close to Jonas. It was hard keeping her eyes off his tall, muscular frame, dressed impeccably in charcoal pants and a button-down with the neck open enough for her to see a hint of flesh. A shiver of desire moved down her spine, as she remembered more than the hint.
With his breathtaking blue eyes and model-handsome face, no wonder she was still attracted. No wonder she still felt like she might catch fire. Rachel hadn’t been with anyone since Jonas. Not out of a sense of obligation, but more because no one could compare to the memory of a time she considered perfection.
More deep breaths. Now wasn’t the time to develop a massive crush on the father of her child—or admit that the crush had existed all this time, in an abstract way. She’d thought about him often at night. But that didn’t mean this visit changed anything. Scott was her priority in life, and she wasn’t going to get distracted by a relationship. Period.
No one has said anything about a relationship, a small voice warned. “So,” she said, doing her best to bat the thoughts away. “Let’s talk.”
Jonas sat down on a loveseat across from her. There was plenty of open carpet space, and Rachel bent to put one of the toy trucks she’d brought with her on the floor. It would hopefully keep Scott occupied as soon as he was bored with the creases on the leather couch.
“We have to make some decisions.” Jonas leaned forward, elbows balanced on his knees. “This will come as a shock to my family, and it will be best if we can contain the damage.”
Defensiveness roared to life in her. “You’re talking about my son,” she said, more sharply than she intended. “He’s not damage, whatever your relatives might think of him. And I won’t let you refer to him that way.” She should stop, but she couldn’t. “I won’t let anyone talk about him like that, especially his father.”
Jonas cleared his throat. “That’s not what I meant. I think it would be best if we made any further decisions together.”
Heat skimmed along her back, and she couldn’t tell if it was from anger or desire or both. Why did it have to feel so complicated? “Nobody makes decisions for me. If you’re worried about people finding out—”
“I’m not worried about people finding out,” he insisted, an edge in his voice. “I don’t think he’s a mistake.” Jonas’s eyes dropped to his son, who had crouched down to play with the truck on the carpet. “I feel terrible that I didn’t know.” He looked into her eyes again, and she saw confirmation of all the guilt that must be twisting him up inside.
She hadn’t known who he was, but now she wondered if she should have worked harder to find out. It was only that the baby had seemed like a kind of miracle, and she hadn’t wanted to bring the real world crashing in to tarnish it. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know who you were.” Her throat went tight. “But now we do, and we can—we can go forward from here.” She swiped at her eyes, wiping away the press of feelings in her chest. “I’m assuming your family won’t be happy?”
“It’s not that,” he said.
Scott made zooming sounds with the truck, rolling it back and forth on the rug, Jonas following the action.
“My grandmother is quite ill.” His eyes landed back on her, and Rachel saw the pain—something raw and real. “That’s why I was so insistent on getting the photos this year. She might not have another Christmas. My fear is that I would be a huge disappointment, and I don’t want to upset her. Or give her reason not to trust that the lodge is in excellent hands. Responsible hands.”
“And having a child destroys that trust?”
“Because of the accident part. And the not knowing part, and for letting you struggle by yourself without any help from me. How old is he?”
“He just turned two.” She had the urge to go and fold herself into Jonas’s lap, wanting to be held. But that was out of the question. They weren’t together. He was the sexiest man she’d ever seen, yes. And he was the father of her child. But none of that changed anything. He was more off-limits now than ever before.
“I’m worried about my grandmother,” Jonas said. It was clear from his expression that he was struggling to find the way forward.
Her heart squeezed for him. “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but—”
“Cancer.” The word sounded insidious, which of course it was. “Aggressive.” He rubbed both hands over his face. “I wasn’t prepared.” Rachel got the feeling he wasn’t only talking about cancer. “My only concern is that the shock would create a physical reaction for her. That is my only concern,” Jonas said, a hint of authority returning to his voice. It was one of the things she’d admired about him the first time they met. “I have to protect her. But I don’t want you to go.”
“You don’t have to protect me, you know. I’ve done a surprisingly good job of that myself the past couple of years.” It wasn’t always true, but she got an A for effort.
He looked at her, gaze steady. “Don’t I?”
“No.”
Jonas nodded slowly. “I’m making a mess of this.”
“Life is a mess.” She shrugged. The defensiveness had fallen away, and now she saw Jonas ex
actly as he was—a man in charge of everything, who couldn’t take charge of this. Not yet. “It’s always a mess.”
“You don’t make it look that way in your photos. Always so neat and clean.” A smile flickered onto his face and disappeared.
“It’s my talent.” Rachel took a deep breath. She felt a pull toward him, the same pull as before, only this time she wanted to kiss him, not just be held. Would the same spark ignite between them as it had once before? Energy already thrummed beneath her skin, making her heart beat fast. Even looking at Jonas was an adrenaline rush. “I have a proposal.”
His eyebrows shot up, a questioning expression on his face.
“Not that kind of proposal.” She laughed, her cheeks heating. Scott stopped pushing the truck and grinned up at her, giggling too. It was infectious, irresistible, and Jonas joined in the laughter. “I’m being serious.”
Jonas put on a straight face. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Rachel wanted to tell him everything, absolutely everything that had happened over the last two years, but it was Christmas Day, and they’d lose the light soon. That wouldn’t make for the best pictures. And now she knew the stakes were high for them both.
“You can’t afford to miss any more of Christmas Day with your family,” she said briskly. “And neither can I, if you want more lifestyle shots, which you know you do. So, I’m going to get to work.”
Jonas stood, and she followed him to his feet. He was so tall, almost imposing, and Rachel was torn—she didn’t feel on guard, exactly, but not relaxed, either. It was a delicious tension. Why did she like it so much? “And the rest?”
“We’ll figure out what we need to do when it’s not the biggest holiday season of the year,” she told him. “There’s time.”
“There’s not much time,” he countered.
“Enough to make a plan. You hired me to do a job—let me do it.”
Jonas nodded. “Consider me out of your way.”
Yeah, right. He’d be in her way with every step she took on the resort. And Rachel didn’t hate the thought. She stepped forward and reached for Scott, scooping him up into her arms.
Jonas walked the two of them to the door and opened it.
Rachel crossed in front of him, her arm brushing the front of his shirt, and she paused, her face mere inches from his. Blue eyes heated her from the inside out, and her breath hitched. He was close enough to kiss.
Scott wriggled his legs, kicking against her. “Go, Mama.” He reached out one chubby hand and pointed into the hallway. “Go, go, go.”
Her exit cue.
3
Landscape photos were not Rachel’s thing.
The sunlight was perfect, filtering down through the trees at the ski resort, and she snapped photo after photo, trying to make magic. Jonas didn’t just want her to capture the family at Christmas. He wanted a time capsule of the entire resort and all their favorite places in it. That included the trees and the ski hills and everything.
“Mama.” Scott barreled into her legs, knocking her off balance. Her lens cap fell out of her pocket, disappearing into the snow. “Mama. Pway. ”
“Oh, buddy,” she hissed under her breath, pulling off a glove to dig in the snow, hoping to retrieve the lens cap. This job was only slightly impossible. Why she ever thought it was a clever idea to take a toddler with her for landscape shots was beyond her. It would be so much easier to quit, aside from the complications with Jonas. She tipped her face to the sky and let the winter air cool her cheeks.
The problem was the text message she’d received this morning.
Her next big gig had been a wedding in February, and the couple canceled the wedding. A sick relative that required them to fly out to India with an unknown date of return. There went the rest of her fees.
“Sit. Sit,” Scott said, tugging on her jacket.
Her heart ached for them—it did. But it also ached for herself. Losing the money from the wedding made it impossible to leave the Elk Lodge and give up her income from this job. She couldn’t quit no matter how awkward things got between her and Jonas.
Rachel was kicking her past self for not asking more questions about Jonas, the man she’d slept with, and her present self for thinking she could just waltz back into the lodge as if nothing had ever happened. She should have at least recognized his voice on the phone.
She lifted the camera to her face and snapped a few more photos.
Scott suddenly started to cry, and she turned to find he’d fallen in the snow on his side. Perfectly capable of getting up but unwilling to do it, not without mama’s help. She scooped him up, tickling his chin to make him laugh. A two-year-old did not make a photography gig easy, but they’d have to make the best of it. It wasn’t like any of her problems were Scott’s fault.
They made their way back down to the main lodge building, where Rachel half-managed to get some exterior shots. Scott ran toward every flake of falling snow, this way and that, and though no cars were driving on the road, it made her nervous.
Holding his hand and shooting photos was impossible, and she didn’t want to take the risk of the chairlift. She managed to get photos of the ski shed, the bottom of the chairlift, and the hill from the only vantage point she had. Stopping every few minutes to take deep breaths, she tried to find a way to quell her frustration.
It wasn’t working.
“Buddy.” Scott ran around in a tight circle at her feet, making it less and less possible to get any shots. She tried for a few more, then looked down to find her son burying his hat in the snow. “Scott, it goes on your head.”
He looked up at her and shook his head. “No.”
“And where’s your other glove?”
“No,” he said, then delicately put several fistfuls of snow on top of the hat.
“Okay.” Rachel snapped her lens cap back into place and dug his hat out, which made Scott royally furious. His screams echoed over the ski hill, attracting the attention of other guests. Perfect. This could not be going any better. “Maybe we should go back inside and try for some photos there, buddy.”
He wailed, letting himself become a wet noodle at the end of her hand, and finally, Rachel picked him up and took him into the lobby. Jonas wanted photos of the lodge with its holiday decorations, too. But once they were inside, Rachel saw it for the minefield that it was.
Scott wouldn’t be able to leave the decorative gifts under the tree alone, and as they walked past the enormous Christmas tree, he writhed in her arms until she put him down on the floor. “Please, buddy. We’ll go back to the room. We’ll do something fun in just a bit. I promise,” she said, whispering in his ear.
Scott lay down on the floor.
“Just perfect,” Rachel said to no one. The last thing she needed was for him to go into a full-fledged temper tantrum. Not in here. She stood close by, using the attentive but calm expression she’d learned from one of her prenatal parenting classes, and waited.
“What’s going on?” Jonas’s voice broke into her attentive waiting, and she wanted to sink down onto the floor next to her son. Everything was already fraught with tension, and the last thing she needed was Jonas, wearing a worried expression on his face, slightly out of breath. “Are you having trouble with the landscape photos?”
“No,” she lied, then thought better of it. “Yes.” It was always a fine balancing act, talking about her son with people who hired her. Usually, things weren’t so last-minute. Usually, there was a babysitter, but this morning, there wasn’t one available at the lodge. And usually, she wasn’t trying to wade through the supreme awkwardness of having just revealed your son’s parentage to his father and sticking around to deal with the emotional aftermath.
Jonas’s eyebrows knitted together. “You are?”
“I am,” she admitted, glancing down at Scott to make sure he was all right. Looking like a snow-suited starfish lying in the middle of the carpet in the lobby, he made her wish she was anywhere but here. “It’s too har
d to keep Scott entertained while I get the shots. I don’t feel like I’ve gotten more than a couple that do this place justice.”
Rachel braced for his response, fully expecting him to fire her.
Instead, Jonas stepped around so that the two of them were forming a protective barrier around Scott. “I can help,” he said, his words surprising her speechless.
* * *
The frustration was clear on her face, obvious to him from all the way across the lobby. Jonas hadn’t been able to see Scott lying on the floor until he was closer, but it made perfect sense. She looked as tense as he felt. Every heartbeat marked another moment that he hadn’t come clean to his family about the situation. And every time they met, his guilt over not telling them intensified. In a way, it was perfect that Rachel hadn’t been able to get the shots. It would give them more time to figure things out.
“Let me take you on a tour,” he said, registering her surprised expression. Was this the first time she’d asked a client for help? “I’ll go with you, and we can get some good photos. And we can spend some time together with Scott.”
It would also have the effect of keeping them away from his family for the time being, but he left that part out. It was more important to contain the situation. They’d have to have a game plan, and now was as good a time as any to come up with it.
“If you’re sure,” Rachel said, leaning down to brush a lock of hair off Scott’s forehead. “I don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
“I’m completely sure. I can go right now—if you still want to do the photos.”
She straightened up, fire in her eyes. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
Jonas waved at the receptionist behind the counter, signaling for her to bring his coat out from the back room. He kept coats in several places around the resort in case he needed them. Gabe had once called it overkill. Gabe was wrong—again. “You really don’t have to do the photos,” he offered in a quiet voice. He was trying to do the right thing by her.
The Billionaire’s Christmas Son: Elkin Brothers Christmas Book Three Page 2
