She held his gaze and hated herself for the butterflies that erupted in her belly when he said her name.
Eleanor.
The moniker didn’t exactly conjure up sex kitten. Not to mention, she was named after some pruny aunt who died eons before she was born. But when he said it, each syllable came out wrapped in a layer of filthy naughtiness that made her press her thighs together.
Stop!
It didn’t matter if angels wept at the sound of Jasper Bergen saying her name. The guy was a complete bottom-line focused, Brooks Brothers-wearing bastard who was sort of her boss.
“Is this all you’ve got?” he called from outside as he loaded their suitcases.
“Yeah, Abby took all my ski gear with her when she and Brennen went up.”
“It’s a small bag.”
“I’ve learned to travel light.”
Jasper closed the back hatch and got into the driver’s seat, and she pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Abby to let her know we’re on the way, and then I was going to pick a playlist.”
Jasper started the car and guided it into traffic. “A playlist for what?”
“Music for the drive. You didn’t think we were going to talk, did you?”
“I don’t listen to music.”
Her jaw dropped. “Ever?”
“There are some places where it’s unavoidable. Coffee shops. Elevators.”
“Elevators?”
“Yeah, elevator music.”
“When was the last time you danced?”
His grip tightened on the steering wheel as evergreens replaced skyscrapers, and they left the city.
“I don’t know.”
She turned in her seat and stared at him. “Okay, even dancing by yourself in your bedroom counts.”
“What kind of grown man dances alone in his bedroom?”
“The kind who enjoys a good beat and likes to have fun.”
“Is that all life is to you, Eleanor? Always looking for fun?”
So much for the truce.
“Music and fun are good for the soul. Good for creativity. Good for freaking longevity. One would assume the CEO of a mountain sports empire basically built on people having fun would understand that.”
“People like exercise,” he replied robotically.
“Is that what you think people are doing right now at all your resorts? They’re there because they want some exercise? No wonder your grandparents sought me out with you at the helm.”
He barked out a laugh. “That’s rich coming from an irresponsible woman who can’t even make a car payment on time.”
Her knee bounced as her heart rate kicked up. A rush of heat overtook her body, and she needed to get out of that car. She needed air. She needed to put more than six inches between herself and Jasper Bergen.
“Pull over!” she belted.
“Onto the side of the road?”
“No, drive up the side of the mountain! Yes, pull over on the side of the road!”
“Why?”
She tugged at the collar of her jacket. “Because I need some air, and you and I need to get a few things straight.”
He shook his head, eased the car onto the shoulder, then jerked the gearshift into park.
Elle threw open the door and stomped over to the guardrail. She took a few deep breaths with her gaze trained on the snow-covered sea of trees with tall mountain peaks in the distance. The rumble and grind of semis spitting dirt and pebbles weaved with the whoosh of cars zooming up the mountain, not ten feet from where she stood.
She took another deep breath, then froze, as a tingle worked its way down her spine, and she knew he was there. All restrained emotions and button-up intensity, every cell in her body registered his presence.
She turned, lifted her chin, and held his seething gaze. “Despite what you may think, I’m good at what I do. It seems easy and breezy and fun because I work my ass off to make it look that way. And here’s what I’ve learned. Life is not some start at point A to get to point B. It’s not all dollar signs and bottom lines. It’s about the journey. It’s about the surprises. It’s about being open to adventure.”
He took a step toward her. “I disagree. People crave stability and continuity. Why do you think they keep coming back to Bergen resorts and continue shopping at our stores?”
She threw up her hands. “Because they want to connect and experience life in a way that makes them happy.”
“Happy is subjective.”
She shook her head. This man could give the Grinch a run for the money. “It’s not! Happy is doing something that brings you joy.”
His expression turned as hard as stone. “Would you like to know what brings me joy?”
She crossed her arms and looked away. “Let me guess. Staring at spreadsheets and scowling at puppies?”
He closed the distance between them. “Keeping Bergen Enterprises solvent and competitive. And if you think for one damned second that I’m trusting someone like you with my family’s legacy, then you’ve got a lot to learn about me. I’ve given everything to this company, and I will not see it diminished.”
She grabbed his coat and pulled his face down close to hers. “Oh no! I’ve done my research. I know your company. I’ve been skiing at your resorts and buying your gear since I was a little girl. And I know where you’re losing customers. I know your sales have flattened out. If anything, you and your smug, curmudgeon ways are what’s diminishing Bergen Enterprises.”
He gathered her hair in his hand and twisted the locks, knocking off her hat, and bringing her lips millimeters from his. The stoic facade disappeared, and his eyes blazed. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Eleanor.”
Her breaths came fast, and it wasn’t the crisp mountain air that had her body thrumming. It was him. It was the dysfunctional push and pull between them that made her want to throttle him one second and jump him the next.
The tip of his nose brushed over hers, and she tightened her grip on his coat.
“Here’s the thing. I’m your best shot at getting Bergen Enterprises back on track. Your grandparents understand that.”
He lowered his voice as his lips grazed her cheek. “Do not lecture me on Bergen Enterprises. I eat, breathe, and sleep it every day.”
“But you don’t enjoy it. You don’t love it,” she whispered.
His fingers tangled in her hair, and he leaned into her, his forehead resting against hers. He reached around and gripped the back of her coat with his other hand like he was holding on for dear life. And she let him, not because she felt sorry for him, but because at that moment, his touch was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.
He pulled back and met her gaze. “Eleanor.”
She couldn’t respond. She could only stare into those steel-blue eyes swimming with pain and anger and regret. She brushed her fingertips over his cheek. Was this him? Was this the real Jasper Bergen? Did the hollow bunny have a heart? Was there more to the tin man than just his pragmatic shell?
She swallowed hard, lost and found at the same time, when a loud crack pulled them apart, and a rock the size of a football fell off a truck hauling gravel. It ricocheted off the highway, and with marksman precision, completely took out the Audi’s driver’s side mirror.
“Holy fuck!” Jasper yelled as the tenderness drained from his face. “Look at what you did! Look at what happened because of this insanely stupid side-of-the-road escapade. Somebody could have gotten hurt. That rock could have hit you, Eleanor! That rock could have killed you, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing!”
She reached out to him, but he stepped away. “We’re fine, Jasper! Nothing happened!”
He ran his hands through his hair. “Nothing happened? You saw the size of that rock! Now get in the car!”
“Do not speak to me like that. You are not my father.”
“No, I’m your boss. Now get in the car, or I’m going to pick you up and throw y
ou in there myself.”
She raised her hands in surrender. “Just let me get my hat. It fell off somewhere.”
She turned to look when two large hands gripped her from behind and plucked her off the ground.
“Put me down, Jasper! I need my hat. It’s important to me.”
“I’ll get you another damn hat. It’s just a Fell’s Peak Ski Resort ball cap. I own the damn resort!” he growled, thrusting her into the passenger’s seat.
She looked past him. Her hat was right there until a gust of wind carried it over the guardrail.
“No!” she cried and tried to push past him.
He held her in place. “Stop being reckless, Eleanor! It’s not safe! It’s just a stupid hat.”
His gaze burned into her. Anger fused so tightly with gut-wrenching pain, it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended.
She brushed an angry tear from her cheek. “You’re an asshole.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw. “What made you think I was anything different?” he shot back and slammed the door.
4
Jasper
Jasper clenched his jaw as he steered the Audi—now missing its damn driver’s side mirror—off the highway and onto Bergen Mountain Drive.
He glanced at Elle. Arms crossed and body angled toward the car door, she looked ready to bolt the minute the vehicle stopped.
They’d driven in an angry silence for the last ninety minutes. That meant he’d spent the previous five thousand four hundred seconds trying to figure out what the fuck had happened on the side of the road.
He’d become a master of maintaining a cool, stoic demeanor over the past decade. That was how he coped. Without the safety net of constant work and a punishing routine, he’d be lost. Anytime his mind would wander to thoughts of his parents, he’d double his commitment to the grind. Another hour running the trail. Another night combing through sales reports.
And then Eleanor Reynolds crashed into his life like that damn rock that toppled off the truck and obliterated the Audi’s side mirror. Bold and unfiltered, her words cut straight to his core.
He flexed his fingers, aching to touch her again, then gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Damn this woman! Damn her for making him question every decision he’d made over the last decade.
He loved Bergen Enterprises, didn’t he?
He’d crafted a life where all he did was devote himself to the company. Wasn’t that love, or had he mistaken the emotion with obligation?
It didn’t matter. He knew his place in the world, and it was at the helm of the company his parents and grandparents had built.
He sucked in a tight breath and released it slowly as they passed the Bergen Ski Resort’s east village. Settled at the base of Bergen Mountain, Bergen Village was divided into three interconnected parts: the east village, the center village, and the west village. This drive used to bring him a sense of peace. But not today. Not after Elle Reynolds ripped off the bandage he’d used to cover his wounds and exposed him to the reality that had been gnawing beneath the surface.
Was he happy?
Did he love his work?
Questions once easily dismissed now sat like stones in his belly, weighing him down, forcing acknowledgment.
He turned on the windshield wipers as a gentle spring snow added a fine layer of feathery-white powder to the road. To a ski resort owner, seeing snow was like watching dollars fall from the sky. But was Elle right? Was that all he saw?
He swallowed hard. So what if it was? One of the Bergen grandsons had to step up and put this company first. After their parents’ death, Brennen chose the route of capricious playboy while Cam jumped ship and left Colorado to live a life of solitude and work as a ski lift operator at a resort—not one of theirs—in Switzerland.
He glanced at Elle as a wave of resentment and desire rushed through him. Who was she to judge him? Who was she to lecture him on love? He had responsibilities that went beyond himself—that superseded something as silly as love. He ran a company that employed thousands of people, and while his grandparents still played a major role, they were phasing out the day-to-day tasks, leaving them to him as CEO.
“What’s all that?”
Elle’s words caught him off guard, the sweetest and most wretched sound he’d ever heard.
She straightened in her seat and pointed toward the road where a few news trucks sat parked next to a Bergen Mountain Security SUV. It looked as if the security team had set up a roadblock. He pulled up to where the men were standing, rolled down the window, and waved the guards over.
“Sorry about all this, Mr. Bergen. The press is here for your brother and Miss Quinn. But your brother asked not to be disturbed, so we set up a makeshift roadblock.”
The engagement seen around the world. Of course, the press would be staked out here.
Jasper nodded. “Thank you. I appreciate you taking on this extra duty.”
The man gave him a wide grin. “It’s no trouble at all, sir. Every time your brother and Miss Quinn order in, they always make sure to send a feast for us. Please thank them. Those crème brûlée crepes are the best.”
Fucking perfect! He and Elle were going to be surrounded by a couple who were crazy in love, while things between himself and Eleanor Reynolds were just fucking crazy.
What was he thinking when he tangled his fingers into her hair and pulled her close?
That was the problem. He hadn’t been thinking. He’d been reacting, responding to the need to touch her, the need to bask in whatever the hell it was that made her so damned hard to resist. That brutal honesty that had his lips a breath away from hers. Christ, it made him hard just thinking about it.
He shifted in his seat, nodded to the guard, then rolled up his window as Bergen Mountain security cleared a path for them.
“You know what we’re walking into, don’t you?” she said, gaze trained on the road. “They took that man fast seriously the last couple weeks. Those two probably had enough sexual tension built up to power the mountain for a year.”
He knew damned well what they were walking into. Abby had recently moved to Denver after a bad breakup and put herself on what she’d called a man fast. She’d decided to focus completely on her new job as a first-grade teacher and not date or give any man the time of day—something that had given her an A-plus in his book—until his brother got stuck volunteering in her class and the two fell madly in love.
But he owed Abby. His brother was on a collision course to being kicked out of the family business because of his reckless skirt-chasing antics. Thanks to Abby not taking any of Bren’s shit, his brother found the motivation to clean up his bad boy ways and take his position as president of the philanthropic arm of the company seriously.
Jasper schooled his features. “I know what we’re walking into, Eleanor. I’m not completely void of emotions.”
“I’d beg to differ,” she shot back.
He remained silent. What the hell was there to say?
“I swear to God, Jasper, the last thing I need is to walk in on Abby and Brennen screwing each other’s brains out.”
“We’ll knock on the door,” he said. At least they agreed on one thing. He was just as opposed to walking into a PDA blitz as she was.
She glanced down at her phone. “Dammit!”
“What?”
“My cell’s out of juice.”
“You didn’t charge it before we left?”
She pinned him with that lapis blue gaze. “I was a little busy.”
He pulled up to the cottage and parked the car. “That’s right. Busy having your car repossessed.”
“Busy trying to sort an issue with the lease on my car,” she corrected.
“Yeah, you don’t pay it, they don’t let you keep it. That’s Finance 101.”
She gave him one of the best go fuck yourself grins he’d ever seen. “Thanks for that super helpful tip.”
“Anytime,” he added with his own go
fuck yourself grin.
She pressed her palms to her face and groaned.
“I’ll take that as you’re ready to go inside,” he replied.
She huffed out a breath and got out of the car. He followed a step behind, then knocked on the front door.
He waited as Elle paced the length of the porch.
He knocked again. “Do you think they went skiing?”
Elle stopped and cocked her head to the side. “If you were finally alone with the woman you loved after a period of prolonged abstinence, would you be out skiing?”
Christ! He’d been living in a state of prolonged abstinence for…
He frowned and tried to remember the last woman he’d been with. There was that attorney he’d met at a conference in DC, but that was two, maybe three years ago.
Had he been rosy-palming it for that long?
No wonder he was ready to jump Elle on the side of the road.
He raised his hand to knock again when the door swung open, and he was eye to eye with his brother.
Barefoot and only wearing a pair of track pants, the middle Bergen brother furrowed his brow. “Is everything okay?”
Elle crossed her arms. “Well, we’re here.”
Brennen glanced between them, looking utterly confused. Elle was right. His brother’s blood supply had clearly been diverted south for a prolonged period of time.
Brennen scratched his head. “Yeah, I can see that you’re here. But why are you here?”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he said in unison with Elle.
She stared at him with daggers in her eyes. It wasn’t his fault they had the same damn response.
Jasper sighed. “You don’t even know what day it is, do you?”
Elle crossed her arms. “I told you we should have called.”
“I tried to call. The calls all went to voicemail every damn time.” He wasn’t lying. While she seethed in the front seat, back turned to him, he’d popped in his wireless headphones and tried to call, not once, but four times.
Elle stepped forward. “It’s Monday afternoon, Brennen.”
“Oh flip!” Brennen exclaimed.
That was the other thing. Bren’s sweet schoolteacher fiancée had him talking like a G-rated movie character. But he couldn’t fault his brother. Brennen hadn’t been this happy and this full of enthusiasm since before their parents had died.
Man Feast (Bergen Brothers Book 2) Page 5
