His brows furrowed, confused at her words. “I knew you had to work today, and I had to deal with this shipment.”
She picked up Bri’s soda which had been sitting on the coffee table and slammed it onto a coaster. “Whatever. It’s not as if you’re going to be around Castle Ridge for long.”
The chill in her tone turned to icicles in his chest. Did she want him to leave? “What about the last few nights?”
She stalked into the kitchen and filled up the teapot. “It was fun. A nice diversion.”
The sharp icicles pricked, then stabbed and cut. He’d talked to Vivienne about changing the Akio deal. He’d planned to stick around Castle Ridge to coach the kids through their season and to be with Bri and Dani. He wanted them to be a family. Anger broke the internal icicles into jagged points, increasing the pain. He wanted to slam his fist through the counter. He’d postponed the Japanese deal and risked his future for her, and now she was saying last night was just fun.
“I thought it was more than fun.” His deep timbre didn’t raise above a whisper.
To him, it had been meaningful, mind-blowing, and a promise for the future. Their future.
“I should’ve known you’d be better in bed than when we were teens.” She put a teabag in a mug and spun to finally face him. Her smirk dug into him. “You’ve had plenty of experience.”
He wouldn’t deny he’d fooled around, but the gossip pages highly exaggerated. Between the hurt and the accusation, his anger melted the icicles into a puddle of fury.
“You must’ve thought I was so naïve.” Her taunt poked, jabbing at an angry bear.
If she’d come to him to get more experience, the lesson wasn’t over. How could he have misread her intentions? He prowled into the kitchen and grabbed her around the waist. His other hand grabbed hold of her chin and held her in place. He attacked her mouth with a punishing kiss.
At first she didn’t respond, then her lips fought his with passion. He could sense she wanted his kisses and didn’t enjoy the fact. Was her will stronger than her desire? And if he couldn’t have both, maybe he didn’t want either.
He broke free and moved away.
She slammed the ceramic mug on the counter. “I saw the contract!”
The mug cracked, similar to his heart. What contract?
They both stared at the shards of glass. Just like their relationship, it was broken.
Dani took a heaving breath. “I want you to leave and take the skis with you.”
“The skis are Bri’s.” He moved out of the kitchen, past the skis without a glance, and toward the door. Confusion and distress swirled inside. He didn’t understand her sudden coldness. He’d thought they were moving forward into a future.
“I asked you not to buy them for her. What will people think? You buying her expensive presents and leaving town.”
His anger re-ignited. So, Dani was ordering him to leave town. “You can’t—”
“She’s my daughter.” Dani picked up the skis and held them out as if she wanted to throw them at him. “I’ll buy Bri skis when I can afford them. You have no right.”
Anger exploded swirling into an inferno fueled by hurt, betrayal, and bitterness.
“I have every right.” He fisted his hands at his sides and moved back into the living room. Dani might’ve used him as a plaything and a learning tool, and could end their relationship without a care, but she couldn’t end his relationship with Bri. “Brianna is my daughter, too.”
The silence in the room was only interrupted by the twinkling of the Christmas tree lights. He shot daggers at Dani from across the coffee table, and she returned fire. Anger emanated from both of them, creating a bubble of tension that could break into chaos at any moment. Who would self-destruct first?
“What?” The screechy question came from the hallway.
He wheeled around to see Bri sagging against the wall. Her face was pale and her eyes wide. Shock registered on every inch of her body.
They hadn’t heard her return because of their yelling. Anger extinguished under a wet blanket of shame. He and Dani had acted like toddlers, not responsible parents. “Bri, let me explain.”
She shook her head back and forth, her eyes going even wider. “I know how babies are made, and I don’t want to hear the gory details, Dad.”
Chapter Fourteen
Shock jolted Danielle’s body and slammed electricity into her limbs. Her legs jerked, moving forward and then standing back. After thirteen years of keeping secrets, the truth was out. Not in the way she’d always imagined—sitting down and explaining to Bri her reasons for keeping the secret for so long—no, the truth was shouted in anger.
And it was Bri who took the brunt of her and Luke’s fight.
The electrical jolt sizzled into sorrow and regret. Bri looked as if she’d been beaten up by her best friend, or crashed in a race and slid to the bottom of the course, lying in a slump of humility.
“Bri.” Dani raced to the hall and went to put her arms around her daughter.
Bri brushed her off. “Don’t touch me.” She glared with disgust. “Luke is my father?”
Danielle nodded, unable to speak past the lump in her throat. Tears pricked. Her stomach hollowed with devastation and guilt about keeping the secret for so long, about how Bri learned the truth.
Bri’s brows hunched over angry eyes. “You said my father was a one-night stand!”
Danielle never should’ve made up the lie.
Luke’s shocked expression morphed to horrified. “No. Never.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Bri’s torment shot through Danielle.
Even if her and Luke’s relationship didn’t work out, she would’ve been willing to tell Bri if Luke had planned to stick around. He wasn’t. One broken heart in the house was enough.
Danielle glanced at the lost look in Luke’s expression. He seemed as shocked as Bri. He didn’t know what to say. Taking a deep breath, she firmed her shoulders. Bri was her daughter and she’d explain.
At first Bri had been too young to understand. Dani had thought they’d never see Luke again. When Bri had asked questions, she’d given vague excuses, not ready to admit. When Luke had returned, she’d feared having to share her child, torn between two homes and possibly countries. And wrapped around it all like an unwanted Christmas present, Danielle had been terrified of Bri falling in love with her father and having her heart ripped in two. “Bri, sweetie, you don’t understand.”
Bri staggered to an upright position. “I do understand! I understand a lot of things. For example, what went on between you two in the hotel.”
The gigantic snowball of insinuation bombarded Danielle. The cold buzzed into her bloodstream, and she froze. She didn’t know what to do, or what to say, to make this situation better.
Luke’s cheeks reddened. “Don’t talk to your mother that way.”
She unfroze at Luke’s defense of her.
“Why should I listen to you, Dad?”
Luke jerked back. His eyes wide open as if he’d been hit. Danielle understood the feeling.
“Both of you knew and kept me in the dark.” Bri stomped a bare foot on the ground. She took a step backward. “It’s you two who don’t understand me.”
“Bri, listen.” The anguish in Luke’s tone touched Danielle.
Not only had she unfroze, she softened. She wanted to make this better for him so he could have a relationship with his daughter. A girl needed a father whether he was in the same house or across the world. She and Bri would work out their disagreements, they always did.
“Bri, please. Let me explain.” Danielle’s voice begged. She had to get through to her.
“Leave me alone. I don’t want to talk right now.” Bri marched to her bedroom and slammed the door.
The sound of the closing door reverberated in Danielle’s chest. Her shoulders slumped and she wanted to flop down on the couch and bury herself under the blanket and pillows. She’d talk to Bri later when she calmed.
“I’m
sorry, Dani.” Regret focused in Luke’s moist eyes.
She blew a shaky breath. He hadn’t meant to yell his paternity. And she knew, if she hadn’t been furious with him already, she wouldn’t have made such a big deal about the skis. If he’d been staying in Castle Ridge she would’ve let Bri keep the gift.
But he wasn’t staying.
He wasn’t keeping his promise to Coach and the team. He wasn’t keeping the promise he’d made to her with his body. Danielle’s earlier softening toward Luke stopped. Her blood changed back to ice. The pointed ice shaft slashed and stabbed at the anger simmering since speaking to Vivienne. The hurt he always caused exploded inside of Danielle.
He’d told his agent about Bri when he’d promised not to tell anyone. He’d bought her skis. Luke wasn’t a man of his word. He wasn’t the man for her. He needed to leave. She didn’t want to demand the truth from Luke about his future plans. The truth would only cause more pain.
“For what?” She truly was reliving her past mistakes. She wanted to lash out, hurt him as much as he’d hurt her. “Hurting me thirteen years ago or hurting our daughter now?”
Luke moved toward her on the couch. His eyes intensified in color as if emotions hit him hard. He opened his mouth.
She couldn’t hear any more excuses. “Go home, Luke.”
The word home choked. Luke stayed in a hotel, not a home, and only temporarily. Castle Ridge wasn’t Luke’s home. And never would be again.
* * *
“Give me the original Akio contract.” Luke stormed into Vivienne’s hotel room, fury blazing even after the walk through a freezing snowstorm.
Snow had pelted his face and whipped at his open coat. He hadn’t cared. Dani had ordered him out of her house and out of her life. It was time to move on, get out of Castle Ridge, and not sacrifice the marketing deals he’d made. He’d take the full deal, not the half-deal he’d negotiated so he could stay in town.
Dani didn’t love him. Bri didn’t want him. He’d planned to settle down for them. To change the Akio deal, to revise older contracts with other sponsors, to only commit to a few ski competitions the rest of this year.
For them.
Heat steamed off of his wet clothes, he was so hot. His collar strangled him. He’d give anything to be able to strap on a pair of skis and hit the slopes, experiencing the cold air on his face. The ski lift wouldn’t be operating for much longer today with the way the wind howled. Plus, skiing in this frame of mind and with his current injury would be bad.
Bri wouldn’t even look at him after she’d learned the truth. She didn’t want him as a father. She abhorred the news. He wasn’t good enough to be her dad.
The crush of rejection weighed him down. His brain processed slower, his injured knee tortured more, his chest throbbed.
“What’s wrong? I thought you worked out a deal with their marketing department.” Vivienne sat at the small hotel desk, a laptop computer in front of her, and confusion on her face.
“Give me the damn contract to sign. The original contract.”
“What made you change your mind?” She swiveled in the chair to study him—a specimen and not a client.
She worked for him. His reasons or motivations weren’t any of her business.
“Does it matter?” He paced around her room, stomping, resembling an angry bull. “This is what you want.”
Standing, she angled her head. Her blonde curls springing with the movement. “I wanted the original deal because it’s good for your career, and will make you and me a lot of money.” She touched his arm with concern. “What’s up?”
“What’s with the questions?” He ripped the pen off the desk and choked it between his fingers. “I’ll sign.”
She stared at him with an intensity almost making him confess. “I don’t feel right letting you sign a contract that will take away two years of your life, eight months at a time, when you’re in this mood. Something happened with Dani.”
He hated that Vivienne could read him so easy. It was part of her negotiating skills. Usually, she was on his side. This time she was his opponent. “It’s over with Dani.”
Vivienne tapped her chin with a finger. “Lovers’ tiff.”
“Lovers’ rift. Permanent. Unfixable.” Everything inside him hardened. He gripped the pen tighter. “Contract?”
“I know how you feel about Dani. And after talking to her earlier today, she feels the same about you.”
He grabbed Vivienne’s upper arms. “You talked to her?”
“Yes. Like we’d talked about before I arrived in town.”
The urge to throttle Vivienne clenched in his fingertips. He pulled his hands away. “That was days ago. Things have changed.” Significantly.
He’d asked Vivienne to pretend they were dating before he’d actually suggested pretend dating to Dani. Before he’d known about Bri. When Vivienne had kissed him at the bottom of the slopes in front of Dani and the other parents, he’d felt terrible.
“What did you say to Dani this afternoon?”
“I let her see the original Akio contract and I watched her reaction.” Vivienne removed his hands from her and took the pen from between his fingers.
“You were testing her.”
“Of course, I was.” She examined her blouse for pen marks. “If one of my best clients is giving up his dream to go for something different, I want to make sure it’s the right course.”
His anger switched focus. “You had no right. Dani was angry at me when she came home from work.”
“I’m sorry. Once you explain, she’ll be fine.” Vivienne placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. “A fight isn’t the end. Sometimes a fight is the beginning of a relationship. It’s a way to discuss your differences and to move on and build forward.”
His feelings for Dani had to show, resembling a glaring red light for his cutthroat agent to be sympathetic. “This from the woman who only moves on?”
She smashed her lips together and her gaze narrowed. Luke didn’t know her entire history. Something had happened in her past to make her cold and hard.
“I’m sorry.” Regret filled his voice.
He was sorry for hurting Vivienne. Sorry for shouting out the truth about Bri in front of her. Sorry he and Dani couldn’t make it work. They’d become two different people in the time they’d spent apart. He didn’t know her like he used to, but he knew what he had to do. He’d find a way to repair his relationship with Bri before leaving town and he’d keep in contact with her.
The plan solidified in his head. The barriers around his heart built higher. “I know what I’m doing. Dani and I aren’t going to happen. You should be pleased. I’m going to sign the original contract, do the Akio deal, solidify my career, and make both of us a ton of money.”
Vivienne’s eyes didn’t alight with her normal avaricious success. Her lips set in stubborn shape. “I’ll print it out and send it to you tomorrow.”
He recognized a bluff when he saw it. “Now, Vivienne. I want to sign the contract now.”
Before he weakened and changed his mind. Before he went back to Dani and begged her for another chance.
“My computer is off and I’d have to go to the front desk to print it.” She waved at the now-blank screen on her laptop.
That’s what Dani had meant about seeing a contract. Vivienne had printed it at the front desk when Dani was working. “Bull. You showed Dani the original contract to see her reaction. Get it.”
“Fine.” She strutted to the desk and opened her leather briefcase. Yanking out a stack of papers, a stubborn expression set on her face. She set the papers on the desk and flipped through to the last page. “It’s got all of our standard clauses. Sign here.”
He picked up the pen, his hand hesitating above the document. “I should read the fine print.”
“Don’t you trust me?” Her eyebrows arched. “I’m meeting someone. Sign them now, or take them with you to read and give them back to me tomorrow.”
Giving him m
ore time to think.
“I trust you.” He didn’t trust himself to wait.
He signed his name with a flourish to the contract. “There.”
Normally, he felt satisfaction when signing a lucrative sponsorship deal. This time he felt as if he’d signed with his own blood. Or his heart.
She slipped the contract off the desk. “I hope you’re sure.”
“I am.” Doubts already ate at his insides. “Aren’t you going to scan and send the contract?”
“Are you going to watch me?”
“Don’t have anything better to do.” He had nothing except his career left now. He only hoped his body held out for the length of the contract.
And Bri. He’d make it right with her. Be a real father.
“Fine.” Tight-lipped, she turned the computer back on, took out a portable scanner and fed the contract inside.
“When will this project start?” He sounded as if he were going to prison, not representing one of the newest technologies in the ski world.
She typed on her computer and composed a quick email. “As soon as you’re able to ski again. And it’s done.”
His abs shredded to ribbons, the flaps weaving together in a tight knot. One of the biggest deals in his career was signed and delivered. Why did he feel as if he’d sold his soul?
His ringing phone interrupted his pity party. He glanced at the screen. Dani’s number. His pulse jumped and pounded. She’d rejected him. He didn’t know what to do, or what to say to her anymore.
“Aren’t you going to answer?” Vivienne scowled, not knowing who was on the other line, and annoyed with him when she’d gotten what she wanted all along.
He couldn’t not answer. What if Dani was calling to apologize? He braced himself for Dani’s voice. “Luke, here.”
“It’s Dani.” Her terse tone sent his body on full alert. “Bri’s gone.”
Chapter Fifteen
“What do you mean?” Luke’s question didn’t convey his tense muscles or chilled skin.
“I went to bring Bri dinner in her bedroom and she isn’t there.” Dani’s worry twisted his own tension. “I called her friends and no one knows where she is. I was hoping maybe she’d contacted you.”
The Christmas Match: Castle Ridge Small Town Romance Page 17
