by Marie Force
“We should go.”
It took a moment for her words to register and for him to climb out of the fog of desire he’d slipped into while kissing her. He stared at her, wanting to etch every detail of how she looked in that moment into his memory bank.
“Do I have something on my face?” she asked, seeming unnerved by his inspection.
“No. You’re just . . .”
“What?”
“Beautiful.”
A flush overtook her cheeks, giving Tyler pause to wonder if that was the first time in her life that Charley Abbott had actually blushed.
“Thank you.”
Tyler pulled the seatbelt across her and snapped it into place and then forced himself to withdraw, closing the door behind him. Walking around to the driver’s side, he ached from the discomfort of unfulfilled desire. Every time he went near her, he ended up in this condition.
The ride downhill from his place to town was dicey, thanks to the snow that had fallen overnight. He took the hairpin turns with care, thankful for the four-wheel drive that was a staple of winter in Vermont.
“What do you do when it really snows?” she asked, breaking a long silence.
“I stay home. I’ve got everything I need up there, including a generator if the power goes out.”
“Oh, fancy.”
“It’s more a necessity. Without power, I can’t run my business.”
“We’ve got one at the store, but it’s only enough to keep the refrigerators going and the heat on so the pipes don’t burst.”
Speaking of pipes bursting, he thought, as he adjusted himself to make room for the erection that wouldn’t quit when she was close by. Her scent filled the air around him, making him wish it had snowed enough to keep them at home today. Not that he’d want her to miss out on time with her family, but he was feeling greedy for more of her. Today was going to be a very long day as he anticipated what would probably happen when they got home again later.
Twenty slow minutes after they left his house, he pulled into the driveway at her parents’ big red barn. Sturdy SUVs and pickup trucks were parked outside and a number of dogs frolicked in the snow. Tyler eyed the path to the door and surmised that Charley wouldn’t be able to navigate the mud and slush with her crutches.
He got out of the car and went around to help her. “You’d better let me give you a lift, honey. Otherwise, you’re apt to slip and fall.”
She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth as she surveyed the terrain and came to the same conclusion. “Okay.”
Tyler kept waiting for her to snap at him, to tell him not to call her honey because she wasn’t his honey. But she didn’t. Rather, she released the seatbelt and went willingly—or so it seemed to him—into his arms for the ride inside. Her brother Will appeared at the mudroom door as they approached and opened it for them.
“All hail Queen Charlotte,” Will called over his shoulder. “Make way for Her Highness.”
“Bite me,” Charley said to her brother, who laughed.
“I’ll pass. The last guy who bit you broke a tooth.”
“That is not true,” she said with a meaningful smirk that immediately put Tyler’s hackles up. The thought of another guy biting her . . . Ugh.
“Take her in there.” Will pointed the way for Tyler, who’d never been inside the charming home before. As a man who appreciated architecture, he wanted to take in every detail of the restored barn. It had been lovingly decorated for Christmas and looked like something you might see in a magazine.
Though he wanted to linger for a closer look, he had precious cargo in his arms that needed to be delivered. He followed the sound of voices to the great room, where a raging fire in the stone fireplace was one focal point. The other was the massive Christmas tree that occupied the other end of the huge room. In the center of the room, an easy chair had been decked out with white balloons and streamers and other decorations.
“Anywhere but there,” Hannah said, pointing to the chair that had been reserved for the bride.
Tyler carried Charley to the sofa and put her down carefully before dragging an ottoman over so she could rest her leg on something. “You want a pillow, too?”
“Nah, the footstool is fine.” She unzipped her coat, and he took it for her. “Thanks for the lift.”
“No problem. Pick you up after?”
She glanced up at him, doing that uncertain thing with her lip again, and he decided he rather liked making her uncertain. He suspected that didn’t happen very often. “Sure.”
“Great.” His entire system flooded with an unreasonable amount of relief. “See you then. Have fun.”
“You, too.”
Tyler knew he should walk away, that he should leave her to enjoy the shower while he went skiing. One afternoon apart wasn’t going to change anything, but even knowing that, a pang of anxiety struck him anyway.
“You ready to roll, Tyler?” Will asked.
“Yeah, whenever you are.” He left Charley with one last smile and followed Will back to the mudroom, taking the anxiety with him as he went.
CHAPTER 11
Our lives improve only when we take chances—and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.
—Walter Anderson
Charley watched Tyler go, wondering what he’d been thinking as he stared down at her. He unnerved her with the intense way he looked at her, as if he had a million things he wanted to tell her.
Cameron plopped down next to her on the sofa. “Holy sexy hotness, Batman.”
“Eww.” Charley covered her ears. “I don’t need to hear that about my own brother.”
“I’m not talking about Will, although he is crazy hot. I meant Tyler. Whoa. He’s totally into you.” Cameron nudged her with an elbow. “What goes on in the love nest up on the hill?”
“Your imagination is working overtime.”
Cameron took an assessing look at Charley that made her feel exposed. “I don’t think it is.”
Ella brought Charley a steaming cup of cider.
“Please tell me this is spiked,” Charley said.
“Mine is,” Ella said. “Yours isn’t. Not while you’re still taking painkillers.”
“Did Tyler tell you to say that?”
“Nope. I figured that out all on my own.” To Cameron she added, “Is she spilling any of the dirty details?”
“Not yet, but I think she was about to.”
“Think again,” Charley said dryly.
“That means there’re dirty details to spill,” Cameron said. “Come on! I’m an old married woman now. I’m living vicariously through you single girls.”
“Are you already bored with Will?” Charley asked.
“Hardly,” Cameron said, waggling her brows.
Charley rolled her eyes. “I’ll say again—ewww.”
Cameron laughed at the face Charley made at her. “There’s nothing ewww about it. More like ahhhh.”
“Make it stop, Ella,” Charley said.
“Cam, I think Hannah said she needed your help in the kitchen,” Ella said.
“I see right through this ruse, ladies,” Cameron said as she got up. “I’ll be back for the dirty details later.”
“Thank you,” Charley said to Ella when they were alone. Lowering her voice, she added, “I see potential pregnancy hasn’t done anything to quell her need to know everything.”
“I’m not even potentially pregnant—that I know of, anyway—and I need to know everything, too. What goes on up there on the mountain?”
“Oh, you know. This. And that.”
“Charlotte Abbott—tell me everything right now.”
She shifted her gaze down to her hands. “We’ve been, you know, fooling around. Some. As much as we can.” She gestured to the leg brace that represented a world
of frustration.
“This is huge,” Ella whispered loudly—too loudly for Charley’s liking.
“Shush. I don’t want everyone hearing.”
“I think they’ve already figured out that something is up with him.”
“Still, I’m not ready to confirm anything.”
“You guys are like together, though, right?”
“No, nothing like that. We’re just hanging out. And fooling around. That’s it.”
“Does he know that?”
“Yes,” Charley said, beginning to feel exasperated by the inquisition. “He knows.”
“What specifically does he know?”
“Ella! Seriously?”
“Dead serious. What did you say to him?”
“I told him I don’t do serious and committed, and if he wants to hang out and have fun and fool around sometimes, I’m down for that. Anything more, not my vibe.”
“You actually said that?”
“Something like that.”
“And he actually went for it?”
Charley shrugged. “He was fine with it.”
Ella eyed her skeptically. “Really?”
“Really. Is there food? I’m starving.” She wasn’t even slightly hungry because Tyler had once again fed her an elaborate breakfast, but she was anxious to get rid of Ella and her questions.
“Yeah, there’s food. When is there not food at Mom’s house?”
“How about you go get me some?” Charley asked with a saccharine smile.
Ella got up. “Yes, ma’am. I’ll get right on that.”
Her mother came into the room a few minutes later bearing a tray for Charley. “I hear you’re hungry,” Molly said as she set the tray on Charley’s lap.
“Thanks, Mom.” Though she didn’t feel particularly hungry, Charley’s stomach growled at the sight of chicken salad rolls, pickles, chips and two brownies. “This looks yummy.”
Molly sat next to her on the sofa. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better every day.”
“It’s weird that you’re up there with him rather than here with us.”
Charley laughed at her mother’s blunt statement. “Gee, Mom, tell me how you really feel.”
“I just did. What gives, Charlotte?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“As you well know, Vivienne and Dave Westcott are friends of ours. It would be unfortunate if our daughter were to hurt their son in some way.”
Charley wished it were possible to squirm without causing herself pain. “I’m not going to hurt him. We’re friends. I’ve been very up-front with him about what I want—and what I don’t want.” Images from the last few nights chose that particular moment to resurface in her mind, setting off a low throb between her legs.
“From all accounts, he wants everything from you. If you’re not feeling the same way, please don’t lead him on. He’s a very nice young man.”
“I know he is, and I like him—a lot. I’m not sure of anything else but that right now, and I’m not going to be pushed into calling this something it’s not just to make everyone else happy.”
“That’s fair enough I suppose.”
“Whatever it is, it’s new, and we’ll figure it out.”
The arrival of Megan and her sister, Nina, extricated Charley from the uncomfortable conversation. Why did everyone care so much about what was going on with her and Tyler? Why were they all so invested? And then another more unsettling thought took root—what would her brothers say to Tyler today while they had him up on the mountain?
—
Fresh powder, bright sunshine and fast runs made for a great day on the slopes of Butler Mountain. The Abbott brothers and their cousin Noah were a bunch of crazy bastards, though, so Tyler hung back with Gavin Guthrie, who had confessed to not being much of a skier. “My brother was like them.” From their vantage point on the chair lift, Gavin used one of his poles to point to Will, Hunter, Colton, Wade, Lucas and Landon Abbott, who flew down the mountain with Noah, all of them traveling at breakneck speeds.
“I’ve never seen anyone ski the way Will does,” Tyler said.
“He was this close to the Olympics in snowboarding when he blew out his knee.”
They took the lift up to the black diamond slopes, but unlike the Abbotts, who did two runs to their one, Gavin and Tyler took their time navigating the difficult terrain. Tyler wasn’t looking to injure himself when he had to take care of Charley.
“Speaking of blown-out knees,” Gavin said as the lift took them back up again, “how’s Charley doing?”
“Better every day. She’ll be off the crutches soon, and the physical therapist says she’s doing great. Of course Charley hates her guts.”
Gavin laughed. “Of course she does. That’s Charley for you.” He glanced over at Tyler. “I have to be honest . . . I was surprised to hear she was going home with you after her accident.”
“I think everyone was surprised to hear that, especially her.”
“So you guys are together now?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Yet.” Tyler hesitated for a second, trying to decide if he should “go there” with Gavin, who he’d known since Gavin’s logging company supplied the lumber for Tyler’s house. That he was about to confide in someone he didn’t know all that well was an indication of how desperate Charley had made him. “Let me ask you something.”
“Sure.”
“When a woman says she’s not interested in a relationship, but she seems to be interested in everything that goes along with a relationship . . .”
“By everything you mean . . .”
“Everything.”
Gavin smiled widely. “Ahh, gotcha.”
“What does that mean?”
Gavin tipped his head thoughtfully as he pondered the question. “Why doesn’t she want a relationship?”
“She says it’s not her thing. Apparently, she has no interest in marriage and kids and white picket fences.”
“But she is interested in you?”
“To a certain extent.”
“And you’re into her?”
“Totally. Have been for a while now.”
Gavin rubbed at his jaw. “Hmm. That’s a tough one.”
“I know, believe me. I have no idea what I’m doing here. She’s like a puzzle that refuses to fit together in any way that makes sense.”
“That’s got to be kind of frustrating for you.”
“It’s maddening. We take a step forward, and then she takes three steps back, leaving my head spinning.”
“It sounds like she’s afraid to get hurt maybe.”
“Charley’s not afraid of anything,” Tyler said with a laugh. “She’s tough as nails.”
“Everyone is afraid of something, Tyler. No matter how tough they may appear to the outside world.” They got off the chair lift and skied to the side, out of the way of others exiting the lift. “Right now, I’m afraid of that,” Gavin said, gesturing to the steep slope. “My brother used to tell me I was the world’s biggest pussy when it came to skiing, but I never have been able to just say to hell with it and let go of the fear of crashing into something while standing on two sleds and going ninety miles an hour down a hill.”
His commentary had Tyler chuckling. “Gotta say I agree with you.”
“Caleb and the Abbotts and so many of the guys we grew up with never worried about crashing, but I always did. Still do. I guarantee there’s something Charley is afraid of, too. You just have to figure out what it is.”
Gavin had given Tyler plenty to think about, but the slope demanded all his attention as he followed Gavin down the steep trail. Despite what he’d said, Gavin was a more than competent skier, but he was right about the difference between those who were afraid of what might happen and th
ose who weren’t.
The metaphor wasn’t lost on Tyler. Gavin’s insight had helped to clarify a few things for him.
Much later, as the sun began to head for the horizon as it did far too early this time of year, Tyler joined the others for a beer in the lodge after the last run of the day. The Abbott brothers and their cousin Noah drank the way they skied, with hilarious abandon and nonstop bullshit.
“One more week, big brother,” Landon said as he raised a mug to Hunter. “There’s still time to run for your life.”
“I’m not running anywhere.” Hunter’s small, satisfied smirk told the story of a happy man counting the days until he married the love of his life.
Tyler knew a moment of pure envy. What must it be like to finally have the woman you most desire and to know she’d be with you for the long haul? After what Charley had said to him the night before, Tyler had good reason to believe that would never happen for him. And that was a profoundly depressing thought.
“How’s it going in your home rehab facility?” Wade asked Tyler, making him realize he’d zoned out.
“Good. Charley is getting better all the time.”
“Dude, we’re nominating you for a Purple Heart for taking her on,” Lucas said.
“No kidding,” Landon added. “Maybe a Purple Heart and an award for meritorious service, too.”
While the others laughed, Tyler smiled and shook his head. “No awards necessary. It’s been fun to take care of her.”
They stared at him, slack-jawed and stunned.
“Fun?” Will finally said, breaking the silence.
“Well, yeah. Other than the surgically repaired knee that’s given her some grief, she’s been fun to have around.”
“Wow,” Colton said, “can we urge you to please marry her since there’s not another man alive who will ever like her as much as you do?”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say, Colton,” Wade said. “She is our sister, even if she can be a pain. Have a little respect, will you?”
Tyler couldn’t have said it better himself.
“I don’t mean any disrespect,” Colton said sincerely. “You know I love Charley. We all do. But we also know how she can be, and all I’m saying is it’s going to take a special guy to . . . you know . . . take her on. Tyler might just be that special guy.”
