Any Way You Want It
Upper Crust Book 5
By Monique McDonell
Any Way You Want It, Copyright Monique McDonell
Published by Redfish Publishing
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Table of Contents
Any Way You Want It
Any Way You Want It, Copyright Monique McDonell
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
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Acknowledgements
Any Way You Build It, Book 6 in the Upper Crust Series out February 2017.
Chapter 1
Chloe stood behind the counter of the ice-cream parlor she ran in Ranger’s Hollow, New Hampshire. It was mid-afternoon in late January and she was questioning her sanity. Who wanted ice cream in the dead of winter? No one. What made her think staying open was a good idea?
The truth was her uncle who had gifted her the business usually left for Florida after Christmas and returned around Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, Chloe had no resources and nowhere to go. She was stuck.
She wiped the counter down for the third time in an hour. A table in the middle of the room held two mothers and two toddlers, here for one of the children’s birthdays. They were her fourth set of customers all day. Before them she’d made coffee for her friends Marissa and Mike who were recently engaged. Thank goodness they’d at least stayed to talk to her. A truck driver passing through town had stopped in for a hot chocolate, and a woman whose child had just had his tonsils removed stopped by for a pint. That was it. She had to admit she was bored and frustrated.
Then again, how had she imagined life in rural New Hampshire would be? She’d come here for the peaceful life and she’d gotten it. She reminded herself how lucky she was that her uncle had decided to head south and left her with a home and a business. She was, after all, alone in the world, with nothing more than a high school diploma and a series of bad choices behind her. Still, she liked to remind herself that considering the sheltered upbringing she’d had in a small religious community she wasn’t exactly prepared for who or what the world had shown her.
Life in this town was a little dull right now, but the three years before she’d come here had been more than exciting enough. She’d come here to get her head on straight, get some stability, and learn to spot bad men when she saw them coming.
The problem was, as her friend Marissa had pointed out recently, now she was rejecting the good men, too.
Her mind drifted to Moose. Thomas “Moose” Masters was six feet four, built like a linebacker, and seemed to have quite a soft spot for her. For the last month, he’d been stopping in every week or so just to have a chat and an ice-cream sundae. She liked the way he looked at her, like she was the cherry on top of the sundae. She liked the way he was quick to smile and hard to fluster. She couldn’t deny having him around was nice for her ego. Still, that’s all it was ever going to be, a flirtation.
Moose was smart, well educated, and loaded. Guys like Moose might say pretty things to girls like Chloe, they might wine and dine them and take them to bed, but they did not end up with them, and she would be smart to remember that. She could almost hear her mother’s voice in her head, reminding her. Last time she’d decided to go into a relationship blinkered she’d been lucky to make it out alive. She was not making a mistake like that again.
Moose sat in his truck and contemplated his next move. He was parked across the street from the ice-cream parlor. He could see Chloe through the window and she looked as pretty as ever. He didn’t know what it was about her that had him driving hours out of his way to visit. Whatever it was, it was a powerful force. Common sense flew out the window the day he first laid eyes on her and he couldn’t quite seem to make it fly back.
He had a present for her for heaven’s sake. He barely knew the woman and he’d driven all the way to Boston and back to buy a very expensive gift for a woman he didn’t know. He’d known he was crazy the whole time he’d been doing it, but that hadn’t stopped him.
He clunked his head on the steering wheel. “Goddammit.”
Then he picked up the phone and dialed his old friend Chase. This was his fault. Chase had introduced him to Marissa at his own engagement party, and while they hadn’t had any real chemistry, they’d become friends and that’s how Chloe had come into his life.
“Hey, Moose,” Chase said, his voice happy down the phone.
“Hey. Can I ask you something?”
“Shoot.”
“It’s kind of dumb.”
“Are you okay?”
“Not really, I’m a freaking idiot.”
“No news there.” His old friend was having a good laugh at his expense.
“Ha. Ha.” He sighed. “What do you know about Chloe?”
“Chloe at the ice-cream parlor where Lucy used to work?”
“Yeah, Chloe.” As if there was another Chloe in existence. There wasn’t for Moose.
“Not much. She’s from Texas. Her uncle owned the business. He was a nice guy.”
“That’s it?”
“Everyone likes her. She’s given Lucy’s niece a part-time job. That’s it.”
“You’re no help.”
“I guess not. Why are you asking about Chloe?”
“I kind of like her.”
“Like her . . .” There was a pause while he processed it. “Oh, like that.”
“Yeah, like that, but I don’t think she’s interested.”
“Advice. You’re a whole lot of guy. Smart, wealthy, educated, big job. Don’t overwhelm her.”
“So I shouldn’t start giving her big fancy gifts?”
“You definitely should not.”
Moose hung up. He watched a guy get off a motorcycle just outside the parlor. He didn’t look like an ice-cream kind of a guy. The man seemed to be watching Chloe, too. Something about the guy made Moose uncomfortable. He slid from the truck and headed toward his girl, his gift left firmly
in the trunk.
Chloe turned and felt the blood drain from her face. A man she’d hoped never to see again was standing in the entrance to the ice-cream parlor. Fear pricked at the back of her neck.
“Nice place, kid,” he said.
“Thanks, it’s my uncle’s.”
The women and toddlers turned to look at him. His appearance was at odds with the venue. His hair was a shock of black, he wore tight jeans and a leather jacket, and a spider web tattoo wove up the left side of his neck. He looked tired and he looked mean.
“So I heard.” His gravelly voice had an edge to it.
She wondered who had given up her location. If she had to pick, she would have to guess Trudy, but it might have been Carrie. It didn’t matter. He must have threatened whoever it was, and he was a man known for following through on his threats.
The door opened again and Moose walked in behind him. She couldn’t decide if this was good timing or bad.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said, sliding onto a stool at the counter, as if he didn’t notice the other man or the atmosphere.
“Hey, Moose.” His eyes met hers in a steady gaze that she hoped said, “I have your back.”
The other guy, Viper, slid into a booth in the corner. The women thanked her, gathered their children, and beat a hasty exit. It was like a scene from a bad western where the bad guy enters the saloon.
“Quiet again today, huh?” Moose observed.
“Yes, what brings you here?” she asked, pouring his coffee.
“I came to see my favorite girl. I missed you.” His smile was genuine and he gave her hand a squeeze.
She released her hand from his and made her way over to Viper. “What can I get you?”
“I came to talk to you.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
He grabbed her wrist hard. “Yeah, well, I have plenty to say to you.”
She felt Moose come up behind her and extend a hand to Viper. “We haven’t met. I’m Moose.”
Viper released her. “I’m Viper.”
“Really, we’re like our own little zoo. Moose, Viper, get it?” Moose teased.
Viper ignored Tom, and his eyes met hers. “Who is this guy to you?”
Some moments in life called for brutal honesty and some called for an audacious lie. This was one of the latter.
“This is Moose; he’s my fiancé.”
Boy, this had escalated fast. One minute he’d been sitting in the car, wondering how to ask Chloe out, and the next they were engaged. Sometimes you blink and you miss a lot it seemed.
“Fiancé?” said the man called Viper.
“Yep, we’re only recently engaged. It’s been a whirlwind.” He dangled his arm around her shoulder, and he kissed her temple. If she was going to use him as her fake fiancé, he might as well get in close while the getting was good. She smelled like cotton candy, hardly surprising where she worked. He’d never think of the carnival the same way again.
“No one back home said anything.” Viper’s eyes were beady anyway, and now they were narrowed to slits.
“This is my home now. And I’m not really in touch with people there much. I wanted a fresh start.”
He grunted at Chloe who soldiered on. “Can I get you some coffee?”
“Oh, speaking of coffee, I have a big surprise for you, honey. Wait here.”
Moose decided a tangible sign of their relationship was well and truly in order to get Viper off the scent. He didn’t know what the story was exactly, but he knew that the other man was suspect at the very least. He didn’t want to leave her alone with him, but he’d be quick.
“Okay.”
“We still need to talk,” he heard Viper say. “You’re the reason I did time.”
“That’s not true,” he heard her say. Time? Seriously, this guy was a criminal? Then again, not that surprising, he didn’t look like he’d come from the country club. Moose was not leaving Chloe alone with a criminal one second longer than necessary.
He raced to the truck and returned as fast as he could with his very large box.
He pushed the door open and interrupted what looked like a rather heated discussion.
“Moose, what have you got there?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Open it.” He put the box on a table and she came around and started ripping the tape. He hadn’t wrapped it, but all the writing on the box was in Italian so there was no need. She pulled out the Styrofoam and filler and he helped her remove the box.
It was a very expensive, very fancy Italian espresso machine. It was both a beautiful piece of engineering and a work of art, in his opinion at least. It was made of shiny copper and it sparkled in the sunlight.
“What have you done?”
“I thought it would be good for business,” he said, as if that made perfect sense. And then added, “Honey.”
“It’s beautiful.” She ran her hand over it like it was a precious and fragile flower. He wished it was him beneath those hands. And then she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you.”
He eyeballed her. “Anything for my fiancée.”
And then for extra measure, he took her mouth in his and gave her a slow, languorous kiss.
Chapter 2
Moose was kissing her. She was kissing Moose. He’d just bought her a hugely expensive Italian coffee machine and he was kissing her. And Viper was here. But mainly, all she could focus on was the delicious feeling of being kissed by Moose. So she kissed him back, just in case this was her only opportunity to kiss this beautiful, kind, sexy man who was clearly way out of her league.
She tried to focus on the moment, but the truth was Viper, or Kevin Michael Moses as he was known, was here watching this moment. It was crazy. She’d only ever kissed two men in her life. These two men. One who was a convicted felon who had used her and destroyed her life, and the other, the one she was kissing now, who seemed to be nothing but good.
This was more than a friendly kiss; this was a toe curler of the highest order. In fact, this was the best kiss of her life.
Moose released her and gave her a big, sexy grin.
“I thought it would be good over in the window,” he said. She could barely speak and yet he was up for a chat about logistics.
“Ah, sure. You do know I don’t know how to use this, right?”
“I’ll teach you. We have one at the resort. I’m a pro.”
She was aware of Viper’s eyes on her, watching all this. This was not how he knew her. She hadn’t been a business owner, and she certainly hadn’t had anyone in her corner looking out for her back then, which he knew because he’d preyed on that.
She realized he hadn’t ordered anything. “Did you want to order anything?” She didn’t know what to say to him.
“Just coffee.”
“That must have set you back,” Viper said to Moose, tilting his head at the machine.
“I got a deal. Still, nothing’s too good for my girl. And she’s mighty pretty.”
“Chloe?” Viper asked as if he’d never noticed that.
“Well, I meant the coffee machine, but Chloe is also pretty as a picture.”
Chloe was fascinated by the exchange. Most people were scared of Viper. He was used to being intimidating. That was how he got his way. He looked mean and acted like he was mean, and more often than not, he didn’t have to do much more. Moose didn’t seem phased by him at all.
“So where are you heading, Viper?” Moose asked the question Chloe wanted to ask.
“I’m thinking I might stick around New Hampshire for a while,” he said.
That was not the answer she wanted to hear. But she tried to keep her expression neutral.
“Do you ski, Viper?” Moose asked. Was he serious? Viper didn’t look one bit like a skier. “There’s some great powder around now, both in New Hampshire and further north. Otherwise, really, there’s just a whole lot of cold on offer.”
Viper looked at him. Chloe could tell he wanted to say
something rude, but the truth was Moose had been nothing but polite.
“Not a skier,” he said in a measured tone. “Where does one stay around here?”
Chloe was very happy now that this was a two-horse town with no hotel. “Well, there’s nowhere in this town, next town over has a couple of bed and breakfasts or Manchester or Nashua are your best bets.”
“Where’d you come from?” Moose asked.
“Texas.”
“Long way to ride with no fixed plan.”
“I had a plan,” he said pointedly. “Plans change.”
And then the magnitude of the situation hit her. Viper had fully intended to stay with her, in her house, which would have been a disaster, and had Moose not appeared today she would have been hard-pressed to stop him. She felt inclined to kiss Moose again. Instead, she moved behind the counter where he was assessing the space for the espresso machine and gave his hand a squeeze.
“Did you want something to eat, Viper? Chloe doesn’t do much savory stuff here but her grilled cheese sandwiches are legendary.”
Viper drained his coffee cup and stood. “I’m good. Maybe next time.”
And with that, he walked out of the parlor.
Moose looked down at her and said sweetly, “Until that man is on his bike roaring down Main Street, you need to stand there and act like it was no big deal, okay?”
She gave him a nod and started to wipe the counter for the fourth time today.
The bike roared past and Moose moved in to wrap an arm around Chloe’s shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he asked. She was pale and shaking.
“I feel sick.”
“He’s a scary guy,” Moose said.
“You didn’t seem scared.” She was blinking back tears.
“I took a couple of acting classes back in college. Plus, I’m a big guy. Assuming he was unarmed, I could have taken him.”
“Assuming he was unarmed . . .” she muttered. He put a hand on each shoulder and guided her to a booth where he deposited her in a seat. Then he walked over and poured her a glass of water. He didn’t take his eyes off her sweet but terrified face. She clearly had a lot to process.
Any Way You Want It : An Upper Crust Series Novel (The Upper Crust Series Book 5) Page 1
