“Here you go.” He placed the water on the table and sat across from her in the booth. She took a sip and licked her lips. He had loved kissing those lips.
“Thanks so much for your help. For being here . . . and everything.”
“Everything?” A blush rose on her cheeks, at least she had her color back.
“For playing along.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, smiling at her. The truth was he’d do anything for her. He didn’t know what it was about her but for some reason he knew that was true. “You weren’t expecting his visit, I gather?”
She shook her head. He could tell she really didn’t want to tell him the story. “I didn’t think he knew where I was. I guess someone told him.”
“That seems like a shame.”
“I’m sure he gave them no option.” She let out a sigh and her head fell forward with a clunk on the table. “My life is a mess. I thought I could outrun it. Oh yeah, that’s not working for me, and I have appalling judgment when it comes to men.”
“Well, as your fiancé, I take great offense at that last bit.”
She peered up at him, her head resting on her crossed arms on the table. “I’m so sorry about that. I just needed him to think I was unavailable. It was a spur of the moment thing.”
He gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s okay. I’m happy to help. But it looks like he’s not going to just go away.”
“I know, and then he’s going to know we’re not engaged and all hell will break loose.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“What?”
“I’ll play along. We can stay engaged.”
In fact, as Moose thought about it, he felt a little excited. It would be fun to pretend to be her fiancé, and it would keep her safe. Of course, there was the added bonus that he would get to spend lots of time with her.
“I can’t drag you into this,” she said, shaking her head.
“First of all, I’m hardly kicking and screaming, and second, I’m already in. Oh yeah, and third, I don’t have to know the story to know it’s not a great idea for that guy to think you’re alone.”
“That may be true, but none of this is your problem. I mean, you don’t even know me or anything about me.”
“So, I’ll get to know you.”
Was this guy for real? She couldn’t have him around pretending to be her fiancé. It was a ludicrous idea. She didn’t know him, and he clearly knew very little about her or he wouldn’t be offering.
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t let you do that. Anyway, don’t you have a home to go to and a business to run?”
“Kind of, but I can work around that.”
She shook her head. “Why would you even want to help me?”
“Look, the truth is I like you, you seem like a decent person, and you look like you need a friend. I can be that friend.”
A friend? She sure could use a friend. Apart from her burgeoning friendships with Marissa and the Kowalski brothers, it had been a very long time since Chloe had been able to even say she’d had a friend. Since she’d walked away from her family, or run really, she’d been alone. She was tired and she was scared and she was lonely.
“A friend?”
“Sure, you know what friends are, right? They help each other out, have each other’s backs, that sort of thing.”
“Sure, but what’s in it for you? You don’t need my help.”
“Friendship isn’t always about both people needing something at the same time, Chloe. Anyway, maybe I need to do something different, to shake things up a bit.”
“Well, I guess pretending to be the fiancé of the girl who runs the ice-cream shop to put an ex-con off the scent would definitely be different for a guy like you all right.”
He grinned at her. “Exactly.”
“And how would this work do you suppose?”
“I’ll just move in with you, I suppose.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “Moose, I live in my uncle’s house, which is kind of like a shrine to Elvis Presley. I don’t think it is exactly what you’re used to.”
“I love the King,” he said.
“Nobody loves the King this much, I assure you.” She herself saw Elvis in her dreams these days and often had trouble figuring out if she was awake or asleep.
“Look, the guy doesn’t have a job, right? Or much money? He hasn’t got anywhere to stay and he doesn’t know anyone. It’s cold and he’s on a motorbike. Chances are he’ll be gone in a week anyway.”
She hoped so. Because the truth was she now had two men to get rid of, the difference was if Moose kept being this nice to her she might never want him to leave and he most definitely would.
Chapter 3
Moose managed to convince Chloe that she should shut up shop early.
“It’s not like I’m being mobbed,” she agreed. She had written her address on a napkin for him and he went out to his truck. He put in a call to his hotel manager when he got to the truck.
“Hey, Mark.”
“What’s up?”
“I’m taking a couple of days. Will you be okay? I’m on the phone if you need me. I’ll just be working remotely.”
“Sure, is everything all right?”
“Fine. All good.”
He watched Chloe walk out and lock up. Yep, she was fine all right. He couldn’t quite fathom how she had ever been involved with Viper. Heck, why would she even talk to a scary guy like that? That had to be quite a story. As he drove down Main Street, he spotted a small department store. It was not the kind of place he usually shopped but he pulled over and ran in for some T-shirts, underwear, and a flannel shirt.
He took a drive down Main Street and stopped outside the old Post Office again. Every time he came to town the building called to him. It was a beautiful old building with a wide porch and columns. Well, it had been and it could be again. It had potential to be something great, maybe even a hotel. As happy as he was that there was no place for Viper to stay in town, and not that he could see the guy in an inn, it seemed a shame the town had nothing like that. He slowed as he passed the building, yeah, a real shame.
Ten minutes later, he pulled up to Chloe’s house. It was a small two-story on a tree-lined street. He expected the street would be pretty in the spring. Right now, like the rest of the Northeast, it was buried under several feet of snow. Not that he minded that. Snow was very good for his business. If you run a ski resort, as he did, you had to love snow.
He grabbed his briefcase and the bag of clothes and took the stairs up to her door two at a time.
He gave a gentle knock. She was still in her retro 1960s’ ice-cream outfit. It occurred to him he hadn’t seen her in anything else.
“Now brace yourself, most people find it a little overwhelming, all this Elvis,” she said, her brow furrowed with concern as she stepped aside to let him in.
“Okay, I’m ready,” he said, mimicking her serious tone.
He looked past her and was assaulted by images of the King. He was on pillows, framed on the wall, and even standing in the corner as a life-sized wax figure. She hadn’t been kidding.
“So you weren’t exaggerating, then. Your uncle was a serious collector?”
“It seems so.”
“Doesn’t he miss all this stuff? I’d be happy to ship it to him in Florida.”
“Me, too.” She laughed. “He says no, but he said I can put it in the basement. I just, haven’t.”
“Why not? Don’t tell me he’s gotten to you, Elvis I mean?” Moose said, aware that he was still standing only a few steps inside the front door.
“It sounds weird, but it’s his home. I feel disloyal rearranging his things.”
“I think you should get over that. Anyway, you don’t have to move it all, just some of it. Like that guy,” he said, gesticulating at wax Elvis.
“I guess. I’ve been here seven months now . . . I guess it’s time.” She sighed. “Come through to the kitchen, althoug
h I must warn you most of the mugs are on the same theme, and the plates.”
Moose shook his head. How had she lived like a squatter for all this time and why? Had she planned to move on?
The kitchen was a classic sixties one, complete with the Formica red-topped table in the center.
“You want a beer? I sure could use one,” she said, turning her attention to the fridge. She looked very good from behind.
“Sure. So my fiancée drinks beer, good to know.”
“Yeah, about that, I’m still not so sure it’s a great idea. I mean, I don’t know you and I’m letting you into my house. You could be a lunatic. And I don’t think anyone would believe that a guy like you likes a girl like me.” She handed him a beer.
“Okay, good to be cautious. I’m not a lunatic, though I am a little hyper, so that can be annoying. And I think you need to work on your self-esteem because I see a smart, pretty woman who is running a business. Of course, people would believe we were together.”
“You’re determined to be nice to me, aren’t you?” she said, slumping down in a chair.
“Pretty much. I don’t have to be your fiancé if you’d rather not, but you’re going to need a different plan to ward off your friend, Viper.”
“I know, and I don’t have one . . . I just feel, ridiculous. I mean, I’m letting a guy I don’t know stay with me to ward off my criminal ex-boyfriend. I should have just stayed in the community; they were right, I can’t cut it out here on my own. Maybe I should go back.”
There were so many gaps, so many questions, he didn’t know where to start.
“Back?”
“Back to my family, back to the religious community I grew up in, back to Texas.”
“So, were they like a cult? You want to go rejoin a cult?”
She nodded. “We didn’t call it that, but sort of.”
“Wow.” He took a swig of beer. This was a lot to take in. “You must have left for a reason. That can’t have been easy.”
“I did, and no it wasn’t.”
At least that explained how a guy like Viper hooked his claws in. She wasn’t worldly enough or she hadn’t been prepared for guys like that. He didn’t want to think what that guy might have done.
“So maybe going back isn’t such a hot plan,” he said. “Look, why don’t we hang out tonight, get to know each other, and then we’ll see if another idea comes to us.”
“Okay. Thanks, Moose.” Then she paused. “Can I call you, Tom? I think your fiancée might use your real name.”
“Of course, honey, anything you want.”
“Okay, Tom. You want to tell me a bit about yourself. Marissa says you own a resort in Maine.”
“I don’t own it. My parents own it. I run it. I studied business and hotel management. We have another resort in Mexico. And a hotel in New Orleans. I want to expand. They want to retire, but they won’t give up the reins while I’m single.”
“They want you to get married?”
“They think I’ll be more stable.”
“Are you unstable now?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. My folks have been desperately in love since they were eighteen. They want that for me. I’m their only child, so they worry about me being alone.”
“Or lonely?” she suggested.
“That too.” He drained his beer. “They mean well. I just don’t agree with their methods, but I know they love me. I want them to be able to retire, so I’m feeling a bit of pressure.”
“I know what that’s like.”
He figured there was more to the story but he didn’t ask. “You must be beat after today. Shall I order us a pizza or something?”
She gave him a sweet smile that took his breath away. “Nah, if I’m going to have a fiancé, I’m definitely cooking for him. Do you like steak?”
He let out a low laugh. “Look at me, woman, of course I like steak.”
Chloe stood in the bathroom looking at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She was fresh out of the shower, which had been weird knowing she was naked and Moose, or Tom, a virtual stranger who had kissed the stuffing out of her only a few hours ago, was downstairs. This day was crazy.
She’d woken up wondering how her life had gotten so dull, and now she had a fake fiancé and Viper breathing down her neck.
She gave her hair a quick blow dry and let it hang loose. She pulled on some red and gray striped leggings and a long red top. This was not glamourous. It was comfortable but shouldn’t she make an effort, or should she? She had no idea really. She put on some mascara and lip-gloss and padded down to her room. She swapped the leggings for her favorite jeans and threw on a simple black top. She didn’t want to try too hard.
She’d spent her entire teen years in large oversized floral dresses, so anything too figure-hugging still felt weird. When she came down the stairs, Tom was on the phone, apparently to his mother.
“Ma, I’m just staying with a friend for a day or two.” He turned and smiled at her before letting his eyes roam up and down her body. “No, you don’t know her. Yes, it is a her. Chloe, her name is Chloe.”
He gave Chloe an exasperated eye roll and followed her into the kitchen. She could feel his eyes on her butt. Well, he could look.
“No, Mother, you do not need to come back from Mexico. I’m just working remotely.” He sighed. “Mom, I’m grown-assed man, okay? I love you, too. Bye.”
He was a nice guy who talked to his mother. It gave her pause. She missed her own mother. Sometimes the feeling was so acute it took all her effort to keep breathing.
“So, you’re a mama’s boy, huh?” she said as she bent to get some steaks from the fridge.
“Maybe, but I had the same conversation with my dad before her, so I don’t know exactly what that makes me.”
She looked over her shoulder, aware that his eyes were on her butt. “I think that makes you loved.”
“Well, I can work with that.” He moved in close and she handed him a bag of lettuce. She was aware of his proximity and his manly scent that seemed to have a hint of lemon about it. “There are worse things.”
“There sure are,” she said.
Like having to run away from your whole family and everyone you ever knew.
“So your uncle was in the Elvis cult not the religious one, huh?” he said by way of a question.
“My parents joined when I was a kid. My uncle is my mum’s brother. They were already estranged. He didn’t get on with my Dad.”
“Oh. How come?”
“I guess he felt that my Dad manipulated my mum and he wasn’t cool with that.”
“And did he?”
She nodded. “I’m pretty sure my mother isn’t exactly as enamored with their faith as he is, but it’s hard to leave. You get cut off from everyone if you leave.”
“And you did.” She nodded. “You were very brave.”
“Well, maybe not brave so much as out of options.”
“You want to tell me about that?”
She shook her head. “Not now.”
“So how can I help?”
“You can cook?” she asked.
“Actually, I can. One of the things about the hotels is my parents wanted me to understand all aspects of the business. I’ve worked in the kitchens, as a waiter, as a grounds man, done housekeeping, you name it.”
“Wow.” Was there anything this guy couldn’t do? she wondered.
“It’s really not that amazing. I think people just look at me and see a spoiled, wealthy guy, but we all have stories.” He was leaning against the counter, watching her cut the potatoes, his large arms folded across his chest. “See, I thought when I saw you that you were a sweet, pretty, uncomplicated girl, but the truth is you probably have one of the most complicated stories out there.”
“You think I’m pretty?” she whispered.
“Interesting take-away. Yeah, I think you’re pretty, Chloe. Do you think I would have kissed you today otherwise?”
“I thought yo
u did that because of Viper,” she said quietly.
“Well, that’s the reason I got to do it, but I did it because I wanted to. I’ve wanted to do that since the first day I saw you, in fact.”
Chloe felt the color rise in her cheeks. She’d known that of course but here he was, standing very close to her in her kitchen, just flat out saying it.
“It was a very good kiss,” she replied as she lifted the skillet onto the cooktop.
“It was. The next one will be even better,” he said, the corner of his mouth lifting in a cocky smile.
“The next one?”
“We’re engaged, honey, there’s going to be kissing.”
Moose watched her mouth form an exquisite oh.
God, she was beautiful. Smart, brave, complicated, beautiful, and a whole lot of trouble.
“But just kissing, right?” she said.
“Sure, if that’s what you want. Just kissing.”
“If that’s what I want?”
“I’m at your service, so if you want more, I can deliver more, but just kissing is fine.”
Of course he wanted more. He was a man staying in the home of a woman he had feelings for. Some of the feelings were complicated, but some were just motivated by good old-fashioned lust. Still, he could see she’d been burned before. She didn’t trust people in general and men in particular, then again, who had given her the chance to trust?
“I hadn’t really thought there would even be kissing.”
“Well, we may need to look convincing from time to time, like today.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.” She put some oil in the pan and added some steaks. Their sizzles matched the tension in the air. “I’ve never been engaged before so . . .”
“Me either,” he said, putting the salad leaves in a bowl. “I guess we’ll work it out as we go along. But I think there will be some physical interaction.”
He placed the salads on the table and watched her work. She was methodical and thorough. Someone had taught her to cook well. That made sense, didn’t it? She was from Texas, the home of steak, and she’d been brought up in a religious community where women probably did all the cooking.
Any Way You Want It : An Upper Crust Series Novel (The Upper Crust Series Book 5) Page 2
