As much as he was enjoying his stay with her and in this town, he had a business to run and he couldn’t say here indefinitely. He needed to resolve the situation so Chloe would be safe if he wasn’t around.
The question was how would Chloe feel about the answers coming from another source, and what would he do if he found them and didn’t like them?
He took a seat in a corner of the library, flipped open his laptop, and tried to focus on the emails he needed to reply to and the calls he would need to make later for his business. Still, his mind kept drifting to Chloe. How sweet she tasted and seemed to be. How cute she looked in her onesie, how scared she’d been last night when she realized Viper had broken in. Concentration, never his strong suit, was proving extra elusive today.
Marissa came over and sat down next to him.
“Hey, you, I hear you’re the town’s new golden boy.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Well, I do. It’s great that you’re helping Chloe.” He gave her a nod. “I’m just wondering how long you can be away. I’ve seen you at that resort and you seem pretty key to things running well. In fact, I’m reasonably sure half the guests come just to see you.”
She was right, some certainly did. “I know. I’m going to need to go back at least for a night. But Chloe isn’t safe at home alone.”
“Lucky for you I have a security building and I love a good old-fashioned slumber party more than anything.”
“Really?” He felt a wave of relief wash over him.
“Sure, what about I line it up with her for tomorrow night? She probably needs someone to talk to anyway. Her engagement was quite a whirlwind.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, it sure was.”
“Cool. All settled.”
“Thanks, Marissa.”
“No worries. That’s what friends are for.” She walked off humming the song.
Now that he had a plan, Moose felt better able to concentrate. He put in a solid hour lining up the meetings he would take while back in Maine and then made his way back to Chloe. It was scary how much he missed her in that small time away.
Chloe slumped onto the sofa. It had been an exhausting few days, and while much of it had been great, she was so far out of her comfort zone she didn’t quite know where she was at all. Tom, her pretend fiancé, was pacing the room, checking the locks on the doors and windows to ensure they hadn’t been touched that day.
“I’m pretty sure that guy isn’t stupid enough to be seen around here for a few days,” he said. “But better safe than sorry.”
“I guess and we don’t know where he’s staying or how much time or money he has to hang around so far from home,” she said. Knowing him, he had sold some drugs to get himself up here or done something else illegal, but he wouldn’t have connections here to help him.
“Exactly,” Tom said, finally settling his large frame onto the other end of the couch. He wriggled his butt a bit. “These slashed pillows aren’t exactly comfortable. Maybe we should order a new sofa.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him “We?”
“Well, you then. I’m sure your uncle has this place well-insured.”
“Yeah, I’ll need to call him tonight and tell him about the break-in. I feel so bad having brought trouble, not just to this town but into his house.”
“I don’t think anyone believes this is your fault.”
“Yeah, well, I still feel bad.” And she really did. The whole situation was a mess. “I don’t want Linc to feel he has to come back and save me. Although, to be fair, if he did, at least you’d be free to go.”
“You’re not holding me hostage, honey. I am here by choice.” He looked down. “Although, I don’t know how long we can keep this up without hurting people when the truth comes out.”
“Lucky for you, you’ll be gone by then and I’ll be left to face the music.”
“I think people will understand. So, I was talking to Marissa at the library . . .”
Her phone rang then. “Speak of the devil.”
“Hey, Chloe, did Moose tell you about our sleepover tomorrow night?”
“No, but I think he was about to,” she said, raising her eyebrows at him. “You want to fill me in.”
Her friend outlined the plan for the following evening. She couldn’t really argue with it. She wasn’t safe on her own, and it would be churlish to protest about Tom leaving or Marissa’s kind offer to host her.
“Come over straight from work.”
“I’ll drop you off,” the lovely man on the other end of the couch mouthed.
“Apparently, I’ll be chauffer driven.”
“It’s nice to be some people. I’m looking forward to it. There’s so much I need to ask you.”
“It’ll be fun. I don’t think I’ve been to a sleepover since Bible camp.”
“Well, I don’t think they had cocktails at Bible camp.”
She laughed. “Ah, they certainly did not. One year there was talk that we shouldn’t have marshmallows in our hot chocolate. Too sinful.”
She hung up the phone smiling. She really liked Marissa and it was nice to be forming new friendships.
“Sorry, I was going to tell you,” Tom said, looking a bit sheepish.
“Don’t be silly, I can’t expect you to sit here forever guarding me. Anyway, you must be sick of the sight of me. It’ll do you good to go home.”
His sweet face turned serious. “I could never be sick of the sight of your beautiful face, Chloe.”
It was possibly the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her and she felt a blush rise. I’ve blushed more this week than in my whole life, she thought. “Well, thanks. It has been nice having you here, too.”
“Nice, I think I’m doing it wrong,” he teased. “Fun, exciting, interesting sure, but nice, ick. Pretty soon I’m going to be stuck forever in the friend zone.”
“We are friends, though, aren’t we?” she asked.
“We are friends, for now. I think we have potential to be so much more than friends, Chloe Banks.” He gave her a sweet smile and patted her calf. “But for now, I think we should be dinner companions. I’m starving. Does this town have a Chinese takeout?”
She laughed at him. “No. But you can get pizza delivered.”
“Okay, pizza it is,” he said with a grin.
He stood up and went to order, and she was left wondering what being more than friends would look like and if she should even allow her imagination to go there. She couldn’t imagine living here with Tom. And what would life look like in a ski resort or a resort in Mexico? She didn’t even own a passport. And she’d never been to a resort.
The sad truth was that beyond the church community she grew up in all she’d seen was some of Austin and some of New Hampshire. That alone told her she couldn’t make a life with a guy like Tom. There were opposites and then there was just plain crazy.
She watched the way he moved across the room like he belonged. He did that everywhere he went. What a gift. She never felt that way.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I was just admiring your easy confidence.”
“Easy, it’s not easy.” He laughed.
“It looks easy,” she said. “And that’s a compliment.”
“It’s not always easy. I often feel too big, too loud, too much . . . On the other hand, I’ve come in contact with a whole lot of people in my life and I can tell you most people feel the same way.”
“That’s what my uncle told me when I moved here. He told me to fake it till I make it.”
“Good advice. Have you been following it?”
She picked at the edge of the cushion she was holding on her lap. “Kind of. If I limit where I go to familiar places, I now have a handle on them. New places are still hard. I kind of lack a frame of reference for what is normal. Though, I have watched about a million hours of television since I moved here. Lots of lessons to be learned.”
“But not everything you see on TV
is good advice, you know that, right?”
“I’ve watched and learned,” she said.
“I imagine it has been a really hard transition.”
He had no idea. Chloe had been dropped at the bus stop in her flowing floral tunic and white cotton shirt, her hair was pulled back in a sensible braid. She’d never been around alcohol or swearing, but she’d also missed out on new technology, new products, and the changes in fashion.
“I think I walked around with my eyes bugging out of my head for a good six months. My mother’s friend who was helping me found me a source of frequent amusement.” She laughed at the memory. “It turned out I knew less about everything than anyone she’d ever met.”
“Well, you seem pretty normal now.”
“Yes, here I do . . . out in the world I bet I don’t. Lots of things you will have done, think of as normal, are all foreign to me.”
Tom was really curious as to what they might be, so he couldn’t help but ask.
“I didn’t know so many things. I’d never used a computer or cell phone at first. I’ve still never been on a plane or a train. I’ve never been to a city other than Austin. I’ve never swum in the ocean.”
“Okay, but lots of people haven’t done those things or some of them anyway.” He wasn’t one of them of course. He’d had a passport his whole life, swam like a fish, and had a boat and scuba license, but he knew he was lucky.
“Well, until you showed up, I’d never seen a half-naked man either.” She sighed.
Did that mean what he thought it meant?
“How about fully naked men?” She shook her head. “What about have you been in a room with one in the dark when you couldn’t see them?”
Another head shake and her eyes bugged. Her answer no was little more than a whisper. She averted her gaze back to the pillow she was fidgeting with on her knee.
He could see what she was telling him. She looked for all the world like a sexy woman in her early twenties, but part of her was still that nervous eighteen-year-old who had been told for years that everything physical was bad. On the other hand, that meant Viper hadn’t managed to get his slimy hands on her too often, so that was a good thing. Small blessings.
It was a lot to process. He was saved by the bell, literally, when the pizza arrived. It smelled so good. He was starving. Not just for food of course, but that was the only appetite he would be appeasing right now.
He carried the pizza over and put it on the coffee table near where she was sitting. She looked so sweet perched on the sofa in her uniform. He appreciated that she felt comfortable enough with him to tell him about her past life, but he felt a lot of pressure not to violate her trust. This was a complicated situation and the truth was he wasn’t a very complicated or cerebral guy. He was a doer. He got on with things. He solved the problem. In fact, he’d been accused once or twice of having a hero complex. He liked to swoop in and save the day.
He’d never been accused of being the overly sensitive guy, the overthinker, not ever.
Being here with Chloe had him tipped upside down and all over the place.
He handed her a slice and took one for himself.
“Smells great,” she said, giving him a sweet smile.
“It smells amazing. I’m starving!”
“You’re a big guy. You are probably used to eating a lot,” she said. “I probably haven’t been feeding you enough.”
“Yeah, and working in a hotel, there’s always plenty of food on offer. I’ve been spoiled rotten that way,” he said, taking a bite of his pizza. “And it’s not your job to feed me. I am a grown man.”
“I suppose,” she said, peeling a piece of pepperoni off and popping it in her mouth. “I mean, I know that of course but where I come from women are responsible for feeding the men. It’s hard not to feel guilty. It’s not usually an issue because there are usually no men here.”
“Well, you’ll need to shake that off or you’ll end up married to some loser who expects you to do everything for him. You can do better,” he said.
“I hope not. I ran away to avoid that.” She gave a little shiver.
“I think this town is going to make sure that doesn’t happen. Everyone seems very fond of you.”
“Really?”
“Absolutely. I know you’re not overly engaged, but everyone seems to have their eyes on you, in a good way. I think this town is a good place for you.”
“Maybe.”
“Definitely.”
Moose needed another workout. He would have liked to go for a run across the quiet snow-covered town, but he couldn’t leave Chloe alone in the house. It was eleven thirty and he shut down his computer and began a silent workout, well as silent as possible. He started with some push-ups.
He needed to work off some of his emotions and pent-up energy. Being here with Chloe was conflicting. He liked her and he was pretty sure it was mutual. He was most definitely attracted to her, but she wasn’t like the girls he was used to. You didn’t find too many girls like her coming to hang out at the ski resort. Those girls were worldly and knew what they wanted. It was pretty normal for him to be hit on several times a weekend. Even back in college most of the girls had been strong and forthright. He was sure some of them came from sheltered backgrounds, but a year or two in, they were more than capable of telling a man like him if they were interested or not. This was different.
Chloe seemed to have little to no experience with men, and while she walked and talked like a normal woman most of the time, he knew she was conflicted trying to match up what she’d been taught and how she’d been raised with life here in the real world. He could tell she wanted to find a space somewhere between being Amish and being a character from Sex and the City, but she wasn’t quite sure how to get there.
He turned over and began his sit-ups.
He was fascinated by her, but he was aware she felt they were very different. Well, they were. She was a soft sexy woman and he was a big hulking guy, but it was more than that. She felt their lives, their pasts, were so opposite that this fake relationship was all they could have. He disagreed.
Their attraction was simmering away below the surface. They got along well. She made him happy. Was it really so complicated? He could tell she wanted to take things further but he didn’t quite know how to get her to do that. Somehow, he sensed it was important she made the next move. He’d been touching her and there’d been the odd kiss but not really for the past day or so.
“And a hundred,” he mumbled to himself.
He flipped on his side and began to do a side plank. His eyes flicked to the staircase and there she was watching him again in the cover of darkness. Yep, there was an attraction there for sure. He liked to think it was him and not because her exposure to men had been so limited, but he really didn’t know. He decided to let her watch. He’d just do his thing. If she wanted to make herself known so be it.
Chapter 8
Chloe sat silently on the stairs yet again, admiring the object of her affection. He was beautiful. Could you call a man beautiful? she wondered. Well, he was a thing of beauty. He was a hot mass of glistening muscle as he worked out. She loved how comfortable he felt in his body.
Her own body was hidden beneath the least alluring sleepwear on the planet. Of course, she hadn’t bought it with seduction in mind, but then again, that was not why he was working out either. He seemed so at ease here in her house, and she was up here cowering on the stairs. It wasn’t that she was scared of him, more that what he was doing seemed like a private ritual. He changed positions and began doing some sort of arm push-up off the coffee table. Damn. He used his firm calves and his biceps to lift himself up and down.
She’d tried to sleep but she couldn’t. His presence made her happy and confused and kind of aroused. She knew how to deal with the first two but not the last.
He had to like her or he wouldn’t be here, but he hadn’t really touched her in any way that was less than gentlemanly and he hadn’t even ki
ssed her for hours. Maybe if he’d just kiss her again she’d feel better. Or worse. She let out a long slow sigh.
“It’s hard to ignore you when you make those cute little noises, Chloe.” He didn’t sound mad, in fact there was a hint of a smile in his voice.
“Sorry.”
“Do you sit on the stairs like that when I’m not here?”
“Not usually.”
“Am I bothering you? I hope I didn’t wake you.”
She had already been bothered and awake. “No, just couldn’t sleep.”
“Want to talk about it?”
What was she going to say? “I’m hot for you but I have never really been with a guy, so I have no idea what to do about that”?
“Not really.”
“You’re not much of a talker,” he said, his deep voice floating up the stairs as he grabbed a towel and wiped his face.
“I talk.”
“Well, you make small talk. The big stuff you don’t seem to want to cover.”
“The big stuff?”
“Viper, your past, your future, you and me . . . that stuff.”
“Oh, that stuff.” He sure didn’t beat around the bush. “I guess no one has ever wanted to listen much. No point talking to myself.”
“I’m here and I’ll listen.”
“I don’t really know where to start. Everything is . . . muddled.”
“How about this? I’ll take a shower and you can come and make us some tea and we’ll talk?”
“Okay.”
She stared down the stairs as he headed up. She met him halfway. He smelled of man and clean sweat, and even in the darkness, she was acutely aware of him. She really wanted to touch him. She wanted to run her hands over his muscles just to see . . .
“Hey,” he said. “It’ll all work out.”
He brushed past her as he went up the stairs. Would it? She heard a motorcycle in the distance and really had to wonder how.
Any Way You Want It : An Upper Crust Series Novel (The Upper Crust Series Book 5) Page 6
