He placed a kiss on the top of her head as his hand rubbed her back. “Better?”
She mumbled a yes into his chest. His firm chest. She could feel his heart beat in there. His big, generous heart. He was a good man. She didn’t know what the h-e-double-hockey sticks was going to happen between them, but she did know that. That was something. He was the opposite of Viper who had only wanted things from her, and even her own father and the other men in her community who had wanted to mold her into someone or something she wasn’t. Tom seemed to accept who she was. Even though she was very certain she was a deeply flawed human, he didn’t seem to focus on that.
He pulled back and looked down at her, brushing her hair off her face. “I’m sorry you miss your family.”
“Thanks.”
“I do think you’re lucky to be in a town that has taken you into their heart like this one has. I know you feel alone but you haven’t been. These people have been watching out for you.” He smiled down at her.
“I guess you’re right. Maybe my uncle asked them to.”
“Maybe, or perhaps, as I like to think, they’re just kind thoughtful people who have your back.”
“You really are a very positive guy.”
“Being negative never made things better in my opinion.” He smiled. “You should get some sleep. It’s been a very long day.”
“Will you be here when I wake up or will you be downstairs doing push-ups?”
“I’ll be here, honey.” And then he leaned over and gave her mouth a chaste kiss. “Sweet dreams.”
“Same.”
She turned to roll away and then he pulled her back against him so she was nestled in the crook of his arm. It felt amazing. And she felt something else, for the first time in as long as she could remember, Chloe felt safe.
Chapter 11
Tom was wide awake. Chloe was asleep against his side, and while it felt wonderful, it felt a little bit too good. To say he was turned on would be an understatement. The problem was he didn’t want her to wake up and find him in that state but he’d promised not to leave.
He needed a distraction, but what? Her soft breathing, the smell of her shampoo, the feel of her soft body curled in beside his was going to be a lot to overcome. He tried thinking about all the things he’d like to do to Viper, but then his mind wandered to how happy Chloe would be that he was locked away again and then his mind went to how her smile got him in the gut and he was right back where he started. Then he heard his parents talking softly in the room next door. Okay that helped, thoughts of his mother were not sexy. The low rumble of his father’s voice was also not a turn on.
Chloe shifted beside him, her soft rear moving against his thigh, and he let out a silent prayer for help. He was rewarded by a tap on the door from his mother who then, being a woman who wasn’t big on boundaries, stuck her head in.
“Are you awake?” she stage-whispered.
“I am. Chloe’s not,” his voice mimicked hers.
“Shall I start breakfast? I don’t want to overstep.”
“You’re in our bedroom, Mom . . . too late.” He saw his mother blush just the tiniest bit.
“Okay, darling, see you downstairs. I’m not used to beating you up. It might be a first.”
Chloe stirred beside him, her eyes opening as the door closed. He watched her blink herself awake and then turn to stare at him, putting the pieces of the puzzle of her life in place.
“You’re still here,” she said with a huge smile, and his heart did a little happy dance.
“I said I would be.”
“Did I hear voices?”
“My mother wanted to know if we wanted breakfast.”
“Your mother saw us in bed together?” Her whole face turned red. It was adorable.
“We’re not exactly flashing her.” He indicated the blanket that was up to their chins and had been suffocating him all night. The truth was his body ran hot and he usually slept naked, but he’d save those details for another time.
“Still, I mean . . .”
“Well, to be honest, she shouldn’t have come in, but she thinks she’s my mommy and can do what she likes where I’m concerned. I’ve tried to explain that I’m a grown-ass man and that I’m not her baby anymore, but she’s not exactly getting the message.”
“She loves you, though.”
“That is true.” He sighed. Given poor Chloe had given up her own family, it felt churlish to complain about his own. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Do you want the bathroom first?”
“How long have you been lying there awake?”
“A while.”
“How long is a while?”
“Three hours.”
Her eyes popped wide. “Three hours. Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. I said I’d be here . . .”
“I think you deserve the bathroom first, then.” That was good, now all he needed to do was make it there with his back to Chloe so the poor girl wouldn’t be terrified.
For a woman who claimed not to cook, Felicia made a great-looking omelet.
“Anyone can make an omelet,” she said, sliding one onto Chloe’s plate. “I only make three things these days: omelets, birthday cakes, and duck a l’orange.”
“That’s an . . . interesting list.” It certainly was.
“Well, something for special occasions, breakfast, and well, birthdays of course are special. Remember when I made you that fire truck cake, Tom?”
She watched him shake his head. “Moooooom, we do not need to go there.”
“He used to want to be a fireman, Chloe. So cute.”
She could picture him as a little boy in a fire hat. “I’m sure.”
“Leave the poor boy alone, dear.” His father’s attempt at admonishment was pretty lame.
“Thanks, Dad. And when are you two heading back to Mexico?” Chloe tried to process that. Who flew from Mexico to New Hampshire for a day or two?
“We’ll go up to Maine for a few days first, then head back, I think.”
Chloe wondered if that was because Moose wasn’t there.
“I have it under control, Dad.” His voice was different, maybe a little bit angry.
“I know, son, but we’re so close we may as well pop home.”
“Sure.”
She saw a tightness in Tom’s face she wasn’t used to. This was a thing and she had a feeling she was the cause of it. He was supposed to be there running the resort.
“So we’ll head off after breakfast and leave you two young ones alone.” His mother sat down and gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m so glad we came, though, and got to meet you, Chloe. I’m just thrilled Tom has met someone who doesn’t call him Moose. But mainly I’m glad you two are happy.”
Chloe felt so bad for lying to this sweet woman. This charade needed to end, and then Tom could go back to his life and the lies could stop. She knew Viper had to be close by and maybe she needed to bring this to a head. Too many people were being drawn into this now. The town, Tom, and now his parents. She’d made this mess and she needed to fix it. Sometime today she intended to find Viper and bring this to a conclusion.
Tom tried to shake off his annoyance as he waved his parents good-bye. His mother and father heading up to Maine irked him. He had it under control and he didn’t have to be on-site. His father had run the resort from Mexico and Florida for months on end, he could certainly do the same for a few days.
If it meant so much to them that he took over the family business, then they needed to let him do it without second-guessing him. They’d said they’d hand it over when he was married and now he was engaged and that didn’t seem to be happening. They hovered and they didn’t seem to accept he was an adult. That was what this was really about.
He loved his parents and he knew they adored him. He was one lucky guy and he knew it. But he also wasn’t their baby anymore. He had years of experience and an MBA to prove he knew what he was doing. He was not the cute kid in th
e fire hat and he wished they would accept that.
Chloe was standing beside him. He could feel the warmth of her small body beside him here as the snow fell lightly around them. She looked up at him and gave him a smile that would melt the most frozen of snowmen.
“I like your folks.”
“Thanks. They liked you, too.” He pulled her in for a hug. “Not as much as I like you, of course, but they liked you a lot.”
“I like you a lot, too.”
Moose heard a motorbike engine and felt Chloe’s small body tense against his. He had a feeling Viper was driving in circles not too far away just to mess with them. He couldn’t believe with all the people in this town on the lookout for him that they hadn’t found him yet.
“We’ll get him soon,” Moose assured her, pulling her that little bit closer.
“We need to. You need to get back to your life. As much as I like having you here, it’s time to return to reality.”
Yeah, that was the problem. Moose couldn’t quite picture how that was going to look. He wanted this. Chloe in his arms every day, he wanted to wake up next to her, work beside her, make her smile. And there were a few other things they hadn’t done yet he’d like to do with her, too.
One day at a time.
“Come on. Let’s go sell some ice cream.”
Chloe thought she was unshockable, but when she saw the police car and tape outside the Two Scoops, she was certainly shocked. Tom pulled the truck to a fast stop and muttered few expletives. There was already a small crowd gathered out front, she spotted old Frank and Esme and Marissa in the crowd.
They both got out of the car and saw Dave.
“Dave?”
“Vandals,” was all he said. They all knew it wasn’t vandals. The front window was smashed and the contents of the store trashed. Years of work and memories in pieces on the floor. And they weren’t just her memories. They were her uncle’s, of course, and the whole town’s. So many people had had birthday parties, first dates, and first kisses here. It was worse than the house by far.
“We’re dusting for prints, but given there’s barely a person in the town who hasn’t been in there . . .”
“It’s pointless,” she muttered. She felt Tom’s big frame engulf hers from behind.
“We’ll fix it,” he said.
“What’s the point? He’s not giving up. He’ll keep coming.”
“He’s not going to win.”
“I think he already has.”
Tom turned her in his arms and leaned down a hand on each shoulder and looked into her eyes. “Only if you let him. They’ll catch this sonofabitch and lock him up, and we can fix all this.”
She shook her head. “He’s won because I don’t feel safe, because I’m hiding, because I came to this town for a fresh start and he’s trashed something that means something to this town.”
She hadn’t seen anyone come up behind her. An elderly voice spoke. It as Frank. “You mean something to this town, honey. That’s just a building and some dishes and some plates. People matter. The ice-cream parlor matters because of the people that worked there and the friends you met there . . . and that can’t be changed.”
She felt a large tear roll down her cheek as she faced him. She was so tired. Tired of running, tired of trying to prove herself. So tired of holding it together. The truth was she’d been scared since the day she left the community. She didn’t know how much more fight she had.
Marissa and Todd came over. “Are you okay?”
She gave a weak nod. Marissa pulled her in for a hug. “We’ll fix it. We’ll help you. You’re not alone.”
After a while, the crowd dispersed a little. Esme and Chloe sat on a bench as the police moved around her.
“Ex-boyfriend?” she asked.
“How did you . . . ?”
“The house and now this. Not too hard to piece the puzzle together. Plus, I know you barely know Moose, no way you two got engaged like that.” Esme snapped her fingers.
“I hate lying . . .”
“You’re protecting yourself. You’re being smart. And it looks like Moose has been pretty happy to help. And he’s a fine-looking man.”
Chloe couldn’t help but smile. “You noticed that, huh?”
“I’m not dead yet. He’s one of the good ones.”
“I guess I just don’t trust myself anymore.”
“You know, that’s pretty normal when you’ve had a crazy ex. I had one once. Smart, attractive, educated. Not a nice guy behind closed doors as it turned out.”
“I’m sorry.” Chloe patted the other woman’s hand.
“Thanks, honey. The shame of it is, looking back I can see that because of him I missed some other chances, good ones, good men . . . that’s the part I regret. Not that I chose the first guy, people make mistakes and he was very slick, but that I lost faith in myself, in my judgment, and in others.”
“I’m scared.”
“Of course you are, but I don’t think you need to be scared of Moose.”
That wasn’t what she was scared of. Chloe was terrified she might let herself love him, and then she’d lose him.
Tom pushed open the door to The Pit and let his eyes adjust to the darkness. He smelled men and beer. He liked men and he certainly liked beer but this was a slightly seedy down-at-heel bar. If Viper had been in town, he’d been here. It was days like these Tom was glad he was a guy large enough to have the nickname Moose.
He wasn’t a fighter and he wasn’t a criminal, but he also wasn’t a coward like Viper. He didn’t sneak around and harass women. He didn’t trash people’s property under the cover of darkness and run. He was sure that Viper thought his tactics were intimidating, but Tom just thought the guy was a gutless coward.
He sidled across and took a seat on a barstool. It was just on noon so the place wasn’t crowded. He took a peanut from the bowl on the bar and cracked a shell.
The bartender came over and he ordered a beer.
“Did I see you in the paper? You bought the new coffee machine for the ice-cream parlor.”
“That’s me. You have a keen eye.” He raised his bottle at the guy.
“Well, I also have a seven-year-old who loves ice cream and a wife who now has an obsession for vanilla lattes. Marie, you might have seen her. Small, brunette, never stops talking.”
Tom did indeed know the woman in question. “Yeah, I know her. Nice lady. She likes her lattes with extra whipped cream if you’re ever in the doghouse.”
“Good to know.”
“Some loser vandalized the parlor last night. Hence the beer.”
“Seriously?” The guy wiped the bar as he shook his head. “Who’d do that?”
“Well, we have an idea or two. You don’t want to point the finger at anyone.”
A guy a few stools down turned to him. “I served with Linc in Vietnam. He came back and set up the parlor. After all the misery we saw, he said all he wanted to do was a job that made people smile. He chose ice cream.”
“Ice cream and Elvis.” Moose laughed. “Two things guaranteed to make a man smile.”
“Yeah, there’s a third but they don’t allow that kind of business in town.” The old guy chuckled. “So, if you know who did it . . . ?”
“New guy in town. Rides a hog, neck tattoo . . . the police are real keen to have a word with him. If you see him.”
“I might have . . .” the old feller said.
“Chloe’s pretty shook up. She feels bad because it’s her uncle’s shop.” Tom went the uncle angle if that was what would move him.
“She’s a sweet girl. She always gives me an extra scoop,” the old guy said. Of course she did. “Because I’m a veteran.”
Tom drained his beer. He needed to get back and help with the cleanup. What he really wanted to do was load Chloe in the car and take her up to Maine. He was hoping in his absence that Marissa had talked her into the idea, because otherwise, he was going to find Viper himself and pummel the guy.
�
��No,” Chloe said.
“It’s a good idea.” Marissa handed her a coffee from the diner. It didn’t taste nearly as good as the cappuccino she’d learned to make this week. Somehow in the course of a week she’d become a coffee snob. Pity her fancy coffee machine was currently being finger-printed by the cops. “You’ll be safe.”
“I’ll be safe here.”
“The break will do you good. The business is going to be shut for a couple of days. Why not make the most of it?”
“My home has been trashed, my business has been trashed, I have my own stalker . . . it doesn’t exactly scream vacation time to me.”
“Well, you’re listening to the wrong voice then. Tell me why not, really.”
Why not? “Because . . .”
She really didn’t have a great reason. The truth was with the business shut and most of the things she needed to do to reopen it needing to happen by phone or online she could take a day or two and visit Maine with Tom.
“Is it because you’re scared?” Marissa was looking at her now with one hand on her hip and the other waving her coffee. “Because I think Moose is a whole lot less scary than Viper.”
“I’m not scared.” She busied herself taking a sip of coffee.
“Your religious upbringing has done you a great disservice. You’re a very bad liar, Chloe.” She didn’t know about that. She’d told a lot of lies this week and gotten away with them. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re not scared.”
She eyeballed her friend but couldn’t say it. “Maybe a little. I’m just not sure that I’m going to fit into Tom’s world and that scares me.”
“Because you really like him and you want it to work, right?”
“Maybe . . .”
“Definitely. But the thing is, you’re going to have to see at some point.”
“Does it have to be now?”
Marissa shook her head and her mane of dark curls danced across her shoulders. “Of course not. You have to do what feels right to you, but a five-star resort and a little pampering would be pretty nice.”
Any Way You Want It : An Upper Crust Series Novel (The Upper Crust Series Book 5) Page 11
