“I’m not her lover,” he blurted.
Her head shook back and forth. “No … you’re my boss.” She pushed back from the desk and jumped to her feet. “I thought you two were a thing, but this … this is worse. You lied to me.”
“I never lied to you.” He stood, but she backed away as if he were a threat.
All he wanted to do was comfort her—pull her into his arms and hold her. Tell her everything would be all right, but would it? He caused her pain. Pain he saw in her eyes, and the way her shoulders slumped as if the weight he’d placed on them was too heavy to bear.
She gasped. “People will think I got this position because I slept with you.”
“No one will say anything.” No one better say anything. He wouldn’t tolerate vicious rumors about Dani.
“Holy hell, did I get this job because we had sex?”
It wasn’t the right time to laugh, but he did. “Think about it, Dani.”
She stared at him in disbelief. “You think this is funny?”
“No, I don’t. But I find it laughable that you believe you got the job because we slept together. Do the math. You had it before we shared our first kiss.”
She fisted her hips. “Why did I get this job?”
“You want the truth?”
“I deserve the truth.” She sneered. “Are you capable of telling it?”
Her words bit painfully at him.
“You weren’t my first choice. Not because you’re not qualified, but because I thought Flynn was better suited. He has experience managing larger teams. I got outvoted by my sister and Julian, who thought taking Flynn out of the kitchen was a mistake.”
Her hand came to her chest. “Ouch.”
“Yes, the truth sometimes hurts, but you’re doing an amazing job. I was wrong. You are the right person for the position.”
“How big of you to admit your error in judgment. Since we’re on a roll here, care to continue?” She backed up and leaned against the wall. “I told you I didn’t date people I worked with, and you said we didn’t work together.”
“We don’t work together. I run the construction end of the company.”
“It’s all in the details, right? Too bad you didn’t give them to me.” She opened her bottom drawer and took out her purse, then plunked it on the desktop. “I don’t work with you. I work under you. Hell, I’ve been under you, and you don’t think that’s a problem?”
“Not for me,” he said with a shrug.
She fisted her hips and stomped her heel onto the marble floor she loved. “It’s a big deal for me.”
He didn’t see why it should be a big problem for her. They’d been discreet. Not many people knew about their relationship. Even if everyone did, who cared? They were adults and could separate their personal and professional lives.
“Before we made love, I asked you if it would matter if I was something else, and you said no.”
“I didn’t expect you to be my boss.” Her hand came up to her mouth. “Oh my God, you used me to spy on everyone. I told you things about people … about myself I wouldn’t have shared if I knew.”
He cocked his head to the side. “What you’re telling me now is you would have withheld information if it was best for you?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, and you know it.”
“That’s exactly what you’re saying, but you won’t admit it, or … it only works when it benefits you.”
“You’re worse than Chris. At least I knew him.”
The comparison to her ex sliced through him like a knife. “I’m nothing like Chris.”
“You’re right.” She threw a few things from her desk into her purse and hiked it over her shoulder. “Congratulations, you’re not a cheater, just a liar.” She marched past him.
Chapter 21
Danielle
Her gift to the world was poor judgment. As the elevator descended, her heart fell with it. How was she supposed to manage a resort when she couldn’t control her life?
When she exited, her spirits were low. Her anxiety was high. Hurt and betrayal swirled inside her like a cyclone.
“Duped again.”
“You okay, Danielle?”
Not paying attention was becoming a habit of hers. She turned to the voice and found Paul walking toward her. It surprised her to see him anywhere beyond the security surveillance room.
“Yes.” She hated the lie, but she had no intention of telling him the truth. She was anything but okay. “I’m not feeling up to par today. I’ll be gone the rest of the afternoon.”
He laid a meaty hand on her shoulder. “You look pale.”
She tried to make a joke and pointed to the fluorescent lights that hung above. “It’s all in the lighting.” She wrestled a smile to her face. “Good to see you walking around. Looks like you’re getting closer to asking that cutie in the gift shop out for that date.”
His cheeks turned pink. “A man can dream.”
She pressed the unlock button on her key fob and climbed inside her SUV. “Yes, dreaming is good.” She closed the door and waved to him as she pulled out of the garage.
“Dreaming is good. It’s the waking part that’s a bitch.”
When she arrived at home, she found a case of body chocolate on her porch and burst into tears. She lugged it inside and left it on the kitchen counter. What was she supposed to do with a case of chocolate that would remind her of him?
She changed into sweatpants and a T-shirt and sent Trish an SOS, which meant she needed wine and a shoulder to cry on.
In her kitchen sat the ingredients to the cake she’d been making with no success for weeks. Her failures were probably because she didn’t pay attention to the details.
She opened the worn cover and turned to the recipe for Forever Fudge Cake. She hadn’t taken the time to read the story written above the ingredient list. She’d skipped through it all to get to the good stuff—the cake. Maybe that was her problem. Had she been racing forward and missed everything in between?
She made herself a cup of coffee and took a seat at the kitchen island. She didn’t want to think about forever, but cake sounded good.
She started at the beginning.
Dear Baker,
There’s nothing more satisfying than a dark chocolate fudge cake. It’s like a delicious hug. Why Forever Fudge Cake, you might ask? Forever is a funny concept because it sounds like it could be a long time, but forever is the moment you’re in right now. You have this second. The next isn’t guaranteed.
The first time I prepared this cake, I cried into the batter because my boyfriend broke my heart. It was nineteen forty-two, and he left me to join the war effort.
I was so angry at him. I was in love, and he was leaving. The odds weren’t great that he’d return.
The next time I made this cake was the day he came back. He showed up on my doorstep with a smile and a ring. I could have called this Forgiveness Fudge Cake because it took about ten seconds for me to forgive him for leaving. Forgiveness comes from the heart, and my Sam said I had a big one.
My heart belonged to Sam for 55 years when he left me again. He didn’t have a choice, and he wasn’t coming back, but I know he’ll be waiting for me and a slice of this cake.
As you mix the ingredients, think about the minutes in your life. How do you want to spend them? Unlike Sam, you have a choice about how your forever goes.
Adelaide Phelps
“Some choice,” she huffed.
Danielle gathered the ingredients and measured them out perfectly. She even took into account the altitude. She wasn’t looking for forever. That dream had died when she found out she’d been sleeping with the man who signed her paychecks.
Nope, all she wanted was a chocolate cake and a bottle of wine.
She mixed everything together, including the monkey butt bar of chocolate, and poured it into pans before she slid them onto the center rack of the preheated oven. When she turned around, her doorbell rang.
&nbs
p; She rushed forward, hoping it was Trish but scared it was James. What would she say to him if he stood on her doorstep begging for forgiveness?
She peeked through the peephole and was both relieved and shattered when she saw Trish.
“You came.”
“I’ll always come. You’re my best friend. I would have walked in, but my hands were full.” She held up a bottle of wine and a gallon of birthday cake ice cream. “I brought emotional Band-Aids. Now, tell me what happened after we spoke.”
Danielle led her into the kitchen, where she grabbed two glasses and two spoons. If she thought Trish would share nicely, they could have drunk straight from the bottle, but she knew Trish. With wine, she had a two for her and one for everyone else rule.
“It got worse.”
“Worse than him cheating on you?”
Danielle wasn’t sure where to start, and since the story was bitter and painful, she grabbed a spoon, opened the ice cream and took a big bite while Trish poured the wine.
“So much worse,” she said with a full mouth. She swallowed and immediately regretted that move. Brain freeze had her squinting, holding her breath, and counting the seconds until the discomfort went away.
Trish took a seat beside her and rolled her wineglass between her palms. “How’s that possible?”
“He didn’t cheat on me.”
Trish looked at her like she was speaking in tongues. “I don’t get it. That’s great. You should be happy.”
“Allie isn’t his lover, but his sister. She wouldn’t tell me that because he needed to come clean on his own.”
It took Trish a few seconds to put the pieces together, and when she did, she picked up her glass and emptied it in one go.
“No fu … lipping way.”
Danielle told her everything she could remember. It was all a blur at this point. The only real words she could say verbatim were, “Allie isn’t my lover. She’s my sister.” And at the end of her telling, Trish took a spoon and scooped up a bite of ice cream. Danielle had already worked herself through a third of the container.
“Let me get this straight. He’s handsome and rich and good in bed?”
“That’s all irrelevant, but yes, he’d be a four-fecta if he were honest.” The ice cream sat heavy in her gut and threatened to come back up. She pushed it toward Trish, who happily tucked it in her arm and dug in. “I tried to quit, but Allie wouldn’t accept my resignation. How am I supposed to work there?” She pointed to the stack of bills sitting on the edge of the counter. “How can I quit?”
“You act like he used you. He didn’t. He was into you.”
Danielle groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“I mean, he liked you and probably still does.” Trish set the ice cream bucket down and reached for the pile of bills. “A man like him could take care of these with one check.”
“I don’t need a man to rescue me. All I want is a man to love me and loving me means he has to be honest.”
“Not true.” Trish took the wine bottle and poured herself another splash but didn’t fill her glass. “Love means doing what you feel is right. What you know is right. Have you stopped to consider his motives? Maybe he was looking for someone to love him for who he is and not what he has. Has it ever occurred to you that having his kind of money could be a curse and not the blessing everyone thinks it is?”
Her heart lurched. She realized Trish was talking from her own experience. She always questioned people’s motives, and rightly so, because many men had professed their love to her. Only they weren’t interested in her affections, just her net worth.
In some way, that’s how it had been with Chris. She made more money than him. She had a better credit score. He didn’t marry her because he was in love with her. He married her because she was a way to extend his credit so he could live outside his budget.
“Don’t decide about your job or James without considering everything. Those decisions are forever. You’ve got time to make the right choice.”
Her words were eerily similar to Adelaide Phelps and her Forever Fudge Cake story.
“You’re right. I’ll take some time to think it through.”
“All of it. Including James. He’s a good man.” She tapped her heart with her fist. “I feel it here.” Trish filled Danielle’s glass. “I’d love to stay, but I have a date with Rob and body paints.” She kissed Danielle on the cheek and lifted her nose in the air. “The cake smells amazing. It’ll go great with that other half-gallon of ice cream or a jar of chocolate.”
“Don’t remind me. You can take it off my hands.”
Trish shook her head. “I’ll let you know when I run out.”
Danielle walked her to the door and stood there until Trish drove away.
Was it possible to be right and wrong about a man? Deep inside, she knew he was good too, but could she forgive him?
She went back into the kitchen. While she waited for the timer to ding, she read Adelaide Phelps’s message about forever again. It played through her mind on repeat. Think about the minutes in your life. How do you want to spend them? You have a choice about how your forever goes.
When the cake cooled, she frosted it and took a bite. It was moist. The frosting was creamy. The cake was perfect, and she had no one to share it with.
Chapter 22
James
James lugged box after box to Allie’s and Julian’s offices. He volunteered to do anything that might get him closer to Dani, but she’d found every reason to avoid him.
She showed up for work each morning but made training her replacement for the Guest Services Department a priority. He couldn’t fault her. They hired her to make sure the resort ran efficiently, and the guests were happy, but he wasn’t happy. Outside of a cursory glance here and there, she acted as if he didn’t exist.
“Two weeks, Allie. Two damn weeks and she hasn’t spoken to me.” He hoisted the last of her boxes onto her desk.
Julian sat in the armchair decorating the corner. “Why would you need one woman when you can have all the women? You’re thinking with the wrong head, man.”
A book whizzed by James and hit Julian in the shoulder. His sister always had perfect aim. “You can be such a jerk. That’s why you sleep alone.”
Julian leaned back and swiped right and left on his phone. “You shouldn’t throw rocks at glass houses, sweetheart.”
“I’m not.” She gave him a smile that would bring most men to their knees, but not Julian because Allie was as close to a sibling as he could get. “I’m throwing a book at your meathead. Swiping right doesn’t make it right. I sleep alone because I have exacting standards for men.” She opened the box and pulled out the pictures of their family. She always decorated her office to feel like home. She spent more time there than she did anywhere else. Julian could have a point. Were her standards too high?
“You set the bar up there next to Christ,” Julian said. “Good luck with that.”
Allie picked up another book and pulled back like she would throw it, but instead, she placed it on the empty bookshelf. “Maybe, if you had some standards, your life would be different.”
Julian rolled his eyes. “I’ve got standards. They have to be breathing and willing.”
“The pool of candidates must be impressive.” She started placing the pictures. She had several of James and her growing up. They lived a privileged existence with winter ski trips in the Alps and summer vacations in Bora Bora. It was how they went into the resort business. Every place they visited, they’d sit down and tell each other what they’d do differently. Julian came on board because while he was an arrogant asshole, he was an amazing bean counter. Not once had they been caught unaware or unprepared with the purchase of a property. They always knew how much money and time it would take to recoup their investment. Luxe at Timberline was their riskiest purchase to date.
Putting his focus on the conversation, he listened as Allie and Julian lobbed insults back and forth. He waved his hand into the ai
r. “Hello, we were talking about me.”
“Right, and I offered sage advice. Find another woman.”
That was the most ridiculous advice ever. “There’s no one like her. She’s amazing. She’s strong but vulnerable. Intelligent and humble. She’s—”
“Standing right behind you.” Allie put her hand over her mouth, but he could still hear her laugh.
Julian rolled to his feet. “I don’t do conflict. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” He approached Dani. “Good to see you, Danielle. You’re doing an excellent job.”
“Thank you.” She looked at Allie. “Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?” James moved toward her, but she gave him a raised palm and a shake of her head.
“Not yet.”
He was happy to see her give him a whole hand when it could be just a middle finger.
“Let me get my purse. It’s in the conference room. Stay here, I’ll be back.” While Allie searched for her purse, Dani stepped toward the bookshelf and held up a framed photo. It was one of his favorites, taken in Aspen at Snowmass after Allie broke her leg hotdogging down a black diamond run. They were inseparable for six weeks. He’d carried her everywhere because he felt responsible.
He moved quietly behind Dani. “I helped break her leg.” He was close enough to smell her perfume and notice her breath catch when his words floated across her skin.
“Proud moment?” She put the picture down but didn’t move.
“I felt about as proud as I do right now, which isn’t at all. I’m sorry, Dani. I’m so damn sorry.”
Allie rushed around the corner. “Got it.” She held up her bag. “I’m ready now.”
“Where are you guys going?” He’d never been jealous of his sister until that moment. She was exactly where he wanted to be—on Dani’s good side.
“I don’t know,” Allie said. “Dinner? Movie? Dancing?” Her eyes lit up. “There’s that new place in Aspen called Heartbeat.”
“That’s a pickup joint,” he said.
A Tablespoon of Temptation (A Recipe for Love Novel Book 1) Page 16
