If that’s the case, he wondered silently, how am I going to convince her to leave with me?
He closed his eyes as an even more disturbing thought pierced his mind.
And what if that’s not the best solution?
“THANKS FOR COMING to this staff meeting,” Emily said, sitting in the cramped office at the inn the next afternoon.
“No problem,” Sue said, leaning back in her chair. “What’s going on? I figured you’d be too busy, er, entertaining guests to get bogged down in inn details,” she added with a mischievous grin.Phillip made a sour face. “I don’t think that’s necessarily appropriate,” he said sternly to Sue. Then he looked at Emily hesitantly. “Besides, her…uh, guest, is going to be leaving soon, anyway. Isn’t that right? Which means we’ll be getting back to business as usual.” He looked smug at this observation.
Emily looked at the ceiling for a moment. She loved Sue, and Phillip had been a good employee for the few years that the inn had been open. But the fact that they were so close did make it difficult to discuss business without personal stuff getting mixed into it.
Which was going to make this discussion that much harder.
“Let’s focus here,” she urged instead. “Financially, according to the bookkeeper, we’re doing okay, keeping afloat. A few more years like this fall, and we’ll be doing well enough to make some improvements. Maybe even get a raise or two, add some staff.”
Sue cheered at this. Phillip preened.
“The hotel has had some rough years, and we’ve all tightened our belts,” she continued slowly. “But we’ve always had lots of potential, and I think that we’re not the only ones to see it.”
Now Sue and Phillip looked confused. “You’re losing me,” Sue said. “What’s this about?”
Emily took a deep breath. “I’ve been…kicking around some options. About the future of the inn.” She paused. “About my future.”
Sue’s eyes widened. “You’re talking about Colin, aren’t you?” Before she could continue, Phillip broke in, his voice irate.
“You’re talking about getting rid of the inn and leaving, is what you mean,” he said sharply. “Putting us out of jobs, no less!”
Now Sue looked concerned. “Really, Em?” she asked, her eyes troubled. “We’d lose our jobs?”
“I didn’t say that,” Emily quickly reassured them, cursing Phillip mentally. “But I am thinking of selling the hotel. In a general, vague sort of way.”
She didn’t cushion the blow as well as she’d hoped. Sue looked at her as if Emily had run over her cat. Phillip, on the other hand, looked as though Emily had run over him.
“You can’t do this to us,” Phillip pleaded, his voice more impassioned than she’d ever heard him. “You can’t do this to Tall Pines!”
“How would you even start going about doing something like that?” Sue sounded bewildered. “I mean, it’s not like you can just put it for sale on eBay or something.”
Emily leaned back in her chair. “Like I said, it’s tentative,” she said, keeping her voice strong. Then she slumped a little. “But, er…I was thinking of asking J.P.—I mean, Joy. She’s run hotels for years.”
Sue turned white. Phillip turned purple.
“You’ve already looked into it?” Phillip shouted with outrage.
“Okay, you need to calm down, Phillip,” Emily told him sternly. “We’re friends, but I’m still your boss, and it’s my inn besides. Quit yelling at me!”
He crossed his arms, his expression sullen, but he did fall silent. Sue looked near tears, so Emily focused on her next.
“I’m not making any decisions on short notice. You know me, Sue. I wouldn’t do anything without giving it a lot of thought.”
“You’ve been thinking about it for a while,” Sue accused. “You weren’t sure you wanted to turn the place into a hotel in the first place, but you were afraid to get rid of it. Afraid of letting down your dad.”
Emily’s mouth snapped shut as Sue’s words stung her heart. “I love this hotel,” she said, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “And I told you that in confidence. As my best friend.”
Phillip pounced. “If you sold the hotel, they’d change the name. You could say goodbye to the Stanfield Arms forever.”
Another pang, one she hadn’t expected. Emily bit her lip hard, blinking to keep the tears from falling. “I said I haven’t made any definitive…”
“They’d bring in new people,” Sue said, anguished. “You know they would. I don’t have any experience in the hotel business. They wouldn’t want me to be a manager!”
“You’ve got five years of hotel experience,” Emily said, exasperated.
“No, I don’t!” Sue wailed.
“You’ve got the experience here, you goof! Remember? Worked here for five years?”
“Oh.” Sue sat back, momentarily put off stride.
Emily felt the muscles in her back and neck tense into knots. This was going much, much worse than she’d expected.
“But they’ll have better people,” Phillip pointed out, making matters worse. “They’ll want people who have outside experience. They’ll probably bring in their own staff.”
“Phillip, would you stop that?” Emily snapped. “Honestly. It’s like you’re yelling ‘Fire!’ in a theater. You’re just trying to get Sue riled up, and I don’t appreciate it.”
If he weren’t a grown man, Emily would’ve sworn the guy was pouting. No, she was right. He was pouting.
“Nothing would happen overnight,” she promised, enunciating clearly and tapping her finger on the tabletop with each syllable. “And I still haven’t made any firm decisions. Can we repeat that together? I’m not going anywhere.”
“Not yet,” Phillip muttered.
She glared at him and he shut up.
“Okay, that wraps it up for our staff meeting,” Emily said, standing up. “Phil, you’d better go work the front desk.” She waited until he left, then turned to Sue. “Are you okay? I thought you’d be surprised, but I didn’t expect you to get so unhinged.”
“I’m sorry.” Sue sniffed. “It’s not your fault. It’s just…I think I’m pregnant.”
Emily’s eyes widened, then she rushed over to her friend, giving her a hug. “That’s great news!”
“Thanks,” Sue said, hugging her back. “But it’s made me crazy emotional. I never know how I’m going to react to anything. Besides, I hate the thought of you going away.”
“How many times do I have to say this? I haven’t—”
“—Made any firm decision,” Sue repeated with a watery grin. “Yeah, yeah, you said. But you’re thinking about it. And you’ve got a six-foot, gorgeous reason to leave waiting upstairs in your apartment.”
Emily felt the heat of a blush on her cheeks. “This doesn’t have to do with him.”
Sue stared at Emily in utter disbelief.
“Okay. It doesn’t have to do with him completely,” Emily amended, embarrassed even further.
“I’m glad you’re getting back into the dating pool,” Sue said seriously, clasping her hands together. “And I don’t want you to think I’m a lousy friend. I want what’s best for you.”
“Thanks.” Emily relaxed, feeling relief for the first time since she’d called the staff meeting.
“But I’m not sure that Colin and Paris and selling the inn is really what’s best for you,” Sue continued slowly. “You’re small-town, Emily. You love this place. And I know you. Could you really forgive yourself if you gave up your father’s house?”
Emily winced. That cut to the heart of it pretty much.
“I’ve got a lot to think about,” Emily said slowly.
“Yeah, you do,” Sue agreed. “There’s a lot of excitement and passion in an affair, Emily, but it’s not a marriage.”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, did it ever occur to you,” Sue said slowly, “that Tall Pines is your longest relationship? You’re married to this town.
You’re married to this life.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Emily said, completely disconcerted.
“You wouldn’t say that?” Sue laughed ruefully. “You, the woman who’s been on almost every town committee since she was fourteen years old? The girl voted most likely to have a statue erected to her in high school? Are you kidding me?”
“There’s more to me than that,” Emily protested.
“That’s not the point,” Sue countered. “The point is it’s a big part of you. Too big a part for you to just walk away from.”
With that, Sue walked out, leaving Emily alone and confused in her office. She unconsciously headed back upstairs to her apartment, her body numb, her mind churning.
Is that all people see of me? Is that what they think?
It disturbed her. Sue was her best friend, but apparently even she couldn’t see Emily moving out of the small town. They saw it as a betrayal.
Is it such a bad thing to want to grow?
Colin was sitting on her couch watching TV when she walked in. She sat next to him on shaking legs.
He quickly shut off the TV. “Are you okay?” he asked, his voice rich with concern.
She tried to nod, but wound up tilting her head to hold back the tears instead. “Do you think that I’m small-town?”
His eyes widened. “It depends on how you define small-town. Do you mean unsophisticated, closed-minded, a hick?” He shook his head emphatically. “In that case, absolutely not. But if you mean warm, open, friendly and compassionate, then yes, you have some definite small-town elements.”
She hugged him, feeling comforted by his heat, his strength. “Do you think that I’ll never leave Tall Pines?”
She felt him go quiet, every muscle freezing in place beneath her hands. “No,” he said, his voice sounding oddly strained. “I don’t think that.”
“Really?”
“Really.” He kissed her temple, his hands starting to stroke down her back in delicious, lazy glides. “I think that you might have lived in Tall Pines all your life, but you’ve got the soul of an adventurer. And given the opportunity, I think that you’d leap at the chance to try something new.”
She grinned at him. He always knew just what to say. She leaned up, kissing him softly at first, then with growing passion.
“Speaking of trying something new,” she said, feeling a streak of mischievousness shoot through her, “I was thinking…have you ever had chocolate-covered strawberries?”
He shrugged. “Sure.”
She tugged him toward the kitchen, shedding clothes as she did. “Not like this, you haven’t.”
COLIN WALKED INTO the town hall with Emily on his arm and lovemaking on his mind. The woman was right—he’d never had chocolate-covered strawberries presented in quite so exotic a fashion. She’d melted some dark chocolate, warm and liquid in a glass bowl, with cut strawberries presented on a plate…and herself naked on the dining room table. He’d never had so enticing a platter to eat from before. He’d painted her nipples with the chocolate, licking them off with a slow thoroughness, then placed a strawberry between her thighs, amusing himself by nibbling it out, then lapping up the sweet strawberry juices that had drizzled into the soft folds of her labia. She’d licked chocolate off his cock, taking him in deep, circling the flesh of his blunt head with her curious tongue. Sticky, coated with fruit juice and chocolate, they’d taken a shower and then made love standing up under the pounding water, so turned on they could barely stand it.
He could never get enough of Emily, he knew that. If he was willing to put up with a Tall Pines town meeting, it had to be love.“Colin?” his mother said, astounded. “What in the world are you doing here? Oh, you’re with Emily. Of course! Why don’t you two sit here by us?”
Colin looked at Emily, who smirked at him. Apparently Evelyn Albee’s Mafia-style assurances that the town had agreed to leave them alone did not apply to his parents. He wasn’t really surprised, but he was disappointed. Emily sat next to him on one of the uncomfortable wooden folding chairs.
“I’m sure it’ll be a short meeting,” she reassured him, her eyes glowing. She took his hand, lacing her fingers in his. Her smile reminded him of the dining room table and their “dessert.”
He swallowed, leaning over. “Don’t suppose you want to take a quick tour of the boiler room?” he croaked.
She laughed, but for a second her expression turned devilish. She’d considered it, he felt quite sure.
He grinned back. The town meeting always had an intermission after an hour. He could always change her mind then.
“All right, all right,” Mayor Tim said, pounding his gavel against the hardwood podium, looking serious. Colin had largely overcome his jealousy for the man now that things had worked out. Mayor Tim might want a passionless marriage of convenience with Emily, but Colin knew firsthand that there was no way Emily could live without that flash and burn of desire. He stroked the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist, his eyes never leaving the front of the room. He heard her gasp softly and smiled secretly to himself. That was a pleasure point for her, he’d discovered—much like the soft bend of her inner elbow and the dimple just under the curve of her buttocks. It was like charting unexplored territory, each new spot a treasure trove of pleasure and suspense.
She was one of the best adventures he’d ever pursued.
“We’ve got a lot to cover. Can’t we start, for once, on time?” With that grouse, Tim managed to get a lot of the chattering citizens of Tall Pines to quiet down. “We’ve got a short agenda, and it might be nice to leave after two hours. So let’s move briskly. First item—the upcoming Valentine’s dance at the Otter Lodge—”
“Wait a second,” a man’s voice yelled from the back of the room. “I thought that you needed to ask if there was any new business first! That’s always the first item!”
Colin noticed that Emily stiffened, whipping her head around to look at the loudmouth. He glanced back.
It was Phillip, the manager at the inn. The pain in the ass who always gave Colin a dirty look.
“Who’s running the inn?” Colin asked, surprised.
“Sue, I guess,” Emily said, sounding puzzled…and nervous. “But she’s not supposed to be. Phillip’s never been interested in town politics before. He lives for the inn.”
Her palm turned moist in his hand, and Colin realized she was sweating. “What’s wrong?” he whispered.
Before she could answer, Tim cleared his throat. “Well, yes, but I thought we’d skip it tonight. I don’t think anybody has any new business. At least nobody mentioned anything to me this week…”
“Well, I have new business,” Phillip continued imperiously. “Business that affects this whole town.”
“And you are?” Tim asked, amusement clear in his voice.
Phillip gave him a withering stare. “You know who I am, Tim. I lived down the street from you for eight years!”
“Let me rephrase that,” Tim said easily. “What exactly has happened to you that is so earth-shattering we’ve got to introduce it as new business and dedicate God knows how long to dealing with your problem?”
Colin smothered a grin. Now that he wasn’t in competition with the guy, Tim seemed pretty cool.
Phillip’s expression was one of supreme distaste. “Well, I thought that it might concern the town that one of their leading landmarks would be sold to outside interests,” he proclaimed, his voice ringing through the auditorium like a Shakespearean actor’s. “But I guess it’s far more important for you to discuss the Valentine’s dance.”
“Sell a landmark?” This from Mrs. Rutledge, who sounded outraged. She got to her feet, frail but still an imposing presence. “Who’s selling what to whom?”
Tim’s frown was deep. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Phillip,” he said, impatient. “Want to cut the theatrics and explain yourself?”
“Maybe you should ask Emily.”
Emily went pale. Colin clutched her hand
. What was going on here?
“Emily,” Tim prompted. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
She stood up, and the auditorium went silent as a tomb. All eyes were on her. Colin still held her hand, feeling her tremble slightly beneath his fingers.
“What he’s talking about,” she retorted, her voice betraying only the slightest tremor of nerves, “is not of any concern to the town. It was a private conversation, an internal conversation, and it was just in passing besides.”
Everyone looked confused by this, and Colin watched as Emily turned a poisonous glare at Phillip. Phillip stood his ground.
“I don’t think it’s private or internal,” he countered, “if you’re thinking of selling a building that’s been in this town for over three generations.”
Colin heard everyone in the meeting gasp collectively and he winced. Oh crap. Here we go.
Emily wilted under the scrutiny, slumping slightly. He squeezed her hand, trying to give her some comfort.
“Is this true, Em?” Tim asked, sounding scandalized. “You’re going to sell the inn?”
“I hadn’t made any decision about it,” she said. “I was just thinking about it and I discussed it with Sue and Phillip. I didn’t think it was anything that the town needed to know about yet.”
“Well, it affects all of us, missy,” Mrs. Rutledge replied sharply. “You can’t throw around an idea like that and not expect it to ruffle some feathers!”
Sell the inn? Colin was gobsmacked…and heartened. If she was willing to entertain the idea, then she was already thinking of leaving the town. Hopefully to be with him.
He smiled to himself, cheered immensely by the thought.
“Like I said,” Emily repeated, “I’m not sure…”
“You couldn’t possibly sell the Stanfield house,” Ava Reese interrupted, looking distraught. “It’s been in your family for so long. Your father would be heartbroken!”
“Mom,” Colin whispered fiercely, seeing Emily’s stricken expression. “For God’s sake.”
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