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If Peppertree was owned by literally anyone else in the world, that would be fine with me. I had more than enough resources and expertise to flip this failing place into something anyone would be proud of.
But this wasn’t just anyone’s resort. This was Haley’s. This was her family’s.
After last night, this was a betrayal. She wouldn’t see it any other way. When I took her up to my bedroom, I never expected I would feel like this about her, but revisiting those old emotions did more to me than I thought they could.
There had to be some way to back out.
I pulled up some of the papers I’d already signed, but my heart sank even more when I realized the fine print in all these things just reiterated everything my attorney told me. This deal was already in the works, and pulling out now would be a major threat to my company. It would be the kind of rookie mistake that would have shareholders pulling out left and right and putting a lot more jobs at risk.
If it was just my ass on the line, I might have considered it, but going through with this deal had a lot of employees on the line.
I took a drink of my coffee as I scoured the contracts for any sign of a loophole. I was no attorney, but I knew what to look for. My attorney tended to assume that I didn’t read these things thoroughly, but I always made a point to, and I learned more with each one.
But the deal was ironclad. I almost felt guilty trying to find a weakness in the contract, because it was the deal of a lifetime by all other standards. Financially, this was going to take something great and make it legendary. Flipping these resorts into working order would mean that I would have a legacy to outshine anyone else in my family. They were resorts from all over the world, too.
The Hawthorne name would be famous.
And all it was going to cost me was stabbing the most incredible woman in the world right in the back.
I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair. Briefly, I considered taking negotiations into my own hands, but if the bank sensed weakness like that, they’d get cold feet faster than Peppertree was crashing on its own.
I cast a glance around the room. Of course, I could always just let Haley be the manager of this resort, but that would be adding insult to injury. I knew her better. It would only piss her off.
As if on cue, I heard a soft moan behind me that made my heart beat faster. She was awake. Shit. It could be a perfect morning. A morning of fucking into oblivion until we had to go to work.
All I had to do was find a solution to an impossible problem.
10
Haley
I woke up slowly, my body too exhausted and spent to want to move at all. I was warm and comfortable, snuggled up under soft sheets and a downy comforter. Before I even opened my eyes, I could smell that I was in a room other than my own. My suite smelled like lavender and chai tea, as a result of the combined scents of my favorite soap and hot morning beverage of choice. But this place was different. There was a pleasantly musky, manly scent in the air. Not just in the air, but in the bedding itself. Still clinging to the comfort of sleep, I refused t
o open my eyes at first as I rolled over onto my stomach and hugged the pillow. I inhaled deeply. Yes, that lovely masculine smell was all over the bed. Cologne mingled with the raw, adrenaline-fueled scent of a man. I smiled to myself as the events of last night came floating back to me.
Chase. Me. Naked and kissing, touching each other, orgasming and crying out each other’s names. Lying tangled up in the bed afterward, quiet and content as we drifted off to sleep. What a fantastic surprise of a night. If anyone had told me yesterday morning when I woke up that I would run into my hot ex-boyfriend from college and have mind-blowing sex with him, I would have scoffed. Maybe even laughed. It was just too absurdly romantic to be something that could happen to me.
But it did. And yes, maybe I should have felt a little guilty or ashamed of it, but I sure as hell did not. I was actually pretty pleased with myself. Chase had stoked a fire inside me that I had thought long since burned out. My sleeping libido had been awoken and well-satisfied, thanks to him. And I had been so incredibly stressed out lately. I needed this.
Finally, I stretched and sat up in bed, realizing I was still naked when the cool air made goosebumps prickle up along my exposed flesh. I looked around the room, blinking sleepily. Out the massive bay window I could see the snow still gently falling. The sky was an impossibly smooth baby blue, with only a few perfectly puffy, white cotton-ball clouds. It was a beautiful winter’s day. I shivered, looking around for my clothes or a robe or something. I smiled when my eyes landed on a fluffy purple robe draped over the end of the bed, right over my own feet. Chase had set it out for me when he got up, apparently. For some reason, this small act of thoughtfulness made my heart surge with affection. It made me blush knowing that he would think of a detail like that.
I slinked out of bed and hurriedly put on the soft robe, tying it tightly around myself. I sat on the end of the bed, my toes curling from the cold. It was strange, being in this suite again. Although it was the suite adjacent to my own, I almost never even looked inside it these days. Of course, the maids came in to clean and launder the room, regardless of whether anyone stayed there or not. But as for me, I tended to shy away from my parents’ old quarters. It ignited too many vivid memories. Nowadays I was so busy and overwhelmed with work and trying to keep everything afloat that the last thing I needed was to be thrown off-kilter by a rush of painful emotions. I kept my schedule jam-packed so I wouldn’t have time to reminisce too much. It was hard enough living and working in the resort where I grew up, where my father dreamed and schemed. Sometimes, I still half-expected to hear him whistling or laughing in a hallway, chatting up a guest, making connections and networking like he always did. After my mom moved out and got her own place, the Peppertree felt even more lonely. Of course, I totally understood why she had to leave. As hard as it was for me to live in the shadow of my father and his untimely death, it had to have been even more difficult for her, since my father was the love of her life. And since I couldn’t avoid the entire place, I just did my best to avoid their old rooms.
Until now. I expected it to feel perverse or gross, having slept with Chase in the room where my mom and dad used to live. But instead, I just felt revitalized. Renewed. Ready to face whatever the day had in store for me.
Another smell wafted through the air toward me: freshly-brewed coffee. Almost as though in a trance, I got up and walked out of the bedroom into the living space. It was a gorgeous room with high ceilings, impressive art hanging on the walls, vintage furniture, and a chandelier. I walked through the living room to the kitchen and dining area. It had a fully-stocked kitchenette, complete with appliances like a blender, food processor, waffle-maker, and much more. My mother had been one hell of a cook, and my dad was one hell of an eater. So their suite was still decked out with all the accoutrements of an at-home chef, even though guests normally just ate at the lodge restaurant or somewhere else in town.
Chase was standing in the kitchen, and his face lit up a little bit when he saw me. Again, that little surge in my heart. Come on, Haley, get yourself together, I thought to myself. It was a one-time thing. A little fling to tuck away in my memories and reflect on when I was lonely.
“Coffee?” he asked. He held out a mug for me. I gladly took it and blew on the steaming coffee. I gave him a grateful smile.
“Thank you,” I replied. I could hear the crackling of a fire in the den, and I was drawn to it instantly. “Ooh, that fire sounds inviting,” I added.
I quickly hurried out of the kitchen and into the den, sitting down on the ottoman with my feet only about six inches away from the cozy fire. I could feel my toes starting to thaw out and regain their feeling, and I made a mental note to start wearing double pairs of socks again. It was that time of year.
Chase followed me into the den and sat down in the armchair to sip his coffee. It was such a peaceful moment, and I realized that for the first time in, well, I couldn’t even remember how long, I felt genuinely content. I wasn’t rushing to get dressed and put out a fire somewhere or scramble to appease some disgruntled guest. My thoughts weren’t spilling all over the place like a jar of dropped marbles. My mind was quiet, my heart was full.
And I knew it had everything to do with the strong, powerful, comforting presence of Chase sitting behind me. He made me feel like everything might just work out, like things might just be okay in the end. But I knew better than to rely on that comfort too much. Because like all wonderful things, there was no way this little tryst could last.
