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Why hadn’t she mentioned any of this before? He’d had no idea. If there was one thing he needed, it was help getting the word out about his businesses. That would come in especially handy if he opened a ski resort here in town.
“Work for me,” he blurted before he could talk himself out of it. “It’d be a credit for your résumé, and I’ll pay you well. Whatever the going rate is for experienced marketing directors.”
Sirens were flashing in his head.Stop. Don’t do this. It’s a mistake. Eventually they’d have to part ways. Having her as his marketing director would not make that easy. Not in the slightest. But his heart was running things here. Apparently, it was looking for ways to keep her in his life. To make it impossible for him to separate from her. If she couldn’t be his nanny and live in his home a couple of months from now, at least she’d still be in his life.
But what happened when she someday met the man of her dreams, got married, and had kids? She’d be working for him. He’d have no choice but to stand by, watching it, knowing what could have been his.
No, a clean break would be best. Walk away and don’t look back. He might see her around town, but he wouldn’t have to work in the same office with her every day or see her name on emails and text messages. Worse—her first name and someone else’s last name. It pained him just to imagine it.
“How about this?” she said. “I’ll try out a few marketing tasks for your helicopter business. It will give me some things for my portfolio, and it’ll help you out. No extra pay required.”
She was already on the payroll. She’d asked for an hourly rate that he felt was way too low, but he planned to help her out in other ways—like what he was doing today. Her gaze slid off to the side, and her eyes widened, telling him his surprise had just arrived.
It wasn’t just one surprise, actually. It was five of them. Five different types of vehicles, pulling into his long driveway. Each had a big red ribbon on it. He’d paid extra for that.
He rushed to give his spiel before she made the wrong assumption. “I didn’t buy you five cars. I talked to your father. He told me what you used to drive and what he thought you might like. He said you’re partial to white, but if you like one of these, they can swap it out for another color. We just weren’t sure if you wanted an SUV or a two- or four-door car. They’re here for us to test drive. Your own car lot, right in my driveway.”
He wished more than anything, he could just let her pick the car out and pay the bill. He wanted to do that for her. He wanted to help. But he knew she wouldn’t let him, even if he claimed it was her company car.
“I don’t have to test drive them all,” she said. “I know which one I want.”
She started toward the fourth vehicle in line—the four-door sedan. The five delivery drivers stepped out of their vehicles and came around to introduce themselves. One was the sales manager, and he was all too happy to go through the details of the vehicle she’d picked out.
“It’s perfect,” she said. “Not too big, but it’ll grow with me. It’s something I could see myself driving five or ten years from now.”
She saw herself driving the same car five or ten years from now? He hadn’t kept a car more than a couple of years. He’d even thought about leasing since he was so fickle, but he drove back and forth to Knoxville too much for that.
As he watched her happily climb into her practical four-door sedan, tossing her blanket into the backseat, something hit Holden. Faith Ardmore was not like any woman he’d ever dated. Even his ex-wife had been a little irresponsible with money. This woman was practical and sensible—something his life had been missing for so long.
“Let’s take it for a spin then,” Holden said, handing his driver’s license to the manager. He might have paid a lot of money to have these delivered, but the sales manager still wasn’t going to let somebody take off without leaving some sort of identification behind. Holden climbed into the passenger seat before asking, “It’s okay if I ride along with you, right?”
“Of course.” She smiled over at him. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
One of the salespeople had to move the SUV at the back of the line to let her out. Faith stopped to adjust her seat and the mirrors, so it took an extra minute or so. But then they were off, driving down the hill toward the subdivision exit.
Whether she was aware of it or not, she had a smile on her face. She was excited, her mood having perked up considerably since he found her sitting on the back patio. It was worth every dime of the delivery fee to see the smile on her face. And to know that something he’d done had put it there.
22
He had cars delivered to his house. Whodidthat?
Holden Pryce, that was who.
She couldn’t suppress the smile as she pulled into Holden’s driveway, pulling behind the last of the group of cars they’d dropped off. She’d driven the car up and down the strip, him laughing as she pretended to show off how fast the car could go from zero to forty—the speed limit on the busiest part of the main road that ran through Misty Mountain.
It wasn’t like the car was a hot rod or anything. It was your basic sedan. But it was a luxury car compared to what she’d had before. It rode so smoothly, and Holden even managed to sync her phone to the screen so she could access her apps easily while driving.
“I’ll take care of them,” he said. “You go in and change.”
Did they have plans she’d forgotten about? “I thought I’d just chill around the house,” she said.
“No way,” he said. “You’re taking me to dinner. I’ll pay, of course, but you drive.”
He snatched up the keys from the cupholder and got out, heading toward the group of sales guys gathered near the front porch. She followed but continued to the front door. As she passed, she overheard Holden tell the guys they’d settle the paperwork Tuesday morning.
It couldn’t be that easy. They wouldn’t just leave a car with some stranger over a long holiday weekend. But as she went to her room and changed, it occurred to her that he’d probably taken care of some things for her. Maybe he’d even put down a deposit to hold it until she could finalize it all.
Everything in her wanted to fight him taking care of her like that. But she couldn’t seem to squash her contentment. He was her boss. He could help her when she needed it, couldn’t he?
