Maximum Complete Series Box Set (Single Dad Romance)

by Claire Adams

  “What the heck,” she said as she was finally awoken by the forceful deceleration of the plane.

  “Just landing.”

  “Wow, that was rough.”

  Marvin and I locked eyes, and he shook his head in disbelief, as did I. It was a definite talent that Emmi had to sleep through almost anything.

  “Yeah, it was a little rough,” I said with a grin. “Are you feeling a little better?”

  Emmi looked out the window and took in the snowy scenery as she seemed to be assessing herself to see if she was feeling better or not. Her eyes looked more connected when she turned back toward me, and she certainly looked like she was feeling better.

  “Actually, I feel pretty damn good. Maybe a whole day of sleeping was just what I needed. Do I have any warm clothes with me?” she said with a shiver as her hands rubbed up and down her arms to warm herself.

  “Oh, yes. Your friend brought some, but take my coat for right now.” I slid off my blazer and set it on her lap. “We can have them bring your bag in here so you can change before we head to the resort.”

  “Where are we staying?”

  “Shit!” Suddenly I realized another thing that Margery had always done for me: made my hotel reservations. “I forgot to reserve a room. I’ll just call around and see where we can stay.”

  “Mr. McMillan,” a young man said as he boarded our plane. “I’m Walter Friender with the airport. I just wanted to welcome you to Breckenridge,” he said as he extended his hand.

  It was highly unusual that anyone from the airport would board our plane to talk to me so quickly. The only thing I could think of was there had to be a problem. The pilot must have thought the same thing as he opened his cabin door to see what was going on.

  “Is there a problem?” I asked.

  “No sir, but there is a storm coming. I advise if your flight crew has the necessary fuel they should take off right away and head to Denver where the plane can be put in a hangar and the crew can be accommodated.” He turned toward the pilot. “Do you have enough fuel?”

  “Yes, sir. When’s the storm hitting?”

  “Within the hour. If you head right back to the runway, you won’t need deicing, though; that’s why I hurried out here.”

  “Thank you,” I said as I grabbed my things. “You two get going. We will be fine here. As soon as the storm clears, I’ll have a helicopter take us to Denver, and we can fly out from there.”

  “Sir, I’m not sure when a chopper could land…” Walter started to say. “But no worries; we will get you to Denver.”

  I grabbed Emmi’s hand and we quickly got off the plane so they could head to Denver before the storm hit. There was no use risking damage to the airplane when we could get it to somewhere safe.

  The cold air was compounded by the high winds as we were handed our bags and rushed into the main building. I could hardly draw in a full breath because the air was so cold. It was painful to try to breathe, and all three of us felt it as the building door closed behind us.

  “I need clothes,” Emmi said as she quickly started to open her bag. “I think I might put all of these on,” she laughed.

  “Where are you staying? I will have one of my staff get you to the resort before the storm hits,” Walter asked.

  “Actually, we need to book a place still.”

  The look on his face instantly went from ‘polite nice guy’ to ‘oh no,’ and my stomach sank just as quickly. There was clearly a huge winter storm on its way, and I imagined there were a lot of people buying up the hotel rooms, but surely a man with my sort of money could find an empty room somewhere in the city.

  “There is nothing open. I mean, we could call around and find you something, but it will take time, and the storm is almost here. Um, I’m not sure…” he trailed off as his hand ran through his hair and the panic of the moment set in. “You could come to my apartment,” he offered.

  “Actually, do you know where the old ski chalet is? I’ve purchased it and will be remodeling it for a resort. I’m sure we could just stay there.”

  “The ski chalet? It’s abandoned. I don’t think there is heat there.”

  “There are 10 working fireplaces,” Emmi added. “I’m sure we can get those up and running and we will be fine until the morning. Do you think we will be able to find a room to stay in tomorrow?”

  “Um, I will find you something by tomorrow. I promise,” he said.

  “Then take us to the chalet. Emmi and I are going to light some fires,” I said as I pulled my coat out of my bag so I didn’t have to wear his. “We better hurry though; I’d like to have a little time to get the wood we need pulled into the building.”

  “No worries about the wood. There is a back deck that has a ton of it. It’s covered and dry. I used to work out there when it was a running chalet.”

  “Okay then, sounds good. Can you have someone take us there?”

  “Certainly, and I’ll come by tomorrow with a more suitable place lined up for you. It’s very exciting that you’ll be remodeling that place. It was by far the coolest resort in town before it grew so old and outdated. I’ll radio to get you a driver. Just wait by that door, and he will pull up soon.”

  We did as we were told and waited by the sliding glass door near the front of the building. The ominous, dark sky looked more like tornado weather than a snowstorm, but with the level of winds that were brewing, who knew what exactly we were in store for.

  Emmi stood with me all bundled up and texting on her phone. She looked laid back and relaxed, as if she didn’t have a care in the world. There weren’t many women I knew who would have taken similar circumstances so coolly. It was a credit to her and probably her upbringing that the events of our evening weren’t at all distracting to her. She noticed that I was watching her sending a text message and playfully hid her phone from me.

  “I’m just reassuring my father that we landed and everything is going perfectly.”

  “Oh, Teddy messaged you?”

  “No, I’m not exactly sure where he is, but I know how he worries. The second he hears about this storm and that we are here, he will be worried out of his mind. So this way I head off all that exaggerated fatherly panic,” she said with a girlish smile.

  “Man, you really do have him wrapped around that pinky of yours.”

  “I do,” she smirked.

  “Well, I wasn’t really going to tell him that it was just you and I alone, so if you want to leave that part off of your text, that would be great.”

  Emmi turned her head to the side as if she had caught me in the midst of a horrible lie. It wasn’t a horrible lie; Rosa was supposed to have come along with us. It wasn’t my fault that her child was sick. I hadn’t purposely planned to be alone with Emmi, and I certainly wasn’t doing anything unprofessional with her. But Teddy might not have thought my intentions were as pure, so I just didn’t want him to worry if there was no reason to worry.

  “What?” I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t want him getting the wrong idea.”

  “Don’t worry. I didn’t tell him that you carried me drunk and half unconscious onto your plane and flew me to Colorado without Rosa,” she teased.

  “What?” I said in total shock. “I’ve been very chivalrous.”

  Emmi was obviously cold, as she rubbed her hands together and then ran them up and down her legs as we waited. She didn’t complain about the freezing weather though, and instead just did her best to warm up her exposed skin. Even inside the building, it was freezing, so I wasn’t looking forward to how cold the old chalet was going to be when we arrived.

  “Who knows how you’ve behaved; I’ve been unconscious,” she continued to tease.

  “Oh, man, you’re trouble.”

  “No way. You’re trouble,” she joked as we saw the car pull up. “I’ll race you out there.”

  Emmi grabbed her bag and ran out to the car in her heels and skirt faster than I knew any woman could run in those shoes. Her big winter coat was zipped up tig
ht around her neck, but she turned back and smiled playfully at me as she climbed into the waiting car.

  I moved a little more casually as I walked to the trunk and set my bag inside before sliding into the front seat with the driver. He wasn’t exactly a hired taxi, and I thought it would seem weird if both Emmi and I had sat in the back seat together. Plus, the way she was shivering and running her fingers up and down her legs was driving me crazy.

  The wind blew the newly fallen snow around the roads. It was clearly getting more and more dangerous on the roads. While we drove to the chalet, there were only a few other vehicles out, and they all looked to be in a hurry to get wherever they were going.

  “How long is this storm supposed to last?” Emmi asked through her chattering teeth.

  “I’m not sure, ma’am. I plan to try and make it to work in the morning, though. But you just can’t tell what the weather is going to do when it hits the mountains. Even our meteorologists don’t know half of the time.”

  “That is a strange job of guessing,” Emmi said.

  “What are the best resorts near the chalet?” I ventured to ask as I tried to get some information for our project.

  “I think the Hilton is probably the best in the area. They wouldn’t be your competition if you are renovating the chalet, though,” the driver said.

  “Why not?”

  “Just families on vacation staying there. The chalet seems like it would be renovated into more of a five-star retreat; am I right?”

  He was a quick-witted kid and right on the nose. We knew the Hilton was our biggest rival in the area, but we weren’t going to compete with them with the chalet. The high-end clientele we were shooting for were the type that would normally rent a private house in the area, not stay at a large chain hotel. But we were also building a large hotel; at least that was our original plan. It would be in direct completion with the Hilton and certainly needed to be different enough to lure those patrons away from their value cards and frequent stay bonuses that Hilton was known for.

  “Shit!” our driver said as he stopped in the middle of the road and looked up a long driveway to the chalet. “It hasn’t been cleared from the last snow. I’m not going to be able to get up there.”

  “Man, yeah. That’s not going to work,” I said as I looked up at the resort and tried to figure out what we should do next.

  We sat at the bottom of the hill for a good five minutes as our driver sent a few text messages and I tried to think through the problem. I might just have to take the airport manager up on his offer to let us stay at his place through the night.

  “Are these your boots?” Emmi asked from the back seat.

  “No, just extras we keep in the vehicle.”

  “Mind if I borrow them?” she asked.

  “Sure, they are all yours.”

  “Okay, grab the bags, Declan,” Emmi said as she opened the back door and climbed out of the vehicle. “I’ll race you up there,” she yelled as she started to run up the hill. Her big coat was zipped up around her face and her colorful dress peeking out from under it. Her legs had to be freezing.

  “I better get going, I guess,” I laughed as the driver and I both got out, and I pulled out suitcases out and started the trek up the hill.

  “Hurry up,” Emmi yelled. “My nipples are going to freeze right off if I’m out here another minute.”

  “Well, I can’t be responsible for that!” I said as I picked up the pace and hustled to the top of the hill.

  Chapter Twelve

  Emmi

  I had literally left my job and the cold of New York to end up right in the middle of a winter storm without any pants on. Life sure had a funny way of wrapping around and kicking a girl in the butt.

  I stood near the dark building while I waited for Declan to make his way up the long driveway with our suitcases. The chalet didn’t look anything like the pictures I had seen. Perhaps because it was nighttime, or maybe because the pictures were old, but the building we were in front of was a shell of whatever it used to be.

  “Come on slowpoke; I thought you were used to this cold weather?” I yelled at Declan.

  “Do you want to come carry your own suitcase?”

  “Definitely not! Never mind, I’ll wait patiently for you to get your out of shape butt up here.” I leaned against the front door and crossed my arms as if it would be forever before he arrived, but he was there just a minute later. “You have the key, right?”

  The look on Declan’s face was absolutely priceless as the realization hit him. We had just been left at an abandoned chalet, in the midst of a winter storm, without the key to get in. I burst into laughter at the sheer craziness of the situation. Declan really was as disorganized as he said he was.

  “Shit!” he exclaimed.

  “It’s okay; I’m sure we can jimmy open one of these old windows.”

  “This is why I need like, 10 assistants. Damn, I’m sorry. Let me walk around back and see if anything happens to be unlocked.”

  “Okay, but don’t break any windows, please. It will be cold enough in there without having wind blowing through the entire place. I’ll check the windows around here.”

  “Sorry,” Declan said as defeat seemed to stretch across his face.

  “It’s fine. I’ve got a good five minutes in me before I freeze to death. Plenty of time,” I teased.

  As soon as Declan walked around toward the back of the building, I frantically started to push on the windows to see if any of them were unlocked. Without having any luck, I decided to climb up the wooden fire escape to a balcony on the second floor.

  The wind ripped across my legs and I felt the pain of the cold as I climbed up the old wooden contraption as quickly as I could. Although the sliding glass door was locked, it looked like a very old lock that might be able to be manipulated. I certainly didn’t have any experience picking locks, but I did know the basics of unlatching an old lock with a credit card. As a teenager, I used to break into my parents’ bedroom and go through my mother's closet all the time. Simply sliding a credit card in the right direction would flip the lock and allow me access to her room.

  “Declan!” I yelled from the balcony.

  The wind was howling loudly though, and I knew he wasn’t going to be able to hear me. Reluctantly, I climbed back down the rickety wood ladder and grabbed a credit card and some hairpins out of my purse.

  First, I tried to work on the front door, but the lock was much more secure and didn’t allow the ability to slide the card. I pulled my hairpin out and tried to wiggle one in the lock, but really had no idea what I was doing.

  “Declan!” I yelled again as I leaned around the corner to see if he was coming back toward the front.

  Without hearing him, I went back to work and climbed to the balcony. My legs burned from the freezing cold. I squatted down and pressed my legs up inside my coat as I tried to figure out the best way to get the lock opened. Luckily, the moon was shining off the blowing snow and giving me some light to work with, but not much.

  “Emmi!” I heard Declan yell.

  “I’m up here,” I said loudly without getting up. “I’m working on this lock.”

  He didn’t respond, so I just kept working. I slid the card in under the lock and pressed it up but it stopped, and I couldn’t feel any movement inside the lock. I pulled it out and tried putting it in over the top of the lock. As I pressed the card down, I felt the lock moving, but it wasn’t fully unlatching. My fingers were shaking from the cold, but I pressed down as hard as I could on the card and then heard the click of the lock.

  “I got it!” I yelled.

  My fingers shook as I slid the door opened and stepped into the old building. I’d expected it to look and smell like some sort of abandoned mansion out of a Scooby-Doo episode. Instead, it looked immaculate inside. There was surprisingly little dust throughout the room I entered. The large queen bed was still made, and there were towels folded and sitting on the corner of a Victorian-style dresser.
It was as if the place had closed down without notice or warning at all.

  I opened the door to the main hall and peeked out just to satisfy my nervousness. I’d never been in an abandoned building before and only had a dozen or so horror movies rushing through my mind as I carefully took a step into the hallway.

  It was dark except for the light that was coming in at the end of the hall near the stairs. I couldn’t believe that Declan hadn’t had someone turn the electricity on before we arrived. A large picture window looked out over the ski slopes and let in the moonlight. My eyes worked hard to adjust to the changes in lighting as I made my way down the stairs so I could let Declan in. The wood on the stairs made an awful creaking noise with each step and sent my heart racing faster and faster as I reached the bottom step and turned toward the front door.

  “Hey, I thought…” Declan started to say as he stood in front of me.

  “Oh, shit! Oh, my God. Oh, wow,” I jumped back as my body reacted to him being right there. I stumbled so far backward that I ended up tripping myself and landing onto the hard tile of the floor. “How did you get in?”

  “Um, just wiggled the lock really hard and pushed on the door. How did you get in?” he asked as he looked up the stairs. “Did you climb up to the second floor?”

  “I just went up the fire escape. Wow, my heart is still racing.”

  Declan reached down to help me up. Our hands intertwined as he pulled without exerting any energy at all. The muscles in his forearm flexed, and I held on tight to his hand as I stood up and felt an amazing warmed between us. His hands were cold; mine were probably freezing, yet when they were together, warmth emanated between the two of us.

  Our eyes locked onto one another for the briefest of moments, and I wanted more. It was only a small moment of weakness, but definitely a moment.

  “You’re freezing; we better get a fire going,” Declan said as he pulled away from me and diverted his eyes toward the large fireplace in the great room. “Do you think that works?”