“How do you feel about a picnic?” I make a turn and head in a slightly different direction than we came.
Elias pauses in thought. “I don’t think I’ve ever been on a picnic.”
“That’s just sad. We need to change that.” I signal and make a left turn. When I planned our day, I’d hoped to show Elias one of my favorite places. The picnic just sounded like a good idea. Now I’m glad I did.
Elias grabs hold of the door as we bump down the rutted road. “Should I be scared that you’re taking me down a dirt road?”
I smile as we hit a dip. “You should be safe.” I could have taken the paved road that tourists use, but this way we get to walk through the woods and experience the wonder of where we’re going.
After a jarring fifteen-minute ride, I pull off onto the grassy side of the road and grab a tote bag from behind the seat. “You don’t mind a short hike, do you?”
“No. Not at all. This is beautiful country. I don’t think I’d ever tire of living here.”
I toss the tote over my shoulder and head into the woods. There’s not a true path, but I’ve been so many times, I know what to look for. “You might change your mind in the winter when there’s several feet of snow on the ground. Of course, I can’t imagine living where you do and not having seasons. I’d really miss them.”
Elias ducks a low-lying branch. “California has its perks. I can walk out my back door and jump in the ocean anytime I want.”
I try to imagine how wonderful that must be. “That would be incredible. I try to get to the beach once a year, but it’s about a five-hour drive. Do you surf?”
“I do. At least, I used to. Lately, I’ve just not had time.”
“As a loyal viewer, may I thank you? Do you film year-round?”
“No. We only film for six months, but the other six months are filled with preparing for filming. Sometimes it seems never-ending.”
I’m picking up a negative vibe. “Do you enjoy what you do?”
He doesn’t respond right away. “I know how lucky I am to be doing what I do. Being on television was never in my plans, though. I enjoy the actual work, but I could do without all the insanity that comes with being a public figure.”
He never actually answered the question. “What did you want to do?”
“I wanted to play football. I had a full ride to college. But I don’t regret my decision to stay with Belinda. I’d make the same choice today. What about you? Did you always want to be a florist?”
“No. Not really. I mean, I love what I do, but it all came about by accident. I have a business degree, and I’d planned to work for a large financial company. Then the Doctor told Grammy she needed to slow down, and she turned over the shop to me. I was the logical choice.”
Elias stops, turning his head in different directions to listen. “What’s that noise?”
I grin, “That’s where we’re headed.” After walking for another five minutes, we break through the trees. I turn toward Elias when I hear his gasp. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
I turn to take in the waterfall spilling between the mountain rocks sixty feet above us, plumes of spray landing in the rocky creek below. We walk along the side of the river until we are close enough to feel the water misting on our faces. From so close, the sound is almost deafening. I touch Elias’s arm and motion to a grassy area further away.
“What is this place?” he asks as I pull a blanket from my tote. Elias takes it from me and spreads it out on the grass.
I dig around in my bag. “Looking Glass Falls. It’s one of my favorite places. You don’t know how fortunate we are. There’s usually a lot of tourists here.” I pull sandwiches and packs of chips from the bag along with two bottles of water. “I made ham and turkey. You can have your pick.”
Elias reaches for a sandwich, unwraps it, and takes a bite. “Why do they call it that?”
I pull the wrapper off a turkey sandwich. “Because in the winter, the water freezes vertically. When the sun shines on the frozen wall of water, it reflects like a mirror. It’s one of our biggest area attractions. In the summer, you can swim in the pool at the foot of the falls. You can even swim under the fall and sit on a ledge behind. It’s really beautiful to sit back there and watch a curtain of water fall around you.”
We both munch on our lunch and simply enjoy the beautiful day and the calming sight of the waterfall. It’s nice simply to be with Elias. Nice and disturbing at the same time. He’s sitting much too close for me to completely relax.
“I could sit here all day,” Elias says.
I grin. I’m glad he’s enjoying the falls as much as I do. “No can do, buster. We still have lots to do today.”
I toss my sandwich wrapper back in my tote and open my bag of chips. “Why have you never been on a picnic?”
He opens his own chips and stuffs a few in his mouth. “Maybe I have when I was younger, but I don’t remember. I probably should have taken Belinda on some when she was little. She would have loved it here.” He takes another bite of his sandwich and washes it down with a drink of water. “I’m afraid for a long time I only focused on work. I had to.”
I admire Elias for what he did for Belinda. “She deserved a big brother who loved her, and you did that.”
“Enough about me, tell me about you.”
He brushes me off again. I find it strange and endearing that he never wants to take credit for raising Belinda. “There’s not much to tell that you don’t already know.”
“Other than Bob, no boyfriends?” He asks.
My head tips in confusion. “Bob? Oh, you mean Banks. No boyfriends. I don’t seem to have any luck in the dating arena.”
He turns away from the falls and our eyes meet. “I can’t believe that.”
I nod earnestly. Not all of my dates have been difficult but none have made me consider a long term relationship. “Oh, it’s true, all right. There have been many over the years. My last date took me to Asheville, to the Esquire room, one of the most expensive restaurants in town. All was going fine until the bill came and he told me my part came to one hundred and seven dollars. He said he added my part of the gas in, but he did pick up the tip.”
Elias’s eyes bulge, and he chuckles. “Loser. You’re better off without him.”
“Then I tried the dating app thing. Rachael talked me into that fiasco. I met some very nice men. Gene talked about his ex-wife all night long. I hope they were able to get back together. He really loves her. Stanley couldn’t stay out past eleven because his mother needed her medication precisely at eleven-thirty. Paul wanted to introduce me to his parents on our first date. I really think he thought we’d be engaged by the third date. Oh, and Roan…”
Elias snickers and holds up his hand to stop me. “What kind of a name is Roan?”
I grin and shrug. “Frankly, I’m not positive that was his name. We met at a bar for drinks, and he left with one of the waitresses.”
He laughs and it makes me smile. “Men can be jerks. But then, there are those of us that know how to appreciate a beautiful woman.” He scoots closer and traps me with his eyes.
I give him a skeptical look, and I can feel his heat against my bare arm. “Someone like you?”
He nods slowly, his gaze never leaving my lips. “Exactly like me.” He leans a few more inches. “If I were to kiss you right now…”
“Um…” I keep my eyes locked on his lips as they come closer. From the top of my head to the bottom of my crunched-up toes, I want Elias to kiss me. But it’s wrong to be kissing a client…isn’t it? For a fraction of a second, I think about stopping him. But once he closes the gap and his soft lips touch mine, I can’t remember what my concerns had been. My lips part, inviting Elias in. When our tongues touch and tangle, I moan from the shivering effect of his kiss, and I’m lost.
Elias
Since the moment I saw April outside my hotel room door this morning, her face flushed from sleep and her eyes burning a trail over my body…I’d wante
d her. That wasn’t quite right. I’d wanted her since the night I saw her in the bar, then when she’d told me off and I stood helpless as she gave me a good dressing-down with such passion, I knew I’d have her. I’ve made a good go of ignoring our attraction to each other for the past week, but I can’t stop the inevitable.
Now with her taste in my mouth, I only want more. I brush my hand over her breast, capturing her moan in a kiss. Her warm skin shivers as I cup her breast through her thin t-shirt. Her back arches, bringing her closer to my teasing thumb as I strum her nipple.
A shot of adrenalin rushes through my body when her leg wraps around my hip, pulling me closer until I’m lying almost on top of her. I need to see her, touch her, and taste her, now. With shaking hands, I grab the end of her t-shirt, and before I can rip it over her head, I hear voices coming down the trail. Groaning, I pull her shirt back down and roll over onto my back. I turn my head and notice April is having just as hard a time breathing as I am. Her eyes are closed, and her face is flushed. When she rolls her head and looks at me, I see the same sexual frustration I feel.
“Come back to my room,” I ask softly.
I can see the debate going on inside her head. She gazes up at the blue sky and pauses. “Elias…”
I’m not going to let her get away without admitting she feels the same chemistry between us as I do. “Don’t say no. You want it as much as I do.”
She sighs and sits up. “I do, but I’m not sure that would be a good decision.”
I sit up and rub the back of my neck as the tourists come closer. “April, I know you feel it too.”
“You’re right—I do. But you’re my client, and Belinda’s wedding is very important to not only me, but to Rachael as well.”
I blow out a breath in frustration. I hear what she’s saying, and while I don’t agree with her, I can understand her argument. “Technically, Belinda is your client.”
April begins to stuff our trash and leftover sandwiches back in her tote. “We need to get back to the house. I still have a lot to do today.”
I brush my jeans off as I painfully stand and watch April scramble to leave. I’ll drop it for now, but soon, I hope to change her mind, because the small, sweet taste I had wasn’t nearly enough.
More than an hour later, we’ve unloaded the wood and stacked the rounds inside the Manor. April was pleasant and professional on the ride down the mountain as she directed our conversation toward wedding arrangements and the weather. All safe subjects. My phone rings, and by the tone, I know it’s the show’s producer. Not a call I can ignore like I’ve been doing to Kent’s. Several times a day. I’ll get back to him when I get home. But for now, I’m on vacation, and I don’t care what he has to say. “Excuse me, April. I need to take this.”
“Sure. I’ll just be in the house when you’re finished.”
I watch her until she closes the door, then I connect the call. Not because I wanted privacy, but because I wanted to torture myself with the view. “Hey, John. What’s up?”
“Sorry to bother you on your time off. I know you’re getting ready for Belinda’s wedding, but I wondered if you would have time to see a house about three hours away from you? The network wants us to do a special show featuring a deserving family whose house was flooded.”
“That sounds like a great show,” I agree.
John continues, “The best part is the network is going to back the build.”
I perk up at that offer. “So, that means anything we want to do with the renovation? Sky’s the limit?”
“Within reason, of course,” John laughs. “The family is really amazing. The father is a fireman who helped others during the flood, leaving his own house in danger. The mother is a nurse who worked shifts without much sleep in between. Plus, they have three young children.”
Sounds like a deserving family and an interesting project. “When would we start? We have the SoCal house coming up next.”
I hear papers shuffling. I can just see him multi-tasking while talking to me. “Network has worked it out, and we are to move to the Wolcott’s house next,” John explains.
I scratch my chin, trying to figure out how to work this into my schedule. “So, we’d start in three weeks? Is that even possible?”
“Sure it is, if you know the right people. It seems the town is anxious to do something for this family, so I don’t think permits are going to be an issue. You don’t even need to come home. You can go straight to the area.”
“So, what do you need me to do?”
“The usual. See the area, get a feel for the logistics. You can meet the family and get some insight into what they’d like to see us accomplish. Take some preliminary pictures. You know the drill.”
“When do you need this by?”
“We were hoping you could go tomorrow and report back.”
That soon? “I’ll have to talk to the wedding planner. Belinda left to be with Wes, and I’m her stand-in.”
John chuckles. “I would love to see that!”
After hanging up, I think about it for few minutes before going to find April. I find her in a second-floor bedroom, scraping a door she’d taken off the hinges and laid out between two sawhorses. “Are you going to paint or stain?” I ask.
April raises her head and grins, “That is still undetermined. Rachael and I have different opinions. I want to stain all the doors and woodwork in the house, but Rachael thinks it will make everything too dark. She wants to paint them all white.”
I’ve heard that argument several dozen times. “That’s a difficult decision.”
“What would you do?” she asks.
“If you’re going back with original moldings and woodwork, I’d stain. But Rachael is right, too. Painting will lighten it up and give a crisp, clean feel to the house.”
Her shoulders slump as she wipes away a pile of paint scraps. “Yeah, that’s why we are still undecided. I feel like we probably have a few months before we need to decide.”
“Listen, my producer called and wants me to check a house out for a potential show. Would you like to come with me?” I watch her closely as she weighs her options. She’s so easy to read. There’s no doubt in my mind that she wants to go, but she’s considering saying no. Our kiss earlier has to be worrying her. Before she can say no, I tell her about the Wolcott family and their situation. When her eyes fill with moisture, I know I have her.
April turns her head away and brushes her cheeks. “When would we leave?”
I know she’s erasing any sign of tears, and again, I’m blown away by her empathy for others. “We’d need to leave around seven tomorrow morning. I would appreciate the company. Plus, I could really use the help with meeting the family.”
“Okay, I’ll go. But I’m going to have to work during the drive—we don’t have much time left, you know. Come on. I’ll drop you back at the B and B. I need to go into the shop for a while.”
“I’ll pick you up in the morning.” April bends over for her tools, and I appreciate the stitching on her jeans.
“Just call me from the parking lot and I’ll come down. Do not get out of your car, or you’ll be sorry.”
The next morning, I find myself sitting on a mauve and teal floral silk couch with a dainty china cup grasped between my large, callused fingers, wondering where I messed up. I’d pulled into the parking lot and had my phone out to text April to let her know I was here when these two older ladies tapped on my window. The next thing I know, I’m sipping some type of herbal tea and eating the most delicious cookies I’ve ever tasted, while being filled in on the history of White Oaks Mill.
“Then the mill closed,” Ms. Edna says.
Ms. Blanche adds, “By that time, we’d worked here for almost forty years.”
Ms. Edna pauses only long enough to swallow a sip of tea. “It was so sad to see the mill sit vacant for so long. Then this uppity man from some foreign place bought it.”
Ms. Blanche leans back with pursed lips and explains. “At
first, everyone was afraid he’d level the place and put up a shopping mall. This mill is part of the town’s heritage. Nobody wanted to see that happen.”
Ms. Edna picks up where Ms. Blanche left off. “But he called a town meeting and explained what he had in mind. Of course, everyone was onboard after that. He’s quite a dashing fellow. He has a driver, you know. I suppose the girls today would say he’s a babe magnet.”
I spit the sip of tea I’d just taken and cover it by coughing into the frilly napkin they’d placed on my knees. “Sorry.” I point to my throat. “Wrong pipe,” I wheeze.
Ms. Edna nods and continues. “We were just happy that he didn’t change too much of the structure. Why, that darling man offered an apartment at half price to anyone who had worked at the mill.”
“We’re green, you know. Almost self-sustaining. Let’s see, how did he put it… eliminate any negative impact on the environment. That’s how he explained it,” Ms. Blanche added.
A knock at the door sends Ms. Edna off in a dash to answer it. I check the time on my phone—thirty minutes past the time I was supposed to pick April up. How can I extract myself from Ms. Edna and Ms. Blanche? Then I hear April’s voice and hope she knows how to rescue me.
“Good morning, Ms. Edna,” April says, walking into the room with a big grin on her face. Our eyes meet, and she’s trying not to laugh at the ridiculous picture I must make.
“Come in, dear. We have your nice young man visiting,” Ms. Edna says politely.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Edna, but I just stopped by to get Elias. We need to be going.”
“I guess you do want to get an early start on your trip since it’s so far away. I’m so glad you’re helping that sweet young couple. They lost everything in the flood. So sad.”
My eyes shoot open along with my mouth. How did Ms. Blanche know about the secret project? I catch April’s eye—did she tell them? She shakes her head, a smile tugging at the left corner of her lip.
Ms. Edna takes my teacup. “Now, you do everything you can to help those children get back home. Bless their hearts.”
Heartbreaker: Billionaires of White Oaks Page 7