by Tamie Dearen
“It makes sense. I think I’ll ask Steven for some advice while we’re here.” Upon reaching the mudroom entrance, Josh paused before opening the door. “Charlie... Uhmm... Thanks for skiing with me. It was fun.” Wow, that was eloquent. There were so many other things he wanted to say, but he knew it would only make things more awkward between them. Better to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself.
“Yeah... Uhmm. It was fun.”
GRACE SPOTTED JOSH and Charlie as soon as the door opened. She smiled to herself. Perfect. Alone time was exactly what they needed. She already had Jace busy playing video games with Brad. Maybe she could get Charlie and Josh into the hot tub together. It was worth a try.
The twins and Chloe came running to surround Charlie as she entered, hampering her progress as she attempted to discard her outerwear. Josh swung Chloe up in the air and held her over his head. She squealed with delight and both boys immediately clambered for their turns. He alternated joy rides with each one while Charlie managed to shed the wet ski-gear. Then she bade all three to follow her to the living room, where she collapsed in front of the fireplace and they climbed all over her.
Derek came out after completing his shower and sat on the couch, observing their play. “How were your last runs?” he asked Charlie. “Did you beat him like a stick? I certainly hope so, since you skied me into the ground.”
“We only got in two more runs because the lift got stuck forever, and I thought we’d end up spending the night up there. But we never got a chance to race.”
She sat up, depositing the toddlers on the soft carpet beside her before standing. “I guess I’m gonna hit the shower.”
Grace saw her opportunity. “Don’t you want to sit in the hot tub first? I’ve already got it on, so I bet it’s hot by now.”
“Oooo! Actually, that sounds great. I’ll go put on a swimsuit instead.” She turned to her sister, who was, of course, reading a book. “Emily! Come get in the hot tub with me?”
Emily saw her chance to get Charlie alone with Derek. “Sure, Sister. I’ll come. You go first and I’ll bring hot chocolate out.”
As Charlie hastened to change clothes, Emily went to the kitchen to put the hot water on and find the homemade hot chocolate mix she’d brought along. She knew it was her sister’s favorite. But she had no intention of getting in the hot tub. Instead, she would send Derek out with it. While the water was heating she went back into the living room and spoke to Derek. “You’re going to get in the hot tub, aren’t you?” she whispered, with a meaningful wag of her eyebrows.
“Sure thing.” He smiled, dashing off to his room to retrieve a swimsuit.
She returned to the kitchen to make the hot chocolate with the now-boiling water, humming happily to herself.
GRACE WATCHED HER PLANS going awry. Not only would Charlie not be alone in the hot tub with Josh, but she would soon be alone there with Derek. She found Olivia watching TV. “Hey! You need to go to the hot tub.”
“I’ve already had my shower.” Olivia kept her eyes glued to the television. “And I like this show.”
“But Derek is going to the hot tub and Charlie’s going to be there.”
“So what—let them.”
“No,” said Grace, pulling her off the sofa by her arm. “You need to go. In fact, you should sit between them. Use that amazing body of yours to keep his attention.”
Olivia shook her hand away. “Stop Grace, I want to see the end of my show.”
“Fine. I’ll go start planning your wedding. What colors do you want to use? I’ll be the matron of honor, of course...”
“Arghhh!” she cried. “Okay, I’m going.”
ANNE RETRIEVED THE toddlers and brought them into the kitchen for a snack. She saw Charlie dash out to the hot tub. Soon after, Emily brought two cups of hot cocoa from the kitchen to Derek, who made his way outside wearing a swimsuit and carrying the two steaming cups. Anne smiled, thinking things were going according to plan. But then Olivia followed through the glass doors onto the deck, clad in a towel-covered swimsuit. Anne peeked outside and saw Olivia climb into the hot tub and seat herself between Charlie and Derek. She frowned when she noticed Olivia was a bit closer to Derek than she ought to be.
Anne found Josh emerging from his bedroom in clean clothes with freshly washed hair. She motioned him into the kitchen.
“I assume you’re going out to the hot tub, right?”
“Well, I hadn’t really planned on it.”
“But of course, since Olivia’s out there with Derek, you’ll want to go. I was just going to tell you I’d have two cups of hot cocoa for you to take outside with you.”
Josh’s expression darkened. “Right. I’ll go change. Thanks, Anne.”
She smiled as she watched him dart away to change into a swimsuit.
Josh stepped onto the icy porch in bare feet, carefully balancing his two cups of cocoa. Only as he approached the tub did he realize not only were Olivia and Derek sitting in the bubbling water, but also Charlie. He’d never seen Charlie in a swimsuit. He was almost grateful the bubbles obscured his vision of her firm bikini-clad body. Almost.
He forced his eyes back toward Olivia, who was also quite attractive in her swimsuit. But unfortunately for him, he’d already seen her plenty of times in a bikini, and had trained himself to view her like a sister. Undoing that training would be a feat in and of itself.
Josh noticed Derek had a huge smile plastered on his face, and eyes that were practically bugging out of his head. He fought a strong impulse to make a remark about Derek’s tongue hanging from his mouth.
“I brought you some hot cocoa,” he told Olivia, as he climbed in and forced his way between her and Derek, who moved around on the opposite side next to Charlie to escape Josh.
“Thanks so much,” Olivia replied in an acidic tone. She moved a respectable distance away from him and focused on her cocoa.
Derek, on moving next to Charlie, draped his arm casually around her shoulder. Although she made no move to stop him, Josh noticed she looked incredibly uncomfortable, with rosy patches blooming on both cheeks and spreading down her neck. The bubbles kept him from determining how far down her blush continued. That is, until the jets abruptly shut off.
Josh concentrated on slowing his breathing while attempting to force his eyes away from Charlie’s body. Derek, on the other hand, stared unabashedly across the hot tub at Olivia. He grinned, and she responded by coyly stretching her arms over her head. “Wow! This hot tub feels so good on my sore muscles. I’m so glad we did this.”
“Yeah, me too,” Derek agreed, still smiling at her, even though his arm was around Charlie, who promptly poked him in the side with her elbow. “What? I’m simply agreeing with her. What’s wrong with that?” His face was the picture of innocence.
“Would someone like to turn the jets back on?” Charlie suggested.
“Nah,” said Derek. “It’s easier to... uhmm... to talk with the jets off.”
Olivia chuckled outright. “Good grief, Charlie! I can’t believe how shy you are. I never knew.”
Charlie blushed crimson, objecting unintelligibly under her breath to Olivia’s accusation.
Josh was about to take pity on her and turn the bubbles back on, when Derek took his arm off Charlie’s shoulder and let his hand rest casually on her thigh under the water. She quickly clamped her hand over his, pushing it downward, closer to her knee, vainly attempting to keep her expression neutral. Josh decided he didn’t want Derek to have the cover of bubbles to continue his exploits, so he left the jets off. He scowled at Derek, who returned a benign smile.
“Did you have a good day skiing?” he asked Josh.
“It was fine,” he answered, with his jaw muscles tight.
“Well I had a fantastic day!” said Olivia. Then she told Charlie, “Derek was so sweet to me today. Every time I fell, he collected my skis and poles for me and helped me put them back on.”
“I helped you put your skis back on, too,” Josh objected
.
“Did you? I guess you did—I forgot about that.”
“Both of these guys are pretty chivalrous. I’m sure you had plenty of help. But in a few days you won’t be falling so much, anyway. I could give you some lessons if you want.”
“That’s okay, Charlie. I think I’d rather blunder on by myself and keep getting rescued by a handsome man.”
“Suit yourself.” Charlie pulled her mouth sideways.
Josh tried to imagine Charlie wanting help from a guy, and couldn’t suppress a chuckle. As they relaxed in the hot water, he saw snowflakes in the air.
“This is my favorite thing,” Charlie exclaimed. “I love when it snows while you’re sitting in the hot tub.” In her zeal, she sat up, forgetting about her lack of coverage. Josh couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
“Hey buddy,” Derek said with a chuckle. “Her eyes are up on her face. You should know that, since you were the one who told me about it a week ago.”
He felt his face heating. He’d been caught, and he didn’t even have a good defense. He was angry with himself for a lack of self-control. But he was furious with Derek for pointing it out in front of Charlie and Olivia.
He opened his mouth to blast Derek when Charlie abruptly climbed out of the hot tub, blinking at tears in her eyes. She grabbed a towel and retreated into the house, while he watched, feeling helpless.
“Good job guys,” said Olivia. “Why would you embarrass her like that?” She stood and exited the hot tub, leaving the two men alone in the hot tub.
As she disappeared inside, Derek said, “Sorry, I was kidding, you know... paying you back. I didn’t mean to cause so much trouble.”
Josh’s anger was deflated. “It was my fault—I shouldn’t have been staring. I knew it would make her uncomfortable.”
“Can I ask you a question?” Derek said.
“No,” said Josh, climbing out of the tub. “You can’t ask.”
“I just wondered which girl you’re in love with. Because... I thought you might at least give me a shot at the other one.”
“I said no,” Josh spoke over his shoulder before he jerked the door open and slammed it behind him.
Chapter Ten
THE REST OF THE EVENING was a miserable affair for Charlie. Spencer did the cooking, so Charlie volunteered to help him and clean the dishes, simply to stay away from Josh and Derek. She was so mortified. Why did she have to be so shy about her body? She was extremely confident around guys about everything else. It all went back to her teen years when she’d grown so tall and thin. The boys at the swimming pool had teased her about being so skinny and flat she looked like a boy. That was part of the reason she changed her name from Charlotte to Charlie and competed with guys all the time. If she looked like a guy, she might as well compete with them. And beat them. Even though she’d gained weight in the right places now, she still felt self-conscious when she wore anything slightly revealing. She usually wore a one-piece, but Grace insisted she needed to take a bikini on the trip. “All the rest of us will have on bikinis. And anyway... You only have a few years where you look good enough to wear one. You need to take advantage of it.”
Charlie breathed out a heavy sigh. “What’s wrong?” Spencer’s eyebrows drew together.
She smiled at him. Her brother-in-law was such a sweet guy. And he treated her sister like a queen, absolutely spoiling her rotten. Of course, Emily wasn’t complaining. “Nothing,” she lied. “I’m just tired after skiing all day.”
“Why don’t you go sit down and rest with everyone else? I’m fine by myself. You know I love cooking.”
“No!” she exclaimed, before she caught herself. “I mean... I wanted to spend some time with my favorite brother-in-law.”
“I’m also your least favorite brother-in-law. Right?”
“No, you’re only my favorite.” She hugged him with wet dishwater hands.
“Hmmm... I don’t know about you, but when your sister says nothing is wrong, it means something is definitely wrong. And somehow I’m supposed to magically know what that something is.”
“That’s right—you’ve got her down pat.” She laughed, but her mood quickly deflated again. She’d set out to do everything possible to help Josh and Olivia get together, but she seemed to be failing miserably.
“So what is it? It’s Derek, isn’t it? Is he moving too fast for you? If you want, I’ll beat the guy up.”
Charlie smiled. Spencer had never hit anyone in his life, but she could tell he was sincere in his offer. “No Spencer, don’t beat him up—he’s not moving too fast. It’s more like I’m moving too slow.”
“So what happened in the hot tub?” Emily asked Derek, pulling him aside before dinner started.
“Nothing really.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I was sitting next to Charlie, and Josh and Olivia were on the opposite side. I gave Josh a hard time when I caught him staring at Charlie, and she left crying. It wasn’t really a big deal, and I don’t even know what made her cry.”
“I guess it could have been her shyness. But I bet she was more upset she’d hurt her cause. You know, trying to convince Olivia that Josh is in love with her.”
“Yeah, about that... Are you really certain Josh loves Olivia? Because I’m feeling almost as skeptical as Olivia about the whole thing. It seems to me he likes Charlie a lot.”
“No, they’re only good friends now. He used to be crazy about her, but that’s been over for at least a year now.”
“Then why does he look like he wants to kill me whenever I touch her?”
“That’s nothing,” Emily declared. “Spencer looks at you like that, too. It’s just brotherly protectiveness.”
“Then I think Josh has got a whole lot of brotherly protectiveness going on.”
“SO WHAT HAPPENED IN the hot tub?” Grace asked Olivia, catching her in the hallway.
“All in all, I’d say things went pretty well, although Derek was getting a little fresh with Charlie near the end. But then Derek called Josh out for ogling Charlie, and she left crying.”
“Oh,” said Grace. “I’m sorry for Charlie, but on the other hand, it’s good Josh was looking her over. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, but it may backfire if Charlie decides to pull back. She’s just so darned shy. I don’t know how we’re going to get her together with Josh.”
“Ah-ha!” said a female voice. “I knew you were up to something.” Hannah emerged from a nearby doorway. “I want in.”
“Absolutely not,” said Grace. “If more people are involved, certain other people will end up finding out.”
“If you don’t read me in, I’ll have to ask someone else about what I heard. Someone like... let’s see... Charlie. Yes, I’ll bet Charlie could help me figure out what’s going on.”
“Are you kidding me? I can’t believe my own sister is resorting to blackmail,” Grace complained.
“I learned from the best,” said Hannah, with a grin. “Now, spill it.”
“What choice do we have?” Olivia shrugged her shoulders.
“Fine,” said Grace. “You already know why Josh was trying to talk Olivia into getting married, right?”
“Yes, I know about the kids and the custody thing. But Olivia swore to me she wasn’t going through with it.”
“I’m not,” Olivia declared. “But I feel bad for Josh, and I want him to get custody of the kids, and so... We have a plan to make that happen.”
“With Charlie?”
“Yes,” said Grace. “You see, Josh is still crazy about her, and she’s totally in love with him, but neither one will admit it. I think they may not even recognize their own feelings. It’s like they’re trying to fool themselves.”
“I’m not so sure. Did you see Charlie with Derek on the plane?”
“That’s because Emily and Charlie are working against us,” said Grace. “Josh has Charlie and Emily convinced he’s actually in love with Olivia, so they’re trying to get Josh and Olivia together.”
&nbs
p; “And Derek? Is Charlie only pretending to like him? I mean, he’s pretty hot, and he’s going to Columbia Law, like Charlie.”
“I’m going to sacrifice myself and steal Derek away from Charlie,” Olivia said.
Hannah’s eyes were wide as she regarded her sister. Even Grace was surprised. “Since when did your goal change from distracting Derek to stealing him?”
“Since I saw him without a shirt on in the hot tub. Of course it’s his brilliant mind I’m really attracted to. I’m not shallow or anything.”
“Olivia, you’re unbelievable.” Hannah laughed. “Okay Grace, what can I do to help?”
“First of all, you can’t tell anyone, especially your sister.”
“You mean, me?” asked Claire, emerging from the same doorway with her hands on her hips. “You need me. I’m the only one smart enough to walk down this hallway and check to see if anyone else is listening.” When she’d assured the coast was clear, she returned. “Okay. So what’s the plan?”
SPENCER PUT THE PASTA on the table while Anne Gherring was arranging the seating. “Okay, there’s not enough room for everyone to sit at one table, so I’ve made arrangements. Steven and I will sit in the breakfast room with Josh and Olivia and the toddlers. Everyone else is at the dining room table.”
“Will you sit by me, Aunt Charlie,” asked Jace.
“Sure,” she confirmed, although she didn’t feel the least bit hungry. At least she felt less self-conscious, sporting jeans and an oversized sweatshirt that hid every possible curve on her body. She spooned a bit of pasta and sauce onto her plate, along with a small serving of salad, and proceeded to pick at her food and push it around to look eaten.
“You need to eat more than that. You burned a lot of calories skiing today, and you skipped lunch,” Emily whispered.
Charlie made a face and stuck a forkful of pasta into her mouth.