Brad had other ideas, however. He had my folder with him, but he started with his own business first, then moved on to Cole and Dax, as usual. We had a wedding planned for the next weekend that I didn’t even know about, and it was up to me to plan the outdoor events.
Finally, Brad got to my proposal. “Harley, I took a look at all the info and the numbers, and I agree that it does play out as you’ve proposed.” He paused, and I waited for the but.
“But I think we should start smaller. Maybe work on expanding the gym first. Then revisit the notion of a spa addition.”
I sighed. Of course. Everyone was looking at me, waiting for my thoughts. Truthfully, I wasn’t happy about it, but at least it was a beginning. And I didn’t have it in me to fight today. “When can we get started?”
Brad looked at Cole, who was the woodworker/handyman around the resort. He would oversee zoning the area and the main building plans. “Well, we’ll have to draw up a blueprint to the building specifications first. Zone out the area. Get a permit from the city. Cut the trees.”
Cole took a sip of coffee before continuing. “At the same time, zone out a new snowmobile trail so we don’t cut down trees needlessly.” He looked at me. “We can get started on the blueprints as soon as you like. Draw up the rough drafts, and I’ll work on finalizing them. But the construction will have to wait until the summer, after the wedding season. I don’t think we should have construction going on during the events.”
Brad nodded at Cole in agreement. I wasn’t happy about the timeline, but what he said made sense. Spring was a busy time for us. Oakley, Dax’s wife, had become a well-known wedding planner after Congresswoman’s Stone’s son’s wedding and all that avalanche drama. Someone had even written a book about it all. So she was a busy wedding planner, and the resort was packed with spring weddings.
I nodded. “Okay, that’ll work.” I glanced at Cole. “I’ll start drawing up those blueprints.” It would give me something to do to take my mind off Emily.
“Hey, I can help you with those blueprints,” Dax said excitedly, trying to cheer me up. “I can download a blueprint program on your computer and add a map of the resort and our land to it so you can plan the building and a new snowmobile trail easily.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks, Dax. That would be awesome.”
“Cool, I’ll stop by your place tonight and get it downloaded,” he offered.
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed.
After the meeting, I headed straight to my tiny gym. I checked my phone which I had on vibrate during the meeting. No missed calls. She should be awake by now. I was hoping she would call, and my disappointment was epic. I turned up the ringer volume and started my workout.
Emily didn’t call at all that day. I had an uneventful day, causing the waiting to be worse. We had no skiers, as most of the guests were either fishermen or hikers at that time of year. Kevin, the guy who worked the ski lodge lounge and ski equipment rental, only needed to open for a few hours over peek time and had it covered. And I only had one afternoon fitness class scheduled. One guest and one guy from town showed up. Shit. I had way too much time to check my phone.
I ate a quick dinner at my cabin and thought about calling or texting Emily again. Maybe she didn’t save my number and didn’t realize the call was from me? Maybe she didn’t get the call? Or, most likely, she was simply ignoring me.
When Dax rapped at my door, I was relieved to have the company. “Hey brother, how was the convention? Las Vegas?” he asked, excited to hear about it.
“Alright.” I led him to my computer and pulled out the desk chair for him.
“Alright? That’s all?” he asked, glancing at me and frowning when he noticed my expression. “Oh, no,” he said, not sitting down yet. “What happened?”
Getting it off my shoulders would be good for me, I decided. “The conference was good. The city busy and bright.”
“And?” Dax prodded.
“I met a girl, and we got married,” I blurted. I raised my blue eyes to meet his nearly identical ones. He looked astounded.
“Married? What the fuck!” he exclaimed. “How is that even possible?”
“It’s not, really. Though we didn’t know that at the time,” I told him and held up our marriage certificate.
Dax studied it. “Harley and Emily Hunter. Sounds good. So, where is she?”
“In Olympia, Washington,” I told him with a sad smile.
Dax noticed the disappointed look. He was my best friend, really. I didn’t have to hide my feelings from him, and I also didn’t need to explain my impulsive behavior. He knew me well enough to know that if I’d married a girl after three days, I’d seen something special in her.
“Wow, you must really like this girl.” Dax mused.
“I liked her,” I admitted.
“You mean you do like her,” he corrected me.
I nodded and took a deep breath.
Dax sat down and slid a disk into the computer. “Call her. A long-distance relationship isn’t impossible. Hard, but not necessarily impossible,” he proposed.
“I did call her. She hasn’t called back,” I told him, eyes studying the computer screen as he downloaded the program.
“Oh,” he said, understanding what I wasn’t saying. “Give her some time. If she feels the same way, she’ll get in touch with you,” he reassured me.
“Maybe,” I said. I wasn’t so sure about that, though.
“I’m sorry, Harley. I’m sorry that I don’t have any better advice,” he frowned.
“Thanks for letting me get it off my chest. It made me feel a bit better,” I told him.
“Anytime. Now, let me show you how this works.”
I pulled up a chair. For the next couple hours, Dax showed me how the blueprint program worked. After he left, I played around with it until my eyes got droopy. I checked my cell phone again and made sure it was on my nightstand on the charger before climbing into bed.
* * *
The weekend wedding came and went. Still no call from Emily. By that time, I’d given up on her, thankful I’d been busy over the weekend. The bride and groom had invited tons of guests, so I had plenty to occupy my time. Thursday through Sunday, I was incredibly busy, without a chance to get caught up in my feelings.
By the next Monday, the resort’s least busy day of the week, I was a crabby fucker. At the morning meeting, I went over my blueprints with Brad and Cole. Cole took them to do some finalizations over the week. Because it was the beginning of May, which meant another month to six weeks of weddings, no construction on the main site could be started. We would start cutting trees on the proposed trail, however, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.
After my workout and restocking the lodge bar with wines, spirits, and beer, I organized the skiing gear. I taught my weekly afternoon fitness class. Three guests showed up, along with my one Monday townie regular. Back at my cabin, I ate dinner and sipped on a couple of beers.
When I found myself alone without much to do, Emily popped into my mind. I knew she lived in Olympia. Maybe I could find her on Facebook or Instagram? I headed to my office and fired up the PC.
After searching for an Emily Mayberry from Olympia, Washington, for an hour, I turned up nothing. I recalled her saying that she was from the East Bay area, and she’d mentioned parents and a brother who would share the name Mayberry. But nothing. This perplexed me, and I decided I’d search enough and went to bed.
More time passed, but her face, her body, her voice, everything about her haunted my dreams as well as my waking hours. A week and a half had passed since I’d left Emily that message. I told myself to forget her. If she wanted to call, she would have. I was grateful when the weekend’s guests starting filing in Thursday afternoon so I’d be busy over the weekend.
But soon, Monday came again, and it had been two whole weeks and no Emily. I thought about her every morning when I woke and at night before I went to bed. Not to mention many times over the day. No
matter how many times I told myself to stop, to let her go, I couldn’t.
After the morning meeting, I did my usual Monday routine. Back in my cabin after dinner, I found myself staring at the pictures on my phone she and I had taken the night we were fake married.
One picture of us together was my favorite. Victoria must have taken it; I couldn’t really remember, which made me chuckle a little. Emily was sitting on my lap at one of the outdoor bars, Vegas lights shining all around us. Emily was wearing that smile that lit her entire face up. Her blue-grey eyes were gazing up at me and I at her. Her shiny, yellow hair hung over her shoulders. My arms were around her slim waist. I was smiling at her like she was my whole world. She was so beautiful. We looked so right together.
I exited out of the picture. What was I going to do? I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try and get in touch with her again, so I decided to text her. A friendly text won’t hurt a thing, I thought.
Me: Emily, Hi, I hope you’re doing okay. I was looking at our pictures from Vegas. I miss hearing your voice. Call me. Or text. Anytime. Harley.
Emily
I was in between begging Chloe to eat her green beans and trying to get my own dinner in my mouth when I heard a text notification. I grabbed my phone, thinking it was Kellan saying hello. Nobody else texted me really.
Forking a chunk of salad, I clicked on my phone to see who it was from. The fork stopped an inch from my open mouth.
Harley.
I hadn’t heard from him in two weeks, not since he called, doing his diligence to tell me that the marriage wasn’t legal as he said he would. But since Kellan had already told me, I didn’t need to hear it from Harley, too. I’d never returned his call, and I thought he might have forgotten about me by now.
His text said he missed my voice. I beamed and thought about his deep voice. Confident. Seductive. Charming.
I felt a tingle in my abdomen.
“Who is it, Mommy?” Chloe stopped making faces at her vegetables to ask.
“A friend from work,” I told her.
“Oh.”
“You can’t just eat chicken nuggets. Eat your green beans, and you can watch one of your shows before your bath,” I told Chloe.
“I don’t like green beans. They’re icky!” she protested.
“Then straight to your bath and to bed,” I informed her.
Chloe’s face crumpled into a frown at the thought of eating her green beans. I shoved a bite of my salad into my mouth to stop from laughing. Being stern with her wasn’t fun, but I didn’t want to raise a brat, either. And she needed the veggies!
I watched as Chloe pondered her options. Eat them and get to watch My Little Ponies. Or don’t, and it was bath and bed. She knew I was serious. I didn’t play around on work and school nights.
Slowly, she picked up each green bean, one by one, as if it were a spider she was holding by the leg. She turned it, examined it, and shoved it into her mouth. She chewed thoughtfully, scrunching up her little face in an exaggerated look of disgust.
I smiled at her. She understood my rules. But watch her, I did. I’d given her this ultimatum before and later found her veggies on the floor under the table. She’d lost television the whole next day. It had been a catastrophe of epic proportions.
When she finished eating all the green beans, I allowed her to go to the living room and watch her show, and I allowed myself to read Harley’s message. He mentioned the pictures from the night we got married. Deliberately, I hadn’t looked at the pictures in my phone, but now I was interested. I pulled up my gallery and began flipping through them.
I studied Harley’s handsome face. His deep blue eyes, his strong jawline covered in sexy five o’clock shadow. He looked happy. I looked happy. I didn’t recall ever seeing myself look that happy.
My favorite picture was the one where I was sitting on Harley’s lap. My face was lit up by the Vegas lights. I was smiling, gazing into Harley’s sensuous eyes. He was smiling, too, staring at me. His thick arms were wrapped around my body, holding me tightly to him as if he would never let me go.
We were happy.
It looked right.
Being with Harley felt right.
Tears welled up into my eyes. Shit, not again! I’d done a good job of putting Harley Hunter out of my mind for the past two weeks. I’d done a good job of trying, anyway. Because if I was being real with myself, Harley had never left my mind.
I clicked back to his text. I wanted so badly to text him, to talk to him again. I missed him. But what should I do? Perpetuate my infatuation for a man I could never truly have? I just didn’t know what to do.
Sighing, I thought of all the reasons not to text him. My life. My situation. My family. What was the point? We could never be together, I reminded myself.
But it hurt too bad to shut him out completely. Maybe we could just be friends? If I could separate the emotions from the reality, keep it real, we could stay in touch.
Ultimately, I decided I couldn’t live without Harley in my life in some fashion, so I texted him back.
Me: Harley! Nice to hear from you. I’m well, thank you. How are you?
Keep it simple, I thought. A moment later, I was delighted to see the text bubbles bounce. He was texting me back.
Harley: Emily! I’m good. So glad to hear from you. I’ve missed you.
He missed me! My heart soared. I took a deep breath, trying not to get my hopes up and failing miserably.
Me: I’ve missed you, too.
Harley: I guess you found out about the marriage. You didn’t call me back.
Me: Yes. I’m sorry for overreacting. I should have known.
Harley: I didn’t realize it until later myself. No need for an apology.
I wasn’t sure what to say. At my pause, Harley took the lead.
Harley: What have you been up to? Any progress on your clinic?
Me: Same old, same old. No progress to report yet. You?
Harley: Same. Nothing new here.
I started to text back, but the bubbles bounced, so I waited.
Harley: I’ve been thinking about you so damn much. I want you so bad it hurts.
My daughter yelled from the living room, capturing my attention. “Mom, the movie stopped! Come fix it!”
My heart was racing. He still wanted me. “Be right there, Chloe.”
Harley: Are you there?
Me: Yes, I’m here. I have to do something. I’ll text you tonight.
Harley: Looking forward to it. Until then...I’ll be thinking of you.
I smiled. What would he be thinking of me? Did I really have to wonder? This was Harley, the man who went for what he wanted.
I headed to the living room to fix Chloe’s movie and watched the rest of the show with her. But my mind wasn’t on little cartoon ponies. I was daydreaming of the night I spent with Harley in his room. I might have been drunk, but I remembered the feel of his touch. His kiss. Our bodies entwined together.
The tingly sensation returned. Just thinking of him brought it on. I would have to relieve myself after Chloe went to bed.
After Chloe’s bath, I tucked her in and read her a story until she drifted off. I wanted to text Harley again, so I raced through my bedtime routine. I didn’t want any interruptions this time.
Me: Hi
Harley: Hi. I was waiting for you.
My heart thumped in my chest, and the tingling in my groin grew.
Harley: What are doing?
Me: Laying in my bed. You?
Harley: Same. What are you wearing?
I gasped at his forwardness. Laughing because I was wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, the least sexy outfit ever, I decided not to tell him that particular truth.
Me: A red silk camisole and matching shorts.
Harley: OMG Em! Why did you tell me that?
I giggled a girlish laugh I hadn’t heard from myself in a long, long time.
Me: ‘Cause you asked.
Harley: I did. Do you want
to know what I’m wearing?
Me: Of course.
Harley: Nothing. I’m naked.
Oh my God. Instantly, his bare, rock-hard body popped into my mind. Did he have a hard-on? In my vision, he did, and my body reacted. I remembered what it felt like to have his huge cock inside me, and my pussy flooded.
Bubbles bounced. I took too long to answer because I was too busy imagining his naked body. I knew what I wanted to say.
Harley: I’m hard. For you.
Me: Are you playing with yourself?
Harley: I’m jerking off thinking of you in that red silk. You should take it off.
Me: I’m slipping it off now.
Harley: Are you naked? Touch yourself for me.
My pussy was throbbing. I slid my t-shirt off over my shoulders and wiggled out of my bottoms and panties.
Me: I’m naked. I’m so wet for you.
Harley: Put your fingers in your pussy and think of me there.
I pushed two fingers into my wetness and felt my warm insides. I moaned in pleasure, imagining Harley’s thick dick inside me.
Me: I’m finger fucking my pussy and pretending it’s your big cock.
Harley: My cock is going to explode soon. Massage your clit.
Me: Harley, make me come.
Harley: I want to slide my cock into your tight little pussy. Fuck you good and hard. Come for me, baby.
I massaged my clit and fingered my dripping pussy. An intense warmth built in my abdomen, and I arched my back up as I came hard on my fingers. I reached for the phone.
Me: I’m coming. Harley. It’s your turn. Come for me now.
Harley: I’m coming now. I’m covering your perfect tits.
My body wasn’t finished. I quickly brought myself to a second orgasm, enjoying the frenzy.
Me: I’m coming again on your big cock.
Harley: Em, that was so good. Why haven’t we done that before?
Me: It was good for me, too. And I don’t know, but we should maybe do it again some time.
Harley: I agree. Have a good night, Em. Sweet dreams.
Take a Mountain Man Home for Christmas: A Mountain Man Romance Christmas Collection Page 66