by Sarah Morgan
She nodded approval. “Yes, so then he will not feel you are waiting for him to drop dead.”
“I could say I’m staying to reassure Grams.”
Élise rolled her eyes. “Then he will think you are ready to comfort her when he drops dead. That is not reassuring, as you would realize if you started thinking.”
“I am thinking!” Sean clenched his jaw and cursed under his breath. “And no one is dropping dead.”
“Good! So find a reason for staying that he will find plausible.”
He paced across the completed part of the deck and then glanced down at his feet. “The deck.” He wondered why it hadn’t occurred to him before. “I will tell him I have to finish the deck before the party. It’s essential for Snow Crystal. He will never argue with anything involving Snow Crystal.”
“The deck is nearly completed.”
“He doesn’t know that. He hasn’t seen it yet. I’ll undo the work I’ve already done. I’ll get here early, before he shows up, and rip it up. He’ll never know. I’ll make the job last all week.”
Élise’s eyes gleamed. “He’ll tell you off for being slow.”
“You wanted his life to be normal. That sounds normal to me.” Sean tried to focus but the scent of her was dizzying. It smothered his brain and pumped itself through his veins until she was the only thing in his head. “I’ll make it clear my being here has nothing to do with him, and I’ll tell the rest of the family to stop hovering and back off. Does that work?”
“I think so.” She relaxed slightly and stepped away from him. “Now that is solved, I can sleep.”
“Wait a minute—” He caught her arm and pulled her back to him, his eyes on her mouth.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“How am I looking at you?”
“As if you want to strip me naked.”
He felt the tension leave him. “Stripping you naked is just the beginning of what I want to do to you. Do you want to hear the rest?”
“No.” But heat flared in her eyes. “You will not talk me around with sex if that is what you are thinking.”
“Talking wasn’t part of my plan.”
“I am angry with you. I cannot kiss you when I’m angry with you.”
“Fine. Then I’ll kiss you.” And he did. Except that the second he crushed her mouth under his, she was kissing him back. Her lips were soft and sweet, her response instant and it was as hot and crazy as every other time. They took hungrily, greedily, the kiss explicit and passionate to the point of violence. Her tongue was in his mouth and his in hers, tangling intimately. Moaning, she grabbed a handful of his shirt, pressed herself hard against him and then whimpered slightly as he switched positions and pushed her back against the railings, trapping her.
“You think you can soften my mood with kisses?” Her tone was thickened. “You’re a good kisser but it won’t work. I’m still angry.”
“No, you’re not.” His hands tore at her shirt in his haste to get to her skin. “God, Élise, I want you—” The taste of her sent fire rushing through him. The chemistry was as sharp as a whip, biting into him. He felt her fingers dig hard into his shoulders.
“I will scratch you like a cat and my claws are very sharp.”
Sean tore at the buttons on her shirt. “I’ll take my chances.” The need was burning inside him.
“And tomorrow when you are working on the deck with your shirt off, everyone will see your shoulders and raise their eyebrows. This thing between us will no longer be a secret.” Hands shaking, she ripped at his shirt and buttons flew. “Merde, that was Jackson’s shirt—”
“I’ll buy him another—” The moonlight shone down on the dip and swell of her breasts, partially revealed by a pretty lace bra, and he wasn’t thinking of the shirt or his brother. He couldn’t remember ever wanting another woman the way he wanted Élise. “You’re so beautiful.” His fingers slid under the lace and he heard her moan.
“You are clever with your hands.”
He decided lace was overrated and unhooked her bra. Her breasts were small and high and he wondered if the bra had any purpose other than to add another layer and drive a man mad. He slid his mouth down to her shoulder and lower, sucking her nipple into his mouth.
Her fingers dug hard into his shoulders. “Sean—”
Her nipple hardened against the slow flick of his tongue and he heard her breathing change.
Desire ripped at him, tearing through control, and he brought his mouth down on hers again, feeling her press against him. He was tired of pressure and complication. Tired of trying to second-guess his family and tired of feeling guilty. He wanted to blot it out. He wanted this. He wanted her.
And he wanted her now.
Her arms were around his neck. Her body pressed against his.
He decided if he was going to prolong his stay at Snow Crystal, he deserved to do whatever he could to preserve his sanity. And sex with Élise was deliciously uncomplicated.
Or was it?
He eased away from her at the same moment that she pulled back from him.
They stared at each other for a moment and then she curled her fingers into the front of his shirt and gave a crooked smile.
“You’re a very sexy man, Sean.”
“Glad I have something going for me given that my brain is so small and insignificant.”
The dimple appeared in the corner of her mouth. “I like your sense of humor. And I like your body. But we should not do this again.”
He thought about how complicated his life was. “You’re probably right.”
“But you must do one thing for me.” Her voice was husky, her hand still on his chest. “You must fix this thing with your grandfather. You have to talk to him.”
“You’re probably right about that, too.”
“Go to bed.” She reached up and kissed him on the cheek, her lips brushing gently over his jaw. “Good night, Sean.”
He opened his mouth to try and form a coherent sentence, but she’d slipped into the dark of the forest leaving him standing alone on the half-finished deck.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“SO SEAN ISN’T leaving. Bad news for Tyler because he’ll lose his bet with Jackson.” Kayla ran with her phone in her hand, slowing occasionally as she checked her emails. “And bad news for Jackson, because Sean keeps borrowing his clothes.”
And bad news for me, Élise thought, because Sean would be right under my nose until the party.
Their encounter the night before had tested her willpower to its limits.
With him, it was almost impossible to keep her emotions under control. First, there had been the anger and frustration that he’d misunderstood Walter so badly, then real sympathy as he’d reluctantly confessed to the row.
He’d accused her of not understanding.
She understood everything.
More than he could possibly know.
She stopped running for a moment, emotion slamming into her and driving her breath from her body.
It had been years, but still the feelings would rush at her out of nowhere. Guilt and grief could still cut her off at the knees. It was because she’d never resolved it. Never been given the opportunity to resolve it.
And of course, it was her fault. All of it. Everything that had happened was because she’d made bad decisions.
Ahead of her, Kayla stopped and pulled her earbuds from her ears. “Are you all right? Did Walter upset you last night? He was in a feisty mood.”
“He didn’t upset me. I was relieved to see him home.”
“Sean got the brunt of it. As always.” Kayla put her earbuds back in and carried on running.
Élise followed, wondering about the argument between Sean and his grandfather. If it had been on the day of the funeral then presumably it was something to do with his father.
And it had obviously been significant.
Because of it, he hardly came home and because he hardly came home his grandfather grew more and more upse
t with him.
She understood all too well how that cycle could occur.
Sometimes it was easier to let an argument simmer than resolve it. Sometimes the emotions were so thick, you couldn’t cut through them. You told yourself you’d solve it later. That you’d wait for a better time. But sometimes, that time didn’t come.
She knew. It had happened to her.
Her pace slowed.
Despite the exercise, she felt cold.
All she’d thought about through the winter months was finishing the boathouse and contributing to Snow Crystal. It was vitally important to her. But now all she could think about was the rift between Sean and his grandfather.
They needed to mend whatever had broken between them. If that meant having Sean around for a little longer, she’d cope with that.
She increased her pace, overtaking both of her friends as they headed around the lake and ended up at the boathouse just as the sun rose above the trees.
There was no sign of Sean. She told herself that the sudden lift in her pulse rate was due to the exercise, not the thought of him working on the deck.
“Is Tyler bringing anyone to the party?” Kayla caught up with her and pulled the top off her water bottle. “Because if he has a plus one, I need to know. Bren? You work with him.”
“I don’t know anything about his sex life, if that’s what you’re asking me, but knowing Tyler it’s probably pretty active,” Brenna said flatly. “I need to get on. I’ll see you later.”
Élise watched as Brenna sprinted across the deck, sprang over a pile of planks and disappeared down the forest trail.
Kayla took a mouthful of her water. “I’ve never seen myself as cupid, but if I had an arrow I’d shoot Tyler in that perfectly formed butt of his—or derrière as you probably say.”
“Butt works for me. Perhaps the party will help. The two of them will be together in the same place at the same time and we can let nature do the rest.”
“From what people say she and Tyler have been in the same place at the same time for most of their lives.” Kayla finished her water. “Nature’s been pretty idle so far.”
“So she needs a bit of a push. What’s Brenna wearing?”
“Knowing Brenna, probably ski pants,” Kayla said dryly. “And anyway, I think it may be Tyler that needs the push. I’ll find out if he’s bringing anyone. He’s been behaving himself since Jess came to live with him. Six months of behaving like a monk. The guy must be going crazy.” She bent to adjust her running shoe and paused. “Well, well.”
“Well what?”
“This is a button from one of Jackson’s shirts.” Picking it up, she turned it over in her fingers and glanced pointedly at Élise who felt heat streak across her cheeks.
Hoping her friend would blame her high color on the exercise, she shrugged. “So? Sean has been working hard on the deck.”
“So hard he tore the buttons from his shirt? From what I’ve heard, he wasn’t wearing a shirt for most of the time. According to Poppy the view from the boathouse has improved considerably in the last couple of days. She’s going to start selling tickets.”
“I wouldn’t know. I have been too busy to look. And talking of busy—” She started to walk toward the boathouse but Kayla caught her arm.
“Sean is gorgeous. Clever, sophisticated, seriously sexy—why not have a fling?”
Because one night was all she ever allowed herself.
“We had one. It was over last summer.”
“Are you sure?” Kayla turned the button in her fingers. “Because it doesn’t look over to me.”
* * *
“SO YOU’RE NOT LEAVING?” Jackson had a mug of coffee in one hand and a slice of toast in the other. “Does Gramps know?”
“Not yet. I’m just on my way to undo the work on the deck so I can start again.”
Jackson raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure that makes sense to someone.”
“I need an excuse to stay here. Gramps is sending me away because he’s feeling vulnerable.” And he should have been the one to see that. Instead, he’d been blinded by his own complex emotions. “Helping with the deck is the only thing I could come up with. I have to try and make it seem like it’s a massive job for me.”
“Maybe that won’t be so hard given how long it is since you did any manual labour.”
“What do you think I do in the operating room?”
“No idea. Make eyes at Venus?”
“She’s a neurologist. She doesn’t work in the operating room.” Sean helped himself to an apple from the bowl. “If I’m going to be staying, you need to get more fruit in your house. And vegetables. There are no vegetables in your fridge. Whatever happened to your five a day?”
“If you want to find vegetables when you open the fridge then you can put them there yourself. And if you’re staying you need to go home and pack some clothes. I’m sick of you stealing my shirts.” Jackson finished his toast and topped up his coffee. “So you’re staying for Gramps.”
“That and the view.”
His brother sent him a look. “Just as long as the reason you’re hanging around here has nothing to do with my chef.”
“It’s because of her I agreed to help with the damn Boathouse in the first place. She’s obsessed with opening on time so she doesn’t let you down. What’s that about? Have you suddenly started beating the staff?” Sean finished the apple. “Or is this intense loyalty more personal than that?”
“It’s the way she is. She cares deeply about her work. She’s loyal. She knows our financial situation is far from stable and she values her job.”
“We both know that with Chez Laroche on her résumé, she could get a job anywhere. You’re lucky to have her.”
“She’s worked for me for a long time.” Jackson’s expression revealed nothing. “We’ve been friends for years.”
“Just friends? You first met her in Paris. So did you...?”
“No.” His brother’s voice hardened. “We didn’t. And you’re not going to, either. This is her home. I won’t let you threaten that.”
“Why would I threaten it?”
“Because you mess with women’s heads,” Jackson said irritably. “For some reason I’ve never managed to understand, they fall in love with you and go a little crazy when you don’t love them back. I cleared up that mess plenty growing up, I’m not doing it again.”
“I don’t create mess. You’re mixing me up with Tyler.”
“No, I’m not. Tyler is like a bear. You see him coming. A smart woman will step out of the way. But you? You’re different. You’re all smooth charm and slick words. I see their eyes cross and then they start walking funny and the next moment they’re crying on my shoulder because you’re too focused on your work to notice them. I don’t have enough shirts left to take it.”
“I still don’t understand why you describe this as Élise’s home. Sure, she’s living and working here now but she’s talented. One day she’ll move on. That’s inevitable.”
“If she moves on it will be because she’s made that choice, not because she was left with no alternative because my twin brother fucked it up and made it awkward for her to stay.”
She’d been in some sort of trouble.
It was the only thing that could explain such a fierce response from his protector brother.
“Maybe you don’t need to worry about her.” He thought about the night before. She’d shown more control than him. And then she’d walked away. “She doesn’t strike me as the sort of woman who falls in love easily. She’s very independent. Similar to me in many ways.”
“There isn’t a single way in which she’s similar to you.” Jackson thumped his empty mug onto the counter.
Yes, there was.
Sean thought of the way her hands had slid up his back, the way her mouth had burned against his. “Maybe I’m exactly what she needs.”
“No woman in her right mind needs you. And I’ve grown out of comforting girls who thought they w
ere in love with you.”
“Did you really do that?”
“All the time. They were lining up from eighth grade. I was the good twin, you were the bad twin. My shirt was permanently wet from all the tears.” Jackson picked up the milk and put it back in the fridge. “I don’t care how you run your love life, but stay away from Élise.”
Sean decided not to mention they were well past that.
Instead, he made his way to the Boathouse to start undoing the work he’d done the day before.
His grandfather arrived at midday, driven by Tyler who was on his way to take a family of six on a guided hike on one of the trails.
Before Sean could stand up and offer help, Élise was there, helping Walter to a table in the shade by the water on the side of the deck that was finished.
Sean watched her, his head full of questions. He wanted to know why Jackson acted like a guard dog around her. And he wanted to know what the hell she was doing in a place like Snow Crystal when she could have been working in Paris. He knew she was talented. He’d eaten her food and seen her passion. She could have worked anywhere, and yet she’d worked for his brother for eight years.
He watched as she slid her hand over his grandfather’s and squeezed. Saw his grandfather return the gesture, his weathered face softening.
Sean tried to think of a time he’d seen his grandfather’s face soften before.
Only with his grandmother, and occasionally his mother and Jess.
Even with Jackson he was blunt and direct.
“I will bring you a drink to enjoy and then one of the new staff will take your order.” Élise rested her hand lightly on his shoulder. “You will tell me what you think of the menu and together we will refine it so that it is perfect. Does it feel good to be home?”
Walter’s hand trembled. “It feels good.”
Sean realized he never thought of his grandfather as frail. Even in the hospital he’d been feisty, barking out orders and refusing to let people make a fuss. But watching him with Élise he saw frailty.