“It has and it’s about time that you mixed it up a bit. You know. Try something different.”
“Different,” he snorted playfully. “I have too much to do that needs to stay on schedule to try and do something…different.”
“Nonsense,” Norma said, rising to make her tea. “I’m not saying that you have to go out and try bungee jumping or anything, but you have a guest here and maybe she’d like to see the rest of the lodge or the property.”
“It’s dark out, Norma,” he replied. “It’s too dangerous to go out and see the property. Besides, I think Hope saw enough of it today.”
“That’s for sure,” Hope chimed in. “But I would not be opposed to a tour of the lodge. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s beautiful. I can’t believe you haven’t decided to convert this into your new resort. You have plenty of room and the lifts are already here. Why not just rehab this one?”
“It’s…it’s complicated,” he said carefully and Hope could tell that he was really trying to not be annoyed by her question.
Rather than argue with him or push him, she merely shrugged. “Okay.”
He looked up at her with surprise. “Okay? That’s it? You’ve got nothing else to say to me? No snarky comeback?”
“What would be the point? You have your reasons for doing the things that you do. It’s your business, not mine.” She took a forkful of her dinner and when she finished it, she turned to Norma. “Everything is delicious. Thank you so much.”
“It’s my pleasure. It’s nice having people in the house to cook for. It doesn’t happen nearly enough.”
Beckett coughed and then looked over at Norma. “Seriously? Still?”
“Can’t blame a girl for trying,” she said and went back to her meal.
“Anyway,” Beckett began, looking over at Hope, “any word from your brother?”
She shook her head. “I’ve tried to call him several times, but he’s not answering. I’m sure he thinks that by avoiding my calls today that I’ll be calmer tomorrow. But he’s wrong. If anything, I’m getting angrier the longer her ignores me.”
“Oh he’s not going to get here tomorrow,” Norma said and took a sip of her tea.
“What do you mean?” Beckett asked.
“The snow’s still coming down pretty heavy and the temperature is supposed to drop way down overnight so the roads are going to freeze. They’re already talking about shutting down the interstate. I’d say you’d be lucky if you saw him in two to three days.”
“No!” Hope said a little too desperately. “That can’t be right! Beckett? Have you watched the weather? Is that really a possibility?”
He didn’t make eye contact with her as he cut another slice of roast beef. “I’m sure it is,” he said casually. “That’s one of the hazards of living up in the mountains.”
“Don’t they have plows? If this is a common occurrence, why aren’t there preventions to make sure the roads are clear?”
“Sometimes you can only do so much, Hope. You can’t control the weather and they’ll plow as much as they can but sometimes it’s too dangerous for the plows to stay out there.” As much as he understood Hope’s concerns, Beckett had hoped that she relaxed a little bit and wasn’t quite so anxious to leave.
“I guess,” she said quietly.
“How about his fiancée? Merry. Have you tried calling her?” Beckett asked.
“Her cell must be off and I’m not sure what hospital she’s in. I called the one she works at but she’s not there. After that, I just gave up. I don’t want to upset her too.”
“Seems to me like you’re a lot more considerate of everyone else’s feelings than they are of yours,” he said carefully.
“I’m aware. I guess there hasn’t been anything else to bring it to the surface like what happened today. And last week.”
“What happened last week?” Norma asked.
Hope looked shyly over at Beckett. “We…um…we argued over the length of time Ted was going to be here working. We were having dinner at the office and he threw me out.”
Norma’s eyes went wide and Beckett sat back and watched Hope. “From what you told me about the dinner, you were lucky to escape.”
Hope laughed. “Ugh…that was the worst dinner I’ve ever had. I can’t believe that it was one of Ted’s favorites.”
“Maybe that’s just what he tells her.”
“God I hope so,” Hope said. “I know I’m not the greatest cook in the world but I know the meals I make for him are better than that!”
“The chicken pot pie was amazing,” Beckett said and then snapped his mouth shut.
“How…how do you know?” Hope asked, confusion written all over her face.
“You left a lot of it for him and later that night when we were working, Ted offered me some.” He shrugged and looked back at her. “It was one of the best meals I ever had.”
“Hey!” Norma said with a chuckle. “I’m sitting right here!”
“No offense,” he said quickly and looked between the two women, unsure of what he was supposed to say to get himself out of the situation. “I mean…um…it was…”
“Oh, knock it off,” Norma said and waved it off. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying someone else’s cooking. I snuck some of the cookies earlier and if the pot pie was half as good as those were, then you were one hundred percent correct in what you were saying!”
Both Beckett and Hope seemed to sag with relief at the same time. “Well thank you both of you,” Hope said. “It’s nice to hear that my cooking and baking are appreciated.”
“The cookies were the talk of the office,” Beckett said.
“I thought you didn’t pay attention to what your employees are doing or saying or anything like that,” Hope reminded him.
“Well, I pay attention sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“Especially when I’m standing around a table with a dozen people who are arguing over some sort of peppermint chocolate thing.” He smiled. “I got the last one.”
“I think I have a few more of them in one of the tins.”
“So where were you taking all those baked goodies to, Hope?” Norma asked.
“I was going to spend Christmas with a friend over in Knoxville before I got detoured here. I called her and let her know what was going on, well, at least what was going on at the time. Last I talked to her, I thought I was driving Ted back to Raleigh. She has no idea that Ted took off with my car.”
“Maybe you’ll still get there,” Norma said with a hint of hope in her voice.
Hope shook her head. “I doubt it. Even if by some chance Ted did get back here tomorrow, I’d have to take him all the way back to Raleigh and I just don’t have it in me to drive all the way back out this way and beyond again. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Why will you have to take him home? Won’t he be coming back to work?”
Hope looked at Norma and then at Beckett. He was busy eating and studying his plate. “Ted won’t be working for James Enterprises anymore,” she said quietly and went back to her own plate of food.
The remainder of the meal was spent in silence.
****
Hope was standing by the window in the study watching the snow fall. It didn’t seem like it was ever going to stop. Norma was right; there was no way for Ted to get back here tomorrow so that meant she had another full day with Beckett, not that she had been spending all that much time with him, but still.
If this version of Beckett was the only one she knew, it wouldn’t feel like such a bad thing to be stuck here. From what she’d seen of it, the house was beautiful and Beckett had been genuinely nice to her. Unfortunately, she knew the other side of him, the real side, and she couldn’t get past it no matter how hard she tried.
Hope sighed as she looked at the night sky. Her mother had always said that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and normally she agreed with that logic. The problem was that for the five years that Ted had wor
ked for James Enterprises, she’d heard nothing but negative comments on the way Beckett, or G.B. James, treated his employees. Although, if she really thought about it, Ted never really complained about it. It was her own perception of the things her brother described. Could she possibly be wrong?
She shook her head. No way. She had witnessed first-hand the way Beckett had spoken to Ted about leaving. He was cold, unyielding and condescending. But…she’d also witnessed first-hand that he could be sweet and funny and charming.
Would the real Beckett James please stand up?
Another sigh escaped. Why did this have to be so complicated? Like life wasn’t difficult enough right now, why did all of this have to happen? How cruel was it that she finally met a guy, a great guy, and he wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. It was like the universe was just wiping its feet on her.
Yeah, merry freaking Christmas to me, she thought.
Stepping away from the window, she stretched and walked over to the fire. It had been a long time since she’d had the opportunity to sit in front of a real wood-burning fire, probably not since she had gone camping as a kid. The fireplace was magnificent; the entire front of it was covered in stone and the mahogany mantle was huge. It was rustic yet regal all at the same time and Hope couldn’t help but to pull a chair closer.
If she wasn’t so full from dinner, she’d be tempted to ask Norma for another mug of her hot chocolate. Maybe she would do just that later. For now, she was content to simply have the room to herself to enjoy the warmth of the fire.
“That’s one of my favorite spots,” Beckett said as he slowly came into the room. “Especially on a night like this.” He took the chair beside her and moved it forward and closer to hers.
“I figured you’d be in your office working,” Hope said, purposely looking into the fire and not at him. Just the sight of Beckett was enough to weaken her resolve to dislike him.
“Like I said at dinner, without Ted, there isn’t as much for me to do. Besides, I thought you mentioned taking a tour of the place.”
Hope shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. Judging by the way the snow is still falling, I’ll be here all day tomorrow too. So don’t feel like you have to entertain me. I’m perfectly content sitting here by the fire.”
“You may find this hard to believe, but I’m feeling pretty content right now too.”
Now she couldn’t help but look at him. “Really?” she asked with disbelief. “You? The workaholic. The man who forces people to leave their families at Christmas so you can work. You’re content to just sit here and look at the fire.” She rolled her eyes. “Give me a break.”
“It’s not looking at the fire that has me feeling content, Hope,” he said softly. “It’s sitting by the fire with you.”
She snorted with disbelief. “Please. You’ve been here all of thirty seconds. Although, maybe that’s a long attention span for you. I don’t know.”
He chuckled beside her and shifted until he was facing her. “Tell me, do you give everyone you dislike this hard of a time or is it just me?”
“I’ve never disliked anyone to the degree that I dislike you,” she said honestly. “For the most part, I get along with everyone.”
“Well, if you really think about it, we get along very well. As a matter of fact, I think we get along great. It’s the things you think you know about me that are tripping you up.”
Wasn’t that almost exactly what she was telling herself earlier? What was he, some kind of mind reader? Unfortunately, she couldn’t seem to form any words to respond to him, which he obviously seemed to know because now he was smirking.
Jerk.
“How about this,” he began. “How about we pretend that I’m not G.B. James, your brother’s boss and…”
“You fired him so technically, you’re not his boss anymore.”
Beckett frowned. “Then let’s just pretend that we don’t know anything about James Enterprises. We’re just two people who met here at a ski lodge and we’re getting to know each other. How about that?”
“Beckett…”
“I’m serious,” he said, a smile crossing his face. “We’ll walk around the lodge and talk and just…get to know one another. Please, Hope. I know we’ve spent some time talking but there’s still so much more I want to know about you.”
She eyed him suspiciously and thought about his offer. “If I agree to this, and that’s a pretty big if, then I’m going to want to know about you. And you can’t get all sulky and pout and clam up. If I ask you something about you or your family, you have to answer. Deal?”
Now it was Beckett’s turn to look at her suspiciously. “Deal.”
“Wow, you didn’t even take too long to think about it. I’m impressed.”
“Believe it or not, Hope, I’m not the ogre that you think I am.”
“Your actions earlier today say otherwise.”
He sighed with frustration. “The whole situation took me by surprise. I don’t like surprises. I came up here with a very specific agenda and I didn’t think that anything could interfere with that. Obviously I was wrong.”
“Obviously.”
He quirked a brow at her. “Okay, if we’re going to play the getting-to-know-you game, you have to be a little less snarky.”
“Fine.”
Both brows rose at that one. “Really? No argument?”
She shook her head. “You’re right. I’m being sarcastic and snarky and closing my mind to everything and that’s not who I really am. Like I said earlier, I really do tend to get along with everyone. This year, this season in particular, is just hard for me and for some reason, you’re the guy who I’m taking it out on.”
“I’ve been an easy target,” he said with a slight laugh.
She nodded. “Really, I should be thanking you then. If I didn’t have a way of letting out all of this anger and aggression, I’d probably go crazy and just explode.”
“We can’t have that,” he teased. “And for what it’s worth, I’m happy to be your…punching bag or target or whatever it is that you want to call it. If it helps you, then I don’t mind.”
“You’re being far too kind, Beckett,” Hope said shyly. “I can’t believe that we’re even having this discussion. For all the years Ted worked for you, we never met. I had this image in my mind of who G.B. James was, and I have to tell you, it wasn’t you.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
She studied his face for a long time. “I’m not sure yet.”
He nodded slowly. “I can handle that.” He stood and held out a hand to her. “Come on. Let’s go and take a look around. We’ll go through the house and then outside for a bit on the back deck. The lighting back there is breathtaking in the snow, like a winter wonderland.”
Hope couldn’t believe it, but she readily reached out and put her hand in his. “Then I guess this place is aptly named.”
Beckett carefully pulled her to her feet. “What do you mean?”
“I saw some of the signs as I was walking down the driveway earlier. This place used to be called Winter Park. If the view is how you described, I’m just saying that the name fits.”
Beckett didn’t respond, but he did pull her in close. “You scared the hell out of me earlier, you know that right?” His arms slowly slid around her waist.
Hope’s breath caught in her throat. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” she said softly, looking up into his dark eyes.
“I know. You meant to piss me off,” he chuckled softly as one hand came up to caress her cheek. “I’m glad I found you.”
“Me too. I can’t even begin to think what would have happened if you hadn’t come when you did.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said quietly, and bent his head toward hers.
“Beckett…”
And then his lips touched hers and silenced her. Hope was too surprised to react at first. It was everything that she remembered – soft, exciting and very arousing. The man certainly knew
how to kiss. As if they had a mind of their own, her arms came up and rested on Beckett’s broad shoulders. They were pressed together from head to toe.
His lips were slowly sipping from hers as if he were giving her time to say no or to push him away. Hope knew this instinctively and raked a hand up into his hair and pulled him closer, making sure he couldn’t misinterpret her decision.
That seemed to do the trick because suddenly there wasn’t anything slow about what they were doing; it was all heat and need. Hope didn’t think it was possible to be pressed so close to another human being. It was almost as if they shared a heartbeat like they were sharing their breath. With the fire heating her back and Beckett heating her front, she was certain her temperature had gone up a hundred degrees.
Her heart was racing and Beckett’s hands were roaming up and down her back and everything felt so good and so right that all of the negative thoughts about leaving and about Beckett were gone. Instead, Hope felt content and excited, consumed by thoughts of other ways to spend their time tonight that didn’t include touring the house or looking at the snow fall.
Hope wasn’t the kind of woman who normally went for flings or casual affairs but something about Beckett James called to her and she feared if she didn’t act on it, if she didn’t do something about it right here, right now, she’d be missing out on something incredible.
He moved his lips from hers and skimmed them over her cheek and down her throat. Her head fell back and she sighed his name, her hands still splayed in his hair. The scene was perfect – the snow, the fire, the possibility of making love in front of it. She said his name again, this time as more of a plea.
Beckett raised his head, his eyes meeting hers. He was as breathless as Hope was as they stared at one another. And as was slowly becoming a habit, he read her mind. “If it were only the two of us here, I wouldn’t be stopping. But Norma’s here and there’s no doubt that she’d come out here at some point and I certainly don’t want to compromise you like that. You may not believe me, but I respect you too much to do something like that to you.”
Hope believed him, but she was too weak to speak.
Stranded: A Winter Romance Duet Page 10