Vacation (38 page)

Having a boyfriend was a great lie. Maybe
that way Brian didn’t feel terrible that I wasn’t going to sleep with him.

"Finn said you were the girl of his
dreams. I was good with it until we got closer and I got a good look at
you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"
I chuckled, unable to help myself.

"You're beautiful and would break his
heart. I thought you would be like the other girl's he's dated, but you don't
seem to be at all. You're the designated driver, for shit’s sake." He
snorted.

"He doesn't date girls. He sleeps
with them and leaves them." I turned as he pointed to the house at the end
of the street and gave me a few directions.

"How do you know that? You just met
him tonight." Brian turned to me as I stopped in front of his house.

"Because he's a man whore. My dad's
one, too, and there are a million on campus with me." I shrugged.
"Have a good night, Brian."

He got out of the SUV and paused.
"He's just looking for love, Chloe. People do it in different ways. I do
it through my success at work. You probably have a different thing or person
you use to feel wanted. Finn uses the warmth of a woman. He's no different in
what he's seeking, he just finds it in places that we don't."

I nodded and waited until he closed the
door to shake my head in disbelief.

It didn't matter that I shouldn't care
that he was taking Cindy home. It did. A lot.

Chapter 10

Finn

"You going with me to church this
morning?" My father's loud voice pulled me from sleep and scared the hell
out of me.

I jerked up in the bed and looked around,
making sure I was at my house like I thought I was.

"Yeah. Stop letting yourself in the
damn door," I grumbled and got out of the bed before tugging on my jeans
and walking out into the living room. "I could have had a girl in my
bed."

"You almost always have a girl in
your bed. I'd not be shocked by that. Seeing the same one more than once, now
that would be heart stopping." My dad put his hand on his chest and acting
as if he were having a heart attack.

"Funny. It's not like the old days,
where your ma and pa put up a dowry and set you up with the perfect woman."
I glanced over my shoulder and smirked at him. "You want coffee?"

"No. I already had mine, and I'm
telling you that sleeping around might leave you feeling good for a night, but
you'll soon hate yourself." My father was dressed in a nice pair of slacks
and a button down shirt with a tie that matched, but barely.

"I already do." I shrugged and
filled up a coffee mug before walking back to my room. "Give me ten
minutes."

"You need to shower. I'm sure you had
fun last night. You look like a mess."

"You're mistaken, but thanks for
giving a rat's ass." I shut the door to the bedroom and slipped out of my
jeans. I should have needed a shower with the way Cindy was pawing at me and
rubbing up against me on the way back to the hotel, but I couldn't see myself
taking her to bed.

Shit, I couldn't see myself taking anyone
but Chloe. It was disturbing.

I wasn't sure if Cindy would remember me
dropping them off, but when they woke up all piled in one room with my friends,
I was sure they’d all start to remember of the events from the night before.
I'd gotten all my friends and all of Chloe's friends into the hotel room Jared had
rented and locked the door on my way out.

Why Brian hadn't stayed around to help me
was a mystery. I'd have to get his ass later over it.

I walked back out in black slacks and a
button down white shirt with my hair combed and my Sunday shoes polished.

"You almost look like a good guy,"
Dad snorted again and got up, pulling on his coat. "Grab a jacket. I'm
thinking another cold front moved in early this morning."

"Yeah, I was carting around a bunch
of drunk idiots when it hit." I grabbed my wool jacket from the closet and
slipped my wallet in my back pocket. "You driving or me?"

"I'll drive."

* * * *

The service was lifeless and the monotone voice
of the preacher did nothing to help keep my eyes open. After only three hours
of sleep, I was hurting as we sat there and stared at the choir loft. I wasn't
particularly religious, but my father was, and having spent every Sunday beside
him in a hard wooden pew, I couldn't think of another place to be on Sunday
mornings. He wouldn't allow it, anyway. I would be married with kids and his
ass would still be showing up, making all of us go.

My lip lifted in a smirk at the thought of
it.

I glanced around at the familiar faces of
everyone who had been in my life for as long as I could remember and felt a
sinking in my spirit. I didn't want to shovel driveways for the rest of my
days. I wanted the promise of moving on, of building on my dreams like Brian
kept reminding me of, but to build anything you had to have money and I was
always in the red.

The only other thing that swept across my
mind other than building a beautiful resort for families to visit in Aspen was
Chloe. The hurt in her face as I bent down to kiss her friend the night before
stung me. I shouldn't have done it, yet it had been far beyond my turn to throw
a dagger. She laid me open with every word she swung at me on the dance floor.
So I slept around. So the fuck what? Every guy my age and younger had done the
same damn thing. She'd never had a one-night stand? I doubted it.

Anger burned through me and I let out a
sort sigh only to be elbowed by my dad.

"Behave," he barked quietly.

I was twenty-seven. I knew how to behave. The
need to respond to him sat heavy on me, but I pushed it down and went back to
thinking about Chloe. I was mad because she had judged me and done a good job
of it. Because of her assessment, I had little chance with her.

She
deserves better.

And she did, but I didn't want to take her
to my bed and sneak out the next morning. I wanted to take her to dinner and
kiss her on the doorstep, or teach her to ski better and roll around in the
snow when we fell into it together.

I wanted a normal night of fun without the
promise of sex. I wanted a date.

The realization rolled over me that I
hadn't been on a date that wasn't planned for the sex since I was a teenager. I
closed my eyes and tilted my head toward the ceiling as regret rushed through
my veins. It would be gone soon, seeing that none of the women in my past had
every wanted anything but sex, as well. I wasn't the one pushing for anything
most of the time. I was used and therefore, I used.

Nice.

The preacher asked us to bow our heads,
and I let mine drop, keeping my eyes closed and starting to work through not
only how I was going to apologize to the pretty girl who had me captivated, but
how I was going to see her again. I wasn't letting fate have another shot at
me.

Cindy had let out that Chloe's last name
was Burke. Now all I had to do was find someone with that last name that had
been here off and on. Maybe my father knew something about it. I was pretty
sure that there was a Burke on our client list. Maybe they were related.

We wrapped up the prayer and stood around,
shaking old men's hands and hugging old ladies before my father patted my back
and gave me a push.

"Let's go. You having lunch with me
today?"

"
Naw
. I'm
actually thinking about picking up a few extra jobs. I keep thinking about that
lodge I want to build. I'm not getting there any faster seeing that I keep
having stuff come up." I sighed and got into the truck. "You think
Cliff would want a day off?"

"Not sure, but you can ask him."
Dad started the truck and checked his phone before pulling out. Whatever he saw
caused a smile to spread across his face.

"What's that about?" I nodded
toward him.

"What?" His smile faded.

"Who was the text from?"

"Milly. She was telling me something
funny that happened to her." He shrugged and pulled out of the church
parking lot. "And, don't start on me. She's my secretary and that's all
she'll ever be."

"Yep. Your loss." I glanced out
at the snow-covered mountains outside of my window and cleared my throat.
"You know someone with the last name of Burke?"

I turned in time to see him stiffen.
"Yeah. He's one of our clients. Jonathan Burke. He's as bad as you at
sleeping around. Good thing the ugly bastard is only here for the winter."

I chuckled as excitement pulsed through
me. "Why do you have him as a client if you don't like him?"

"I didn't say I didn't like him. I
said he was a slutty bastard."

Dad shrugged and I let it go. We had
Chloe's dad on our listing at the office. She was going to find me in her front
yard before she could blink twice. I only prayed that whoever was assigned to
her house would give me the job. Money was tight and it was the holidays, but
one could hope.

* * * *

I stopped by the office after my dad
dropped me off at home and checked the schedule. A huge smile lifted my cheeks
as I spotted her last name. Cliff was scheduled to go later that afternoon. I
couldn't have gotten any luckier.

It took me a few minutes to grab a few
shovels and a warm pair of gloves from the stock room, but as soon as I was
done, I called Cliff and got into my truck.

"Hey, boy. How's it hanging?" he
answered the phone on the first ring.

"Hey, old man. You're scheduled for a
shoveling this afternoon at the Burke place. Can I take it off of you?"

"Well, damn. You know things must be
bad if you're looking to take jobs off of the
shovelers
.
You
ain't
got nobody with a plow you can call? You
need to rest. You
ain't
as young as you think."

"
Ain't
isn't a word." I smiled at the sound of his laughter and couldn't help but
think of Chloe. She wouldn't believe for one damn minute that fate had slung us
back together. Three times in three days? Impossible.

"You can have it if you want it, but
you have to tell me why it's important to you."

"I'm broke?"

"Liar. You'd have taken that fifty
from me the other day free and clear. What's at the Burke residence that I'm
giving up?"

"A pretty girl in her early
twenties." I pulled my truck out of the snowy lot and headed toward one of
the many wealthy neighborhoods in Aspen.

"She's all yours, then. My Martha
would have a fit if she even knew about this girl." He laughed, and I
thanked him and hung up.

It only took twenty minutes to get over to
the Burke residence, but by the time I did, my hands were shaking and I had no
clue of what I was going to say. I almost felt sorry for Brian and his being
terrified of talking to women. I'd never experienced it myself – not until now.
She was going to be upset, or was she? Maybe I was over-thinking it.

I pulled up in the driveway and got out,
pulling my extra sweater over my chest before zipping up my coat. I covered my
ears, then my head, and pulled on my gloves. I decided to start working and
then go deliver the invoice, instead of doing things the other way around. If
Chloe was pissed, and refused to let me on her property, then I would have to
deal with my dad as I had no doubt her father would call him.

Too much drama for what it was all worth.

I started to work, letting myself get lost
in thought. I wanted her to see the other side of me. The one that hated
one-night stands and wanted a different future. I knew that my actions and all
the shitty decisions I'd made left me looking like a has-been, but I wasn't. I
just needed a fresh perspective, a new start, and a good woman could give me
that.

I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the
curtains moving back into place. Someone had been watching me. Maybe it was
her, but maybe not. All I could do was hope that if it was, she'd feel bad for
me and come out with something warm to drink.

If she was the woman I figured her to be,
she would.

If not...I probably deserved it.

Chapter 11

Chloe

I slept horribly, but by the time the sun
came up, I'd come to the conclusion that I was being ridiculous. I was judging
Finn based on a life that I knew nothing about. The fact that Brian had been so
open let me into the reasons why Finn was like he was, but the fact still
remained that it was irrelevant. He wasn't my problem, and I was soon to be
headed home.

Funny how that resolution faded as my
phone buzzed and I scrambled to get it, thinking that somehow he'd gotten my
number.

Cindy:
Just wanted to let you know I'm on a flight back home. Last night was wicked
fun. Thanks for the hookup. Hope we can do it again soon. Love
ya
!

Me: Anytime. Be safe. Love you, too.

I tossed the phone toward the other end of
the bed and picked up my pillow, groaning into it loudly. Why did this matter?
I had a million other things to worry about besides some local playboy who
wasn't even going to be a memory in a month. My father was breathing down my
neck to talk about my designs and I had a few, but nothing really worth showing
him yet. My main sketch pad was missing and something told me that I had left
it in the top of the closet back in the dorm room. I checked with Jessie, but
she hadn't gotten back to me to verify if my worries were valid.

"Chloe?" my father's voice
sounded outside my door as he knocked softly.

"I'm up." I tugged the covers up
to my chin and looked up as he stuck his head in the room.

"I'm going to whip up some pancakes. Let's
talk about your designs this morning, okay?"

"Yeah. Alright." I rolled over
and curled up. "Can you put chocolate chips in mine?"

"And pecans?"

"Yeah. Like Momma used to do." I
closed my eyes. Nothing was working out, and of course, this was the very
moment my father would choose to be nice. It was going to be short lived,
seeing that he was far more interested in his money than me, but it was too
much even for the short stint that it would last.

"Of course. Hurry up. I have a lunch
date." He closed the door and I rolled out of the bed, hitting the floor
in a crouch.

A
lunch date. Sex with a chick at lunch on a Sunday? He was going straight to
hell.

I chuckled at the audacity of my thoughts
and got up, changing into a long cream-colored sweater and a pair of black
tights. After tying my hair in a messy bun, I walked down the hall and made a
beeline for the coffee pot.

"I'm not sure you're going to want to
talk without me having my large sketch pad. It's got my main dress and shirt
designs in it." I poured the cup and turned to look up at him.

"Are you okay? Your eyes are puffy.
Were you crying last night?" Concern swept across his face, but it left as
quickly as it appeared.

"No. Went out drinking." I moved
to the table and sat down, focusing only on the warmth my coffee provided.
"Where's Parker?"

"He has a gamer day on Sundays with
some of the boys from school. I drop him off at eight and he comes home around
six. It's good for him to get out of the house." My father looked up from
his cooking and seemed to be analyzing me.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just noticing how much you
look like a woman. Like your mother."

"I'm twenty-four, Dad. I grew up
while you weren't looking."

His jaw clenched and I realized how my
words sounded.

"I didn't mean it like that." I
stood up and he lifted his hand.

"It's fine. Get your work and let's
talk." He pursed his lips and I knew the conversation was over.

I walked to the room with my head hung
down, pissed at myself for starting off the morning with him on a bad note. I
needed him in a good mood for the discussion we had coming up and now he was
going to be anything but.

The sketch pad was open on a small
circular table beside the bed. I'd been working on something in the wee hours
of the morning when I couldn't stop thinking about Finn. I snatched it up and
walked back to the kitchen with trepidation rolling over me in great waves.

"I really don't feel good about
this." I sat down and opened the pad.

"Well, I'm your investor. Rule number
one is that you should never tell me that. You put on your game face and sell
your designs like I would die without them."

I smiled and shook my head. "No one's
going to die here."

"Right, but the feeling should be the
same, Chloe. No one wants to invest in an artist who sort of thinks her stuff
would be good. We want to jump in the boat with someone that reminds us that
we're about to miss out on the next great thing." His voice was full of
life and his expression reminded me of the man he used to be.

"Let me ask you this..." I closed
the book and pulled my mug closer to me, using it to warm my hands. "Why
did you choose winter attire? It seems so stuffy and uncreative."

"For that exact reason. I love it up
here in the cold and yet, just like you, I can only stand to be outside for a
few minutes. My 'why' for creating my line of men and women's ski and snowboard
attire was for necessity. Is it the most beautiful design in the world? No. Is
it attractive? Yes. Plus, it's fully functional and will keep you warm in an
arctic freeze."

I realized with a start that I had been
going about my plan all wrong. It wasn't about designing something that I would
wear because it was cute, but coming up with something functional and making it
cute.

"Brilliant." I glanced down at
my coffee and smiled. "Dad. That's brilliant."

"Right? It's why you had your school
paid in full. There's money in that way of thinking." He moved toward me
and laid a plate of pancakes in front of me. "I know I'm hard on you, but
there's a reason for it."

I wanted to push a little, but I decided
to let it alone.

He sat down beside me and started to eat.
"Show me what you have."

Opening my binder, I pushed it across the
table.

"It's a line of t-shirts that I think
would be great sellers on college campuses." I flipped through them
slowly, watching his expression remain unchanged.

He glanced up. "Who are you selling
these to?"

"College kids. I just said
that."

He shook his head and cut into his
pancakes. "Did you not take any business classes at UCLA, Chloe? College
kids don't have money."

There was a sick sense of relief that
flooded me to see that my father was slipping back into his normal self. If I
didn't feel stupid already coming to sit before him, I did now.

"Some do. Most of us have allowances,
Dad."

"I'm aware of that, but you're
limiting yourself. A small percentage of the population are college kids."
He pushed the notebook back at me. "I want you to think about designing
something for people in colder climates."

"What? Why? I hate the cold. I'd much
rather design something for the beach. If I had my other notebook, I
could..."

He cut me off. "Well, you don't. Eat
your breakfast before it gets cold and have some new windbreakers designed for
me by later this week. That's your first test to get this very large sum of money
you're after. I love you, but I'm not willing to set you up to fail and lose
money in this venture at the very same time. That would be stupid as a
businessman and as a dad."

"I hate the cold."

"Exactly." He tapped my plate
with his fork to remind me to eat. "Let that drive you to create the
warmest, comfiest, light-weight jacket known to man."

I turned my eyes down and started to eat,
hoping that the large syrupy pancakes would shove the thick ball of hate
building in my chest back down.

"I know you don't like my request,
but I'm holding the checkbook. Be smart about this. I know you have it in
you."

Him
patronizing me only caused my appetite to plummet.

I stood and picked up my plate, having
barely touched my pancakes. I dumped it in the sink, picked up my sketch pad
and my coffee, and walked to my room without another word.

Was it asinine? Absolutely.

Did I care? Hell no.

He was a jerk and had been tearing me down
for years. I didn't need his money and I wasn't willing to play his game – at
least I didn't think I was.

* * * *

I laid around in my room for the next two
hours until I thought my head might explode from counting ceiling tiles. Maybe
I was being childish, but it was namely due to the fact that I always felt like
a child around my father. He made sure of it.

Grabbing the handle to the door, I pulled
hard and stormed down the hall, ready to give him a piece of my mind. I would
design the best damn windbreaker ever known to man and would outsell everything
in his store ten times over.

"Dad?" I called out with angst
in my voice.

Nothing.

I walked out to the garage to find the SUV
gone.

"Great." I walked back into the
kitchen to see a short note from him. It was a reminder that people who wanted
to win the game were willing to play it.

I rolled my eyes and hated just how
accurate his statement was. There were a few jackets in the hall closet that
were his, which would be a good start to my experiment. Designing for
functionality was completely different than just letting my mind go. I had to
test out what was wrong with the other jackets and move on from there,
discerning how to make them better, more effective.

I tugged on a large gray jacket and zipped
it up, moving around and liking the feel of it.

"Let's see how you do in the
cold." I grabbed my notepad and slipped my feet into a pair of furry house
shoes by the front door before walking out on the porch and sitting down on the
swing at the far end. I hadn't realized there was someone shoveling snow, but
seeing him left me feeling badly for him.

It was far colder than it had been a week
back when I arrived. Why would my father have some poor guy working like that
in the freezing cold temperatures?

This guy must really need money.

I got up and walked back into the warmth
of the house to make him something warm to drink. I mixed up a mug of hot
chocolate and debated far too long over whether to put marshmallows on the top
or not. I changed into a big pink winter coat and zipped it up tight before
slipping on mittens and trying to get back out of the house without spilling
the hot chocolate.

Walking quickly down the pathway, I slowed
as I approached him and called out, not wanting to scare him and get a shovel
to the side of the face.

"Hi! I just realized you were out
here. I figure you might like something to-" I stopped as my breath caught
in my chest. "You have to be kidding me."

Finn.

His smile was beautiful, but the bright
red on his cheeks and over his nose was concerning.

"That for me?" He nodded toward
the mug and laid his shovel down.

There was a split second that I visualized
myself tossing it on him, but I couldn't do it.

"No. It's for me." I took a sip
and stifled a scream as it burnt my tongue.

"Oh." His eyes adverted from me
and he turned, picking up his shovel and starting to work again. "I'll be
done soon. I'll leave the invoice in the mailbox as not to bother you
again."

I let out a long sigh as indecision tore
up my insides. "The drink is for you."

"Just set it on the porch and I'll
come get it in a minute. I'm almost done." He continued to work, ignoring
me, which I probably deserved. The sound of him panting softly melted my heart
and left me concerned for him. It was too cold to be sweating outside. He shook
slightly and I was sure it was from the freezing cold temperatures.

"I'll have it waiting inside for you.
Just knock and I'll let you in." I turned and walked back to the house,
not wanting to keep him out there much longer. I was angry at him, but it was
for selfish reasons. I had pushed Cindy onto him and had no reason to be angry
with him for doing what was natural.

I was the idiot.