Vacation (55 page)

Chapter 32

Finn

We wrapped up opening gifts, and I hugged
my father and Milly before piddling around the kitchen for something to eat.
The doorbell rang and I grabbed my crutches as nervousness rose up the center
of my chest. Chloe and I left things wide open the day before, me giving her
the reigns in making a decision on whether we had a future and what it would
look like in the near-term.

"Chloe. Good to see you, dear."
My father's voice boomed with warmth as I rounded the corner.

Chloe was dressed in a pretty white sweater
with red leggings and boots. Her hair was in a ponytail, and I swear she looked
nineteen.

"Hey, baby. Merry Christmas." I
hobbled toward her and had to steady myself from falling over as she hugged me
hard.

"Merry Christmas. I missed you last
night." She pressed her hands to the side of my face and kissed me several
times.

"We were just about to make
pancakes." Milly walked up and pulled Chloe into a hug. "You
hungry?"

"No, ma'am. Dad found my mother's old
casserole recipe. He and my brother had it ready for me this morning. Miracles
do happen." I laughed.

"Jonathan Burke cooked something?
That's not a miracle, hell's freezing over and the apocalypse must be
coming." Clark laughed.

"Watch it, mister." Milly slapped
his butt and pulled him in the kitchen with her.

Chloe's eyes went wide and she turned to
me. "What's that all about? Are they dating?"

"I'd say yes, but you couldn't get
either of them to admit it if you tried. They're worse than junior high
kids." I reached out and brushed my hand over her hip. "I got you
something."

"What? When?" She took my hand
and lifted it to her mouth, kissing my fingers softly as I watched her.

"Brian took me to get it. Come over
here, and let me give it to you." I tugged my hand from her and moved over
to my father's chair by the fire. I slumped down in it and pulled out the
little red bag that had her necklace.

She got down on her knees in front of me
and snuggled up close. "I like this position. Reminds me of the other day
on your couch."

I shook my head and handed her the bag.
"You're just trying to get me in trouble with my father, aren't you?"

"Would he be mad?"

"If I was sporting a boner around a
pretty girl on Christmas? Yes." I laughed, unable to help myself.

She started to open the bag, and I reached
out and stopped her. "What?"

I cleared my throat. "I just want you
to know that whatever decision you came to last night, I'll fully support it.
The gift goes wherever you do. Promise me?"

"I promise." She smiled and
pulled out the box, opening it and letting out a short gasp. "Oh my God.
It's beautiful, Finn. I love it."

"It's an infinity heart. It says that
I'll love you forever, no matter what."

Tears filled her eyes and I knew I'd done
good
.

"Put it on me?" She moved up
into my lap and I worked to get it on her, taking more time than necessary to
keep her where she was.

"It looks beautiful on you, but
anything you wear does." I pulled her to me and kissed her mouth softly
several times. "Can you stay with me tonight?"

"Of course." She move back down
on the floor and handed me a box. "This one is just a practical gift. I
found it and it reminded me of you."

I opened it and found a box of my favorite
cologne. Lifting it to my nose, I breathed in deeply. "I love this stuff.
You like it, too?"

"I like you." She smiled and
handed me an envelope. "Open it and I'll explain once you do."

"Okay." I took a shaky breath,
not caring about the gifts, but the conversation to come. I was getting mixed
signals left and right and honestly didn't know what to think about whether she
planned to stay in Aspen or not. She hadn't mentioned getting back to any
friends or a new apartment or anything, but she hadn't mentioned staying,
either.

I unfolded a white sheet of paper and let
my eyes scan over it, trying to focus on the gift and not the different points
in my head that I planned to give her to convince her to stay with me.

"It's the old Vanning Place. I don't
know if you know where it is, but my father said..."

"Wait. What?" I pulled the page
up to my face and scanned it, realizing that it was a deed to half the
property. "Oh my God, Chloe...whose is this?"

She moved up to hover in front of me and
pointed to the owner’s name.

Finn J. Warner.

"What? I don't understand." I
tugged the paper down as my heart sped up. "You're giving me half of the
Vanning Mansion?"

"Yes." She sat back on her heels
looking quite satisfied with herself.

"Who has the other half?" I
moved down to my knees in front of her, trying to be careful of my cast, but
not really giving a shit about it.

She slid her hands over my chest and
clasped them behind my head. "I do."

My heart almost stopped in my chest. I had
to look like an idiot, but I was shocked into silence. She had half of the
mansion and I had half, too...

"So, you're staying here with me?"
I couldn't stop myself from asking.

"Yes, baby. If you'll have me."

I leaned in and kissed her with every
ounce of fear and worry, every drop of love and desire I had for her. We
tumbled over, and I rolled on top of her, pinning her to the ground and making
love to her mouth as the realization over what she'd given me rolled through me
in consuming waves.

She was staying, she wanted to be mine,
and she had purchased the mansion I wanted to build my dreams on since I was a
boy.

I broke the kiss and closed my eyes,
panting softly above her lips. "This can't be happening."

"It is, baby. My father gave me the
money for my clothing line, but I'm going to invest it in refurbishing the
mansion. Let's build the lodge you want and open a new resort here together."

"Chloe." I stared into her eyes.
"Baby, that money is for you, and you have dreams that aren't here in
Colorado."

"Things change. I realized when you
rolled your damn self down that mountain that all I wanted was a chance at
something great with you. If that's here, then it's here. My dreams have
shifted. I just need you to say yes. To me. To us. To this."

"Hell yes to all of it. I'm blown
away." I moved back down to kiss her again and didn't stop until my father
pushed at my butt with his foot.

"Breakfast is ready, and I'm pretty
sure I taught you better than to drag some pretty girl to the floor and make
out with her." My dad pushed at my butt again, and I grinned up at him.

"She likes it. Ask her." I moved
back a little.

"I love it. I love him." Chloe
smiled and pulled me back down, showing my old man a thing or two.

He was never going to believe what this
woman had done for me. Hell, I couldn't believe it.

I was ready to give up every dream I'd had
for the last twenty-seven years to see hers come true, and she turned the
tables on me. She worked magic deep inside of me and repaired parts of me that
I didn't think would heal. There would be a day not too far in the future that
I would ask her to be my bride, and then we'd start a family together.

"I love you so crazy much, you
incredible woman." I ran my hand through her hair and smiled down at her.

"How about you show me just how much
tonight in that big comfy bed of yours."

"Oh, I plan to. Let's eat these
pancakes and get out of here. I
ain't
had nearly
enough of you."

She smirked, and I growled.

"Don't even say it," I mumbled
against her perfect mouth.

"I
ain't
."
She pulled me back down and stifled my laughter with her soft tongue and long,
hot kiss.

Epilogue

One
Year Later

Chloe

The last year had been magical. Living
with Finn in his small cabin was perfect for us starting out. It forced us
close when we got tense with each other and left little room for anything but
hot make-up sex. Our fathers had finally had their long sit-down talk and
worked through the madness from their younger years. Over the course of the
year, they became friends again and started meeting for coffee every Friday
morning.

Finn and I saved up some money and bought
Milly and Clark a trip to Florida for a week during the summer – the hope was
that they would find something in each other that could turn into romance. It
worked. They were married a month ago in a small family wedding, and my dad was
Clark's groomsman.

Parker started taking free lessons from
Finn on his snowboard, and I finally let the two of them goad me into learning
how to do it, too. I snuck away for an hour each afternoon for two months to
figure out how to get really good at the sport. They figured I was looking at
new patterns for the designs my father and I were working on. When we got our
first full snow, I pulled out my tricks and memorized the shocked looks on
their faces at seeing just how good I'd gotten.

Finn make love to me that night so
passionately that I thought I might never recover from it. Where my wish list
included a man who had a knack for fashion, I'm thinking his was finding a
woman that could snowboard. I worked harder to get even better at it after
that.

My father met someone at Clark and Milly's
wedding that they all went to school with and he'd been dating her for the last
three weeks. She's sweet and reminds me a little too much of Mom, but I've kept
my thoughts to myself on it.

The lodge that my father purchased for me
to fix up is fully functional, the doors having opened in late October. Parker
works in the ski shop and I spend most of my days working on various designs
for the clothing store that's nestled into the side of it. Finn's in love with
the place and spends more time there than he does with me. I'm not jealous –
well, maybe a little.

It was Christmas once again, but unlike
last year, this year, we were all healthy and happy. At Finn’s request, we
invited everyone to the lodge for a big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We
had to wait until after the seven o'clock church service, which his father
dragged us all to, but afterward, we piled up in various vehicles and drove
back to the lodge.

"Everyone around the table together?
It's going to be great. I’m excited." I squeezed Finn’s thigh and pressed
my lips against his arm.

"
Me
, too,
baby." He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and tugged me in tighter.

We still had the old truck, namely because
he wouldn't part with it. I think he enjoyed the fact that I could sit right
against him and not more than one person could fit on the other side of me.

"I had the kitchen prepare a bunch of
different stuff, just in case everyone had different traditions." I moved
to my side of the truck as we pulled up to the lodge.

"It's going to be great, Chloe. Go on
up there, and I'll meet you shortly. I want to see if anyone needs help with
bags or anything."

I nodded and got out of the car, jogging
up the stairs and letting the beauty of the Christmas lights against the large
snowy mountains take my breath away. I'd learned to love Colorado – not the
cold, but the serenity and beauty it offered. I had loads of jackets and
various sweaters that I'd designed with functionality in mind, but not
forgetting about fashion. They sold like crazy, but the best part was wearing
them myself and enjoying a ride down the slopes with my man in them, too.

The smell of pumpkin pie and roasted meat
filled my senses when I walked into the main hall, and I paused to look around.
It was odd to see the place empty, but Finn was quite serious about not booking
anyone for the
days
right around Christmas. He wanted it
to be all about us. He promised that next year we could open it up to the
public, but for this first year he wanted just family and friends.

I agreed readily and I was glad I did.
Warmth enveloped me and strong emotions washed over me. My life was nothing
like I'd expected and yet so much better than I could ever imagine.

"Chloe..." Finn called to me,
and I turned as he walked through the large ornate doors I'd just come through.
Everyone piled in behind him, and my heart skipped a beat.

"What, baby?" I stood in stony
silence, feeling like something was upon me, but not knowing what.

"I wanted our family and friends to
be here tonight for a special reason." He smiled and moved to stand in
front of me, taking my hands and leaning down to brush his lips past mine.

"What reason is that?"

"When we first met I was a different
man. A man I didn't at all want to be, but I didn't know how to move past it. I
had such big dreams, and yet I left them tucked behind a reality that tore me
down and left me barren. When you showed up...the first day I met you..."
he paused as his eyes filled with tears.

Mine did, too. "When I almost busted
my head on the ski lift?"

He laughed with thick emotion in his
throat. "Yes. You changed everything. You helped me find myself, making me
want to be a better man, if nothing else, then for you. I owe you everything,
Chloe. I want to build our house together and make it a home with babies that
drive you nuts and rule the place. I want to hold you as we grow older and
continue to make plans together that go as far out as we can see."

I pressed my hands to my mouth, pushing
back the soft cry that beat against my teeth as he dropped to one knee in front
of me and lifted a beautiful diamond ring up toward me.

"Will you be mine forever, baby? Will
you marry me?"

"Of course, I will. Yes." I got
on my knees with him and knocked him over with a hug that turned into a long
kiss.

"Oh, God. Get a room!" Parker
yelled, and everyone erupted in laughter, reminding me that life was so much
bigger than we sometimes let it be. It was about friends and family, dreams and
love.

It was about me and Finn.

The waves and the snow.

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book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
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