Chapter 45
PENN
I discoveredtwo things when Darcy called me drunk from the bar and I heard that guy trying to take her home. The first was I could not deny in any way shape or form I was falling for her in the worst way. No matter how much I had tried to pretend it wasn’t happening, the idea that there was a man willing to take advantage of her—or any woman for that matter—in the state that she was in made my blood boil. I wanted to protect her. It was instinctual. A fire had ignited within me, and I would have driven to the ends of the earth to get her.
The second thing I discovered was this was positively the worst thing that could have happened to me.
Tandy called me the next morning and told me my car was finished. I looked over at Darcy, asleep in my bed, wearing my clothes, and felt an awakening in my stomach. The revelation of these new feelings had a chokehold on me, and I couldn’t think about anything else.
I was trying to figure out how I was going to get myself out of this. The smart thing to do would be to leave, but I didn’t think Max would let me off the hook that easily. I don’t think he would be very understanding that I was falling for a random woman from this small town and we’d just have to build the hotel somewhere else. I think Max would tell me to either secure the sale or forget about coming back to work.
I wrote Darcy a note, in the probable event that she did not remember the night, and grabbed my cell phone from the table by the chair. I had slept there—if you could call it sleep—allowing her the bed and hoping she wasn’t too angry that I had helped her change out of her clothes. I would never have done it if I hadn’t needed to. I didn’t make a habit of stripping down drunk women, but the idea of her sleeping in vomit-covered clothing was something I couldn’t bear the idea of.
I left Green Gables and walked to Tandy’s garage, letting the cool morning air clear my head. On the walk, I made a mental list of all the things I knew to be true in a shrewd attempt to counteract all the things I couldn’t figure out.
The facts were simple. I was in Aveline for a reason.
That reason was to secure a place for Max to build his hotel so he could capitalize on the small-town charm.
Another fact was I was not in Aveline to meet anyone or make any friends.
I was not in Aveline to fall for a woman who could derail my entire life.
I was not here to lose my job, or my career, or the life I had spent the past decade building.
I needed to keep my head clear. These feelings were the reason I had never spent the night with a woman.
Until last night.
There was something about this town that made me feel guilty about the plans Max had for it. It was innocent and pure, and Max Prescott wanted to bring chaos. I had watched him do it several times; hell, I had helped him. I had been Max’s right hand while we built hotels in unsuspecting towns and cities across the United States. I had felt no remorse for the mom-and-pop bed and breakfasts that would suffer. I didn’t think twice about them, and if I did, I always told myself it was for the greater good of the town. They were getting more business, more traffic.
Which is why I couldn’t figure out what was so different now.
I wasn’t sure what made me feel such a kinship to this town as opposed to any of the others. I couldn’t deny it, though. Aveline was different. They were doing fine without us. I thought about Millie and the Green Gables Inn and how much one of Max’s hotels could ruin it. I needed to figure out a way to get out of Aveline and get someone else to do Max’s dirty work without losing my job. I couldn’t be the one to ruin Aveline.
I picked up my car from Tandy, listened to a story about how he inherited the garage and the mechanic skills from his father, and called Max.
“The man of the hour! Were your ears burning?” Max answered the phone in a loud, booming voice. “We were just talking about you in the morning meeting and how you’re out gallivanting around, practically on a vacation, while we are all working our tails off!”
Max felt he had to be the most productive guy in the room and was constantly in competition with everyone around him. I forced a chuckle. “Yeah, yeah. I wouldn’t say this is much of a vacation.” I cleared my throat. “I did call to tell you my car is up and running so I can head back now.”
I didn’t phrase it as a question. I had already decided I was going to go to Green Gables, get my stuff, bid Darcy goodbye, and get the hell out of Aveline before things got any messier.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Max said, and I could just see his hands out in front of him, gesturing for me to slow down. “Have you made the sale yet? Have the papers been signed? Is Prescott International the new owner of the...the...” His voice trailed off. “What kind of store is it again? Whatever, it doesn’t matter.”
“No. Not yet, but I was kind of thinking maybe Corbin would be better for this job. Things are really not going according to plan.”
“Is this about the woman? Because for the love of God man, just because one woman doesn’t like you, it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”
I closed my eyes, sighing heavily. “No, it’s not like that.”
“Oh, then, was the sex really that good?”
I gritted my teeth. Max was vile. “No, we didn’t...nevermind. It’s just, she’s not going to let me anywhere near that store, Max. It would be in your best interest to just send Corbin.”
The line went silent, and I thought for a moment he was thinking over my proposition. I would be home before I could say Aveline.
“I’ll tell you what...I want to put a hotel in Aveline, and you want to keep your job, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Then it’s simple. You make that girl like you. You get that sale. I’ll give you another month. That should be more than enough time. So, get me my deal, or you don’t come back to work here, is that clear?”
Then again, maybe he wasn’t thinking it over at all.
“Crystal,” I said back before I hung up. I leaned my head against the steering wheel and muttered to myself, “Crystal fucking clear.”
Now I just had to figure out what the hell I was going to do.