Seventeen
Reid
The last thing I needed now was a complication.
I’d decided to stay here in Ohio, in the town where I grew up, for one reason and one reason alone—to finally gain ownership of this property, tear down the retreat, and turn it into something worthwhile.
But things were getting complicated now, and it was all because of one woman.
Natalia had me questioning all my original motivation for staying here and agreeing to fulfill my father’s role at the retreat. The craziest part about it was that she’d done it before I’d even gotten on good terms with her.
I often recalled the night of the farewell dinner, when she’d stepped up to give a speech in my place, doing it without a second thought.
When I walked out that night, I was already considering how my plan would impact her.
It was the reason I stayed as angry, as distant, as I had.
If I kept that wall up, I could pretend that what happened was of no consequence.
But a woman like Natalia wasn’t ever going to be easy to steer clear of. Not for long, anyway.
And now that I knew more about her, about her story, and everything that this place meant to her, could I really take it all away from her?
I wasn’t so sure anymore, especially when I found myself unable to think of anything much beyond her. I was constantly wondering what she was doing, if she was happy, whether she was thinking of me.
With each day that passed, Natalia was cementing herself in my life. She was making me feel things I didn’t want to feel, things I shouldn’t consider feeling, if I stood any chance at finally turning Sandstone Heart into what I’d always wanted to.
It seemed, in so many ways, that the goalpost had shifted for me. And it had taken barely a month for it to happen.
Now, it was just after lunch on Friday, a week after Thanksgiving, and I was on my way to her office in hopes of finding her there. But my visit didn’t have anything to do with work.
Nope.
Evidently, I’d decided that things weren’t nearly complicated enough as it was, and the only thing to do was make it worse for myself by taking a stand and letting Natalia see just how much things had changed for me.
I made it to her office and was disappointed to see that she wasn’t there. Part of me wasn’t surprised. With Natalia being who she was, it was a sure bet she’d have left her office to have lunch with someone, either guests or work colleagues.
Deciding to go in search of her, hoping I’d catch her on her way back, I spun around and took two steps in the opposite direction when I came to a halt as my eyes landed on her.
Though I had a love/hate relationship with the outfits—namely the dresses and skirts—she wore to work, it appeared she’d decided to keep things casual today.
Natalia still looked as stunning as ever.
I’d seen her at what could’ve been considered arguably her worst in terms of physical appearance, and even then, I thought she was beautiful.
What I liked now was that I wouldn’t have to worry about asking her to change for us to do what I’d planned for us to do this afternoon.
Smiling brightly at me, Natalia made her final approach and stopped just a couple of feet in front of me. “Hey, Reid. What are you doing here? We didn’t have a meeting scheduled, did we?”
I shook my head. “No. Not at all. I didn’t realize you were out of your office.”
Pointing behind her at nothing in particular, she explained, “Danielle and I had lunch together today. We were overdue for it.”
“I assume all is well there…” I didn’t want to pry for information. I merely wanted Natalia to know that I cared enough to ask.
“Everything’s great. We’ve both been so busy and…preoccupied with other things lately that we haven’t had a lot of time to connect. Anyway, to what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from you this afternoon?”
The corners of my mouth tipped up in a smile. “Well, if it’s taken you this long to be able to see your best friend, I’m guessing it’s safe to say that you’re working too hard.”
Natalia rolled her eyes at me before stepping past me and through to her office. “Oh, Reid, you’re being ridiculous. I’m just doing my job.”
“And everything else you put on your plate,” I noted as I followed behind her.
She made it to her desk and rounded it, but she didn’t lower herself to her seat. Instead, she pinned her amused gaze on me. “You say that like it’s a problem. Shouldn’t you, as the temporary man in charge here, be glad that I’m keeping myself busy?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “Perhaps. But I’m not keen on you doing too much. In fact, I think that might be grounds for me to give you the rest of the day off today.”
“What? No. I can’t do that.”
“Not even if I ask you to help me with something?”
Natalia grew curious as her chin tipped up to one side. “That’s different. I can forego doing the things I need to do to help you with your work. What’s going on?”
Immediately, there was a lightness in my chest that I hadn’t experienced since the last time I’d spent extended, uninterrupted time with her. It was all I could do to hide the growing sense of satisfaction I felt.
“Alright. You’re going to need to shut everything down in here, since you won’t be back until Monday, then.”
She arched a gorgeous brow. “Oh?”
I smiled. “I suspect this is going to take until well past the time that you’d normally be done at work. And since we’re leaving this building now to take care of this project I’ve got, you can shut down everything until Monday.”
Whatever Natalia thought, she didn’t say.
But she looked like she had dozens of questions running through her mind.
Clearly, she was trying to work out precisely what I had planned, but instead of asking me for more information, she merely shifted her attention to her computer and worked on shutting it down.
I didn’t hesitate to use that time to simply take her in. It was strange. No matter that I saw her every day—though sometimes it was only briefly if we were both swamped with work—it felt as though it had been weeks since I last saw her.
Truthfully, it was Thanksgiving when I’d last been able to spend some quality time with her. After a week of craving more of it, I didn’t care how this would look. I was willing to do anything to have her all to myself for a couple of hours.
“All set?” I asked when she finally returned her attention to me.
Natalia jerked her chin down. “Anxiously waiting to see what this project is. Excited about it, even if I don’t know what it is.”
And it was that attitude right there that made her so captivating. I wasn’t quite sure there was anything that she wouldn’t be up for. Natalia had no clue what this was about, and she was eager for whatever it was.
Jerking my head toward the exit, I said, “Let’s go.”
Natalia rounded her desk as I swept out my hand and urged her through the door ahead of me. And a few minutes later, we were outside, making our way across the property.
“Now will you tell me what we’re doing?”
There was an edge of excitement in Natalia’s tone. When I glanced down and saw the same reflected in her features, I almost gave in. But I wanted to see her face when she finally saw what I’d planned.
“You’ll see when we get there.”
She growled with frustration, but that only served to make me laugh.
“Can you at least give me a hint?”
“You’ll like it.”
She ground to a halt. “That’s it? That’s my hint?”
I stopped moving after taking two steps past her and turned around. My lips twitched at her mock outrage. “Yep.”
“I’ll like it?”
I nodded. “Yes. And if you keep walking, you’ll find out what it is sooner rather than later. We’re almost there.”
Natalia began moving again. “We’re heading toward the lake and the cabins where you’re staying.”
I said nothing.
“Is the surprise at the lake?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
She groaned again but propelled herself forward. I fell into step beside her, and for the next few minutes, we walked in silence. Sure enough, once we made that final approach, Natalia declared, “I knew it. You brought me to the lake. What’s going on here?”
We’d slowed our pace a touch, but I kept moving. Only my legs didn’t carry me toward the lake. They went to my cabin. I could sense Natalia had fallen behind, so I glanced over my shoulder and asked, “Are you coming?”
There were so many questions in her stare, and her lips parted and shut several times, but nothing ever came out. She seemed to visibly shake off whatever thoughts were swimming in her mind and hurried toward me.
I came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the porch of the cabin and waited for her. Then, I held out my hand.
Natalia’s eyes darted back and forth between my hand and my face. “What? What are you doing?”
Jerking my chin toward my outstretched palm, I said, “I recall you having trouble with the stairs last time. I figured it’d be wise to avoid that this time around.”
She blinked at me and jerked her head back. “Are you… Are you making fun of me?”
If only…
While I wasn’t interested in seeing her fall and get hurt again, this really wasn’t about that. All I wanted was to be able to touch her. And if all I could manage was a momentary touch between our hands as I helped her up the stairs, I’d certainly take advantage of the situation. “Not at all.”
Natalia hesitated for just another few seconds and finally placed her hand in mine. It was so small and delicate in comparison. I was tempted to strike up another conversation just to hold on a little bit longer.
But once she took that first step up, I had no choice but to guide her safely to the top. The moment we were there, she fixed her gaze on me and said, “Okay. I give up, Reid. What is this all about?”
The corners of my mouth tipped up as I pointed behind her. “Turn around.”
“What in the world?” she murmured as she twisted her body to look where I’d indicated. The moment she realized what I’d done, her body went rigid. “Are those what I think they are?”