Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
OLIVER
I held her as her breathing evened out. This night felt different than the last. Probably because I knew there was a possibility we'd see each other again.
There was always a chance she'd meet someone in the meantime. That she wouldn't be interested in our arrangement or the logical side of my brain would win out. But I still hoped I'd get one more night with her because it was never enough.
I reached for her in the hours close to dawn, remembering a condom this time. There was no need to stress about a pregnancy when this was just a fling. I lifted her leg and eased inside. It was slow and lazy, but I felt closer to her than in the other positions.
This wasn't supposed to be more than a fling, but every minute we spent together, I felt myself wishing our circumstances were different. She reached down to play with her clit, my dick rubbing against her finger with each pass. Watching her pleasure herself only heightened my desire. When we crested together, we stayed like that for a few seconds.
I took care of the condom, and when I returned, she was asleep again. I didn't want to leave, but I had to. I couldn't chance one of the staff members seeing me come out of her room. I didn't want to start any rumors around town, and I didn't want my family to find out.
I got dressed quietly, careful not to disturb her. The sheet covered her body, and she was turned to face me, her hand on the sheet where I was just sleeping as if she was reaching for me even in her slumber.
She looked so peaceful. I wished I could stay and eat breakfast with her, shower together, and take her against the tiles. But that was outside the parameters of our relationship.
Instead, I slipped on my shoes and pocketed my cell phone and keycard, making a mental note to order breakfast and flowers for her.
I'd tell the staff that it was a thank-you for hosting the conference here, but I'd send Carolina a text so she'd know the sentiment behind it. I couldn't give her everything, but I could give her this.
I went back to the condo in case Eli stopped by in the morning for breakfast. I didn't want him to think I'd been in another room. I managed to sleep for another couple of hours. Then I woke in time to order breakfast and the flowers. I ordered a little of everything because I wasn't sure what her preferences were. We hadn't shared a meal.
After my shower, there was a picture from Carolina with the spread I'd sent her, including the flowers.
Carolina: This was a nice surprise. Thank you.
Then a few minutes later.
Carolina: I would have preferred you in my bed.
Oliver: Me too .
I owed her more of an explanation.
Oliver: I can't risk anyone seeing me sneak out of your room. Telluride is a small town.
Carolina: You're not married, are you?
Oh shit. I was screwing this up fantastically.
Oliver: No wife. No girlfriend. No relationships. I wouldn't lie to you.
I had to protect Joey from a random hookup, which was what this was supposed to be. Even if it didn't feel like one. I didn't want her to think I was hiding something from her.
I called her instead of continuing to type. "I thought this was too big of a conversation for text."
"You had me scared for a second. I don't cheat. I'm not a home-wrecker." Her voice shook.
This must be personal for her. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you think that. My reputation is important to me. I don't want anyone to think random hookups are a thing for me, because they're not. That's not what you are."
"It's the same for me. And I know this is different for you. This is your place of business. Your home. I know we need to keep it a secret. Neither of us wants more. There's no point in revealing it to everyone."
My heart sank. Why did I care that she agreed to keep it a secret? I should have felt relieved, happy even. Instead, I felt bereft, as if I'd just lost something I never had. "And I'd never cheat on anyone. You don't have to worry about me. If I meet someone else, then I'll tell you."
"We're not exclusive. There's no commitment here."
"Agreed," I said tightly, irritated with this entire conversation. I'd wanted to soothe her fears about me being married, and I'd made everything worse somehow .
"If one of us finds someone, we are free to pursue that."
My jaw tightened at the idea. "I saw that you're on the schedule for conference during Christmas week."
"I'm looking forward to that. It's my first holiday bazaar."
"You don't need to be home for your family?" I asked, shamelessly probing for more information about her.
"I'll be home for Christmas Eve. I'm close to my younger sister and my mom."
I was glad she had family to spend it with. "Maybe when you're here next time, you could take advantage of the amenities of the resort and go skiing. I'll reserve a lift ticket and equipment for you."
She sucked in a breath. "That's not necessary."
"Eli believes in spoiling our conference hosts. We want the business."
"Well, if it's a business thing, I can't say no." I could hear the smile in her voice.
"But you'd say no if it was a gift from me?" I asked, thinking how the breakfast and flowers were from me even though I signed it from the resort.
"I wouldn't say no. But you know you don't have to spoil me. I already have a reason to keep coming back."
"We're playing a dangerous game." What would happen if one of us ended whatever this was between us? Would she stop booking conferences? If so, Eli would be angry with me for getting involved with her.
"You know for once I'm going to go after what I want. I enjoyed last night, and I'm looking forward to December."
"Me too." But what if one of us wanted more? I'd just have to remember that there was no future for us together. She lived in Maine, and I lived here in Colorado. She didn't even know I had a son. That was usually the biggest issue with any woman I dated. They didn't want to become a stepmom. I'd resigned myself to staying single .
"Well, I'm going to eat this delicious spread before it gets cold. Thank you for breakfast and the flowers, Oliver."
"You're welcome, Carolina. Till next time."
"Goodbye, Oliver," she said as I hung up. I was proud of myself that I didn't make any promises to keep in touch in the interim. In fact, I'd said I'd talk to her when we saw each other in December, so I was cutting off that possibility.
It was bad enough we had a night every few months. I couldn't entertain anything more involved. My family needed my mind on work, and Joey needed everything else I had to offer. I had enough going on in my life without complicating it with a woman whose life was across the country.
I was making the bed when a knock sounded on the door. Then Eli opened the door. He had a master key for the penthouse condos. "Wake up. I'm hungry."
I chuckled as I grabbed my cell phone and keys on the way to the door.
"Can we pick up Joey on the way? I want to see him."
Affection for my brother rushed through me. "He'd love that."
I closed the door to my room and dialed Maeve as we walked toward the elevator. When she answered, Eli pushed the down button. "Morning. How is everything?"
"Great. We ate around seven, and now we're watching cartoons."
"Can you put Joey on the phone?" I asked her.
"Sure." Then I heard, "Joey, your dad wants to talk to you."
"Daddy!" I pulled the phone away from my ear on a chuckle. "You want to go to brunch with Uncle Eli?"
"Yes, yes, yes. Pancakes?"
"Of course." I heard the phone drop, and Maeve picked it up. "Sorry, he was a little excited."
The elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside .
"That's to be expected. Can you make sure he's dressed and ready to go? We'll be there in ten."
"Absolutely. See you then." I hung up as Eli pressed the button for the lobby.
"I miss him. You should bring him around more often."
I nodded. "He adores Maeve though."
The doors opened on the lobby level, and Eli asked for his car to be brought around. "How are things going for her? She get into any schools yet?"
"She said she has, but she's waiting on the financial aid package."
"You think she'll be okay?" Eli asked as we waited for his SUV to arrive.
"I was going to suggest that if she doesn't get everything she needs, we offer her a scholarship. She won't want our help. But we could create one and give it to her, make it seem like it's open to everyone. Maybe even create two so we can give one to another local kid."
Eli nodded. "I'm all for that. A scholarship from the Wilde Resort for deserving local kids. What would the requirements be? Grades. Volunteer work?"
"It could be anything. We can have them write an essay to explain why they think they deserve it. I don't think it should be based primarily on grades. Not everyone comes from the same circumstances."
The valet arrived with his SUV.
"Get in,” Eli said. “I'll drive you back afterward."
I didn't argue because I wasn't done discussing the scholarship.
When we were on the road headed to my house, Eli said, "I like the idea of a scholarship and helping Maeve. She's been so good for you and Joey."
"She's reliable, and I can see how hard she works to keep her grades up so she can get a scholarship. Her parents are against her doing any kind of student loans. They don't want her to start out in debt." Her parents didn't have the money for college, and I don't think they'd saved anything. They just didn't make enough money in their jobs. Her father worked as a mechanic at a local dealership, and her mother cleaned houses.
"She deserves to go to college."
"I agree. And if we can help more people, why not?"
"Kylie has a monopoly on the local charity stuff, so let's make this a thing we're doing."
"I'll work the numbers to see how much we can afford to offer, and how many scholarships we want to distribute."
"It's a great idea. One more way to improve our reputation in the community while also helping some deserving kids. Mom and Dad will be proud."
I liked the idea of that. I worked hard, and sometimes I wasn't sure anyone appreciated it. My brothers were more annoyed than anything else when I wanted to discuss projections and cash flow.
He parked at my house, and we headed inside. Joey hugged me first, then Eli. For once, Eli was dressed casually, not in a suit.
"Enjoy your brunch," Maeve said as she gathered her things.
"Thanks for watching him last night," I said to her.
She swung her overnight bag over her shoulder and hugged Joey. "It's never a problem. I love this little guy."
Then she was gone. "Ready to eat?" I asked Joey.
"Yes."
"Uncle Eli's driving."
We helped him into the booster seat that Eli had in the back for him, and then we drove the short distance to the local breakfast place.
At the restaurant, Joey immediately started coloring on the kids' menu .
Eli leveled me with a look. "You enjoy your evening? I noticed you snuck out early."
I glanced away from him. "I wanted some peace and quiet. It's rare for me to get a night out, and the music was loud."
"Is that all it was? Xander said you interrupted his dance with Carolina and said Kylie needed to talk to him. But that wasn't the case."
I was worried about this. I hadn't been thinking when I said that. "I don't want Xander messing things up with one of our best conference organizers. Everyone loves Carolina. If he"—I glanced over at Joey, and omitted the words hooked up—"hurts her feelings she, might not want to work with us anymore."
Eli glanced at Joey and nodded. "That's a good point. Xander wants more responsibility, but he doesn't think about those things."
Xander wasn't as business oriented as we were. I wasn't sure if it was because he was younger than me and Eli. He always seemed more concerned about flirting with women than thinking about how anything would affect the resort's reputation or business prospects. I kind of thought he didn't get the business gene like me and Eli did. He might not be cut out for it.
"Are you going to give him more responsibility?"
Eli shook his head. "So far, I haven't. If I go out of town, I have you. And Mom and Dad will be home in the New Year."
"We can't expect Mom and Dad to pick up the slack. They're supposed to be retired."
"That's true."
"Maybe we can train Xander. Give him some responsibility and see how it goes. Something small he can't mess up."
Eli grimaced. "I'm not ready for that."
The waitress took our order, and Joey drew Eli into a game of tic-tac-toe. I enjoyed mornings like this one, spending time with my brother and my son. But I would have liked to give Carolina a proper send-off. We could have woken up together, showered, and eaten breakfast. Instead, I had to make do with a phone conversation. It wasn't ideal.
If I wasn't able to keep our time together confined to nights in a hotel room, then I'd have to break it off. I'd see her again at Christmas. Then I'd need to decide if it was healthy to continue our arrangement. I felt even more confused than the last time. It was bigger than a fling. At least for me, feelings were emerging.
I liked Carolina. I wanted to know more about her and her family. Why did she prefer to travel for her job? I wanted to know if she was happy being on the road. But none of that was any of my business. I should have been happy to check out of the situation for the next few months. It was a dream arrangement, especially for someone like Xander.
But I wasn't him. I didn't make hookups my go-to relationship. I wanted something real. So why was I wasting time getting involved with someone when the relationship could never go anywhere?
Our food came, and talk turned to the cabin expansion. Eli was excited for them to be finished so he could rent them out. But winter wasn't the best time to start construction.
I understood his frustration, but there was nothing we could do about the time of year.
"We need to decorate more for the holidays. Is there someone we could hire for that?" Eli asked.
"You want to hire someone to decorate?" I cut the pancakes for Joey.
"None of us want to do it."
"I can throw up a Christmas tree. What are we talking about?"
"Kylie said something about garland on the fireplaces, the stairwells. Wreaths on the windows. It sounded more elaborate than one tree. "
I groaned. "I barely have time to decorate our house."
"We're getting a tree, aren't we?" Joey asked.
"Of course we are. Uncle Eli's talking about the ski resort. He thinks guests would like more decorations."
Joey nodded thoughtfully. "I think so too. It is kind of boring."
Eli chuckled. "You think the resort is boring?"
He raised a brow. "At the holidays? Yeah. It's all brown."
"It's a lodge," Eli persisted.
Joey threw his arms out to his sides. "It should be red and green at Christmas with twinkling lights everywhere."
Eli waved a hand at Joey. "You heard the man. Can you help me find someone that could help? We don't even have decorations in stock. It wasn't something Mom and Dad were concerned about."
One more change we were making that they might not approve of, but they said to do what we saw fit. It wasn't their business anymore. It was ours. "You want to see if Xander can handle it?"
"I have to be honest. I'm more than a little concerned that he wouldn't follow through, and it sounds like this is something that would be appreciated by the guests. I want to do this."
And when Eli wanted to do something, it got done. "I'll see if there are any services that offer holiday decorating. I know I've seen signs for one that does lights."
"I need someone who can tell me what and how much to put up."
"Not sure if that even exists." If not, it was one more thing I could try to handle myself. Sometimes I wished that Eli trusted Xander to do more. We picked up his slack, and I had other responsibilities. I wanted to enjoy the holiday season with my son and enjoy one more night with Carolina.
I wasn't sure that it was a good idea to continue this thing with Carolina. My heart was getting involved .
I was tempted to text her to see if she got home okay. But I had no idea what time her flight was or when she'd be arriving home, if that's where she was even headed.
I knew nothing about Carolina's life. That was our arrangement. And I needed to keep it that way. Neither one of us were looking for something more. I just had to remember that.