Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
WIN
Has my sabbatical become a real-life soap opera?
That’s what I’m wondering as I climb off the parked snowmobile, my butt still vibrating from the short ride and the M&M sisters cozy and warm against my chest. I slide my borrowed goggles up and stare at the lodge I wasn’t sure I’d see again.
It’s only been a few days.
A lot has happened, so you’ll need to give me a minute. I went missing. There was a snowstorm. I had transformational sex and played house with the man of my dirtiest dreams. And Michael’s dad wanted him to marry some heiress so much that he tried to coerce him into it from the grave.
“So fucked up,” I murmur to myself.
The amount of money he turned down when he quit and refused to be a part of the scheme must be substantial. Like, renovate all the housing in our old neighborhood, feed every child and fix every pothole before buying an island—that kind of substantial.
When I think about what Bellamy and his husband did for our city even before his father passed and he inherited?
It blows my mind that Michael was willing to walk away from that.
He’s a genuinely principled man, which is miraculous considering the bad examples he was surrounded by for years.
His father, the cheater. His superior, the manipulative scheming cousin.
The job he was so good at, where he dug up all the evil men do for and with their money.
He was surrounded on all sides, and yet he managed to come out of it relatively unscathed. Or at least uncorrupted.
If I ever meet his mother and those brothers of hers, I’ll have to thank them for raising him to know right from wrong. Though I think he would have turned out like this regardless. Michael Demir is simply a good man.
Too good for you.
It’s possible. He’s also too rich for my blood, too complicated and, other than not being local, too perfect to be real.
I look back the way we came, at the clearly marked trail of compacted snow, and frown. It was my idea for Bellamy to bring Michael so they could have more time to talk and work together without an audience. But where are they?
I probably shouldn’t care so much. My trapped in a cabin with a mountain man fantasy is over now. Bex should be on her way here with the band, Connor is inside along with the rest of my clothes, and I’ve already spent more time with my pub beast than I have with anyone I’ve slept with before.
It was wonderful. I’ll never forget a second of it.
But I should be ready to call it by now.
I should be thankful that it happened and glad it’s over, so I can get back to my busy but satisfying life.
That’s my brand. That’s how I roll. I’m Anti-commitment Guy.
I don’t date. I don’t do relationships. I never fall in love.
“Weird weekend,” Jake says.
I look over, startled to realize he’s standing right beside me. How long has he been there? “Understatement is clearly your superpower.”
He smirks. “Uncle Michael really told you about all of that stuff with Bell’s company? Voluntarily?”
I nod. “Well, he didn’t tell me about the heiress. But the rest of it, sure.”
“I’m glad I was never interested in finance,” he continues thoughtfully. “It sounds like it’s full of greedy assholes.”
I nod and open my mouth to tell him about the time Alexander Hamilton?—
No. I’m not interested in regaling anyone with trivia at the moment.
The truth is, the best thing about that founding-father-without-a-father is that Lin-Manuel made a musical about him.
He isn’t relevant to this situation, even if he was obviously bisexual and married to an heiress.
Like Michael could have been, before we’d ever met, if he hadn’t stood up for himself.
“I’ve known him for a few months now,” Jake tells me. “And he doesn’t really talk that much. Especially not about himself. Dad says he’s shy.”
I blink. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?”
“I’m sure.”
Michael had told me he was uncomfortable around people, that he spent a lot of time on his own as a child, and that he’d never had any long-term relationships.
And it’s true that he doesn’t seem to get most of my entertainment or social media references.
It’s just hard to imagine him being shy after the last few days.
He was so open and gregarious with me. So passionate.
“There’s my life partner.”
I turn to see Connor walking down the ski lodge steps toward me. Front Desk Veronica, who’s currently holding his hand, stops and stares at him with her mouth hanging open, and Jake coughs into his glove.
Good lord, Coach Himbo .
“He heard someone say ‘hetero life partner’ once and thought it was cute,” I explain with a grin. “We’re just roommates. He gets confused sometimes.”
Veronica snorts out a laugh, and her dimples pop into view. She’s got rosy cheeks, her hair is a riot of golden curls and I bet she bakes cookies. Regular cookies with chocolate chips that rich foodies wouldn’t know what to do with but kids would love.
Connor flushes but he doesn’t acknowledge the fumble.
“Bex texted that she’d be here soon. Also, that she’s with Tanaka for some reason, which is kind of insane since I just saw him in the lobby with his fiancé like four hours ago.
Anyway, we’ve been looking around and he hasn’t checked out, but he is gone.
They both are. We came out here to see if they took their car and here you are. ”
Bex is with Ken Tanaka? I pull out my phone and send her a text.
Me: Why are you with Batman? Saving the world again?
“I had no idea this weekend was going to be so entertaining,” Veronica/Future Mrs. Lafferty tells us with a conspiratorial gleam in her eye.
“Jill will be jealous she missed it because she decided to have surgery to fix her deviated septum. It’s even better than that sex toy convention three years ago.
Do you have puppies inside that jacket, by any chance? I only ask because it’s moving.”
OMG they are perfect for each other. Their babies will be blonde and beautiful with no filters.
Before I can answer, Bellamy drives up slowly, with Michael and his multiple containers behind him.
To keep myself from running toward him like a besotted idiot, I unzip my jacket and let Mims and Mad, who are already attached to their leashes, down to the ground where they can sniff the new area to their hearts’ content.
“The man holding the profiteroles is their daddy,” I tell Front Desk Veronica,
“That reminds me of that book again,” Connor says. “The one?—”
“Stop, Connor. Trust me, buddy, you don’t want to talk about that now.”
“They’re so cute!” Veronica’s voice rises to a squeak that I completely understand.
“Your band is setting up in the main dining room, so if you’re going to be busy getting ready for the party, I can keep them at the desk with me.
” She steals a glance at Connor and blushes. “I really should get back there soon.”
“I’ve got the girls,” Jake interrupts, taking the leashes from my hand.
“Uncle Michael asked if I could take them to the kids when we got here. Our dog Vini passed away from mouth cancer last year and Wes has been missing him. He’s only just started feeling ready to have a new dog in the house, and I think the girls can help. ”
“Of course.” My chest aches just a little bit. I’m so used to the M&Ms following me around the cabin. To grabbing them up into my arms whenever I need a cuddle. And now they’re being taken away because… Well, because they were never mine to begin with.
I duck down to scratch them behind the ears. “Bye girls,” I say as they lick my hands lovingly. “I’ll miss you, but it was fun while it lasted.”
I wish I could have kept you.
When I stand again, I feel Michael’s presence behind me and turn to look up into his eyes. He doesn’t seem happy. Was the brotherly bonding a bust?
“I need your help in the kitchen.”
He does, does he? A prick of irritation bursts through my melancholy.
Well, I just got back, and I need to change and rehearse and get to know Veronica a little better while obsessing over why the hell Bex and Val are with Ken and Brady.
I don’t have time to play baker’s assistant again.
I should tell him that. I should make my excuses, kiss his cheek and limp off into the sunset.
Or up to my bedroom to wallow in private.
“Okay,” I say instead, because I’m broken.
If my reaction to him being a few minutes behind me on a damn snowmobile is anything to go by, going our separate ways is something I’m clearly not ready for yet. Maybe I like torturing myself with things I can never have now. If so, it’s a new development and I don’t think it’s healthy.
Veronica puts her hand on my shoulder. “I forgot! I set a pair of crutches aside for you after Connor told me about your ankle. Let me just—” She hotfoots it back into the lodge without finishing her sentence. She’s surprisingly spry.
“I don’t really need crutches,” I say to no one in particular. My roomie is staring after Veronica and looking lovestruck. “I bet you’re glad I talked you into coming up here, aren’t you?”
“So glad,” he says on an emphatic exhale. “Other than you almost dying in the woods, this has been the best weekend of my life.”
Same, my man.
Jake and an unusually subdued Bellamy have disappeared with the dogs, but Michael walks quietly behind us as we make our way toward the door. Connor keeps sending suspicious glances his way. “Can I help you with those boxes, Mike?”
He shakes his head without a word.
“It’s Michael,” I hiss at Connor. “Not everyone likes nicknames, Conman.”
“We’ll call you Numpy.”
“We are never calling me that.”
A panting Veronica meets us at the door, her cheeks rosier than ever as she hands me the crutches, and I really can’t turn them down since she went to all the trouble of getting them for me.