120 days... (21 page)

She shook her head. “I can’t take your money. That’s not why I’m here.” Wiggling her fingers, she tried to free her hands, but he wouldn’t let go.

“Please, I know that. I think we’ve established I’m not an idiot. I didn’t come from nothing to making all this money by being stupid. If it makes you feel better, we can become partners in the resort. Your knowledge and my money.” He was panicking. He didn’t want to lose her and was grasping at straws. He’d take being business partners to begin with before they moved on to their personal relationship.

“No, no, Ethan. I won’t take your money.” She held up a hand when he started to speak. “But, I will allow you to do certain improvements, which I have to approve of, on the property. You can get that look off your face, no you aren’t going to run amok spending money. There are a few things I’d really love to have done and I don’t want to wait ten years to be able to finish them all. And it will be a loan. We’ll draw up the paperwork and I’ll pay it back.”

His first reaction was relief. She was receptive to the idea of him staying and helping her. She didn’t know how much it took for him to approach her with this and knowing everything was going to change between the two of them excited him. Then he narrowed his eyes at her. He should have known she’d be too stubborn to take the money right off the bat. He was losing his touch, he wanted both. But sometimes it was better to take what you could and try to rework the idea later. “Fine, but no interest.” This time, he stopped her with a hand. “No arguments. We’ll draw up what you want to do and a budget for each and I’ll wire the money to your account. But there will be no interest. Please, do you really think I want to take money away from the guests?”

“No, no, you wouldn’t.” She looked down. “Thank you. This is going to make a huge difference.”

“Anything for you. Anything.” He lifted their hands and kissed the back of hers. “Now, let’s get back up there, so we can put your worries to rest.” It amazed him how far he’d come since he’d first believed she was somehow scamming people, trying to get their money, to ending up possibly giving her a million to do with whatever she wanted. He couldn’t put a price tag on finding out who he was and finally realizing the type of man he was born to be.

Tension rode Ethan’s shoulders the whole journey back up the mountain; the drive was far from easy. Thankfully, the weather had improved, but debris littered the road and some of the asphalt was washed out, so they had to carefully go around large rocks. He was grateful he’d taken so many years of defensive driving and racing classes. Looked like another one of his hobbies was going to end up paying off and helping Samantha. The closer they were to the resort, the more tense he became. What if Sam’s fears happened? What if one of the guests needed help and was unable to get any? What if one of the trees fell on a building? He was desperate to get there to make sure everything was okay.

Once they drove through the gates, a breath of relief whooshed out of his lungs. Everything looked good, so far. He took the road as quickly as he could and parked in front of the main house. Staff came out to greet them and help unload. He listened to everything they were saying to Sam. They had kept everyone in the rec center, together. Most of the guests thought of it as an adventure, while others didn’t care one way or the other; they rolled with whatever was suggested.

He locked eyes with Sam and could see the tension, which had been around her eyes, was gone. She too was feeling better just being home and knowing everything was okay. Once everything was unloaded, Ethan parked the van in the barn, making sure nothing was leaking from the undercarriage. There were a couple of times it scraped on rocks during the drive. When he was satisfied everything looked good, he wondered what came next. He knew they’d both have things to do since they’d been gone for so long, but what would happen after that? He didn’t want to spend any time away from her. After one night with her he didn’t want to fall asleep without her in his arms.

Turning to walk out of the barn, Ethan saw her standing in the open doorway with the light coming in from behind her, he thought she looked like an angel and he wondered how he got so lucky. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” She kicked at the dirt with her shoe. “So . . .”

“So . . .”

“I was wondering, if maybe . . . Please don’t feel like you have to say yes . . . I mean . . .”

He walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Samantha, just ask.”

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. “If you want, you could spend some time over at my place.”

Feeling a tremor run through her body, he knew she was asking for more than just him going over there for dinner and maybe spend some time together in the evenings. She was asking for more. He wanted more. “I’d love nothing more than to be with you, every day.” He leaned down and kissed her softly.

Her dreamy eyes looked up at him and everything in his being fell into place. She was now his home and he’d no intention to ever leave it.

Day 37

Ethan–

I feel good, so good sometimes it’s hard to believe I’m dying. I wake up every morning, thankful for another sunrise. I go to bed every evening thankful for the sunset. It’s the little moments that make everything worthwhile.

Evan

Since they had all worked together to get everything cleaned up from the storm the day before, the scavenger hunt was still on. A couple of the employees had a fun time making up the clues for the rest of the staff and the guests. The guests said that both Sam and Ethan were disqualified from joining in and had to stay in their designated areas for the day.

Sam had strict written instructions that she was supposed to stay hidden in her office all day long. It also said that someone would deliver her food, and she could call down and have people bring her things, but she couldn’t step foot outside. She had to make sure she was ready to go, in costume, at exactly six in the evening. That was it, no more, no less. Her fingers itched to open the zipper on the bag and see exactly what it was. She was told to give herself about an hour to get ready.

Shaking her head, she tried to get back to work, but she kept hearing the guests shuffling around, shouting out to each other about how far along they were. There was no denying they were having fun. She wondered what Ethan was doing and what his costume was.

Opening her files, she started organizing all the projects in order of importance. Ethan was almost done with the work-out room, so she could cross that one off the list. She tried to look everything over with an objective eye and see which ones would be the most beneficial to the resort.

When she had the surveyor come out to check the land for the supposed gold mine a few years back, she’d also had him map the land, where the best places to build would be. There was one piece of land, closer to the main road, which was the best for a large building, larger than the main house. If she could build that, she’d be able to help twenty more guests at a time. She could move the guests out of this building and use it all for staff purposes, which in turn would mean she’d also be able to hire more staff, which would then end up being more of a weekly expense.

Quickly, she started to figure out numbers, all with the thought that no guest would be able to pay for their stay. With the extra staff and care expenses, she’d run out of money in fifteen years, assuming there would be absolutely no income coming back into the resort, which wasn’t going to happen. Some were able to pay for all of their care, others just a portion, though every little bit helped. They also had people who would donate to, or sponsored guests.

The question was should she play it conservative and maybe do something else with the money Ethan was going to loan her, or help more people, quickly. She crossed over to the big old chalkboard and started writing down the pros and cons for each. When she was done, she closed her eyes and shook her head; of course, she had equal numbers on both sides. Why did it seem everything was coming out even lately?

When her phone rang, she walked back over to her desk and answered. “Hello.”

“Well, hello there, sexy lady. I’ve missed you today,” Ethan said.

A grin formed on Sam’s lips at the sound of his voice. “Me too. I’ve been going crazy being stuck in here all day. Where do they have you?”

“Let me put it to you this way, the gym will be all ready to go tomorrow. Complete with working showers, which is lucky for you, otherwise I might end up being smelly tonight.”

“That’s great!” She looked at the clock. It was only four. “They said it was going to take me an hour to get ready. I so want to peek and see what the costume is. Have you?”

“Nah, I can wait. But I did just finish up testing out the shower, so I’ve got nothing to do for an hour. They said it was going to take me an hour to get ready too. I can tell you that did make me a little nervous. I’m a guy, how can it take me an hour?”

“Oh! Now, I’m really curious . . . I wonder . . .”

“What?”

“Just trying to figure out a loop hole so we can look at the costumes without breaking the rules.”

“You should have thought of that a couple of days ago. We’ve only an hour left to wait.”

“I hate it when you make sense.”

“Get used to it.”

She snapped her fingers. “Speaking of making sense, maybe you can help me.”

“Of course, what do you need?”

They spent the next hour going over the pros and cons she had listed for the improvements. When they hung up at five, she thought her spinning mind would never stop. He’d brought up a lot of good issues, both for and against, which was going to make it even harder to make a decision. But for the time being, she had to stop. It was time to get ready for the party. When there was a knock on the door, she went over and opened it up. Bethany smiled at her, which made her even more nervous than before. She was her right-hand woman who helped her run the office end of the business. She’d also help the guests with hair and makeup, either for fun or for a play they were doing. Since she’d been in theater during high school and college, she was the best one for the job.

“Move aside, missy, it’s time to get ready. I’ve got work to do.” She spun around to Sam. “You aren’t in your costume yet? Girl, what am I going to do with you? Here.” Bethany shoved the costume bag into her hands. “Get dressed. Now.”

“Whatever.” Sam grinned and walked into the small bathroom finally getting to unzip the bag. She laughed as her shaking fingers fumbled to pull the zipper down. A large, red, frilly, dress unfolded out of the bag. She cocked her head and frowned. “What in the hell–” She held up the tulle and shuddered, this was supposed to be fun, wearing a girly-girl dress wasn’t what she considered fun.

“You do remember how to be a girl, right?” Bethany said from right outside the door. “Or do you need help?”

“I’ve got it. Hold your horses.” Sam grumbled softly to herself as she took her clothes off and put the dress on. After struggling with the zipper for a couple of minutes, she gave up and asked for help.