Snowbound with the CEO (8 page)

Chapter Seven

“You’ve barely touched your pie, Adrian.” His mother’s voice broke into the endless stream of thoughts of Rachel, and he blinked. “You’re not sick, are you?”

“No, Mom. I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.” He smiled to reassure her, then dug into the huge slab of pumpkin pie with whipped cream she’d set in front of him.

As he did every year, Adrian had driven home to Vermont to spend Christmas with his parents. It wasn’t the small house he’d grown up in. His father wouldn’t let Adrian build them a new house, but about ten years before, Don Blackstone had found an amazing farmhouse being sold cheap. It had solid bones, but it had to be moved off the land or be bulldozed, so Adrian had bought the house and paid for the onerous process of moving it. Then they’d renovated it together.

“You do seem a little off, son,” his father said. “You know your mother’s just going to worry herself sick, maybe even convince herself you’re dying of some horrible disease, if you don’t just tell her what’s wrong.”

He didn’t want to talk about it, but he didn’t want his mother spending Christmas worrying about him, either. “Rachel gave her notice. She’s looking for a new job.”

They both looked as stunned as he’d felt, but it was his mother who spoke first. “You can’t let her do that.”

“I can’t really stop her.”

“But she’s so good. You’re always talking about how good she is. And I’ve spoken to her on the phone and she’s a lovely woman. Why does she want to leave?”

He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “We got involved.”

“Oh, son.” His dad shook his head. “You know better than that.”

“She’s not suing you or anything, is she?” His mother had always zeroed in on practical bottom lines.

“No, she’s not suing me. It’s not like that.”

His mom plopped another spoonful of whipped cream on his pie, as if that would fix everything. “So what’s it like?”

“I screwed up.”

“Worse than getting romantically involved with an employee?”

“I brought a date to the office Christmas party.”

There was silence in the living room for so long Adrian squirmed in his seat. Both parents were probably trying to come up with a name they could call their own son to indicate how they felt about that situation without insulting him too badly.

He told them the entire story from beginning to end as honestly as he could. There was no sense in trying to spin it to make himself look better. They were his parents. One, they’d see right through it. And, two, he didn’t have to pretend with them. They loved him even when he’d been a total jerk.

“So that’s it?” his dad asked when he was done. “You’re just going to let her go?”

“I can’t
make
her stay,” he repeated.

“You could at least fight for her.”

“I don’t know what to do, Dad. I don’t want to make this any worse for her. Or for me.”

“Listen to me.” His dad sat forward in his easy chair, leaning his elbows on his knees. “We didn’t have much to give you. We did the best we could, but it wasn’t much. You had to fight for everything you have. You fought for the grades to get scholarships. You fought to get accepted at a good school. You fought for apprenticeships with top builders and you fought to prove yourself in a world where men have so much money I can’t even count the damn zeros. But this? The most important thing a man can have in his life, and you’re just going to let her go?”

Adrian swallowed past the lump in his throat. “I don’t know if I can get her back.”

“If you do nothing, you’ve already lost her,” his mother said gently. “But for her to leave her dream job, that means she’s hurt. And if she’s hurt, that means she cares and probably a lot.”

“When she’s done celebrating Christmas, you need to go to her. No pride, no pressure. Just tell her how you feel.”

“Her family celebrates in February because her parents live in Florida,” he said. “She spends Christmas alone, watching movies.”

Both parents arched an eyebrow at him in a way that was so synchronized, he almost laughed. But he couldn’t leave now. He always spent the holidays with his parents.

As if reading his mind, his father shook his head. “Don’t be a fool, Adrian. You love this woman. Don’t make her sit alone and miserable while you sit here alone and miserable. Go to her.”

“Maybe you can find a store open and buy her a Christmas present. Something that sparkles.” His mother was just starting to feel that desperate need for grandchildren her friends were all going through.

“I already have a gift for her.”

* * *

Rachel usually enjoyed her Christmas Day traditions. It was a little nontraditional, spending the day alone, but it worked for her and for her family.

In February, when her parents returned from Florida to ski, Rachel would join them at her sister’s home in upstate New York for a belated Christmas weekend. Not only did it cheer up what was normally a dreary month, but they could all take advantage of the after-Christmas sales when they did their shopping.

So there was no moping while sitting alone in her flannel pajamas, watching movies. Usually. This year there was moping. And crying. And the demolition of almost every sugar-based food in the house.

How stupid was it to have sex with your boss? Or, even worse, to fall in love with him?

She should have seen that coming, since she’d probably been a little bit in love with him even before she got to see the non-work side of him. But she’d spent the weekend with him even though he’d said outright what happened in New Hampshire stayed in New Hampshire.

Clad in her favorite Christmas pajamas—blue flannel with white snowmen all over them—Rachel turned on the television and went searching for a movie to watch. She wasn’t sure any of them could take her mind off of her current situation, but she was going to try.

The knock on the door halfway through the 1951 version of
A
Christmas Carol
with Alastair Sim startled her. Nobody randomly stopped by somebody’s house on Christmas.

When she looked through the security window, her heart clenched and she almost didn’t let him in. But he knocked again and she wasn’t sure he’d go away if she didn’t talk to him.

After taking the security chain off the door, she opened it and stepped back to let him in. The wind chill was frigid and she wasn’t going to stand outside in her pajamas. Unsure what he wanted, she simple waited for him to speak.

He pulled a sealed envelope from his inside pocket and handed it to her. “I figured you’d want to start looking for a job as soon as possible, so I wrote you a letter of recommendation. You’re a rock star and I want to make sure anybody you interview with knows that. Make them give you what you want, because you’re worth it.”

The words of praise squeezed her heart. Sure, they were a boost to her professional ego, but they weren’t the words she really wanted to hear from him.

“Thank you, Mr. Blacks...Adrian.” She took the paper he held out, hoping he didn’t notice the tremor in her hand. “You didn’t have to come over on Christmas Day to give me this. I’m not leaving you in the lurch, so I’ll be back in the office. Unless you replace me right away.”

“The office is closed for the week and, like I said, I wasn’t sure how soon you’d start sending out your resume.” He rubbed his hands together, as if they were cold. “And I’ll never replace you in the office, Rachel. I might find somebody who can do the work almost as good as you, but there will never be another you. Somebody who’s not only a brilliant executive assistant, but shares my passion for saving historical properties.”

She was tempted to surrender. The last thing she wanted was to go work for another company. And it wasn’t only because of Adrian. He inspired her and she loved being a part of his work, but she also enjoyed the staff and the job itself. Blackstone Historical Renovations was one of a kind, as far as she was concerned.

But she couldn’t see him every day, trying to hide a broken heart while he considered her a woman he’d gotten out of his system. She had to go.

“Thank you,” she said again, because what else was there?

He turned to go, then paused as if he had more to say. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulled something out and handed it to her.

It was a snowflake about the size of her palm, carved from pale wood, with a silvery string making a loop through a tiny hole. She ran her thumb across the surface as tears blurred her vision. She tried blinking them back, but a couple escaped to run down her cheek.

“I made that for you. I worked on it while thinking about us. Thinking about why things went so sideways for us when we got back to the city.”

“When I walked into your office Monday morning, you greeted me like you had every morning since promoting me to your executive assistant. I assumed you meant it when you said what happened in New Hampshire stayed in New Hampshire.”

He shook his head. “That was just a stupid expression. I wanted you to know that I wasn’t going to make it known around the office we’d spent the weekend in bed. But I didn’t mean that what happened in New Hampshire
ended
in New Hampshire. And then you were so...you. Calling me Mr. Blackstone in that professional tone of yours. I thought that was a signal it was over. That it had been a three-night stand and it was back to all work and no play.”

So they’d each thought the other didn’t want to bring their relationship back to Boston with them. But that didn’t address her other issue. “At breakfast after our first night together, you said you hadn’t gotten me out of your system yet. When I saw you with Diane, I just assumed you had.”

“I’ll never get you out of my system. Bringing Diane to the party was a huge mistake. It was out of habit more than anything and because I know our friendship is strictly platonic, it never occurred to me to think of her as a
date.
I’m so sorry for that.”

“I knew she was on the guest list. I know you guys have been each other’s plus-one when it’s convenient. I guess I thought, even though I wasn’t sure what if anything was going on with us, that you wouldn’t bring her.”

“I shouldn’t have. I should have brought you. I should have kissed you on Monday morning and called you every night. I should have told you I didn’t want to pretend last weekend never happened.”

“I could never do that. It’s why I gave you my notice.”

He stepped closer to her and the pain in his eyes made her clutch the snowflake harder. “You said what happened between us was a mistake, but I don’t believe that, Rachel. Being snowed in with you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I refuse to believe it was a mistake.”

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me, too,” she admitted in a soft voice.

Taking her hand, he pulled her toward him and she didn’t resist. “I love you, Rachel. If I can’t have you in my life and in my office at the same time, I choose having you to come home to. I can find somebody to be my assistant, but I can never replace you in my heart.”

The tears began flowing unchecked, and she put her hand over his heart. “I love you, too, Adrian. And I don’t want to work for anybody else. The work you do is amazing and I want to be a part of it. And then, at the end of the day, we can go home together.”

“I promise you we can make this work. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Merry Christmas to me,” she murmured, right before she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Epilogue

One year later
...

Rachel stood and went out into the hall in response to her boss’s summons, taking her phone with her in case she had to make notes or check his schedule. Without knocking, she opened the door to his office and stepped in.

Adrian and his potential client both looked her way and she gave them a warm but professional smile. “What can I do for you, Mr. Blackstone?”

“Rachel, this is Bill Kennedy. He represents a developer who’s agreed to hire us to turn an old ski hotel into a holistic spa in Vermont.” Which she knew, since she’d been in on the preliminary work behind the scenes, but this was how he introduced new clients if they came to the office. “Bill, you’ll be dealing with Rachel quite often, especially if I’m traveling, but she’ll make sure I’m available if you need to speak to me personally.”

Bill stood to shake Rachel’s hand and they exchanged pleasantries. She knew Adrian would give him her cellphone number and any other information he needed, so she excused herself when she recognized the signs the meeting was coming to a close and slipped out of the office.

As soon as the door closed behind her, Rachel pulled up the phone app she used to keep track of the countless things she had to remember and made a note to see which of the crews they had available during the hotel-to-spa conversion’s timeframe. While Adrian gave final approval for everything, the Vermont job would be handled almost exclusively by one of BHR’s foremen. With the villa in Tuscany shaping up to be a great success, Adrian had been recommended to developers with really deep pockets and he was moving up into the big leagues.

While she was at it, she made a note to tell Adrian his executive assistant needed her own assistant.

“Hey, Rachel, you’re still here?” Del was clearly on his way out the door, as were most of the staff.

“He’s finishing up with a client, so not for much longer.”

“See you at the party, then.”

Rachel checked the time on her phone and winced as she walked back to her office. She should already be getting ready, since she liked to arrive at the restaurant early and make sure everything was perfect for the Christmas party. As quickly as she could, she packed up everything she’d need to be away from the office until after New Year’s Day, listening to the rest of the staff leaving.

She finally heard the low rumble of Adrian’s voice as he walked Bill Kennedy out and gave a sigh of relief. Forget being early to the party. At this point she’d be lucky just to be on time.

When Adrian appeared in her doorway, loosening his tie, she felt the familiar rush of heat through her body. She’d never get tired of this man. “Congratulations, Mr. Blackstone.”

He walked toward her, backing her up until she was against her desk. “Since it was your research on holistic spas that helped me land the job, congratulations to you too, Mrs. Blackstone.”

She’d also never get tired of hearing that. It had been six months and the way he called her Mrs. Blackstone still made her shiver. So did the way his mouth met hers, devouring her as if it had been days since he’d kissed her, rather than mere hours.

“Everybody else is gone,” he murmured against her lips while trying to tug her hips a little closer to his.

She pushed him away, laughing. “Oh, no you don’t. We have to get out of here so we’re not late to your own party.”

“Being late is fashionable.”

“Nice try.” She stuffed her laptop into her tote and glanced around the office a final time. “Speaking of being fashionable, you picked up the dry cleaning, right?”

“I thought it was your turn.”

A quick jolt of panic made her turn to face him. “No, it was definitely your turn. Adrian, I need the dress that—”

His chuckle cut her off and she shook her head. “Not funny, Adrian.”

“It’s so easy to push your buttons.” He turned off the lights as she walked out of the office and together they made sure everything was shut off and closed up for vacation before walking out onto the street.

The cold hit like a slap to her face, and she slid her hand into his for the short walk to his car. “We should have the Christmas party in July.”

He laughed. “I’m pretty sure that would confuse everybody.”

“Not the guests who are wearing dresses and heels. They’d all understand perfectly.” She sighed in relief when he unlocked the car and she slid into the passenger seat. Since it had remote start, the warm air and heated leather chased away the chill almost instantly.

“It’ll be even colder up north,” he said when he’d slid into the driver’s seat. “It’s not too late to go south, you know. Spend the holidays on some tropical island.”

“Not a chance.” She reached over and squeezed his hand. “We promised we’d spend the weekend in Vermont with your parents, and then we’re going to the Mount Lafayette, like you promised
me
.”

“Where we’ll have insane amounts of sex and spend Christmas Day watching movies in our pajamas.”

“Going to try to get me out of your system again?”

He smiled at her teasing, then pulled her close for a kiss. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life making love to you, wife of mine. Very happily, I might add.”

“Then let’s get going, because the sooner this party’s over, the sooner I can start holding you to that.”

He kissed her one more time before putting the car in gear. “Merry Christmas, Mrs. Blackstone.”

* * * * *