Suddenly Last Summer (18 page)

“That sounds more like a five-star hotel than camping.”

“Great idea. Let’s do that.” His voice changed and his eyes were locked on hers. “You, me, king-size bed and room service. I know a wonderful hotel near Burlington. Lake view. Four-poster bed. Goose-down pillows. All-night sex, no strings attached.”

She was tempted, oh, so tempted.

And because she was tempted, she stood up. “You should try camping again. Sometimes it’s good to go back and do the things you did when you were young.”

“What, lie on hard, stony ground while Jackson snores next to me? I’m not sure the appeal was that great first time around, let alone going for a repeat.” He stood up, too. “So I guess that’s a ‘no’ to a night in a four-poster bed with goose-down pillows? Just for the record is it because you’re allergic to feathers? Because I can request hypoallergenic.”

Trying to resist that charm, she stacked the plates. “Thank you for dinner. It was delicious. Good night, Sean.” Without looking at him she walked into her kitchen, but he was right behind her.

“Dinner was on me. I should clear up.”

“You cooked, which means I clear up. It’s an equitable arrangement.”

“Here’s another equitable arrangement.” He waited for her to put the plates down and then pressed her back against the counter, blue eyes locked on hers. “I kiss you and you kiss me back.”

Their mouths collided. He had one hand in her hair, the other low on her back as he held her trapped between his thighs and kissed her until the world around her ceased to exist. His mouth was skilled and clever, driving thought from her head and replacing it with hunger and heat. She slid her hands over his shoulders, feeling strength and the swell of muscle under her seeking fingers.

She was the one who pulled away, even though it took all her willpower to do it.

Not because she didn’t want this, but because she needed to prove to herself she was still capable of using her brain to make decisions.

When he would have kissed her again she flattened her palm to his chest. “Good night, Sean.”

“I want you.” His voice was raw and honest. “And you want me. It’s simple.”

But she knew it wasn’t simple. Relationships had a way of becoming complicated really fast.

“Not everything we want is good for us.”

“I’ll make it good for you.” His mouth slid from her jaw to her neck and she closed her eyes and tried to resist temptation.

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” His mouth was close to hers, his tone intimate, and she kept her hand planted firmly in the center of his chest.

“I don’t want complications.”

“Neither do I. It’s yet another reason why we’re perfect together.”

“We had an agreement.”

“I don’t remember any agreement.” His eyes were on her mouth. “There wasn’t one.”

“It was unspoken.”

“Yeah,” he said, his voice a deep, sexy rasp. “I remember every moment of our not speaking session, but I don’t remember agreeing never to mention it again.”

She hadn’t factored this in. Hadn’t thought that he might push for something more. It had been a year.

“Good night, Sean.”

“You’re sending me away like this? You have no heart.”

She had a heart. Once she’d given it freely without question, but not any longer. Now she protected it with everything she had and that wasn’t going to change.

CHAPTER TEN

P
REPARATIONS
FOR
THE
party took precedence over everything.

Tyler was responsible for the lighting and he had Jess helping him, holding ladders and directing him while he twisted lights into trees and along the overhanging roof of the renovated boathouse. He turned the air blue as he fiddled with bulbs, but he arranged everything as Élise instructed.

Guests using the trails around the lake stopped to watch and offer congratulations, all caught up in the excitement of the official opening. Everyone staying at the resort was invited and Élise felt a buzz of triumph that finally her dream would become reality.

The Boathouse Café would be good for Snow Crystal. Good for business.

She hadn’t let Jackson down. She hadn’t let the O’Neils down.

The newly laid deck was now home to stylish tables and chairs and she’d added large earthenware pots crammed full of colorful blooms she’d been nurturing herself.

Tables inside had been moved together to form a buffet table while still leaving room for a small dance floor.

“It’s going to be great.” Taking a quick break with Élise, Kayla watched Tyler work. “Subtle, perfect romantic lighting. You’ve done an amazing job, Élise. You’ve thought of everything. Don’t forget to think of yourself and leave yourself time to change.”

“I have half an hour at six. It will have to be enough.” She couldn’t afford more than that. She’d spent her morning moving backward and forward between the large kitchens in the main restaurant and the Boathouse. Almost all her team were focused on preparations for the party and she was more than happy with the way things were working out. Elizabeth had been wonderful as always. “I need to ask Sean to drop those tools back to Zach. I can’t store them any longer.”

“Sean’s gone back to Boston. He left before dawn. I can ask Jackson to do it. He has to go out later, anyway.”

Sean had gone back to Boston?

He’d left?

Happiness drained out of her, leaving her feeling shockingly empty.

She didn’t know what upset her most. The fact he’d left without telling her, or the depth of her disappointment. And mingled in with those disturbing emotions was frustration that Sean had left without sorting things out with his grandfather.

Kayla glanced at her watch. “Brenna is coming to our place at six to get ready so that she doesn’t have to go back to the village. I’m going to try and persuade her to wear my red dress, otherwise she’ll turn up in the same black one she always wears when she’s forced to dress up.”

“Black is very elegant. I am wearing black.”

“Nothing wrong with black, but Tyler has seen her in that dress a hundred times and I thought I’d shake things up a bit, just to make sure he notices her. Why don’t you join us? We can all get ready together.”

They’d want to talk about Sean and she couldn’t face it.

“I can’t, but thank you. I need to be back here to supervise the last-minute preparations. The timing of the food has to be just right. We have a mixture of hot and cold appetizers and a choice of cocktails.”

She’d been planning this party for months and not once had she expected Sean to be there, so why did she suddenly feel as if the evening had lost its gloss?

She was tired, that was all. The buildup to the opening had exhausted her.

She’d be fine once it was over and running the Boathouse became part of her routine.

“The band are setting up at seven, I can deal with them. Guests arrive from seven-thirty.” Kayla frowned up at the sky. “The sky looks a bit ominous. Do you think it’s going to rain?”

“I really hope not, but if it does we’ll just have to move the whole thing indoors. We’ll be tight for space, but it will be fine.”

She tried to push Sean out of her mind, for once grateful she was busy.

* * *

B
Y
THE
TIME
Élise stripped off her clothes and stepped under a cooling shower in Heron Lodge, she was wishing she could just lie down and go to bed, but she still had to supervise final preparations for the food as well as making polite conversation.

Normally, she enjoyed that part. She loved talking to guests in the restaurant, discovering their likes and dislikes and who they were.

Tonight, she wasn’t in the mood for making polite small talk.

Irritated with herself, Élise dried her hair quickly, applied her makeup and pulled on a black dress she’d bought on a trip to New York to visit Kayla. It was high at the neck and low at the back and the skirt swung to midthigh. Knowing she’d be on her feet all night and walking a lot, she slid her feet into a pair of ballet flats and pulled a single silver bangle onto her wrist.

She paused on her deck and allowed herself a moment to breathe in the peace and solitude, and then walked along the lake trail toward the Boathouse.

Her team were poised and ready and she delivered a final briefing, making sure they understood every dish and all the ingredients.

By the time the first guests arrived, everything was in place.

The band was local and sufficiently versatile to keep the growing crowd entertained as they stood on the newly completed deck, drank Élise’s special cocktails and enjoyed the breathtaking view of the lake.

Élise circulated, dutifully chatting to the people Kayla introduced to her, discussing her plans for the Boathouse and the Inn at Snow Crystal, smiling until the muscles in her face ached and her head started to throb. Sounds mingled, music tangled with threads of conversation and laughter.

A bright point of the evening was when little Sam arrived with his family. He looked uncomfortable in a clean shirt with all the mud scrubbed from his face.

Élise made a point of locating the pizza bites she’d added to the menu especially for the younger guests.

“Yum.” He helped himself to four and then caught his mother’s eye and put one back on the plate. “Kayaking was wicked fun. Brenna is awesome.”

“Hey, you were a champ.” Brenna ruffled his hair as she walked past. “You’re going to put up a fight in that race tomorrow.”

“I’m gonna win.” Sam spoke with his mouth full of pizza and his mother rolled her eyes, switching the baby onto the other hip.

“Talk or eat honey, you know the rules. Not both together.”

“It’s a week until my birthday.” He was almost jumping on the spot. “I’m getting a red mountain bike. So cool to be here for my birthday. I’m spending the whole day with Dad.”

“A red bike?” Élise made a mental note to bake him a cake. “That sounds like a great present.” She noticed that Brenna was wearing her usual black dress and assumed Kayla had lost the argument.

“I’ve waited three years.” Sam’s fingers hovered hopefully over another slice of pizza and Élise helped him out and put two slices on his napkin.

“Three years is a long time. You must be very excited.”

“Dad promised I could have one on my ninth birthday. I’ve got a bike at home, but it’s a baby’s bike.” He all but drooled over the pizza. “Can we have this same pizza for my birthday?”

“I’ll speak to the kitchen.”

Brenna stole a piece of pizza and winked at Sam. “When you’re with me tomorrow I’ll give you a map of the mountain bike trails. Be sure and start with the beginner one.” Her smile dimmed fractionally and Élise glanced over her shoulder to see what had caught her friend’s attention. Across the room, Tyler was laughing with a pretty blonde in a tight silver dress.

Élise ground her teeth and turned back to Brenna to suggest she ask him to dance, but the other girl had vanished.

Worried, Élise searched the crowded deck for a moment and then spotted her in a quiet corner talking to Josh, the chief of police.

She liked Josh. She’d had to put in a call to him once when a group of drunk tourists had descended on the restaurant on a Saturday night and he’d handled the situation skillfully and tactfully. In fact, she was fairly sure that half the people dining there that night hadn’t even realized there was a problem.

And despite the small scar under his eye and the uneven ridge of his nose, both earned in the line of duty, he was handsome.

Maybe Brenna should give up on Tyler.

If they hadn’t got it together after all this time, maybe they never would.

Sliding a final pizza bite onto Sam’s napkin, she wished the family a fun evening, then turned around and bumped into Kayla who was looking worried.

“I can’t find Brenna.”

“She’s hiding in a corner with Josh. I thought you were lending her a dress?”

“I tried. She thought my red one was too low.”

“How low was it?”

“Low enough to catch a man’s attention, not low enough to get her arrested.”

Élise sighed. “Brenna is always pretty but tonight she looks as if she doesn’t want to be noticed.”

“She’s never comfortable in this sort of social situation. She’d rather be sitting in the bar chatting to guests.”

“I like Josh. I think they make a nice couple.”

“Yes. There’s only one thing that spoils it and that’s the fact that she’s in love with Tyler. If I get a moment I’m going to bash him over the head with something hard.” Kayla walked off to greet another arrival and Élise intercepted Poppy who was circulating with plates of food.

“How is it going?” She tasted one of the delicate mushroom pastries she’d perfected days earlier, this time in miniature version.

“It’s a hit,” Poppy said happily. “This is my fifth trip to the kitchen. And they love the corn cakes, the goat’s cheese with pine nuts and the calamari. I’m about to bring out the duck and the chicken wings with the maple glaze and I’ve called over to the Inn for more pizza for the kids. Most of it is in Sam’s stomach.”

Élise gave a nod of approval and was about to circulate again and judge for herself the reaction to the food when she saw Sean.

He was standing at the top of the steps, watching her.

Her heart lifted and swooped. Joy spread through her and she smiled before she could help herself, before she realized that her reaction should have been something different.

He smiled back and the smile was just for her, the curve of his lips slow and intimate. And with that smile came the panic.

She didn’t want to feel this way. She really didn’t.

If he asked her to dance, she was going to say no.

But he didn’t. Instead, he was swallowed up by the crowd and the connection was broken.

So was her concentration.

She couldn’t breathe. She felt dizzy.

“Élise?” Kayla was by her side, introducing her to various journalists and food writers she’d invited in the hope that the new Boathouse Café would receive positive media attention.

Somehow she managed to respond, answer their questions, enthuse about food and the importance of partnering with local farmers, all the time wondering where Sean was and whom he was dancing with.