Chapter 20 - Mara
The days go by in a flurry of activity. Renovations begin on the hotel, and I do my best to orchestrate them. I steal any moment I can with Dominic, and the two of us collaborate on the design of the furniture for the hotel.
“Where did you find someone on such short notice?” My mother exclaims as I show her the prototypes for the night stands. “Furniture makers are usually so busy!”
I shrug, trying to keep my face steady. “I’m just resourceful, I guess.”
“You sure are,” she breathes. She inspects the nightstands and nods in approval. “These are perfect. Who made them?”
“A small woodworker from Wolf Mountain,” I lie. My heart squeezes. I hate lying, even if I know it’s for the best. My father looks up from the perfect workmanship of the furniture and studies my face. My palms start to sweat as he stares at me, but finally he looks away and says nothing. I take a deep breath and slip away from the two of them.
I’m glad that they like the designs so far, but I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to hide from them. Surely the truth will come out – especially if Dominic and I are spending more and more time together.
I sleep over at his cabin a couple of times a week, and I steal any moment I can to go to his workshop. He’ll sneak into my room in the dead of night to sleep next to me for a few hours. I know we should be more careful, or we should just come clean, but everything is too perfect right now to consider it.
He’s attentive and loving and funny. I never thought Dominic Clarke could be funny, but he is. I used to think he was the most stoic of the Clarke brothers – the real mountain man. He looks like one! He’s huge, taking up most of whatever room he happens to be in. His voice is deep and when he furrows his brows, he looks almost scary.
But when his face softens and that spark appears in his eyes, his true self shines through. That’s the Dominic that makes my heart jump.
“There,” Dominic says, wiping the last bit of sawdust off the top of the headboard prototype. I take a step back and compare it to the sketch in my hand. I nod.
“Looks good. The arch is much better on this one. You were right about the bevel – it definitely makes it look more expensive.”
“It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about,” he answers with a grin. I elbow him in the ribs and look at the piece of furniture again.
“Do you think you’ll be able to make a hundred and four of these? Can’t you hire someone to help you?”
“Well with all this cash you’re injecting into my business, I guess I could.”
I laugh. “Is that the only reason you keep me around?”
“One of them,” he answers with a grin. “I also like to hear you critique my headboard construction.”
“We could test out how sturdy it is,” I answer as a grin floats onto my lips. He takes a step towards me and I inhale the smell of musk and sawdust.
“I think some testing would be wise. We wouldn’t want any of the hotel guests to get injured.”
I smile, taking a step towards him. The heat of his body is almost intoxicating. Whenever I’m near him, it’s like I’m drunk. All my movements are in slow motion. He steps closer to me and I have to tilt my chin up to keep looking at his face. His chest is twice as broad as mine, and his hands find my waist. Our bodies are so close that I can almost hear his heartbeat. I close my eyes and tilt my chin up towards him, waiting for the kiss that I know is coming.
It never comes though. Both of us go stiff and jump apart when someone clears their throat at the entrance to the workshop.
“Aiden!” Dominic exclaims. His voice almost comes out as a squeak as he takes another step away from me. I brush the front of my clothes and feel my cheeks burn as I look towards Dominic’s younger brother.
He looks exactly as he did when we were kids. My heart starts thumping in my chest and the familiar guilt starts curdling in my stomach.
Aiden’s eyes swing from Dominic to me and a jolt passes through me. He was my first love. When I was a teenager, I was sure I would marry him. Now, when he looks at me all I see is loathing. It broke my heart to lose him, but now he feels like a stranger.
He takes a step and looks at his brother again.
“Am I interrupting anything?” Aiden grunts with an eyebrow raised.
Dominic shakes his head. “Nah. Just looking at this furniture,” he says, taking another step away from me and nodding to the headboard. “How was the honeymoon?”
“Fine,” Aiden replies.
I know why he’s avoiding my stare. I know it would cause trouble with his brothers, and my parents, and everyone else in town. But still, when Dominic steps away from me it sends a dagger of pain through my heart.
For the past couple weeks, we’ve been all over each other. He hasn’t taken his hands off me. I’ve gotten to know his body as well as my own. And now, with Aiden looking at us, he’s avoiding my eyes and turning away from me.
I nod. “Anyways, it looks good. I’ll pick it up to get approval on it tomorrow.”
Dominic grunts in response and I look from him to his brother. Neither of them looks at me, and I slip out of the workshop with a lump in my throat. My stomach feels like a rock as I climb into the truck that my parents lent me. It has the familiar ‘McCoy Trucking’ logo on the side. For the thousandth time since I’ve gotten back, I curse my last name. I wish I came from a different family. I wish I could choose who I wanted to be with, and I wish everything between the Clarkes and I had never happened.
I wish Dominic and I could stop sneaking around and be together. I wish Aiden didn’t look at me like that every time he saw me. I turn my head towards the workshop, and my eyes start to prickle as I think of the two men inside.
One of them I loved when I was a teenager. After the accident and his dad’s pneumonia, I was dead to him. When my parents bought out Mr. Clarke’s business, it was the beginning of the feud.
Now, the other brother in that workshop holds a special place in my heart as well. I can feel myself falling for him every day. As much as I try to stop myself, there’s nothing I can do about it.
I’m falling in love with the one man who can’t be with me.
I’m falling in love with Dominic Clarke.