Chapter Fifteen

 

Grant tensed when he heard a car approaching the cottage. He’d stayed here last night with Chelsea—and what a night it’d been. They’d made love on the sofa again, in the moonlight, and then later in bed—and then again, this morning in the shower. It seemed his desire for her just couldn’t be satisfied.

Now it was almost ten. They’d decided they were going to spend the day together. Go for a drive in the hills. She was in the bathroom getting ready, but now someone was here to see her. And, whoever they were, they no doubt weren’t expecting to see him. He had a crazy urge to go hide in the spare room, but he made himself sit still. “Someone’s here, Chelsea,” he called, grateful that his voice didn’t give away his nervousness.

She came out, tying her hair up into a ponytail as she did. “What? Who is it?” She peered out the window. “Oh, it’s Smoke and Laura.”

Damn. He’d hoped it might be Cameron—he seemed to be okay with Grant and Chelsea, but her older brother, Smoke, seemed much less enthused.

Chelsea laughed. “Don’t look like that. It’s ten o’clock in the morning. You could have just come over. He doesn’t need to know you spent the night.”

Grant made a face.

“Hmm,” her smiled faded. “You’re probably right. He was onto you last night.”

Grant groaned. “I kind of knew that, but what did he say?”

“That he wouldn’t interfere, and I can tell him about it when I’m ready.”

Grant smiled. That meant she must have told her brother something about the two of them. The knock on the door brought him back to the moment.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” She smiled at him before she went to get it.

“Hey, you two. Good morning. Come on in.”

Smoke and Laura came through to the living room. Smoke stopped dead and scowled when he saw Grant. His wife tried to make up for it, giving Grant a big smile. “Hi, it’s nice to see you again. Did you have a good time last night?”

“Yes, it was great, thanks.” Grant wanted to kick himself as Smoke’s expression grew darker. He was pretty sure that Laura had a meant at Gene’s party, but Smoke was assuming something else.

“We did, too,” Laura gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Didn’t we, Smoke? We have to get back to Summer Lake this afternoon, but we wanted to see you before we go.”

“I can get going,” said Grant. He wasn’t being a coward in the face of Smoke’s disapproval—not really. He was being considerate; Chelsea didn’t get to catch up with them very often, so he should leave them to it.

Smoke scowled at him again, but Chelsea laughed. She came to stand beside Grant and slid her arm around his waist. His arm automatically came up around her shoulders as she leaned against him.

“Stop it, Smoke. You’re not going to scare him off.”

Laura laughed. “You tell him, Chels. And you,” she turned to Grant with a smile, “I know you’re just trying to be diplomatic, but you’d better start standing your ground with this one, or he’ll walk all over you. He can be a jerk sometimes.”

Grant met Smoke’s gaze. He didn’t want to piss the guy off, but he didn’t want to come off as a pussy either. He gave him a rueful smile. “Sorry, dude. I guess guy code goes out the window when women take over.”

Smoke continued to scowl for a moment, but Grant could see it was barely concealing a smile. Eventually, he nodded. “It’s them who’ll walk all over you if you don’t watch yourself.”

Chelsea laughed. “Phew. So, now the ice is officially broken. How long have you got? Do you want to stay for some lunch?”

“Sorry, we’ve not got long,” said Laura.

“No,” Smoke gave Chelsea a pointed look. “I just wanted to chat with you about what you said last night. I have a few ideas.”

Grant had a feeling that whatever it was, Smoke didn’t want to discuss it in front of him. “I can make myself scarce if you like?”

Chelsea looked up at him, then back at Smoke. He could tell it was something she wanted to talk about with her brother, but she didn’t want him to go.

“How about,” said Laura, “you and I pop over to the deli for sandwiches? I’m going to need to eat before we fly home, and you can pick up something for you and Chelsea to have once we’re gone.”

Chelsea nodded. Smoke didn’t look happy. Grant got the impression that he was even more protective of his wife than he was of his little sister. “Or I could go by myself?” he suggested.

Smoke’s face relaxed, but Laura shook her head. “I need to see what I want.”

Smoke laughed and looked at Grant. “Thanks for trying, but like I say, they walk all over you, if you let ‘em. I consider myself well and truly whipped.”

Grant chuckled. “I’m trying my best here.”

“And I appreciate it,” said Smoke.

Chelsea tightened her arm around his waist and smiled up at him. “I do, too.”

~ ~ ~

“Did he spend the night here?” asked Smoke as soon as Grant and Laura had left.

Chelsea rolled her eyes. “Yes. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Smoke blew out a sigh. “Sorry.”

“So you should be. You can’t just come barging in here and give him a hard time like that. You could scare him off, and then I really would be pissed at you.”

He gave her a rueful smile. “I don’t think I’ve got any worries there. He doesn’t seem like he scares too easily.”

Chelsea grinned. “He doesn’t, does he? Anyway, never mind all that. We agreed I’ll tell you about Grant when I’m ready, and I will. For now, let’s just say that I think the story has started another chapter.” She smiled, and Smoke smiled back at her.

“Good. I think I like him, but as you said, that’s not the point. It’s not what I came to talk to you about.”

“No, you were going to help me figure out how to sell my shares.”

“Or give you some other ideas. What do you think of a loan? Would it be realistic to think you could pay it back over time?”

She sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know, Smoke. I don’t think I like that idea. I mean if I borrowed the money, then I still wouldn’t own Zosca, not really; the bank would.

He shook his head impatiently. “Not a bank loan. I mean I could lend you the money.”

“Oh!” She frowned. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Why not. I’d give you a better rate than a bank would. It’s just, I don’t know. I sold out my interest, and I’ve always regretted it.”

“You have? But you’ve done so well on your own. You’ve got the planes and the charter company and everything. You must be doing well to be able to lend me enough to buy Zosca.”

“Yeah. I’ve done great; it’s not that. It’s just that I sold out of the family business. You know? I didn’t think it mattered, and it didn’t at the time, but things change. Look at me now, Laura and me. We might even have kids one day.”

Chelsea gave him a questioning look.

“No! Not yet, and probably not ever, but we might. And if we did … well, I kind of feel like I did them out of their heritage. They won’t ever be a part of Hamilton-Groves, even if they want to be.”

“Wow. I’m sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“It doesn’t matter. You live and learn. But if you can, I’d like you to learn from my mistakes. I think you’re a lot more likely to have kids than I am. I’d hate for you to one day end up feeling the way I do now. I know you’ll have Zosca, you’ll leave your own legacy, just like I will with the aviation side of things, but …” he shrugged. “Maybe I'm being too sentimental?”

Chelsea laughed. “It seems like there’s a lot of that going around.” She stared at him for a long moment. She wouldn’t have thought that he had a sentimental bone in his body, but it seemed love had changed even him. She grinned as an idea struck her.

“What? I can tell you’ve got one of your hare-brained schemes going on in that little brain of yours. I just saw the lights go off.”

She laughed. “You know me too well. How about this? I think this is awesome. I need money, I have Hamilton-Groves shares. You have money, you want Hamilton-Groves shares. How about you buy some of mine?” His eyebrows knit together, but she held up a hand to stop him before he could speak. “I don’t mean all of them because if I’m honest, I never wanted to sell them all, even before you went all sentimental on me. What about half and half? I sell you half my shares—and then we’ll both still own a part of the company. Then, if you really want to lend it to me, I can borrow the rest of what I need to buy Zosca from you.”

He smiled. “When did you get so smart, little sis?”

She laughed. “I always have been, but I stay quiet about it till it suits me to speak up.”

Smoke nodded. “I like it. It’s a win-win. Let’s figure out how to make it happen.”

“Yes,” she grinned. “The sooner, the better, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Me too, I’ll get right on to my accountant when I get home.”

Chelsea frowned. “Won’t you need to talk to Laura about it first; make sure it’s okay with her?”

He laughed. “I already did.”

“Oh, good. I’d hate to think …”

Smoke shook his head. “What’s mine is hers, and what’s hers is mine. We make joint decisions.” He made a face. “Maybe that’s not true. Maybe what really happens is that we respect each other’s decisions.”

“I like that. That sounds like a better way to be to me. So many people seem to lose their individuality when they become a couple. I can’t imagine that.”

He laughed. “Neither can I, but fortunately for me, neither could Laura. I think the reason we make a good couple is that neither of us really knows how to be a couple. We’re just two strong individuals who like to live alongside each other.”

“Aww, I love that. That sounds like my perfect relationship.”

“Do you think you might find that with him?”

Chelsea shook her head.

“Too early?”

“Waaay too early.”

Smoke smiled. “You take your time.”

~ ~ ~

After Smoke and Laura had left, Grant and Chelsea took their lunch outside and sat on the little deck behind the cottage.

Chelsea unwrapped her sandwich and smiled. “How did you know I like Reubens?”

“I wish I could claim that I pay attention, but I have to admit, I asked Laura.”

She laughed. “Fair enough. At least you get points for honesty.”

He smiled and took a bite of his own sandwich. “What do you want to do this afternoon?”

She shrugged. “We could still go for a drive if you want?”

He nodded. “We could.”

“Or, we could go into Zosca.”

He grinned. He’d been hoping she’d say that.

“You want to?”

“I do.”

She made a face. “What for?”

“I just like the idea of us going in there, now we’re together. It’ll make it a lot easier to go through everything, to talk about your options.”

“Phew. That’s what I was thinking, I want to show you everything, now that you’re not the enemy.”

He laughed. “You saw me as the enemy?”

“Not really, but I wanted to—at least in the beginning.”

“I was never the enemy. I’ve always wanted to see you succeed.”

She smiled. “I think I know that, but now I know that you’re more likely to listen to me—to make an effort to understand what I’m doing.”

Grant nodded; it was true. His priorities had shifted. This wasn’t a normal turnaround job. It hadn’t been since he knew Chelsea was the one managing the place. His main priority was no longer improving the bottom line—it was helping her. He’d always thought that helping a business was the same thing as improving the bottom line. In this case, he understood that it wasn’t. He could help Chelsea achieve her goals, not steer her toward a goal she didn’t value.