Chapter Sixteen
Alice
I grin like a lunatic as Nate and I leave the room some twenty minutes later, taking the bag with sandwiches and salad with us. There are three other guests in the elevator car with us, and they give us suspicious looks. Nate has mussed-up, disheveled hair which could raise questions about his morning activities, but I check my appearance in the metal doors of the elevator and confirm I look perfectly composed. Except for the damn grin. I can’t rein it in, hard as I try.
We find Summer and Blake in the sitting area next to the reception desk. They stop talking upon seeing us. Summer chuckles, while Blake whistles loudly.
“What?” I challenge.
“Anything to share?” Summer asks boldly, her gaze wandering between Nate and me.
“Haven’t heard from Daniel, no,” I reply, knowing full well that’s not what she meant. I wasn’t expecting an ambush first thing in the morning.
“Alice, your evasive maneuvers suck when you haven’t slept much,” Summer continues. Next to me, Nate presses his lips tightly together in an obvious attempt to keep a straight face and not laugh. He’s not helping my case at all, the bastard.
“I slept well, thank you very much.”
“That smug grin can only mean you had a great night… but no sleep,” Blake says helpfully. Turning to Nate, he adds, “You hurt my sister, you’re a dead man, family friend or not. Just so we’re clear.”
“Crystal clear,” Nate answers with a smile and a wink.
“Can’t wait until Sebastian and Logan hear about this,” Blake continues, and Nate’s smile fades a tad. “Sebastian will be calm, but Logan? Man, oh man.” My brother rubs his palms together like a cartoon character. “I’ll ask for a front-row seat to the show.”
“I used to like this one,” Nate tells me, jerking his thumb toward my little brother. “Don’t remember him being such a dickhead.”
“I’m like red wine,” Blake retaliates. “I grow more intense with age.”
“I bought breakfast for everyone,” Nate announces, though now that he’s in the lion den already, food isn’t likely to help his case much.
“Oooh, you’re a lifesaver.” Summer reaches for the bag with grabby hands, reminding me of her toddler days when she’d sit on the floor of the kitchen while Mom cooked, reaching up toward her with both hands when Mom was tasting the food.
“Just make sure Blake doesn’t get anything,” Nate tells her.
“So, what are your intentions?” Blake asks him.
“Blake, come on,” I complain.
“What? It’s good for him to rehearse this. I’ll give him honest feedback if his answer isn’t good enough. Our dear brothers might punch him.”
Summer holds her salmon wrap with one hand, patting our brother’s chest with the other. “Since when do you actually like it when Logan is in alpha-ninja-brother mode?” she asks Blake.
“Hey, I like when he’s riding other people’s asses. Come to think of it, I like when he picks on me too, just because I have a reason to give him shit. It’s good for Logan too. Constructive. No one outside the family dares to give him shit. He’d start buying his own hype without me.”
Ah yes, if there’s one thing you can count on in my family it’s that they’ll keep you grounded.
“Fantastic logic,” Nate deadpans. “You’d be an excellent salesman, Blake. You could sell ice to an Eskimo.”
“What did I miss?” Daniel’s voice booms from behind us. I turn around, and Summer immediately hurries to him. I inspect his appearance, cataloguing the long scratch running from one corner of his mouth up his cheek, the purple spot under the other eye. The rest of his body is covered by clothing, but he limps slightly on the left side.
“Summer, you’re strangling me,” Daniel says after a few minutes pass and our sister still doesn’t let go. Reluctantly, she steps away from him. I want nothing more than to hug the living daylights out of him too, but if I do, I’ll get emotional.
“Are you okay? Did the paramedics check you again in the morning?” Summer inquires.
“Yes, they did. They even walked with me right to the hotel entrance.”
“What happened?” I ask.
“Wanted to try one of the more challenging climbing routes.” He shrugs and something in the forced casualness of the gesture tips me off that he’s trying to downplay everything.
“And what happened?”
“Well, part of the thrill is completing the route without part of the equipment.”
“What? Why?”
“Adrenaline,” he says simply. “Some customers pushed for a more extreme variation of climbing, and I wanted to try it out before—”
Blake swears and Summer covers her cheeks with her fingers, pressing so hard she’ll have marks. Nate shakes his head.
“Are you mad?” I ask, unable to keep my voice calm. “You could have killed yourself.”
“Accidents don’t happen often—”
“You can only die once, anyway.” My throat constricts with worry. I wish the rest of the group would back me up, but the three of them are silent.
“Well, I won’t be adding it to my list of offerings yet, clearly,” Daniel says.
I purse my lips. Damn, I’m so angry I swear I’m half expecting steam to come out of my ears.
“From now on, you’ll change your offerings to something safe.” I poke my forefinger in Daniel’s chest with every word. Normally, I would do this forcefully, so he could feel the sting, but he’s in enough pain today, so I’m gentle. A good day in my family is one during which I don’t want to kill anyone—for their own good, of course. Today is not one of those days.
“I am in the business of extreme adventures,” Daniel retorts. “The opposite of safe. What would you have me offer, anyway?”
“Extreme knitting, or quilting,” I spit. Blake and Nate chuckle. Now they decide to chime in. I have the sudden urge to poke them as well. It wouldn’t be gentle at all.
“I’m sure people searching for adrenaline would line up,” Daniel says dryly.
“Make them knit while they also have to balance a ball on their nose. That would get their blood spiking,” I volley.
“Alice, relax!” Daniel insists.
“I can’t.”
Daniel gives me an exasperated look. “Why can’t you be more like Summer? Hug me, pet me?”
Blake intervenes. “Oh, but one month from now when you get crazy ideas again, Alice’s voice will still be in your head. Your ears will probably still be ringing. I know mine will.”
“I’m so happy I amuse both of you. I just want you to be safe, Daniel.”
“I am safe. It was just a scare.”
I swallow, crossing my arms over my chest. “But what if next time it isn’t just a scare?”
“Then it will serve as a lesson to someone, and they will offer quilting.”
“Not funny,” Summer says in a low voice. It dawns on me that she might have kept quiet all this time because she was still emotional from seeing Daniel. “Just promise you’ll think about ways to make this safer, okay?”
“Sure.”
“Promise,” I insist.
“Fine, I promise.”
I run a frustrated hand through my hair. He’s just saying this to placate me. I have to let this go though. I’m far too stressed to come up with intelligent arguments instead of emotional ones, but I’ll circle back to this topic later. We all have a stubborn streak in us, but even Daniel must know this isn’t a game. It’s flat-out dangerous.
“Did you have breakfast?” I ask him.
Daniel’s expression relaxes, clearly relieved to be off the hook. “Nah, had them bring me right here to meet you guys.”
“Nate here brought breakfast,” Blake tells him. “He hooked up with Alice, thought we’d go easier on him if he brought food.”
Daniel points at Nate. “You hurt her, you’re a dead man.”
Nate’s jaw ticks. “Got it. It’s the family tag line, apparently.”
***
After breakfast, my siblings and I decide it’s best if we head back to San Francisco. We were supposed to leave tomorrow, but between Daniel’s ankle and the family worrying, we agree to cut the trip short. Nate will remain here the entire day, since he has plans with his team.
After we check out, Nate walks us to Blake’s car. Blake and Summer lead the way. I’m right behind them, and Nate and Daniel are a few good feet behind me. Even so, I catch their conversation.
“I know a lot of people who’re into extreme adventures. Some just for the camera, some behind it too. Accidents happen more often than you think,” Nate says.
Daniel replies in a whisper too low for me to catch.
“It’s a line of work that always keeps your family on edge,” Nate continues. “I’ve seen wives of hotshot TV stars who made a living doing extreme stuff for the camera. They worry constantly, and it’s not pretty.”
“I can’t change gears now or start over. I want to see this through,” Daniel replies, and something clicks in my mind.
My siblings get in the car first, and I linger outside to say goodbye to Nate. Not wanting three curious stares on us, I pull Nate out of sight behind another car.
“Oy,” Blake’s voice comes through. “Don’t overdo it with the kissing. We don’t want to be late for dinner.”
I roll my eyes, even though Blake can’t see me. Mom asked us all to come by for dinner this evening.
“Pity you can’t join us tonight,” I tell him. “Even though you received enough threats from my brothers today.”
“I’d rather spend the day with you and your crazy clan, but work calls. I still have to look over what the London office sent me too.”
And cue the heartburn. Shit, I have to stop reacting like this every time London is mentioned. He’s here now, and that’s all that matters. Fisting Nate’s shirt with both hands, I tug him toward me, giving him a hint. And he takes it. Tipping my chin up, he seals his lips over mine in a kiss that leaves me breathless and worked up.
“Great kiss,” I say afterward.
“Has to last until next time. I’ll see you. I’m coming in late tomorrow, but I’ll call you.”
“Okay. Oh, and thank you for talking to Daniel. Full confession? I was kind of mad that you didn’t back me up in the lobby.”
“You were doing a fine job by yourself. Told you, you’re a force of nature.”
“Didn’t do much good.” I shrug as Nate pushes two strands of hair behind my ears, and then his hands rest at the back of my head, the pads of his fingers pressing gently on my scalp.
“People don’t like to be cornered, Alice, especially not in front of an audience. If you want to convince anyone of something, you must be calm and rational. Give solid arguments.”
“Yeah, knitting and quilting weren’t my brightest ideas.”
“You were emotional. But you’ll figure it out. You’re smart.”
He pulls me to him again, kissing me long and hard, and I have to remind myself where we are so I don’t climb him. I want to memorize every sensation coursing through me, soak up all the goodness of this moment.
Is it normal to feel like you’re wrapped in a cloud just because your man is kissing you? Is this what a real relationship is? To feel that you’re a team with someone that you can talk about things, find solutions together?
Ever since last night—minus my morning freak-out—I feel like I’m dreaming. If it is a dream, I don’t want to wake up. If it’s real, I want to know how to make it last.