Chapter Thirteen
Declan
I was on very thin ice with Emmi. My hands couldn’t keep away from her. Anytime I was near her, I had the urge to caress her, cuddle her, keep her warm. We weren’t going there. Absolutely, 100 percent, I was not going to make a move on Emmi. She was my business partner’s daughter. My livelihood was at stake, and I couldn’t cave in, no matter how much my body longed for hers.
Out of guilt, I dialed Teddy’s number to let him know we had arrived and were safe. I knew Emmi had texted him, but I wanted him to hear from me as well.
“Teddy, how are you?” I said as he answered his phone on the first ring.
“Doing better than you two. It’s 73 degrees here.”
“Just wanted to let you know we are at the chalet and will get to work in the morning. Not sure how bad the storm is, but we should be able to finish our work up and be home in two days or so.”
“Do you have power? I heard that storm was getting pretty bad.”
“No power, but we will move to the hotel in the morning. Staying at the chalet tonight. I’ll touch base with you when we wrap things up.”
“Declan, you take care of my girl. I was worried about you guys flying into the storm. Why didn’t you wait and go in a few days?”
I couldn’t admit to Teddy that I hadn’t even looked at the weather before heading out or that I pushed the pilot to go against his better judgment. It was just one more thing that I’d forgotten to take care of. And I couldn’t blame it on Emmi because she gladly would have checked into the weather, the hotel, and anything else if I had only bothered to ask her.
“No worries, Teddy. We will get our work done and be out of here soon. It’s not as bad as the weather people make it out to be; just a little wind and snow.”
“Okay, is Emmi around? Can I talk to her?”
“Of course, let me…” I walked into the great room and noticed Emmi was fast asleep. “Well, maybe I’ll have her call you tomorrow. She appears to be fast asleep. Apparently, she doesn’t care about the storm at all,” I laughed.
“She always could sleep anywhere.”
“That’s the truth,” I laughed so hard I snorted.
I wasn’t about to tell Teddy how Emmi had slept at my house the night before and I had carried her to my car. Or the sleepy walk up to the airplane and how she had slept right through the rough turbulence; that was all part of a story I would likely never tell Teddy.
“Call me tomorrow. I’d like to go over everything. Maybe we could even do one of those webcam things or something so I can see things for myself.”
“Sure thing; talk to you tomorrow.”
It took me nearly a half hour to find some blankets downstairs. I slid two of them over Emmi, and then pushed the second couch close to the fire. I loaded a few more pieces of wood onto the flame and then climbed onto the couch so I could get some sleep as well. It was nearly midnight in Colorado, and the sun would wake us up through the big picture windows so there was no need to worry about when we would be getting up in the morning. I closed my eyes and felt my body relax as I fell asleep to the flames crackling the large pieces of wood.
“You need to restart the fire,” I heard Emmi say a few hours later.
“What time is it?”
“I don’t know, but I’m freezing. Go burn another book or something,” she laughed.
It was odd how quickly the fire had burned through the half dozen pieces of wood I had put in there. Typically, it would have taken four to six hours to go through all of that, and I had hoped the sun would be peeking into the windows by then, but it was still dark outside.
I clicked my phone to check the time, but it didn’t turn on. I glanced at my watch, and it took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on.
“It’s 9:30 in California. That means it should be 7:30 here, right?”
“Hmm, yeah, that sounds right.”
“Why is it so dark outside still?” I asked as I walked over to the window and saw the snow still swirling around outside and the sky dark as if the storm still had not passed us. “It’s still storming?” I said to myself, but also to Emmi.
“Wow, I guess so. That snow pile sure added up fast; look how high it is on the windows.”
She was right; the snowdrift against the back windows was at least a foot high and getting bigger by the second. The storm didn’t even look like it had slowed down at all. Instead, it might have even gotten worse.
“I should call the airport guy and see about that hotel,” I said as I grabbed my dead phone. “Crap, I don’t have any power. How about your phone?”
“Mine’s been dead since the car ride last night.”
“Well, now we have an issue. I don’t have any way of reaching someone to take us to the hotel.”
“Technically, the Hilton is just down the street,” Emmi said, pointing in one direction and then changing her mind. “But do you really think they are going to have room now? Look at it outside. I’m fine here. We can just set up show for the day and see if the storm lets up at all.”
“You are alright staying here?” I asked.
“Sure, I saw a huge closet full of canned foods back there. They can’t all be expired. I’m sure we can find something to keep us alive,” she laughed. “It will be an adventure. Plus, I can’t walk to the Hilton, and it might be a little too far for you to carry me.”
“I could handle you.”
“Let’s just chill here. We aren’t in a hurry. The storm will eventually pass.”
Emmi was remarkably calm about the whole thing. She even looked like she was enjoying the idea of having to stay at the chalet for another day.
“I guess we could see if any of the rooms upstairs have fireplaces. I think they do. And we could get our work done and take the notes that Rosa needed.”
“Yeah, we came here to work. We will get our work done. But first, do you think you can rustle up some food? I can’t remember when I ate last. I think it was before I went to the bar.”
“What? Oh, yeah, I guess that’s probably right. You slept all day yesterday. Let me get this fire going again, and then I’ll get some food for us.”
“I feel like I could sleep all day again. Isn’t that weird how it being dark out can make your body think it’s nighttime?”
“Yeah, it is. Okay, I’m going to get this going. You stay put and let that ankle relax.”
I watched as she tried to roll her ankle a little and winced in pain. It looked really swollen from what I could see. But I didn’t think it was broken because she was able to move it a little. Only time would tell for sure. If it was a sprained ankle, she would be able to put a little weight on it in the next day or so; if it was broken, she’d still be in pain.
My urges toward Emmi had calmed down for the moment, and I set my sights on the work we had to do during our trip. I needed to go through each of the rooms and measure them for Rosa; I had to look for large beams and other support-type structures and write it all down. Although the chalet was small, it was still going to take plenty of time to get everything that Rosa was asking for, and I couldn’t afford to get sidetracked by thinking about Emmi. Rosa really wanted to verify the measurements and information since we had hired a local guy to gather everything and she had to be sure before going forward with her design.
After getting the fire back up to a mild roar, I made my way to the kitchen to pillage through the canned foods. Most of the food was only a year old and barely any of it was expired. The main issue was that the food was primarily dinner food, and some of it quite strange to even have in a chalet.
“How’s a little SpaghettiOs for breakfast?” I yelled from the kitchen.
“I’ll eat anything,” she yelled back.
“Anything? I’ve got some sardines,” I teased.
“Okay, almost anything.”
“Oh, jackpot! I found the canned fruit section. This will do,” I said, too quietly for Emmi to even hear me.
I grabbed a variety of canned fruit and a couple plates. My fingers were filthy, so I didn’t dare touch the food as I tried to place it nicely on the plates; instead, I used a long fork I found in one of the drawers. I spread pineapples, pears, and peaches around our plates in a flower pattern that was quite impressive. I still was pretty sure the food in the pantry had to have been used for recipes and not just serving to people. Or maybe they kept it there just for emergencies like this one; I wasn’t really sure.
“Get ready for some deliciousness,” I said as I gingerly carried the plates to Emmi.
I grabbed the coffee table and pulled it closer to us so we could sit on the couch together and eat our meals. My stomach flipped as I put the first piece of fruit into my mouth. I hadn’t even realized just how hungry I was until that first piece of food slid down my throat and hit my stomach.
“What happened to the SpaghettiOs,” Emmi teased.
“I found this and thought it would work alright.”
“It’s better than alright,” Emmi said as she stuffed one of each piece of fruit into her mouth. “I’m hoping there’s another can of each of these because I’m going to be done with this in 20 seconds.”
“This is an all-you-can-eat buffet, ma’am. You can have as many cans of fruit as you’d like. I’ll even arrange them beautifully for you again.”
“Thanks,” she said as she kept eating.
I found myself fixating on her lips as she put each piece of food into her mouth. I tried to look away but kept looking back to watch as she slid the fruit into her mouth.
Don’t think about it.
Then she did the worst possible thing in the world. She grabbed a slice of peach and slid it into her mouth slowly. Her lips wrapped around it as she closed her eyes and let out a moan that aroused every inch of my body.
“Mmm, this is so good,” Emmi said as she slid the rest of the peach into her mouth. “Can you get me another can of these? No need to put them on a plate or anything. Just open the can and bring it here. I want to eat them all.”
“Yep,” I said as I quickly got up and went to the kitchen.
Relief flooded me as I got a moment away from her sexual torture. The worst part was Emmi didn’t even seem aware how she was teasing me. She was oblivious to how the sound of her moan had electrified my body.
I took a moment to gather my self-control as I opened another two cans of peaches and brought them out to Emmi. I repeated the same words over and over in my head as I sat there and watched Emmi delicately eat each and every peach.
She’s off-limits. She’s off-limits. She’s off-limits.
The more I repeated the phrase, the more I didn’t believe it, though. Nothing I was saying to myself could get the thoughts of Emmi out of my mind. As she ate, oblivious to my desires, I paced around the room and tried to figure out what I was going to do with myself.
“I’m going to try and find some candles so I can get work done. Do you mind?”
“Oh, I was thinking about it, I bet they are in the hall closet upstairs. I saw there were some old candle holders in the rooms, probably to set the romantic mood for couples and stuff. But anyways, try upstairs.”
“Okay, thanks,” I said and then made my way upstairs.
Sure enough, I found a stack of candles and glass holders in the closet at the top of the stairs. There was even a stack of matchbooks there, so I grabbed a few of everything and made my way to the end of the hall. The largest room in that area was where I wanted to start writing down my numbers.
I found a pad of paper and pen in one of the nightstands, but I didn’t have my tape measure. Instead of rushing downstairs to grab it, I sat down on the bed and waited for a few minutes. My heartbeat was throbbing throughout my body as I tried to get Emmi off my mind.
Sitting on a large plush bed probably wasn’t the best place to be as I tried to forget about Emmi. It didn’t matter, though; I had to keep my wits about myself no matter what urges I had.
“Declan,” I heard Emmi say from down the hall.
I took in a deep breath at the sound of her voice. I was going to make it through this day without giving in. I was stronger than the primal urges that were building up inside of me.
“I’m down here,” I said as I looked out and saw Emmi hopping on one foot down the hallway after making her way upstairs. “That’s one way to get around.”
“I had to pee and figured if I could hop there I could hop up here and help you. Plus, I brought you Rosa’s list and your tape measure,” she said as she held the items up.
“Thank you so much; how about we set you up in here, and I’ll read off the measurements, and you can fill in Rosa’s forms?”
“Sounds good. I can’t just sit there eating all day.”
Yes, that would be horrible if she sat there wrapping her lips around those damn peaches all day long. Her soft lips taking that fruit into her mouth and moving it slowly in, oh, how I enjoyed that scene so much.
“Well, let’s get started.”
I helped Emmi onto the bed and turned away from her as I started to measure the length, width, and height of the room. I’d already lit six candles and had them sitting on the tables around the room, and they provided enough light for me to read the numbers off of my tape measure.
For the next couple hours, we moved from room to room, gathering our measurements and writing everything down. There were moments when light peeked through the clouds and snow, but it remained relatively dark out throughout the day. By the time we got to the last bedroom on that floor, I had successfully avoided eye contact with Emmi for the whole time we’d been up there.
“What are all these numbers going to be used for?” Emmi finally asked as we sat in the last room.
“I think Rosa wants to try to figure out if she can do something with the building without tearing down too many walls. It would make it easier, but we are still going to have to reinforce the foundation and beams to meet the current codes.”
“What happened to this place? I mean, it seems like they would have sold everything off if their business was going under. Instead, it looks like they just checked out their last customers and then locked the doors behind them.”
“The couple who owned the chalet was killed in a car accident. It was very tragic. They were driving to see their first grandchild being born in western Colorado. Unfortunately, they decided to keep driving through a snow storm and got hit by a big rig.”
“Wow, that’s horrible.”
“Yeah, this place had been their lifelong dream, and the kids wanted to keep it running, but it was just too emotional for them.”
“And why didn’t they sell it sooner?”
“Personally, I think the kids always wanted to come back and run this place, but their own lives got in the way and they never came back out. But it was too sentimental for them to just sell it.”
“Yet you and Daddy got them to sell it to you?”
“Your dad did that. He’s an expert at closing these deals. He was genuine and told them that we wanted to make it a place where people longed to come. A unique escape. Something I suspect the original owners had done when they first built this.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely more comfortable than one of those chain hotels,” Emmi said as she leaned back in the bed and moved her hands up and down the fabric. “Even this many years later, the beds are still the most comfortable I’ve ever laid in, and I’ve been in a lot of beds.”
I burst into laughter at her statement. I doubted she meant it to sound as dirty as it did, but it was funny to think about sweet little Emmi bouncing from bed to bed. She definitely didn’t seem like that sort of girl.
“A lot of beds, huh?” I laughed.
“What? Oh, no! Not like that!”
“I know what you meant.”
“Declan, seriously, not like that. I didn’t mean I sleep with a lot of guys,” she continued to protest as she playfully slapped my arm.
“Oh, I’m sure you don’t.”
“You’re antagonizing me. I really don’t,” she insisted.
“Okay, I believe you,” I replied with a huge smile.
“You’re impossible.”
I flipped over and moved up near where she was laying. She was right; the bed was one of the most comfortable I’d slept in. But mine was much more comfortable at my house. I couldn’t exactly tell her that, though; she’d likely think I was inviting her to come over and test it out with me.
“I’m sorry for teasing you,” I said softly as I laid on my stomach near Emmi.
“Don’t pretend. You love getting me mad,” she said with a sweet smile.
“It is a little fun. I won’t lie,” I said as my hand and hers touched slightly.
She didn’t pull away. There we were, lying in a comfy bed, in the midst of a winter storm in a candlelit room. The romance was hard to miss as I moved slightly closer to her. Again, she didn’t pull away. Instead, her eyes stayed fixated on me, and she slightly bit her lip in anticipation of my next move closer to her.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly as I moved my hand up to the side of her cheek and held it gently.
“For what?” she asked.
“This.”
I moved in and let my lips touch hers. My right hand stayed softly placed on her face as my left hand moved and found one of hers to touch. Slowly, our lips moved together as we both kissed each other. Emmi was gently moving her lips, and I heard a soft moan as she let out a breath.
“No, we shouldn’t,” Emmi said in a seductive voice. “I’m, uh…just no. We should keep this professional,” she said as her lips kissed me gently one last time and then pulled away.
Her face was flushed with pink, and she had a smile that radiated sexual appeal. I knew she was right. For God’s sake, I’d even promised her father that I wouldn’t do this, but at that moment, I couldn’t contain the desire I had. I couldn’t imagine not feeling her lips against mine.
“I said sorry,” I shrugged playfully.
“Okay, that was fine, but we really can’t do this,” she said as she waved her hand between the two of us. “My father would kill you. You’re technically my boss, and there has to be at least a dozen reasons why it’s a bad idea.”
“I understand. We will just let it be. That was a nice kiss, though,” I said, and ran my finger over my own lips to remember the touch of hers.
“Declan, no more. That was it. That was the only time those lips of yours will be touching my lips,” she said, totally unconvincingly.