Page 317 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
But Adam pulled back, looking seriously down at me. “You’re going to have to be patient with me,” he said slowly as he brushed back my hair, fingers lingering on my cheek. “But I don’t do this kind of thing with just anyone. I care about you, Bailey.”
I grinned at him, unable to keep the pleased excitement from my face. “Good,” I said quietly. I tilted my face up for one last kiss. “And I care about you too, which is why I’m telling you to get out of here. Go get Ethan from your dad’s place. But I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the hill.”
Adam laughed and kissed me again, chastely. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he agreed, the words a warm murmur against my lips. Yet again, there was the promise of more in the dark, lustful gaze that he sent my way as he pulled away. I smiled goofily, curling around a pillow as I watched him get dressed and go.
CHAPTER 32
ADAM
I found myself whistling as I made breakfast on Thursday morning and paused for a moment, surprised at myself. I couldn’t remember being in this good a mood since before Beth got really sick. Funny that one night with Bailey could be enough to totally turn my mood around like this.
And scary, if I was being honest. Things had gone well the night before, and I could tell that Bailey didn’t just want it to be a one-time thing. But there were all sorts of complications to our relationship, not least of which was her brother, who didn’t seem to want me to have anything to do with her. There were plenty of ways that we could screw up, end up going our separate ways. And what would happen to my mental state then, if I was this elated after just one night with her?
Still, I couldn’t stop the silly smile on my face, the continued whistling as I flipped pancakes. When Ethan came into the kitchen, still rubbing sleep from his eyes, he paused in the doorway, staring at me. Then, slowly, he smiled as well. “Guess you had a good date,” he said as he climbed up on his seat.
I sputtered at him. “It wasn’t a date,” I said, even though I didn’t know why I felt the need to defend myself to a six-year-old. Ethan gave me a knowing look and then rolled his eyes, and I laughed. “You’re too smart for a six-year-old,” I told him.
He rolled his eyes again. “I’m almost seven,” he reminded me.
“True,” I said, nodding at him. “Well either way, you’re still too smart.” I paused. “But I did have a really good night.”
“Course you did,” Ethan said, shrugging. “Bailey’s the best. Do you think we can go skiing with her now?”
“Soon,” I told Ethan, even though I still wasn’t sure that that was something that I should be promising him. It was enough for me to be allowed back to work. It was enough that Bailey had apparently gone head-to-head with her brother in an attempt to let me keep my job. I didn’t know how much I was really going to be able to be around the resort until Ian was gone. And even though I doubted Ian would say anything bad around Ethan, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted Ian to meet my son. Not just now, anyway.
But I did like the idea of the three of us going skiing together, and I was starting to realize that it was my dream as much as Ethan’s. I wanted to see Ethan get to know Bailey more. I wanted to spend more time with her.
My good mood lasted until I arrived at the hill. I had barely set foot in the lodge before I ran into Ian. I paused, tentatively smiling at him, wondering if maybe he had finally cooled off a little. We might have fallen out of touch recently, but once upon a time, we had been good friends. If we were going to see one another a bunch now that Bailey owned the lodge, I hoped there would be some way that we could salvage our friendship.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked.
Ian scowled at me, folding his arms across his chest. I tried not to grimace. Clearly, he hadn’t cooled off yet.
“Look, I’m sorry that you don’t want me dating your sister,” I said quietly. “I know that you’re just looking out for her. But I’m not going to dick her around, and I’m not trying to break her heart. I wouldn’t be with her if I didn’t really like her.”
Ian scowled at me, as though I had said exactly the wrong thing. “I’m not worried that you’ll break her heart,” he snapped. “She’s a big girl; she can handle herself. But you know as well as I do that she deserves someone better than you.”
“What?” I asked, genuinely shocked to hear him say that. I thought back over everything that I had ever done with Ian, every conversation that I could remember. I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about, though. What had I ever done to make him think that I was a horrible person?
Ian narrowed his eyes at me. “Come on, Adam. You’re a maintenance man. That’s, like, one step up from a plumber. Barely. And rumor has it, you live out in the middle of nowhere in what basically amounts to a shack. Bailey deserves better than you. You know that as well as I do.”
I stared at him, surprise coursing through my veins. I started to defend myself and then paused, not even sure what to say. Because the truth was, everything that he had said was true. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought about that before, but in all my uncertainty about whether I was ready to get into a relationship again, all my worries about the fact that Bailey was my boss, I had never stopped to consider just how wrong we were for one another.
She and I were from two different worlds. She had grown up rich, coming to the resort on her family vacations. Me, I was from here, and I had never left. This was my hometown, and I had taken a trade job.
Bailey should be with someone who could give her the whole damn world, not just someone who could show her a little slice of this piece of paradise. She might be happy here at Brooks Mountain for the time being, but I didn’t even know if she planned to stay around there.
By next winter, she might be back in Vegas again, or somewhere else. I might never see her again. I could never compete with the whole world for her affection.
I swallowed hard, the words dying in my mouth. What could I really say to Ian? Granted, it was none of his business, really. If Bailey was interested in me, then that was her choice. But maybe Ian wasn’t telling me that I couldn’t be with Bailey. Maybe instead, he was warning me that I shouldn’t get too involved with her, that I shouldn’t let my heart get tangled up in interest for her.
Still, why did he have to say it like that? One step up from a plumber? Ian didn’t know half of the work that went into my job. He probably had no idea how ski lifts operated or how tricky they could be sometimes. But then again, did that really matter? All he knew was that Bailey deserved to be with someone who had money, who had a good life, who could give her everything that she wanted. All he knew was that she was educated and smart and deserved to be with someone who didn’t spend their whole life working with their hands and covered with grease.
And the more I thought about it, the more sure I was that he was right. I swallowed, still trying to think of something that I could say in response to him. But Ian just rolled his eyes. “Shouldn’t you get to work?” he asked, sounding impatient. “Or should I try to get Bailey to hire on the perfectly respectable crew that I tried to bring on before?”
“I’m going,” I muttered, moving to step around Ian.
Ian grabbed my arm as I turned to walk away. “One more thing,” he said, but whatever he planned to say, I never got to hear it. Just then, Bailey appeared, her hands on her hips. She barely glanced in my direction.
