“He did what?!”
My mom’s voice comes through the cell phone in my hand shrill and surprised.
I nod my head and the pom-pom on top of my winter hat wobbles.
“He’s completed the reno with three weeks to spare,” I repeat, watching his men down in the bowl of the valley as they load the equipment that they’ve been using for the past months back up into their trucks. “They’re all done.”
I’m getting the first taste of winter from my favourite spot on the bungalow’s rooftop, the air frozen with the chill and a thick blanket of snow sparkling as it undulates over the curves of Pine Hills.
My mom ticks off all of the assignments that Mitch and his team have had out loud, highlighting the enormity of their feat. “Re-tiling, re-flooring, kitchen remodelling, making the new furniture, all of that pipe-work.”
I don’t comment on the last one.
“Shit, do we need to give them a bonus or something?” The whoosh of the phone being pulled away from her ear and a pen scratching at a paper pad sounds through the speaker. When she comes back she says, “I’m sending the details to Accounts so your father can see to a thank-you bonus.” The pen taps and then she breathes out a disbelieving exhalation. “Jesus, they weren’t messing around, were they? When my assisting manager told them that the Pine Hills job could lead to bigger ventures, he came back to me and said that the Team Lead had seemed no-nonsense as hell, totally determined to become our future go-to crew. He wasn’t kidding.”
I look down from the scene in the valley and rifle the fingers of my free hand through the pages in my notepad. I stop on the pencil sketch that I secretly did of Mitch when I first got here and I think about how neurotic I’d felt during that first week, still distressed from what had happened at home but with a spark of inspiration flickering to light as soon as I saw Mitch’s icy blue eyes.
“So, now that they’re finished, are you going to tell me?” my mom asks, snapping me out of my musing.
I close the notepad and blink blankly down at the cabins.
“Tell you what?” I ask, confused.
“Which of the men you were interested in,” she says like it’s obvious.
Oh jeez. I blow out an exasperated breath and look warily down at Mitch’s office. If I stare for long enough I can catch a glimpse of him walking past the side window, retrieving another finalisation document before he returns to his desk. He’s spent pretty much the whole of the last two days in there, preparing for his departure.
I picture my mom’s expectant expression, a youthful shimmer in her eyes as she waits for me to spill the juicy gossip, and I can’t help but feel the need to indulge her.
“It was the Team Lead,” I say, a hot sensation clutching at my heart when I see him walk absentmindedly past the window, unaware of my stalking. “Mitchell Coleson. The guy running the operation.”
I hear chair springs creak as my mom reclines in her seat. “Fascinating,” she says, and in my head she’s twirling her finger between an invisible phone cord. “An outstanding choice, by the way,” she adds on. “Not at all like the last one.”
I narrow my eyes and concur, “Definitely not at all like the last one.”
“Did anything come of it?” my mom continues, and this time I picture her villainously stroking a fluffy white cat.
She reads my silence like a billboard.
She changes the subject.
“Which night of the press tour are you going to? The whole crew have bitten their fingers raw waiting for information about your disappearance to get leaked. And, before you ask, I of course will not be sharing anything.” She pauses and then mutters, “Holly on the other hand…”
I roll my eyes. I don’t even want to hear her name. Her annoyingly lovely name.
“Probably the final night,” I say. And then, just before I hang up, I decide to give a little fuel to my mom’s fire. My eyes lock in on the portacabin and a sense of strength spreads through my chest. “And I’m bringing a date.”
*
I wade through the snow all the way down to Mitch’s office and then I huddle against the side of the open doorframe and knock on the panel.
He looks up from his stack of paperwork and as soon as he realises that it’s me he shoves his chair backwards, jerking his chin at me to get inside, and he walks across the room to meet me.
“Hey,” he murmurs when we reach each other, wrapping one hand around the back of my neck as he leans down to give me a kiss.
“Hey,” I say, smiling up at him. I rub my hands up over his pecs and he briefly closes his eyes, savouring the feeling. “I know you already emailed the office your progress report but I just called my mom so that I could tell her direct about you completing the project so ahead of schedule. They’re organising you a bonus.”
He watches me intently as I speak, frowning, then raising his eyebrows. Then he sighs and gives me another kiss.
“You’re too sweet,” he says, rubbing his warm palms over my shoulders. “And that reminds me – I want you to know that when the cheque comes in… I’m gonna split it all between the guys. After what’s been going on here between us, I’m not taking any money for this job. Wouldn’t feel right.”
Now I’m the one frowning, shaking my head adamantly up at him.
“Mitch, no, don’t be silly. It’s not like I’m the one giving you the money. It’s Ray Corp’s money. It’s the money of a multi-million dollar property business, not the money of the woman you’ve been getting to know.”
He shrugs like he’s already decided. “I’m hoping that Jace and I are gonna be working with Ray Corp a lot in the coming years but on this specific project I just…” He shakes his head and then gently cups my cheek. “No part of this felt like work to me. This whole Fall has been a dream.”
“But… but–” He kisses me again, and my body melts against him. I run my palms up his stubble and he makes a pleasured grumble in his chest.
“Don’t worry about the money,” he murmurs, pressing us forehead to forehead. “Trust me, I’m–” He almost chuckles, his mouth curling with amusement. He shakes his head and simply finishes with, “Money isn’t a problem, baby.”
I frown up at him and this time he pulls away laughing.
“Harper, I’m serious. In fact–” He turns slightly and pulls his whirring laptop closer to us. Leans down a little so that he can open up a new tab and then after hitting a few keys he jerks over to the screen with his thumb.
I squint down at it, blinking to try and make sense of the tables. Then I see the bank logo in the left hand corner and my eyes instinctively travel to the column on the far right. I frown trying to read the small font.
Then my eyes almost bulge out of my head.
I look up at him, startled and amazed. He has the good grace to look a little embarrassed.
“That’s how much money you have in your bank account?” I ask him.
“That’s how much money I have in one of my bank accounts,” he clarifies quietly.
I came from money so it shouldn’t surprise me, but in the context of one man’s small-town business I’m so shocked that I almost keel over.
“Mitch–” I begin, but he shuts me up, snapping down the lid of his laptop and then turning his full attention to me, gripping my hips in his hands and pulling me up to meet his mouth. He slides his tongue slowly against mine and I lean backwards so that he can go as deep as he needs to. He grunts and suddenly wraps a hand around my pom-pom, pulling off my hat, and then tangling his fingers in my hair.
When we part for a moment I ask him, “So are you going out tonight with your guys? Like, celebrating or something?”
He shakes his head and then gives my bottom lip a little tug. “My guys would rather celebrate with their women, Harper. They’re about to have their first morning of not having to wake up at 5:30 and they’re gonna make the most of that. I know that I want to.”
We share a smile, our hands relentless in their caressing, and then I lean up against him, wrapping my arms tighter around his neck.
“So what do you want to do tonight, boss?” I ask him coyly.
He groans and presses his forehead against my shoulder. “First,” he mumbles, “definitely never, ever call me that again. Especially not when we’re standing in my office, and there’s no-one around to stop me from… from…”
I can’t help but giggle and I reach down to rub him through his cargos.
“To stop you from what?” I whisper. “From letting you have your woman over your desk?”
He makes a gruff sound as he lifts his head and he forces my hand off his erection as he stares down at me. “I wanna save the sex for later,” he tells me quietly. “I wanna just spend some time with you tonight. Take you for dinner up in the town, then go see a movie. Just spend some time together, you and me.”
I feel a warm glow in my chest as I smile up at him, nodding. “You’re a softie,” I tell him, and he grins down at me.
“Okay,” he says, shaking his head with embarrassment. “So what d’you wanna see? They do reruns of the classics if you wanna see something old.”
I give him an amused look. “Isn’t that what I’m already doing?”
He smirks and gives me another firm kiss.
“You have the smartest mouth,” he says as his hands travel down my back.
“Thanks,” I say, shaking my hair away from my cheeks. “And I already know that we’re definitely seeing whatever the latest car-action movie is. When I spent the weekend dying at your place I saw your DVD collection, Mitch. It looked like it was personally curated by Vin Diesel.”
He drops his eyes, smiling and getting flushed.
“Yeah, okay,” he murmurs. “If you don’t mind,” he adds on, looking up at me questioningly.
“I don’t mind,” I tell him. “I want to just spend some time together, you and me.”
