Merry With a Scrooge (The Love Beach Holiday Collection)

10. Laney

Laney

I don’t know what wakes me.

The summer storm rolling through the area or something else.

The cottage I’m staying in is isolated from the main house—and everyone else.

I asked Quade to set it up so I could work out here and only venture to the main house for meals.

Or if I didn’t feel like seeing anyone, I can use the kitchen here.

It used to be a gardener’s shed, but when the new bigger one was built years ago, Gram had this place turned into a studio for extra accommodation. Something the family needs more with each passing year.

I swear, there are so many members of the extended Sanderson family we could take over one of our hotels and be short of space.

A light tapping has my gaze trying to focus on the front door through the dark.

Is someone knocking?

I glance at my watch.

At ten to three in the morning?

Pushing back the covers, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and feel around for my slippers. It might be summer but the floor in here is stone with a few rugs to break it up and it’s always, always cold.

Feet slipped into my comfy Uggs, I stand and contemplate grabbing a hoodie. Except the tapping starts up again and I frown.

Who the hell would be knocking on my door this late. Or early. I guess the time depends on your perspective. For me it’s late. Because I’ve not long drifted off to sleep.

It’s something I’ve struggled with since I made the decision to abandon Vail in New York.

I think I’ve managed only a few hours a night since I booked my flight, and those have been from exhaustion, my body giving out on me before my brain can’t stop it.

Skirting the sofa, I pad over to the front window, but the angle is wrong and I can’t see the front door or who is tapping on it from here.

I’m not frightened. Worried? Yes. Scared? No.

The security surrounding the Sanderson estate is topnotch and there’s no way anyone enters the grounds without detection. If there was a problem, Gram’s security team would have contacted me by phone before turning up on my doorstep.

Which means whoever is out there has already been cleared to be here.

The tapping gets louder as I move toward the door. If I’m not mistaken, it’s picked up speed too. And now it isn’t stopping.

With a quick glance around, I debate my choice of weapon in case I’m wrong and I’m about to be attacked. The only option I see is an umbrella. And while I’d prefer not to get too close to someone out to hurt me it will do in a pinch.

I eye the door and wonder if going without a security chain or peephole were the best choices for this little cottage in the woods.

Okay, fine, it’s not really ‘in the woods’ but with the wind rushing and the thunder and lightning flashing, the scene is set with an ominous tone, perfect for a serial killer to get his business done.

I shake my head. Not more thriller reading for me.

As I put my hand on the doorknob I wonder about my sanity when the thought of my phone, sitting on the table plugged into its charger enters my head. Might have been smart to pick that up on my way past.

Twisting the handle releases the lock and I crack the door a bare inch and peer through the gap.

What I see has my breath sucking in and my brain wondering if, in my sleep deprived state, I’m hallucinating.

“Vail?”

He scrubs a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Hi.”

Opening the door wider I say, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I.” He swallows hard, his gaze darting away then back. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Stepping back, I let him pass and see he’s pulling a suitcase behind him. The sight of it confuses me more. “What?—”

“I can’t do this anymore.” He lets go of the bag and faces me. “It’s killing me.”

I can only assume he’s talking about Kavan. “I know. We’re working on getting him?—”

“No. Not that.” He steps closer. “I can’t keep denying how I feel about you.”

His words send a shock wave through me and the air around us hums with electricity. It takes me a moment to understand it. To realize the man in front of my is looking at me like he wants to devour me.

Maybe it’s the atmosphere. Maybe it’s the longtime crush. Maybe it’s the connection between us that has only gotten stronger over the last few months.

“Vail.” I have no idea what I want to say. What I want to ask. But it’s okay. Because Vail has plenty to say.

“Let me talk first. I need to say somethings before you make any comment.” I nod. “Okay. The first time I saw you, really saw you, you were eighteen. I figured it was a passing thing. A hot woman and my dick took notice. But it was deeper than that. So deep it took my breath to look at you from then on. It’s why I hooked up with Felicity. A distraction.”

He pauses, gives me a moment to let his words sink in and all I can think is he wanted me when I was eighteen.

“Then she found out she was pregnant. I told her the baby not being mine didn’t change anything. Except it should have. Within months I was no longer attracted to her. But the baby growing in her belly? I wanted that baby. It’s why we got engaged, why I bought the house she wanted and moved us in.”

He sucks in a breath before he continues and blows my ever-loving mind.

“I invested in a relationship where I didn’t love a woman because I couldn’t, or thought I couldn’t, have the one I really wanted. You. You, Delaney Sanderson. You are the woman I’ve wanted for seven long years, and I’m done fighting it. Done doing the right thing because of who your brother is, of how young you are.”

“You make me sound like a child.”

“Fuck. Laney, you were when I first had these feelings.”

“Eighteen is not at child.”

“It is to a twenty-eight-year-old who’d watched you grow up from before you were eight.”

I grin. “So, you’re a dirty old man.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” He throws his hands up. “Don’t say that.”

I laugh when he visibly shudders. “I was joking.”

“I get that. And I wouldn’t have an issue with it except Felicity picked up on something the last time we were all together.”

It takes me a moment to remember the event he’s talking about. And once I do I remember the way his ex clung to him like a leech when she never had before. “She worked it out. How you felt about me.”

He nods. “And made the whole time a nightmare.”

“That’s why you stopped coming here. For Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

Another nod.

“It’s why you stopped coming to our family’s major events. You didn’t even come to Grandpa’s funeral.”

“No. I came the day after to see Gram. I apologized.”

“She wouldn’t have expected an apology.”

“No, she didn’t but I had to make one. I loved that man like he was my grandfather, and I let the woman I was engaged to stop me from paying my respects.”

“You let her do a lot of things you shouldn’t have.” I’m not going to gloss over the things he should never have let happen.

“I know. I hate myself for putting us all through that but if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have”—he blows out a breath—“I don’t have him anyway.”

“Oh!” His words remind me of what came through a couple of hours ago. Racing over to my laptop, I fire it up and wait for the system to come online. “I have something that will make things better.”

“No. I don’t want to talk about Kavan now. I want, need , to deal with us first.”

Looking over I see his fists are clenched at his side, his jaw tight with tension and his eyes blazing with determination. Straightening away from the table I face him fully. “Okay. What about us?”

“I want a chance.”

“A chance at…”

“You. Us.”

I’m ashamed to say his words shut my brain down. I can’t seem to put them in order, understand what he means. “Me? Us?”

“Yes.” He steps closer. “You. Us. I want a chance to see where these feelings can take us. I want to date you?”

“You mean you want to have sex with me.”

“No. Yes. All of it. I want all of you Laney.”

“But I work for you.”

“You do. And I’m sure we’ll need to have some boundaries there, but I don’t see why that should change because we’re together.”

I can’t wrap my head around what he’s saying and the more he talks the more confused I get. “You want to date me, have sex with me, work with me?”

A grin tips up his mouth. “Yes, to all of the above.”

“But—”

He steps into my space and brings his hands up to cradle my face. “Laney.”

My name is a breath, a plea, and the sound of it shivers over my skin raising goose bumps.

But it’s the look in his eyes that has me nodding.

And the second I make that non-verbal agreement he does what I’ve spent years imagining.

He kisses me.