Worth the Fall (Sugar Mountain #1)

NEW BEST FRIEND

brOOKLYN

W orking at Sugar Mountain Resort the past few weeks had been overwhelming and exciting. I’d trained with Sierra the entire time, learning the ins and outs of the job, and this was the first full week that I’d been on my own.

Sierra was officially gone and living in Cherry Cove. I promised not to call... too much. But she had told me her phone was always on while I was still learning the ropes.

The job duties were vastly different than what I’d been doing at Kleinfeld’s, but I loved it. It was challenging, but in a way I admired and couldn’t wait to tackle and make my own. This was going to be such an awesome place to work, and I had known almost immediately that I’d never want to leave.

The staff, who technically worked for me, had been slightly hesitant at first, but they’d all seemed to come around lately. I felt like I had Maribel to thank for their quick change in attitude. A couple of the younger part-time employees seemed irked that the job hadn’t at least been offered to them, but I chalked it up to their generation and didn’t take it personally. They wanted opportunities handed to them, even when they weren’t even remotely qualified.

A tiny brunette girl waltzed into my office while I was digging through emails and surprised me. I jolted and made an embarrassing sound in response. Who got frightened by a child?

“You’re not Miss Sierra,” the little human said.

“Nope, I’m Brooklyn.”

“Where’d Miss Sierra go? Is she in the bathroom? I can wait.” She plopped herself onto the chair across from my desk, folded her tiny arms in her lap, and stared at me.

Sierra hadn’t warned me about any small visitors.

“Miss Sierra doesn’t work here anymore.” I delivered the news as gently as I could, but her little mouth popped open in shock, and her eyes grew wide.

“Is she coming back?”

“If I say no, will you be sad?”

“Definitely.” Her response was quick and honest.

“Well, I don’t want to make you sad,” I said because if she started crying, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do.

“But you have to tell me the truth anyway. Daddy says we don’t tell lies.” She looked at me with those big brown eyes and sucked in a dramatic breath. “It’s okay, Miss Brooklyn. I can handle it.”

Daddy.

All the pieces snapped together instantly. She must be Thomas’s daughter.

“Is Thomas your dad?”

She nodded her head and smiled so big. “Yep. He’s the best dad in the whole world. Don’t you think so?”

A small laugh escaped from my lips as I took her in. She resembled her father, but she must look more like her mother had.

“I don’t know. I don’t know him very well.”

“Oh.” She looked so confused by my answer. “How come?”

“Because I just started working here.”

“So, you and Daddy aren’t friends yet?”

Definitely not.

“Not really. Not yet,” I replied.

Thomas and I’d had a couple of meetings with Sierra before she left, but he had focused all his attention on her, rarely even gracing me with eye contact. He was infuriating. And rude.

“You can be my friend.” She hopped out of the chair and made her way to where I was sitting. The little girl extended her hand and waited for me to take it. “I’m Clarabel, but my friends call me Clara.”

“I’m Brooklyn. It’s nice to meet you,” I said, and she shook my hand pretty hard for a little kid.

“Clara? Clarabel!” Thomas’s voice rang in the hallway, and I heard the sound of his feet shuffling in our direction.

Clara suddenly dived toward my legs and hid under my desk right as her dad stopped in my doorway.

“Brooklyn.” He sounded out of breath, and his typically perfect hair looked a little messed up. It was sexy as hell. “Have you seen my daughter?”

I glanced toward my feet, where Clara was covering her mouth with her tiny hand and trying not to laugh. “Noooo.” I dragged out the word while pointing downward inconspicuously so Clara couldn’t see me.

“You haven’t, huh?” He grinned, and as much as I wanted to love that smile, I knew it wasn’t for me.

“Sorry. What does she look like so I can keep an eye out?” I asked, and Clara’s little laugh bubbled out over her fist.

Thomas took a step inside my office toward where I sat. And then he took two more. “She looks like trouble. Long brown hair. Probably has on two different shoes.”

I quickly glanced down and bit back a laugh of my own. Clara was most assuredly wearing two different shoes.

“A smile that slays dragons. And the voice of a little angel, but she’s really a little demon.” He continued to describe his daughter, and I felt like I was in some sort of alternate universe.

I’d never seen Thomas like this. I’d seen him in his role at the resort, which I thought was pretty damn sexy, but this... this was another level altogether. He was so relaxed. So in his element.

Thomas the dad was the hottest damn thing I’d ever seen in my life.

Clara laughed out loud and burst out from under my desk. “I am not a little demon, Daddy!” She beamed before jumping into his open arms.

I thought I’d just gotten pregnant watching that exchange.

“I see you’ve met Brooklyn.” He held her tight and turned her little body in my direction.

Clara nodded. “Mmhmm. But, Daddy”—she pressed her palms against his cheeks and squeezed—“she said you aren’t her friend.”

“She said that, huh?” He tried to say around his smooshed face, but it came out garbled.

“How come you don’t like Brooklyn the Bear Slayer?” Clara asked, and I tossed my head back and laughed.

“Sorry. She gives nicknames to everyone without their permission.” He sounded disappointed, but then he started tickling his daughter, and she squirmed out of his arms.

Thomas pinned me with a stare, and a woman could get lost in eyes that blue if she wasn’t careful.

“I don’t mind the nickname,” I said, and Clara looked pleased with herself.

“Miss Brooklyn,” she said, and I focused my attention on her, “I think your hair is really pretty. Don’t you think so, Daddy? It’s like one of my dolls at home.”

Oh, yes, Daddy. Do you think my hair is pretty?

Thomas looked directly at me, and there was something heated behind his stare. “ Very pretty. ” He emphasized both words, and my heart, which I no longer trusted, started doing something funny in my chest.

But then he mouthed, Sorry , when Clara wasn’t looking, and my ego instantly deflated with the single silent word.

How did this man know how fill my balloon and then pop it in the same breath? Would it really kill the guy to give me a compliment?

“You know, sweetie, you should ask Miss Brooklyn about rock climbing. I heard she’s a big fan,” he said with a crooked grin, and my mouth dropped wide open before I snapped it shut.

He did not just say that.

“Rock climbing? What’s that? Sounds boring.” Clara frowned. “Sorry, Miss Brooklyn the Bear Slayer, but I don’t want to climb rocks.”

Thomas kept smiling.

“Never gonna let me live that one down, are you?” I asked.

“Nope,” he said before reaching for his daughter’s tiny hand and holding it in his giant one. “I’m sorry she bothered you.”

Clara instantly looked up at her father, her eyes glassy. “I didn’t bother her. Did I?”

Thomas dropped down to his knees so he could look Clara in the eyes. “I told you that everyone here has a job, right?”

“Uh-huh,” she answered.

“And a job means that they’re working. You like our resort, don’t you?”

Her little head bobbed up and down. “I love it. It’s the prettiest place in all of Sugar Mountain.”

I couldn’t agree more, kid.

“Well, we have to let Brooklyn do her job. She has a lot of work to do, and she’s very important.”

Ooh, there’s a compliment.

Keep ’em coming, big guy.

Her little mouth formed an O before she added, “But Miss Sierra said that whenever I came over, I had to say hi to her. I tried to see her, but the Bear Slayer said she wasn’t here anymore.”

Thomas leaned his head back slightly in understanding before he stood back up. “Gotcha. Yeah, I’m sorry, kiddo. Miss Sierra moved to Cherry Cove.”

“It’s okay. I was sad at first, but I like Miss Brooklyn, so I’ll be all right.”

I couldn’t stop from smiling. This girl was so sweet and smart, and I knew there was no way that most kids were as neat as this one was.

“We’ll get out of your way, Brooklyn. I’m sure you have a lot to do.” Thomas’s voice was a little softer, and I appreciated the way it sounded.

“I do need to head over to the main conference room. But I’d love Clara’s help, if that’s okay with you?” I asked.

Clara dropped her dad’s hand and ran to my side, staring up at me with those big doe eyes. “What kind of help?”

“I have a big party to set up, and I need to put a bunch of decorations on the tables.”

“Don’t you have a staff for that kind of thing?” Thomas asked.

“I do.” I nodded. “But I still want to be part of the team. Hands on, you know? I don’t want them to think I’m sitting in my office, doing nothing, while they do all the grunt work,” I explained.

Plus, I had the time to spare, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. He might think I was slacking off or something.

“I get it. I respect that. And they will too.”

“Can I go, Daddy? Please?” Clara clasped her hands together in front of her face as she begged her father for permission.

“Yeah, you can go. But best behavior, okay? And listen to Brooklyn. You’re not the boss.”

“I will. Pinkie swear,” she said before putting her pinkie in the air and waiting for Thomas to shake it.

“Please keep an eye on her.” Thomas directed the statement toward me. “She gets distracted easily and wanders off if you aren’t paying attention.”

“I do not,” Clara argued, but Thomas ignored her.

“She does. And then just bring her to my office when you finish.”

“Of course. I’ll watch her. We’ll see you in a bit,” I said before grabbing my notepad and sucking in a quick breath.

Being an only child with no siblings to make me an aunt, I wasn’t around kids all that often, and while it should have been uncomfortable, Clara made it easy. When she reached for my free hand unexpectedly and gripped it tight, I wasn’t sure what to do, and I refused to turn around and see Thomas’s face, which I imagined was probably not pleased by her sweet gesture.

So, I just held her little hand in mine and walked us toward the elevators, silently willing myself not to freak out. I let her press the button, and when the doors opened, we stepped inside, and I let out a breath in relief.

Clara dropped my hand and looked up at me. “I think my daddy likes you. And you and me, we’re going to be best friends. Don’t you think so, Little Bear Slaying Princess?”

I got choked up by the simple question, and I had no idea why. Kids had never made me weepy or emotional in the past, so how was it possible that this little girl was already wiggling her way under my skin and asking to stay there?