Page 27 of Wild Nights

"None of us want to do it."

"I can throw up a Christmas tree. What are we talking about?"

"Kylie said something about garland on the fireplaces, the stairwells. Wreaths on the windows. It sounded more elaborate than one tree."

I groaned. "I barely have time to decorate our house."

"We're getting a tree, aren't we?" Joey asked.

"Of course we are. Uncle Eli's talking about the ski resort. He thinks guests would like more decorations."

Joey nodded thoughtfully. "I think so too. It is kind of boring."

Eli chuckled. "You think the resort is boring?"

He raised a brow. "At the holidays? Yeah. It's all brown."

"It's a lodge," Eli persisted.

Joey threw his arms out to his sides. "It should be red and green at Christmas with twinkling lights everywhere."

Eli waved a hand at Joey. "You heard the man. Can you help me find someone that could help? We don't even have decorations in stock. It wasn't something Mom and Dad were concerned about."

One more change we were making that they might not approve of, but they said to do what we saw fit. It wasn't their business anymore. It was ours. "You want to see if Xander can handle it?"

"I have to be honest. I'm more than a little concerned that he wouldn't follow through, and it sounds like this is something that would be appreciated by the guests. I want to do this."

And when Eli wanted to do something, it got done. "I'll see if there are any services that offer holiday decorating. I know I've seen signs for one that does lights."

"I need someone who can tell me what and how much to put up."

"Not sure if that even exists." If not, it was one more thing I could try to handle myself. Sometimes I wished that Eli trusted Xander to do more. We picked up his slack, and I had other responsibilities. I wanted to enjoy the holiday season with my son and enjoy one more night with Carolina.

I wasn't sure that it was a good idea to continue this thing with Carolina. My heart was getting involved.

I was tempted to text her to see if she got home okay. But I had no idea what time her flight was or when she'd be arriving home, if that's where she was even headed.

I knew nothing about Carolina's life. That was our arrangement. And I needed to keep it that way. Neither one of us were looking for something more. I just had to remember that.

Chapter Nine

CAROLINA

I'd felt like I'd been floating on a cloud ever since my last night with Oliver. He'd even sent me breakfast and flowers the next morning. The note was written as if it was from the resort itself, but I suspected it was Oliver.

I thought it was a sweet gesture, especially since he couldn't stay until morning and share breakfast with me.

I shouldn't be swooning because my one-night—now two-night—stand sent me flowers and ordered me breakfast. It was thoughtful which was outside the parameters of our relationship. We spent the night together, and then he left in the early morning hours. There weren't supposed to be any feelings, much less longing for our next rendezvous.

But I couldn't help it. I was counting down the days until my next flight to Telluride. It was the week of Christmas, and I was confident I could be home in time to enjoy the holidays with my mom and sister.

Ginny was spending more and more time with her boyfriend. I didn't like it, but I could see she wanted the companionship. But I was more than a little worried she'd forgotten our plan for her to join me in the business. We needed to remain focused and not get distracted by a guy.

She was younger, so she didn't feel the brunt of my father leaving. He'd worked long hours at the college, and now we knew what he was doing with that time. He was holding student meetings and leading mentorships that led to more.

The nice thing about me traveling so much was that I never developed any close ties. Even if I dated a guy, I always had the excuse that I'd need to leave. Most didn't want that kind of relationship, so it made things easy for me.

I didn't want the expectations that came with a relationship. I wasn't sure I'd be able to meet them without panicking I was getting in too deep. I couldn't even handle Ginny dating. I could see they liked each other. But I couldn't get past the night Dad walked out.

---