Page 87 of Hot for the Hockey Player
“What’s this here?”I asked, pointing to a trail that led into the artificial trees.
Bennett bobbed his brows.“Our favorite part.”
I glanced at Justine, and she nodded.“This was fun.”
Bennett reached forward into the diorama and lifted up the entire copse of trees which were actually all glued together, to reveal a bunch of hidden cabins on stilts.“Did you know that Bonn’s land extends another like fifty feet into the trees on this side?”
I shook my head, still stunned by their great reveal.
“If we put more cabins in here,ora bunkhouse for seasonal staff, we could get away with preserving the land, but still utilizing it,” he went on.“We went with cabins for the diorama, but a bunkhouse, or a bunch of prefab tiny homes could work too.Just make a road in off this main road here, clear outsomeof the trees, but not all, and create like a little functional nature sanctuary.”
Bennett put the trees back in place and plunked his hands on his hips.“So?Feedback?”
My mouth opened, and a choked sound came out.“Uh … I thought I had some when I saw the photo, but honestly … I don’t know if I do.This is amazing.Better than anything I could have ever done.”
They’d been so fair in allowing space for all of our visions.The grapes, the event pavilion, the herb and veggie garden for the pub, even the space where they wanted to try growing their own hops.We all agreed that if we could, we needed to keep Bonn’s cabin.Preserve it, restore it, or whatever we could.Maybe turn it into the honeymoon suite, or the space where the bridal party could get ready.Either way, unless it needed to be condemned, we planned to keep it.
“So, no changes?”Justine asked, surprise in her voice.
Slowly, I shook my head.“No changes.This is perfect.”
Both of them beamed, then smiled at each other with pride and love.
“Well then, shall we go over the proposal one more time?”Bennett asked, opening up his laptop at the empty end of the kitchen table.
“NowthatI have some suggestions on,” I said, causing him and Justine to both laugh as Bennett pretended to wipe sweat from his brow.
“Phew.I was beginning to wonder who you were and what you did with Gabrielle Campbell.”He pulled up a chair so we could sit beside each other.
I took a seat, and Justine went to the kitchen to pour us each a glass of wine from my winery.
Who was I to say no to some liquid courage?
It was eight-thirty before I knew it and I was saying goodbye to the McEvoy’s on their doorstep.We were set to present our proposal in-person to the Island Elder’s Council in exactly two weeks, and it seemed like all of us were getting pretty nervous about the whole thing.The four men who owned the distillery also wanted it, as well as the five women who owned the cidery, and one mystery party that nobody could figure out.We had a twenty-five percent chance of getting it, and while I didn’t like those odds, it was all we had.
“I’ll send you the revisions tonight and then we can all start reading over and memorizing our parts,” Bennett said as I climbed into my SUV.
“Sounds good.”I nearly hit myself in the forehead with my door as I opened it, my brain already no longer with the McEvoys, but rather, down in the cabin with a certain hockey player who made my body light up like Fourth of July fireworks.
I hit the button for the gate to open in the opposite direction this time and waited on pins and needles for it to swing wide enough for me to move.I nearly spun out in the gravel, I hit the accelerator with so much force.
Calm the hell down.
Breathing out slowly, I crawled my way down the hill and through the pub parking lot toward the pickup truck parked in front of the same cabin as before.
He was home.
A heavy mist and fog encapsulated the island in the last half hour, making it more difficult to see things on the property.This worked in my favor.Maybe nobody would pay any attention to my vehicle parked in front of his cabin.Maybe nobody would be able to see it.
I turned off the SUV and sat there for a moment, collecting myself.I had condoms in my purse, fresh underwear on, and I applied a third swipe of deodorant right before I left.I was good to go—sort of.Except for my racing heart and the lawyer side of my brain arguing that this was a terrible idea.
Maverick was only on the island temporarily.He was so much younger than me.If the kids found out, they could get weird about things.If they didn’t get weird and we all started hanging out, they would be sad when he left, and finally, the island was a breeding ground for gossip and rumors, and I’d done a very good job staying out of them so far.Taking up with a man so much younger than me would put me right on the tip of everyone’s tongues, and that was the absolute last place I wanted to be.
My lawyer side had a really solid argument.She presented her case eloquently and even had the opposing side—my libido—starting to question things.
This was a terrible idea.
I pressed the start button again, and the engine roared to life just as the door to the cabin opened, and light pierced through the fog, backlighting his broad figure like he was some kind of demigod.“You coming in?”he called out, an amused tip to his mouth.
