Here Comes Trouble Page 0,118

you just—”

He turned then and swung her into his arms; then he made her squeal when he spun them both around. “Sometimes a day is all it takes.” He plunked her feet down but kept her caught up in his arms. “You know what I mean?”

His eyes were so full of joy, she couldn’t help but get pulled in. “Yeah,” she said. “I think I know exactly what you mean.”

He kissed her, and there was something else there this time, along with the passion and instant ignition of need and want. He wasn’t rushing, wasn’t pouring himself into it, he was…steadied, grounded, like he had the rest of his life to keep doing exactly what he was doing.

And damn if she didn’t want a float in that parade. A real big one.

When he finally broke the kiss, he was still grinning, like a kid with a new toy, which, in a sense, he was.

“So, what are you going to do with it once it’s rehabbed?” She tried not to hold her breath, waiting for the real answer she wanted to hear. He’d said she wouldn’t doubt his intentions after coming up here. Did he really plan to move here? Permanently? She tried in vain to keep from leaping to any assumptions. Maybe it was just a part-time property, that he planned to visit. Occasionally. Maybe he thought that would be enough.

Kirby asked herself, in those very few seconds before Brett responded, whether occasionally was going to be enough for her. And her gut response, before she had time to manage her feelings—or shield her heart—was no. She wanted it all, dammit. All in. Wasn’t that what poker players said when they shoved all their chips to the middle of the table? Well, she wanted to shove chips. Mountains of them.

What worried her was that she’d accept occasionally. Like she’d accepted the half-life she lived with Patrick. And they’d been under the same roof. Hadn’t she said she’d never do that again? Settle for less? Compromise herself right out of what mattered most?

She hadn’t thought she could ever feel…what she was feeling now? It made anything she’d had before pale in comparison.

“Kirby,” he said, more soberly, making her realize that she’d completely gotten lost in her thoughts.

She looked up again, into his eyes. Eyes that saw so much. And wondered what he saw in hers now.

“I jumped in, both feet, with this house. I know it seems reckless to you, but it was the right thing for me. I know what I want now. I know what I want to do next, with my life. I’m excited about it. And I want to share it with you. I want you to be part of this. It’s all wrapped up together for me. The only regret I have is that I should have maybe brought you up here before I got the keys, made you part of that, too. But—”

“But you can afford to jump impulsively; I can’t. If you’re that excited by this, then maybe it was better that you just went for it. I don’t know what I’d have advised you to do if you’d asked. It wouldn’t have been my place to make that decision for you.”

“I want it to be your place. I mean that literally, too.”

She looked at the house again. “Wh—what?”

“I’m going to renovate the house, Kirby. Then I want to decorate it, furnish it, and turn it over to a management company to run.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait.” She stepped back, out of his arms, as that loaded piece of information dropped like a bomb into her brain. “So…you’re not going to live here.”

He laughed. “Well, it will feel like it while I’m working on the place. I plan to be involved in every step, hiring out what I can’t do. But, if you mean afterward, no.”

Her heart squeezed into a tiny little ball. “Then you want to rent it out…I’m guessing to skiers, or vacationers.”

He grinned like it was the best idea anyone had ever had. “It’s going to happen here, Kirby. The snow will come, this season, next season, whatever. And Pennydash will grow. Cabins, chalets, time-shares, will be in increasing demand. I want to be in on the ground floor of that, but I want to design and offer one-of-a-kind, unique locations. Like your inn does.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling suddenly cold. To the bone. “So…you’re going into business to compete against me. More or less. You’ll have to pardon me