And as for Élise—he’d thought they were the same, but he knew now that they weren’t.
She wanted a relationship and a family. She wanted it all. But she’d been hurt and she didn’t trust. That put her in a different place to him.
When he dated a woman he never talked about the past or the future. He lived in the present. For both their sakes he ought to go back to Boston and stay away until Christmas.
“I have to go back to Boston tonight.”
Something flickered in her eyes. “Of course you do.”
That was it. So now he should stand up and get the hell out of there before he did something that was going to end in trouble.
I’ll see you around, Élise.
“There’s a new restaurant about an hour from here I’ve been meaning to try. If you could persuade my brother to give you a night off next Saturday, you could come and give your professional opinion.”
She stared at him. “You mean go out together?”
“As opposed to having crazy sex in the forest?” His tone was dry. “Yeah, I mean go out together. Spend an evening together where I don’t ruin my shoes. Share food and conversation. It’s not hard to do.” But he guessed for her, it was.
“So—you mean like a date?”
He’d chosen not to give it a name. “Well, I’m planning on getting through the evening with our clothes on, if that’s what you mean. If we’re in public, we might even manage it. So what do you say?”
“I don’t date.”
“Neither do I. So I guess that makes both of us clueless about that part, but we both eat so we could just focus on that and see how it goes. We have fun together. It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.” He enjoyed her company. She enjoyed his. That was all it was. Two people spending time together.
“All right.” She said it slowly, as if she wasn’t sure. Then the dimple flickered in the corner of her mouth. “But I’m only saying yes because it means you’ll be coming back here again next weekend and that will please Walter.”
“You could just cut me out and have dinner with Gramps if you prefer.”
“No, because then you wouldn’t have a reason to come home. But we could take him with us. If we’re keeping our clothes on, it wouldn’t make any difference.”
“I might have been lying about that. I might have been planning on getting you naked after dinner.”
She laughed. “Maybe I was planning on getting you naked. Can you really take the time off?”
“Yes.” More juggling. More favors. “Can you?”
“I’ll need to check with Poppy and Elizabeth. I should be able to. We have a strong team now. And anyway, this is research. It’s important.”
“Research?”
“I’m a chef. It’s good to sample other people’s food occasionally.” She stood up. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SEAN FOUND JACKSON up a ladder, fixing the roof of one of the lodges. “You get all the glamorous jobs.”
“That’s me. Living the life of a tycoon.” Jackson finished the job and climbed down the ladder. “I assume you’re getting your butt back to Boston?”
“Soon. I just checked on Sam. He’s doing all right.”
“Thanks to you.” Jackson put his tools down. “So when will we see you next? Christmas?”
“Gramps invited me to family night.”
His brother smiled. “I wish I’d been there to see your face. I presume you won’t be there?”