Page 36 of Cooped Up for Christmas

Oh. Yeah. “Coop and I were a thing about fifteen years ago.”

Her smile was sly. “It seems like you’re a thing now too.”

I shrugged because, honestly, it kind of did.

“So… Which one do you like better?”

Her question caught me off guard. Which one did I like better? There was no competition. Life with Dirk was pleasant. Predictable. Placid. Low-pressure. If Dirk dumped me for Barbie Malone, I’d be like, “Okay, have fun, dude.”

Dirk and I were just marking time together. I could see that now.

Coop was an entirely different story. Coop was exciting and challenging and the sex was beyond the stars.

My heart screamed, “Coop! It’s Coop!” But my head told it to shut up because my head was scared.

“They’re both awesome,” I answered—somehow the truth and a lie at the same time.

“Yeah. But you have to pick one, don’t you?”

God, life was so simple when you were in your twenties!

Just pick one! See how easy that was?

But, if I was being honest, I already had picked one.

I just needed to convince my head to go along with my heart.

Cooper came to my room for a “shower” again that night. This time, our lovemaking was a lot slower and more, shall we say, exploratory. But I have to say, my favorite part was after, when he held me in his arms and we just talked into the darkness.

Honestly, I could get used to this.

Chapter Nine

Christmas Eve dawned with a new sprinkling of snow. As much as I wanted to stay in bed with Coop, we had to get up. Today was the big day. The guests were leaving for snow adventures and shopping again, and while they were gone, we had the Christmas Evening Dinner and Fairy Ball to set up.

Jamison’s In-N-Out burgers arrived in time for lunch, still hot. Unfortunately, Jamison was not there to eat them. Apparently, he’d taken off sometime in the middle of the night after one of his fights with Farley, and no one knew where he was. Not even his mother, which concerned me.

Too bad it didn’t concern her. She sat in the great room sipping Don Julio, and telling everyone he would be back in time for the afternoon excursion.

Neither Farley, her friends, nor any of the adults in the party wanted burgers, and all Jamison’s pals had left with him—so it was up to the staff to chow down on In-N-Out burgers, delivered straight from Los Angeles.

Yes. At times, there were perks.

At any rate, when Jamison and his friends returned to the lodge, they had already eaten in town.

As the guests prepared themselves for their afternoon outings, Olivia, Wren, Jed, and I awaited their pleasure in the great room. I suspected, given the personalities involved, we might be in for a longish wait, so I decided to use this time to try my hand at—what was it called again?—relating to my staff.

“So, Wren…” I began with her, because she was in my line of sight. “What are your plans for the future?”

Her mouth came open, but only a little because she was pretty good at disguising her surprise. Not good enough, though. “Uh… I’m not sure. I really like this.” She made a face. “Some of this.”

I chuckled. “I know what you mean. But you can learn to tolerate the horrible parts for the great parts.” A thought hit me. “But have your limits on the horrible, people. No matter how wealthy or powerful someone is, there are still lines that cannot be crossed.” They all stared at me, wide-eyed, like little chicks gaping at their mother.

I was not going to mouth feed them, but I could provide them some perspective. From experience.

“There will be people who will try to push limits in this business. You need to know where that line is and take charge if it’s crossed. Understood?”

The girls nodded. Jed just stared at me.