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“I don’t think I’ve seen her before,” Brooke said. “She’s gorgeous.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t refute that.
“You definitely want to kill her,” Mazzie decided. “What happened between the two of you?”
Instead of giving her the grisly details, I made quick work of putting the matter of Charlee Donovan to bed. “We broke up. No big deal, just a high school thing.”
Neither Mazzie nor Brooke was buying what I was selling.
“Okay,” Mazzie said. “No big deal. You look like you might strangle her, but if that's the story you want us to believe. . .”
Oh, how I’d love to get my hands around that pretty little neck. But I wouldn’t be strangling Charlee as much as gently choking her just like I knew she’d like. Having sex with that woman was something I’d thought about way too often.
I had to get out of here.
“Maybe you two can rekindle—”
“Never,” I said too aggressively. Downing the rest of my bourbon and putting the glass on the bar, I tried to lighten it up. “Sorry to ruin your plan.” I pushed away from the edge of the bar. “Rain check?”
That Mazzie didn’t seem to offend easily was one of my favorite things about her. “Absolutely. Sorry you have to head out.”
If she figured out I was leaving because of Charlee, so be it. I just couldn’t be in the same room with her.
“Congratulations,” I said. “This was one hell of a grand opening.”
Mazzie smiled. “Yours will be too. Did you talk to Gian tonight?” she asked, referring to her boyfriend. “I think he wanted to talk to you about your opening. And maybe even the potential of doing a soft opening instead of something big.”
Gian was helping me out with some marketing. “I did,” I said, my accidental side-eye giving me more than I wanted to see of her. Fuck. What was it about that woman?
I couldn’t get out of there quick enough.
My newest mission?
Stay as far away from Charlee Donovan as humanly possible.
CHAPTER THREE
charlee
I walked through the front door of one of five resorts around the lake that were owned by my father. This one, Taughannock Falls, was by far my favorite. It had the feel of a bed-and-breakfast but also a small resort at the same time. Situated right on the lake as it was, in a few weeks when the leaves turned it would be a spectacular sight.
Not spectacular, however?
My state of mind.
My heart had been racing since Saturday night, thoughts of Lucas consuming me. I’d thought maybe coming to work might distract me a bit. Instead, as I greeted everyone while making my way to my office, it was more like. . . same feelings, different location.
On top of my jittery nerves, the very last person I needed to see in the world was the exact one standing in my office.
“Morning, Dad,” I said to the well-dressed owner of Lakeside Properties, the largest chain of resorts on all of the Finger Lakes, this one included.
“Morning, sweetie,” he said, handing me a coffee from my favorite local coffee shop, despite the fact that I had a coffee maker in my office. When he was playing nice, he could honestly be nominated as father of the year. When he wasn’t?
Well, that was a whole other story.
“Thanks,” I said, dropping my stuff on the desk. “What brings you here?”
My father sat in one of the two seats at my desk.
