His Love Lesson Read online

  “So why did you run away?”

  “Ugh! I don’t want to marry you?”

  “Why on earth not?” Todd was baffled.

  “Because you don’t respect me?”

  Todd gave a dismissive wave. “Of course I do.”

  “No, you don’t. I have no interest in being the kind of wife you’re looking for.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Todd remained clearly confused.

  “I want to work, make my own living. I have a dream to become a perfumer.” Todd cut his eyes toward the ceiling. “See what I mean? That’s my passion and I can’t be with a man who wants to control every facet of my life and would never support my dreams.”

  “Your dream is silly! I mean, really. Who makes a living creating concoctions in the kitchen sink? My wife doesn’t need to work. Your job would be to raise our kids. Wouldn’t that be enough?”

  Chey couldn’t stand there another moment. How could someone young have such a dated outlook on life? “Get out, Todd!”

  He stared at her, not believing she had ordered him to leave.

  “Playtime is over!” he bellowed. “This is becoming embarrassing. I’m tired of my family’s questions about your whereabouts. This stops here.” Todd looked around and walked toward the suitcase that Chey was packing for her trip. “You’re going somewhere?”

  “Yes!”

  “Where?” He closed in on her, demanding an answer with his words and presence.

  “That’s none of your business.” Chey crossed her arms, refusing to back down.

  “You are my business!” He stomped. Chey stepped back and looked at him incredulously. Todd huffed. “See how angry you make me? Let’s go. Now!”

  “Todd! For the last time. I’m. Not. Leaving. Here!”

  Todd looked as though he hadn’t understood a word she’d said.

  “Let me make this clear. We’re through. I’m never going to marry you. I have legitimate desires and dreams. I’m going to finish school and become a professional perfumer whether you think it’s a ridiculous idea or not. I don’t care how much money your family has, I don’t want to be a housewife. I have a life of my own—goals of my own. I will no longer be controlled or manipulated by you or anyone else. Get it!”

  Todd glared at her through angry slits for eyes. “You don’t mean any of that!”

  “I mean every word.”

  “Where will you find another man like me? Huh? Someone who is willing to give you everything? You’re unappreciative—always have been. The women at home are clamoring for a man like me and you want to throw me away like spoiled meat.”

  “Hopefully, I won’t ever find another man like you. And now that I’m gone, tell Cynthia she can have you!” Shock registered in every muscle across Todd’s face. “Yes, I know all about Cynthia. Now she can upgrade her status from cheating sidekick to a real girlfriend for once in her life.” Chey felt horrible saying those things, dredging up hurtful memories, but convinced herself that they needed to be said. She still had more to say. Todd closed his gaping mouth. He didn’t need to respond; his reaction confirmed everything Chey needed to know. “I won’t be like your mother. Sitting around bored out of her mind while your father traipses around the country doing as he pleases with whomever he pleases.”

  “You...you don’t mean that.” Todd’s mouth twisted in anger. “Take that back!” he stabbed his finger in her direction.

  “I won’t!”

  Todd whirled around and headed for the door. With his hand on the knob, he turned back to scowl at Chey one last time. “When this silly—” he waved his hand around the room “—plan of yours fails, you’ll be back. You’d just better hope it’s not too late. Maybe I’ll have some pity for you and consider still taking you as my wife.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Todd. I could never marry a man I didn’t love.”

  With that, Todd stormed out the door and slammed it hard behind him. Chey could hear him clomping down the steps. She sighed with relief. She didn’t have to hide anymore. She was now completely free to live her life as she pleased. No more Todd. No more controlling men, period! Possibly no more well-off men either, since the ones she encountered all seemed to possess the need to control the women in their lives.

  She was pressing the restart button, but first she needed to get her mother on the phone to let her know how upset she felt. She couldn’t believe Mrs. Rodgers had told Todd where she lived.

  Chapter 5

  “Ugh!” Hunter wiped his hands down his face in frustration. His grunt rumbled through the villa.

  “Let me guess...another delay,” Eric, Hunter’s frat brother, said as he rolled his suitcase toward the door.

  Dave, another of Hunter’s frat brothers, scrunched his face, not wanting to add any speculation to the already bad situation. Hunter and Dave, along with Eric and Sam, had just spent the entire week enjoying extreme winter sports on Powder Mountain in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since college, they’d made some kind of adventurous voyage every year, from riding ATVs along the beaches and mountainsides of Costa Rica to Jet Skiing and girl watching off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

  “Yep!” Hunter paced the floor in front of the TV perched over the fireplace, flanked by two mounted moose heads. His hands were positioned at his hips as he tried to think of other ways to get back home to New York City.

  Sam, the coolest one of the bunch, sat on the sofa and propped his feet up against the rustic coffee table. “Listen, if you can’t get out of here today—” he turned his attention from the TV to Hunter “—just chill for another day or so and head home when the weather calms down a little. You’re the boss. Who’s going to scold you for not going to work on Monday? Your dad?” His shoulders shook when he laughed.

  Sam’s casual demeanor was starting to get on Hunter’s nerves. “I need to get home ASAP. You wouldn’t be saying that if your flight was delayed.”

  “That’s why I moved to sunny Atlanta. We don’t have those problems. The weather is hot and the women are, too.”

  All four men laughed at Sam’s last comment. Eric, who lived in Miami, simply shrugged his shoulders as if to say Sam’s point was completely valid.

  Dave was the only one who offered any kind of sympathy. “Maybe you should just come to the airport and see if you can possibly get another flight. Maybe they could reroute you.”

  “I don’t think it will make a difference. This storm is quickly moving from the Midwest to the East Coast. It’s pretty bad. We would be flying right into it. If it weren’t for the fact that you were heading to LA before going home to Chicago, you’d be dealing with the same delays.”

  “Wait! Turn that up?” Sam put his feet down and sat straight up as he pointed to the TV.

  Hunter tossed Sam the remote. He didn’t want to be the one cranking up the volume on his own misfortune.

  “What did he just say?” Sam inclined his ear toward the television.

  The four of them abruptly turned their attention to the reporter delivering the breaking news as Sam raised the volume even more. The talking head delivering local news told them that several flights out of Salt Lake City were being canceled.

  “Time to go!” Sam jumped to his feet. “I’ve got some honeys waiting for me back home. I can’t be stuck in this place for another day.”

  “I haven’t seen you move this fast since you thought you saw your ex in that restaurant with another man the last time we were in Atlanta,” Eric said, doubled over in laughter.

  “Didn’t you just tell me not to worry—just take another day?” Hunter mocked, then tossed him a skeptical look.

  “I can’t get stuck here. Let’s get to this airport now!” Sam was at the door with his bags within seconds.

  Each body moved with a heightened sense of urgency. Within minutes, all of t
heir bags were at the door. “What are you going to do, man?” Dave asked. “Are you coming with us to the airport?”

  “Let me call the airlines. Up until now, I’ve just been receiving email and text alerts. I need to speak to someone.”

  Eric looked at his watch. “Get on the horn, man. We can all ride together. I’d hate to leave you here stranded.”

  “We should all call our airlines to confirm whether or not our flights have been changed or canceled.”

  They all called their respective airlines, and moments later Eric, Sam and Dave were able to confirm that although there were slight delays, their flights were still scheduled to depart. Hunter, unfortunately, had been told that his flight was canceled and if he was lucky, he might be able to get it rescheduled for some time the next day.

  “Aw, man. That sucks,” Dave said.

  “Hey. It’s better to be safe,” Eric added.

  “You’ve got another day to chill. Find a way to enjoy yourself,” Sam said.

  A moment later Eric’s phone rang. Their car service had arrived. The men grabbed their bags and headed out of the villa. The cold greeted them with fierce whipping winds as they made their way toward the waiting car. Hunter squinted and turned his head away from the fast-falling snow. A small old man with weathered hands hopped out of the minivan and popped open the back.

  With a head nod and a raspy hello, he greeted them one by one as he tried to take their bags to put them in the car. All three of them smiled politely and laid their own bags inside the cargo area.

  “What do you think, I’m an old man? I could have done that for you guys,” their driver teased.

  “We should be driving you around, my man,” Eric responded. They all laughed.

  When the car was all stocked with their luggage and gear, they turned to Hunter.

  “Are you going to be all right by yourself?” Sam asked.

  “I’ll be fine. I’m going to reception and ask if I can extend my reservation for one more day.”

  “Don’t mean to eavesdrop on your conversation,” the driver interjected. The guys looked at one another and smiled. “But did I hear you say you were going to stay one more day?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He shook his head hard enough for a wisp of gray hair to fall along his brow. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, son. These roads are getting kind of bad. Pretty soon they’re gonna close them off. It’s dangerous trying to get up and down the mountain when the weather gets really rough.”

  “But my flight was canceled. I have no choice.”

  The old man took a deep breath. “Well, just try to make the best of it. They’ll probably have room since after a while people won’t be able to get up the mountain to get to their lodging. Be safe.” Tipping his imaginary hat, he bid Hunter farewell.

  Saying their final goodbyes, Hunter tapped the car as they pulled off. Back inside, he called his brothers and parents to update them on the changes in his travel plans. As expected, his mother, Joyce, was worried about him staying overnight in the mountains without a way out.

  Hunter headed to the reception area nestled in the center of the villas. He needed to secure accommodations for one more night. When he reached the main cabin, which housed the registration desk, a small café, a full restaurant and a souvenir shop, he realized for the first time that he wasn’t the only one on the mountain who had been stranded. The space was filled with frustrated energy. Several people walked circles in the wood floors with cell phones pressed against their ears. Exasperated mothers tried to calm screaming babies, and desk clerks desperately tried to hang on to their dwindling patience as they tried to help riled vacationers.

  Hunter spent nearly an hour in line waiting to speak to a clerk, just to find out what he already knew—there was no more room at the inn. However, the clerk agreed to help him as best she could, but he’d have to wait until the arriving guests were placed in rooms. She couldn’t guarantee that all of the guests they were expecting would actually make it, but they had to hold their rooms until the evening just in case. Eventually, the road had been shut down, as the old man had predicted, but several guests had indeed made it up the mountain in time. Once the clerks waded through the mayhem, they would have a better idea of whether or not they would have vacancies.

  Hunter braved the blistering cold and increasing snowfall as he trudged his way back to the villa to get his bags. He still had his room key. The others had been turned in by his frat brothers. When he got inside, he noticed that housekeeping had already cleaned the room. Instead of rushing back into the cold and waiting around the crowded lobby filled with angry people, he decided to stay in the room. If he was lucky, the person renting his villa might be one of those who hadn’t made it up the mountain in time.

  After leaving his bags by the door, Hunter flopped on the couch and turned on the TV. The news became graver and after a while all Hunter heard was the droning on of the newscasters as images of maps and heavy snow punctuated their rumblings. Bored, he started flipping through his social media profiles on his phone. When he tired of that, he called and spoke to his brothers again.

  For a split second, he thought about calling Tricia and decided against it. He needed to make a clean break when he got back home and didn’t want to do anything that could mislead her. He’d managed to avoid most of her calls through the week and when he did pick up, he’d kept his conversations cordial and brief. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings.

  Hunter went back to surfing his profiles until his eyelids grew heavy and he fell asleep.

  “Hello!”

  A woman’s voice broke through his slumber. At first he thought it was part of his dream.

  “Excuse me!” The voice was laced with irritation.

  Realizing the sound was outside his head, Hunter opened his eyes and beheld the caramel beauty in his blurred vision. With his forefinger, he rubbed his eyes and focused once again. She was still there. He was disoriented for a moment before remembering where he was—in a room that no longer belonged to him.

  Hunter jumped up. The woman stepped back.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” He looked around for his bags, blinked and finally got his bearings. “This is your room?”

  “Uh...yes!” She held up her set of keys and then folded her arms across her torso.

  “Then pardon me...” Hunter paused as his eyes traveled across her sweetheart lips and connected with her large brown eyes. His smile was involuntary. She looked skeptical and slightly confused. “I must have fallen asleep. I didn’t mean to alarm you. I’ll be out of your way in a moment.” He didn’t move.

  Neither did she.

  Their eyes remained connected. Finally, he tore his gaze away from hers and started walking toward his bags by the door. Halfway, he stopped, walked back up to her and held out his hand. “My apologies for being rude. My name is Hunter—Hunter Barrington.” At first she hesitated, but then she held out her hand to accept the greeting. Hunter could have sworn the temperature around them rose a few degrees when her hand touched his. He smiled again. “I guess I’ll be going now.”

  Damn, she’s gorgeous! Hunter sauntered toward the door, grabbed his bags and walked out into the blanket of snow falling from the Utah evening sky. Only this time, he didn’t feel the cold.

  Chapter 6

  Chey stood frozen in the middle of her floor. Not because of the cold. It was because of the encounter with that stunning stranger who had been sleeping in her villa when she arrived. She felt like Goldilocks even though she was the one who belonged there.

  What had he been doing in her room? Who was he? She knew his name—Hunter...Hunter Barrington. She could almost hear him saying it again in that rich baritone timbre.

  Despite the fact that his presence had practically scared her senseless, she’d ha
rdly been able to tear her eyes away from his brown skin, dark eyes, inviting lips and tall, lean, muscular frame.

  Finally, Chey unglued herself from the spot that she had been standing in since the stranger let himself out.

  “Enough with him! I can’t believe I’m here!” Chey remembered how excited she was about this solo trip. Giggling, she flopped on the couch. “This feels amazing.” She reveled in her freedom. After a deep breath, Chey sank farther into the couch and smiled, but she didn’t stay long. After a few moments, she hopped up and went from room to room, checking out her lodging.

  The villa resembled a cozy two-bedroom apartment with enough accommodations to sleep up to six people. The rustic Navajo-inspired decor created a warm and cozy vibe that made Chey smile and want to hug herself. On the back wall, there was a vivid view of snowcapped mountains through the large picture window, which looked like an enormous postcard. Chey imagined sitting in front of the stone fireplace, being serenaded by the crackling fire and mesmerized by the glowing embers. She decided right then that that would be her reading spot. The space was more beautiful than she had imagined, even though the hanging moose heads and the life-size bear in the corner proved a little creepy. The common area had an open floor plan, the kitchenette stretching into a great room with an area set aside for a large wood dining table. In front of the leather sofa bed there was a coffee table that looked like a chunk of wood someone had chopped out of a tree and propped on a smaller chunk of wood. Under it, there was a bearskin rug with talons still attached, as if whoever had caught the bear had forgotten to remove the claws. Still, this place was perfect.

  Chey hadn’t expected the severe weather when she booked this vacation but didn’t let that deter her excitement. At some point, she’d get out and do all the adventurous activities she’d planned, but right now all she wanted to do was settle in and relax. Since this was her first time ever doing anything like this, she’d set up lessons for both skiing and snowboarding.

  After her self-led tour, Chey called her sister and parents to let them know that she’d arrived safely. Then she went to take a shower. She removed her toiletry bag in search of her facial cleanser, body wash and toothbrush, finding everything except her toothbrush. Frantically, Chey dumped the entire bag on top of the vanity and rummaged through the contents. Then she looked in her purse and finally her suitcase.