“Raif,” he begins.
“If she’s really your mate…” Raif looks at the ground like he’s angry at it. “If she’s really your mate, do anything you can to keep her. If that means leaving Montana to be with her, that's ok, we’ll get by.”
Axel is floored. He never expected this reaction from Raif, especially after he stormed out of the kitchen the other night. He thought Raif would be angry. Angry that Axel got a mate first, angry that she plans on leaving, and angry that the lodge is failing. But instead, he’s being supportive, even if he is scowling at the ground like it physically pains him to tell his brothers these things.
“Thanks, Raif.”
“No problem,” he grounds out before taking the pruning shears and stomping outside.
“Lovely guy, our brother,” Jack says, leaning his forearms on the front desk.
“He’s just had it rough since Dad died.”
“We’ve all had it rough,” Jack replies, meeting Axel’s eyes with a hard look on his face. “He’s always been an ass, he justchoseto become more of an ass after Dad died.”
Axel nods. He can’t deny that Raif has always been different from them, always angry at the world. When their Dad died, he shut everyone out. It’s amazing he hasn’t gone feral yet.
It’s Axel’s responsibility to look out for his brothers. His responsibility is to take care of the lodge and make sure it succeeds. And now his responsibility is to be the best mate he can be to a woman he barely knows. He doesn’t know if he can do it all.
Chapter Fourteen
Chloe
There’s definitely something wrong with the accounts. She’s been going at it for three days so far. She can see the money coming in from guests and events they hold, but there’s too much going out. Too much for a business this size. She’s contacted the county assessor to figure out the taxes owed on the land and lodge. Axel had told her his family had also owned land in the town, but she couldn’t find it at all.
It’s very suspicious, and she doesn’t know how to proceed. If Axel has used Maury for years, he clearly trusts him, but things don’t add up like they should. Chloe’s not a forensic accountant, she knows she’s not. She handles financial accounting. She took maybe two classes in forensic accounting in college. And even though she’s eager and curious, she doesn’t know if she has the chops to pull off something like this.
Her stomach grumbles, and she checks the time. Dinner has already started in the dining room, andDanielle is probably looking for her. Axel was sweet enough to bring her a sandwich for lunch, but she was so wrapped up in working that she forgot to eat it. Picking up the plate, she makes her way out of the office, deciding to head up to her room to eat.
The past three days have been draining. She’s done nothing but sit in the small office in front of the computer, but she feels the weight of everything on her shoulders. If she can’t figure out what’s wrong, Axel will lose his business. He says they will stay and live on the land, but he’ll still have to pay taxes on it, and with the amounts she’s seen, they wouldn’t even be able to afford that.
She feels for him, she really does. She saw the way her grandfather struggled with his store. Her mother was too good for the family business and didn’t want to work in a corner store. But there was her grandfather, working seven days a week as the only employee to keep what he had worked so hard for in business. Her mother wanted, no scratch that, expected great things from Chloe. She had to be a certain size, had to have the highest grades, and had to go to the best schools. Chloe felt smothered, even from a young age. And when she chose accounting instead of law, her mother threw a fit.
It wasn’t good enough that she had gotten good grades in college, put herself through the master’s program. She wasn’t a lawyer, wasn’t a wife, hadn’t had any children. And really, her mother wanted her to have children so she could brag to her friends that she was a grandmother. She had zero expectations that her mother would actually want to spend time with any children she had.
So when her grandfather passed, his beloved corner store closed. It had been a staple in the neighborhood for sixty years. But her mother didn’t care, she sold it cheap and took herself on vacation with the money. Chloe had been devastated. She was in mourning for her grandfather, and before she could blink, his store had been sold.
She used to work there on weekends in high school. He paid her twenty dollars a week, which she always snuck back into the register. She even marked the bill once before giving it back, and the next week, he gave her the same twenty. She didn’t care about getting paid, she just wanted to be with him. Now he was gone. Her father was gone. She had barely any contact with her mother. And no romantic relationship to speak of, unless she counted Axel.
Could she count Axel? Were they friends? Dating? Fuck buddies? No, no, they hadn’t had sex yet. Hadn’t even taken off their clothes, not for lack of trying on her part. He said he wanted to wait, and she would be patient. He seemed like a sweet man. Kind, caring, handsome as all fuck. Why in the world wasn’t he taken?
She’s on her way to the staircase leading to her room when she hears Axel call her name. She turns as he’s jogging towards her. The smile on his face is huge, and his eyes flit over her body, she can’t help but squirm a little under the attention.
“Chloe,” he bends down and kisses her cheek lightly. She blushes hard. “Have you eaten dinner yet?”
“I was just going to take this to my room,” she tells him, holding up the plate with the sandwich to show him.
He frowns down at the plate like it offends him. “Let me get you something fresh, that’s from lunch time.”
“No, it’s good, I don’t want to waste food.”
At that, he smiles again, and her heart thumps a little harder.
“Come then, let’s sit together and eat.”
She nods her head yes, and he takes her free hand in his. His dwarfs hers. His palm is soft and warm, and it makes her feel safe, given how big he is. He leads her back over to a small table with two chairs in the sitting area. The room is empty except for them, but she can hear the chatter coming from the dining room. As she sits, he drops a kiss to the top of her head, telling her he’ll be right back. She doesn’t know what it is, but she feels drawn to him. She wants to extend her trip and get to know him. Spend the days figuring out his accounting troubles and the nights in his bed.
He comes back quickly with a plate stacked high with that night’s dinner. Looks to be pork chops and roasted vegetables. He’s got five pork chops, and she wonders if he’ll really eat that much food.
