“I get it,” Aspen interrupted gently. “It was just a thought.” She hiked a thumb toward the stairs she was leaning against. “This way, then.”
Though she didn’t look back as she started the climb to her bedroom, she did take the stairs one at a time instead of her usual two so that Eve wouldn’t think she was running away. She finally looked back when she cleared the top step to the landing that separated the room she’d made her office and her bedroom. The previous owner had left the space empty, but it was deep enough to line the back wall on either side of the window that overlooked the stairs with bookshelves and still leave plenty of room to navigate, so she’d turned it into a makeshift library. She couldn’t help but mirror the smile that bowed Eve’s lips as she watched keen blue eyes sweep over in the maple bookshelves that housed her books, miscellaneous awards, and a few models of various aircraft she'd built over the years. Tucked against the shelves were a pair of overstuffed armchairs that were a little too large for the space and needed to be shifted to reach the shelves behind them, but which were supremely comfortable.
“My office is right through there”—she gestured toward the right—“and my bedroom is this way,” she said as she woundbetween the chairs and the bookshelves to the doorway on the left side of the landing. Like the rest of the house, her bedroom had a wall of windows overlooking the river and was painted a neutral off-white to not detract from the view. She gestured toward the bed and the pair of brown leather armchairs that faced the small stone fireplace in the corner as she turned toward her walk-in closet, and said, “Make yourself comfortable wherever. I’m just gonna grab my suitcase and start pulling some clothes. Can you fill me in on the itinerary, so I know what to pack?”
“Oh, well,” Eve’s voice followed Aspen as she disappeared into the closet, “dinner tonight, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday will be dressy but not, like, formal. The gala Saturday night will be a black-tie affair, though.”
Aspen nodded as she surveyed the neat row of trousers organized by color. “What did you pack for the regular dinners?” she called as she plucked two pairs of black slacks from their hangers. If they were just for evenings, she’d be able to get more than one night out of them.
“Dresses. Mostly cocktail style.”
Aspen draped the pants over her arm and looked at the dress shirts hanging above. She had a decent number of the traditional white and blues, with some green, gray, and black, but she tended to eschew ties except for formal occasions, so most of them wouldn’t work with the colored shirts. But, knowing what little she did of Eve’s parents, she knew she needed to bring her A-game. So, if that meant tying a noose on every night, she’d string herself up. “Are we talking coat and tie levels of dressy, or…?” Instead of answering, there was a sound of choked coughing from the bedroom, and Aspen poked her head out of the closet to frown at Eve. “You okay?”
Eve’s cheeks were pink as she nodded and thumped herself soundly on the chest. “Yeah, sorry. Breathed wrong.” She archeda pointed brow at the trousers dangling from Aspen’s arm. “Would I be correct in assuming that you tend toward more masculine wardrobe choices?”
Rather enjoying the color on Eve’s cheeks, Aspen joked, “Is there something about all this”—she gestured from her hair to her feet with her free hand—“that suggests otherwise? Because, if so, I need to revamp my look.”
And, oh, the way Eve’s cheeks colored even more at the gentle teasing was absolutelyexquisite.Bless her, though, she rallied quickly, squaring her shoulders as she perched on the edge of the bed. “Black-tie for the gala, slacks and a sport coat or similar with a dress shirt would be fine for the other dinners, though if you’re more comfortable with a tie, that wouldn’t be out of place, either.”
Aspen grinned and tossed the slacks she’d pulled onto the bed next to Eve. “Okay. And for during the day?” she asked as she disappeared back into her closet.
“Evenings are the only events on my parents’ formal itinerary. Michael and I were going to spend the days skiing and shopping and stuff, but if you need to work or something, I can always—”
Aspen grabbed her snowboard pants and threw them blindly from the closet. “I was able to call in an old friend to take my charters after I talked to Mikey, so I’m all yours for the time you’re here. So, just some ski stuff and then just whatever casual wear for shopping, etcetera? Plus the usual PJs and toiletries?”
“Yeah.”
“So…any ideas for a story of how we met? It should be a good one,” Aspen said as she pulled a bespoke black suit from the rack. She didn’t have a tuxedo but, with the right accessories—cufflinks, a good tie, the Cartier Tank MC her grandfather had given her when she’d graduated the Academy—she knew that she could make the suit work. In the other room, Eve wasquiet as she considered the question, and Aspen used the time to select her newest white dress shirt and drape a black silk tie that was brushed with a diamond pattern around the neck of the hanger. She grabbed the large, hard-sided rolling black suitcase from the corner and draped the suit pieces over her shoulder as she wheeled it into the bedroom.
Eve smiled up at her from her spot on the edge of the bed as she approached. “Do you need me to move?”
“You’re fine right there,” Aspen assured her. “I’m just gonna set this out behind you”—she hefted the suitcase onto the bed and quickly opened it—“so I can start putting stuff away.”
“What if we met at Michael’s birthday? I kind of used it as an excuse to get out of a fundraiser event for my parents’ firm, anyway, so it’s something easy to point to?”
“Could work. But needs someoompf. Maybe something like, you saw me talking to dear ol’ Mikey and tripped and fell down the stairs?”
Aspen had expected Eve to stammer and blush at the reminder of how she’d literally tripped over nothing at the airport, but Eve surprised her by doing neither. “Mm, no.” She lifted her chin confidently, and damn if it wasn’t a great look on her. “I do believe you were the one who lost her footing and tumbled down the stairs. You landed right on top of me. Just absolutely flattened me. I was bruised for two weeks afterward.”
Aspen would generally argue that she had much more finesse than to do something like that, but she had to admit that she probably would have fallen down the stairs if she’d been trying to navigate them when she’d unexpectedly laid eyes on Eve. “Let it be noted that my pride took even longer to recover, then.”
“Of course,” Eve agreed with a little laugh “You were such a sweetheart, though, sending flowers of apology and insisting on taking me out to make up for it.”
Aspen forgot all about the packing she was supposed to be doing as she stared at Eve, enchanted by the joy that sparkled so freely in her eyes. “I would definitely send you flowers. Roses?”
“So pedestrian,” Eve teased. “No. You sent a beautiful bouquet of pink camellia and calla lilies.”
Aspen arched a brow, curious if Eve understood the meaning of the bouquet she’d just invented. “You know? I would. Because calla lilies mean beauty and pink camellia means longing for you, and I would definitely—”
“Wait? Really?” When Aspen nodded, Eve asked, “How do you know?”
“My mother, Fern, is a Regency English professor at Massachusetts University,” Aspen explained. “And, for the sake of background information, my father, Paul, is the Co-CEO of West Enterprises with my Aunt Viv. He oversees their portfolio of businesses that range from manufacturing to agriculture, while my Aunt Viv focuses more on the shipping and distribution side of things.”
Eve’s brow pinched ever so slightly. “And they didn’t expect you to join the family business?”
Aspen shrugged. “They tried to groom me for it, but it wasn’t for me. My sister Alder is much more inclined for that kind of thing. How about you? Michael mentioned that your father is a lawyer, but what about your mother?”
“She’s a lawyer as well. My father, Killian, specializes in investments and acquisitions. My mother, Elizabeth, does securities and the occasional IPO.” Eve clasped her hands in her lap and looked down at them as she elaborated, “They very much expected me to follow in their footsteps, and they like to point out how inconsequential they find my chosen career. So, you know, you should probably be prepared for that, too.”
