Page 23 of A Billionaire for Christmas

FOUR DAYS TO GO… PANIC STATIONS

The following morning, determined to be nothing but professional, Molly woke early and began preparing breakfast for the brothers.

She had been mortified at the thought of Levi catching her quaffing his most expensive bottle of wine and him eating her sausage face, thinking she’d done it out of spite.

To be fair, she would have made something much worse than her face if she’d had the idea first. But the expensive wine, never.

She would never have accepted a glass if she’d known.

Her phone pinged. It was a message from Toby to ensure the house was extra warm, the rooms were ready, the spa prepped, and could she let him know of any last-minute foodstuffs they might need for the week-long stay?

Molly pinged back a long list of ingredients.

She needed to severely up her game. She wouldn’t give Levi the satisfaction of thinking she was childish and unprofessional.

She would give the whole family a culinary experience second to none, and she would win the contract for catering this mega-wedding they were planning.

Rich people tended to pay a lot of money for things like weddings.

And, of course, there was the bizarre matter of Levi mentioning that he was interested in her company.

She needed to secure more business to avoid having to sell.

Although Molly was sure that once he found out she was behind it, he’d feel differently about buying it.

‘I think you should leave.’

Molly’s head jerked up. Levi was standing in front of her, casually dressed in jogging bottoms and a soft T-shirt. His hair was ruffled, and he still seemed half asleep. She’d never seen anyone look more attractive. She closed her eyes, his words sinking in.

This was about the sausage face. And the overpriced wine.

‘I didn’t know about the wine. I swear. I couldn’t even finish it once I realised.’

His mouth formed a tight line. ‘It’s not about the wine.’

‘Well, then, if it’s about the sausage—’ she began.

‘It isn’t.’

‘Honestly, that was not meant for you. I’d never serve my face for dinner. Or for any meal.’

‘It’s not about the meat management involving your face. Not that one anyway.’

Molly frowned. ‘Sorry? I don’t understand.’

Levi shuffled his feet, staring down as though his speech was written on his white sliders. ‘It’s you. It’s the way we are when we’re together.’ He stepped towards her. ‘It can’t happen. It’ll just get messy.’

He was right. It was already messy.

‘And I don’t want to hurt you.’ His voice was low and faint. ‘Besides, my family will be here soon. Lucca will tell them all. It’ll just be embarrassing. It’s better if you leave now, and we’ll avoid the whole scenario.’

He was doing it again.

‘You’re embarrassed? I embarrass you?’

‘That’s not what I said.’

‘I think it’s exactly what you said.’

‘See? You’re getting all emotional and annoyed with me. I just want to see my family, get on with my work and not have any of this… this hassle.’

‘So I’m a hassle now, am I?’

The words hung in the air. Molly had never felt so rejected. ‘Fine. I’ll go. But just to be clear’ – she heard the tremble in her voice – ‘what happened between us was not all one-sided. You wanted it just as much as me.’

Levi’s face softened. ‘Yes. And I’m sorry I let it get that far. I’m your boss. I should have known better.’

Molly bit her lip to stop it from wobbling, turning away so that he couldn’t see her eyes fill.

‘I’m sorry if I’ve upset you.’ Levi tried to turn her back around, but she refused to budge. ‘I’ll arrange for you to go back on the minibus. Toby can drive you back to the hotel when he arrives with all the luggage.’

Molly still didn’t trust herself to speak.

She was gutted on so many levels. The news of returning to the resort should have been welcome, but the realisation that she’d probably never see Levi again, ever , tore at her unexpectedly.

He was right. She’d caught feelings for him.

Big time. But they were obviously not reciprocated.

‘Molly. Can you at least look at me?’ Levi said, his voice tender. ‘I’m sorry. Okay?’

Molly saw a hurt expression cross his face.

‘It’s for the best.’

‘I’m sure it is.’ Molly felt her heart shredding into a thousand pieces.

* * *

An hour later, Molly was packed and ready to go.

Instead of looking amazing, to show Levi exactly what he would be missing, she had a bright red face and puffy eyes.

She’d done everything she could not to open the floodgates, but for some reason as she packed the ridiculous burlesque costume into her suitcase, tears started flowing and didn’t stop.

She had cried a river over Ava. She couldn’t understand where these new tears were coming from.

Surely she should be as dry as the Sahara by now.

An awful sound of whirring blades alerted her to the arrival of the family in the helicopter.

Molly thought it best to avoid them and instead texted Toby to say she’d wait around the back of the lodge until the family were inside.

It appeared Toby had been fully briefed.

When she heard the crunching of boots on the snow outside the rear veranda, he did not look surprised to see her standing there with her suitcases.

He patted her gently on the arm. ‘Didn’t work out, huh?’

She shook her head.

‘I’ve heard he can be incredibly hard to please these days.

’ He smiled sympathetically. ‘Come on then. Let’s get you back to where you belong, miserably slaving away in the hotel kitchen.

’ He elbowed her jovially. ‘At least you got a couple of days of freedom. And I hope you got a chance to try the spa. That heated pool. That sauna. That massage chair!’

Molly doubted that she’d ever experience a spa quite like that again, in her entire life.

‘I know Petra will be pleased to have you back. Apparently, there’s a waiting list of people who want to book you to cater their Christmas and New Year events.

I’m gutted that I’ll not get to sample your cooking while I’m here.

You have quite the reputation.’ Toby took one of the suitcases from her.

At the thought of Levi sacking her, Molly blinked away hot tears, shivering as a cold wind swept around them.

As if reflecting her mood, clouds appeared to block out the late-morning sunshine.

Toby quickened his pace. He took Molly’s hand to help her down the icy steps of the lodge.

‘We’d better go. That doesn’t look too good to me.

Might be another storm heading this way. ’

The sky grew dark and menacing. ‘If you think you won’t get to the resort and back before the storm hits, then I could take a snowmobile and go by myself,’ she said.

Toby considered it. ‘There’s the replacement chef waiting for me to pick them up. But then again, I’d hate to go and leave the family with no staff. They’re expecting me to unpack all their things and run around after them.’

‘That’s settled then,’ Molly said. ‘Go back in and grab the snowmobile keys. I’ve prepared everything you need to serve dinner, just in case the other chef doesn’t make it up here tonight.

There’s a range of desserts, starters and even breakfast pastries all prepped and ready to stick in the oven for tomorrow.

Just ring me and I’ll walk you through it. ’

‘Okay. Sounds like a plan.’ Toby trudged quickly through the snow into the lodge while Molly dragged her cases over to the snowmobile to secure them onto the trailer.

The snow fell heavily as a distant rumble of thunder sounded behind the mountains.

It felt like an omen. A sign to leave this place.

She’d come here to escape Levi and complete her bucket list tasks, and at least she had achieved a few of them.

But if she stayed stuck in the hotel kitchen for the next week and couldn’t finish the bucket list by the deadline, she’d lose her restaurant.

Then what would be the point of staying in France at all?

She might as well leave the restaurant closed, fly to Paris and speak to the solicitor face to face about what to do and how quickly she could do it.

She wasn’t giving up her dream without a fight, and time was running out.

Before she changed her mind, Molly took out her phone and texted Petra to say that Levi had dismissed her and that she would be terminating their contract as soon as she got back to the resort.

She apologised for any inconvenience. At least she wouldn’t have any explaining to do and could simply go straight to her lovely cupboard-sized room and pack up the rest of her belongings, which would take all of five minutes, and make her way to the airport.

Who knows, depending on how it went with the solicitor, by nightfall she could be flying back to England, to stay in the safety of her parents’ home, far away from this place.

Back where she started. She’d swap snowmobiles, hot tubs and Levi’s hot tongue flicking her nipples into a frenzy of desire for looking out onto a row of council houses while figuring out how to complete the remaining tasks.

Alone for Christmas while her mum and dad enjoyed their cruise. How lovely.

Molly took a final look at the lodge, the many, many twinkling lights strung around it already lit even though it wasn’t yet midday. Heartbreak aside, the last few days had been the most adventurous of her life. ‘No regrets,’ she whispered to the cold air, her breath instantly freezing.

Toby trudged back over, his boots crunching on the snow. ‘Here are the keys, your walkie-talkie transceiver, which I’ve switched on, and a spare beacon. The mobile signal is very weak here so use it to let me know you’ve got to base, okay? Jeez, those clouds don’t look good. You’d best hurry.’

Molly thanked him. ‘Good luck with the family.’