Chip laughed. “Okay, Ken was the one thing I wasn’t a fan of, but even with that, you’ve been amazing for the hotel.”
Claire let out a sigh. “Yet I still hid one of the FBI’s most wanted in the hotel and put everything in danger.”
“That was nothing,” Chip said, waving a hand. “We’ve seen way worse.”
She laughed. “Still. I want to apologize. It’s no excuse, but I’d just found out that Marty was my nephew, and I think I had some sort of weird complex where I needed to take care of him – to prove to myself that I was still a good mother.”
His face fell. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. And you’re a wonderful mother. What are you talking about?”
“Lucy was up against five years in prison, and Marty wasn’t far behind,” Claire said, shaking her head. “If it weren’t for you –”…”
“Maybe if you’d felt comfortable telling me any of this, we could’ve solved it sooner.” He leaned forward. “That was my fault. From the moment I met you, I treated you like the enemy.”
“You were right to,” she said with a half-smile.
“No. I wasn’t.” He reached forward as though he was going to grab her hand, but stopped at the last second. “You made incredible changes, you have wonderful insights, and the staff loves you.”
“Not Gigi.”
He chuckled. “She doesn’t like anyone – except Luke, and he doesn’t even work here. The fact of the matter is, you’re one of the best things that has ever happened to the hotel. And to me.”
Claire sat back. What could he mean by that? It didn’t matter. She needed to tell him what she’d decided. “I’ve made up my mind about the hotel.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Oh?”
“I’m giving it to you. I’ll step down. It’ll be like I was never here.”
Chip sat back and crossed his arms. “That’s impossible.”
She shrugged. “It’s my hotel. I can sell it to whomever I want. I’ll sell it to you for a dollar.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s impossible for me to pretend you were never here. I don’t want the hotel, not like that.”
She let out a sigh. “What do you want, then?”
He was quiet for a moment, his stare unbroken. “You,” he finally said.
Those butterflies erupted in her chest. “Did Margie tell you to say that?”
“No.” He looked down for a moment. “But she did give me the smallest of hopes that you might have feelings for me, too.”
Claire cleared her throat, but she couldn’t think of what to say.
He spoke again. “I’m about to make a fool of myself, so I’ll make it brief.”
She watched as he got up from his seat and walked over to her. She didn’t protest when he took her hand in his. His hand was so warm, so comforting.
Chip let out a sigh. “I felt something, working with you for these past weeks. I felt it so strongly that sometimes I didn’t know how to behave.”
Claire giggled and squeezed his hand. “You behaved just fine.”
“I can’t imagine staying here without you. I don’t want the hotel. I want you, Claire. I want every bit of you, and if you leave, I’ll have no choice but to follow.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I thought I was imagining things.”
He shook his head, inching closer. “No.”
Her heart was singing. She couldn’t bear it any longer. “I guess, for your sake, I’ll stay.”
His smile reached his eyes. “You will?”
She nodded, and in the next second his lips were on hers, pulling her in. She threw her arms around his neck as her spirit soared, flying past all that she had ever dreamed and beyond.
