by Debbie Mason
“Look, there’s the lodge.” Autumn pointed out the lights twinkling through the trees. “The turnoff should be right about…” She thunked her head on the passenger window on purpose. “You missed it.”
The only place to turn around with a modicum of safety was the lodge’s lower parking lot, and it was a quarter mile down the dark road. It didn’t matter if it was ten feet away. Sophia had no intention of going near the lot. The last time she had been there was the morning after her husband died, almost a decade before.
They’d been overcome with shock and grief, and no one had given much thought to the car Bryce had driven to the mountain. A former Olympic skier, he’d been his family’s shining star, one of Christmas’s favorite sons, and for three years Sophia had been his wife. A good wife, she had thought. And despite how his family had always made her feel, she had taken some comfort in knowing Bryce had loved her as much as she’d loved him. Except everything she’d thought she knew about her husband and their marriage was turned on its head the day she sat in his car in the lower parking lot, reading the letter he’d left behind.
Sophia slammed on the brakes, as much to stop the car as to stop the memories. She’d worked hard to move past her anger and her grief and didn’t wish to deal with the emotions tonight. It would be difficult enough being at the lodge without her memories following her there.
Once the Expedition stopped fishtailing, she put it in Reverse and pressed the gas. Lights from an approaching vehicle turned the inside of her SUV heaven-white.
“Sophia!” Autumn and Ty yelled.
She hit the brakes, causing the tires to spin. They kept spinning. Around and around they went, coming to a stop almost bumper to bumper with a monster truck out of a Stephen King movie.
When the driver’s door of the black truck opened and a tall, broad-shouldered man stepped out, Sophia gasped. And it wasn’t an admiring gasp because the man was so big and so gorgeous; it was a gasp of shock and horror.
Adam Dane was back in town.
“Okay, so I totally forgive you for almost killing us,” Ty said, resting his arms on the front seats as he peered out the windshield to no doubt get a better look at the man now walking around the back of his monster truck with his phone to his ear. “What do you think the chances are that our Knight in Sheepskin is gay?”
“None,” Sophia and Autumn said at almost the same time.
They used to swoon whenever six-foot-four Adam Dane sauntered into a room, blush and stammer when he deigned to speak to them. They’d spend days, weeks, speculating about his latest romantic conquest while secretly wondering what it must be like to date a man like him. But that was before Sophia had fallen in love with Bryce, before she and Bryce were engaged, before she found out exactly what his older brother thought of her.
“You don’t have to sound so definite about it. You could have given me a little…Here he comes.” Ty rattled the door handle. “There must be a child lock on this thing. Let me out, bae.”
“Do not call me ‘bae.’ ‘Bae’ means poop in Danish.” She felt like poop. She always did in Adam’s presence. But it had been years since she’d been within a few feet of him, almost a decade since she’d last spoken to him. At the sound of his boots on the snow, she pressed on the gas, and the engine roared to life.
“No!” Ty, Autumn, and Adam yelled.
The sound of crunching metal cleared up Sophia’s why-are-they-yelling-at-me mystery. She’d put the gear into Drive, not Reverse. Swearing in Spanish, she corrected her mistake and put the car in Reverse.
“No!”
The teeth-grating sound of metal meeting metal explained why they yelled at her again. Only this time it was more of a ripping-apart sound than a crunching one.
Her door opened, and Adam leaned past her to turn off the engine and grab the keys, his large body pressing her back into the seat. His jacket was cold where it brushed her cheek. He smelled like suede and fir trees.
“Hey, Red,” he said to Autumn in his deep, panty-melting voice, and then he turned his head to look at Sophia.
His blue eyes stood out in his handsome, tanned face. The California sunshine was no doubt responsible for his golden skin and the caramel streaks in his dark brown hair. He worked as a US Marshal in the northern part of the state. She wondered if it was the job or the sun that deepened the lines at the corners of his eyes and the ones that bracketed either side of his mouth. “I see your driving hasn’t improved, Dimples.”
Sophia’s gaze jerked from his mouth to his eyes. He’d stopped calling her Dimples the day Bryce announced their engagement.
Adam straightened to stand by the open car door, and her cheeks warmed like they used to whenever he was near. Even though his big body no longer held her hostage, he made her nervous, and that made her as angry as his dig about her driving. “My driving is not the problem. It’s the road. And you and your monster—”
“It’s great to see you, Adam.” Autumn intervened, then winced. “I mean, the circumstances aren’t great, but it’s really nice to see you. Logan and the kids…” She glanced at Sophia, who stared at her, aghast.
Not only was her BFF fawning over Adam like when they were young and stupid and enamored with his rugged good looks, but the way she mentioned Logan and his children told Sophia everything she needed to know and didn’t want to. Ty hadn’t been exaggerating.
Sophia had ruined her car and her New Year’s Eve for nothing. She didn’t need to see Autumn and Logan in the same room to know their relationship was more than casual. She could just as easily devise a breakup plan at the Penalty Box as she could at the lodge.
At least if they’d gone to the local sports bar, she wouldn’t have to worry about the couple sneaking off somewhere to share a kiss on one of the most romantic nights of the year. And she wouldn’t be mere inches from a man she had hoped never to see again. A man she’d once admired and whose opinion had mattered to her more than most.
Autumn continued. “I mean Calder and Nell will be glad you made it.”
“I know I am, and you should be too, Gloria, because he is so your Joe,” Ty said next to Sophia’s ear. Then he leaned the upper half of his body across the seat to offer his hand to Adam. “Hi. I’m Ty. I’m Red and Dimple’s—”
“Boyfriend!” Sophia blurted in hopes of stopping Ty’s matchmaking before it got started. Then she realized what that sounded like. “Not both of our boyfriend. Just mine. He is my boyfriend.”
No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than she realized she’d wasted the perfect opportunity to throw a monkey wrench in Logan and Autumn’s budding relationship. She shouldn’t have corrected herself. She should have said Ty was Autumn’s boyfriend. Except most people in town knew Ty dated men, not women.
Ty and Autumn stared at her. Adam did too, and in such a way that suggested he also knew Ty was gay.
Ty gave Sophia a hug so exuberant it knocked her faux-fur hat off her head. “Good try, but I’m not letting you ruin this,” he whispered in her ear. Then he lifted his head to look at Adam. “Isn’t she adorable?”
Thankfully, he didn’t give the man a chance to respond. The last thing Sophia wanted was for Ty to hear what Adam thought of her. “She’s trying to protect my feelings by playing my beard. It’s probably that alpha-man vibe you give off,” Ty told Adam. “She’s afraid you might hurt my feelings if you knew I was gay. And trust me, you don’t want to put Gloria between me and a homophobe.”
“She knows me better than that,” Adam said, then frowned. “Who’s Gloria?”
“He did not say Gloria. He said—”
Ty talked over her. “You know, Gloria from Modern Family? Sofía Vergara?”
The corner of Adam’s mouth tipped up. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s a resemblance.”
“Resemblance? They’re twins.” Ty pulled out his phone. “Here, you have to get the full effect.”
Sophia grabbed Ty’s phone before he could pass it to Adam. “He does not have time to watch you
r silly video.”
“Um, are we just going to sit in the car all night?” Autumn asked.
“Yes. Yes, we are. Why? Did you have somewhere you wanted to go? Someone you wanted to see?”
“Why are you mad at me? It was your idea to go to the lodge for New Year’s Eve.”
“No. It was his idea.” Sophia jerked her thumb at Ty, who tried to free his phone from her fisted grip. She tightened her fingers around the gold metallic case. “But you are the reason he had the idea. You”—she stared down her BFF—“and Logan.”
Autumn’s eyes went wide, and Sophia nodded. “Yes. I know you’ve been sneaking around with him behind my back.”
Autumn turned on Ty, who’d managed to free his phone from Sophia’s fingers. “I told you not to tell—”
Sophia cut off Autumn at the same time as she undid her seat belt in an effort to get the phone back from Ty. “You told him not to tell me, the sister of—”
The voice of Gloria from Modern Family filled the car. “See? Twins, right?” Ty said, holding the phone out of Sophia’s reach.
As she practically climbed over the seat to get the phone from Ty, Adam’s arms went around her from behind. “Okay, guys, I hate to break up your fun, but the tow truck I called is here.” Adam half lifted her from the SUV.
He was exactly like she remembered. Strong, decisive, the first to step forward and take charge of a situation. He’d been the laid-back, even-tempered Dane. He could diffuse a bar fight with a single word or a single look. No one messed with him, and no one had been surprised when he’d ended up in law enforcement.
He set her on her feet beside him, opened the door for Ty, and then leaned in to grab Sophia’s white fur hat and purse off the floor. His eyes glinted with amusement as he carefully fitted the hat on her head, his gloved hand brushing her cheek when he tucked away some wayward strands of hair. “You really haven’t changed, have you?” he said, handing her the oversize purse.
It didn’t matter that the words were said lightly and without sarcasm; they felt like an insult. “You do not know me, Adam Dane. You never did.” She turned away, blinking the watery sting from her eyes.
He leaned in to her, his warm, spearmint-scented breath fanning her cheek. “Yeah, I did, Soph. I knew you better than you knew yourself,” he said, and then jogged toward the tow truck, which was at that moment sliding off the road.
Autumn and Ty came to stand beside her in the glow of the emergency lights, the three of them watching Adam take control of the situation.
“Please tell me that man has brothers and at least one of them is gay.”
“Ty, that’s Adam Dane. Logan’s…Logan and Bryce’s brother.”
“Wha-at? Why didn’t you tell me?” He wrapped an arm around Sophia’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. If I’d known who he was, I wouldn’t have teased you or been nice to him. I would have defended you. I’ll do that right now.” He tossed an end of his scarf over his shoulder with a flourish and started off in Adam’s direction.
“No!” Both Sophia and Autumn grabbed on to an arm and reeled him back. Sophia narrowed her eyes at Autumn. “I know why I don’t want him to make a scene. Why don’t you?” As the reason came to her, she gave her head a slow, mournful shake. “It’s already happening, isn’t it? You’re protecting Logan, not me, not us.”
“Of course not. I love you, Soph.” Autumn reached for her hand and gave it a soft squeeze. “I know you’re hurt I didn’t tell you about Logan and me, and I’m really sorry I kept it from you. It’s just that I knew you’d be upset, and I didn’t know if anything would come of it.”
“Has it? Has anything come of it?” Sophia asked, afraid of the answer but desperate to know.
“Maybe. I’m not sure. It’s complicated. There are children involved, so…” She lifted a shoulder, looking up when someone called her name. A man wearing a beige cowboy hat stuck his head out of the open window of a silver Range Rover that idled on the road to the lodge. The cowboy waved Autumn over. It was Logan Dane.
Autumn nibbled on her bottom lip.
“Go,” Sophia said, feeling optimistic after Autumn’s admission that the children were a complication. To her that sounded like the couple would soon be uncoupling. Besides, there wouldn’t be much they could do tonight with the children around. The party was a family affair.
“You and Ty come too. I’m sure Adam called Logan to get us.” She nodded at Adam, who’d pushed the tow truck out of the snowbank and was now standing off to the side, guiding the driver, who slowly backed toward the accident scene.
“I can’t leave until I know how bad the damage is to my car.” She caught Ty gazing longingly at the Range Rover and sighed. “Go with Autumn.”
“Really? You’re sure?” Before she got yes out of her mouth, he hugged her. “Thanks, ba…bunny.” He grinned. “It’s better than poop, right? And don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on Autumn and Logan until you get to the lodge. You are coming, aren’t you?”
She glanced from the monster truck eating her bumper to its owner, who’d gotten behind the wheel. “The way my New Year’s Eve has gone so far, I think I’ll go home and read by the fire.”
“Are you crazy?” Ty said, holding up a finger when the Range Rover’s horn blasted. “Have you never heard that what happens to you on New Year’s Eve is a harbinger of your year to come?”
“No, but—” She was going to say she wouldn’t mind spending next year reading by the fire.
Ty cut her off before she had a chance. “I can tell you from personal experience that it’s true. And your night has been Bad with a capital B. The last thing you need or want is to hit repeat for 365 nights next year.” As though she didn’t understand how truly bad her night had been, he listed the high points for her. “Lousy sales, BFFs lying to you, car crashes, and the first man I decide to match you with turns out to be the meanie from your past.”
Since he put it that way…
“Trust me, Gloria. You have to turn this night around, and you have to turn it around fast.”
Chapter Three
Adam glanced at the woman sitting in the passenger seat of his truck talking on her cell phone. He was surprised she’d taken him up on his offer for a ride to the lodge. Sophia made no secret of how she felt about him.
She hadn’t always hated him though. There’d been a time when her dark eyes followed his every move. When he’d walk into a room and she’d welcome him with a smile that lit up her gorgeous face and showed off dimples that made him smile in return. Smiling, teasing, and keeping a protective eye on her had been as far as he’d allowed the mutual attraction he sensed between them to go. She’d been too young, and he hadn’t been ready to settle down.
Back then that was the only future he’d envisioned for Sophia—a house with a white picket fence and kids as beautiful as the girl who’d captured his attention the first time he’d seen her. He’d kept his feelings for her to himself until it was too late to do anything about them.
He’d walked into his grandfather’s living room in the middle of Bryce announcing his engagement to Sophia. Overcome with shock and an anger like he’d never felt before, Adam had lashed out. His inability to control his jealous rage had shaken him. He’d said things he regretted to this day. His relationship with his brother and with Sophia had never been the same. As he’d learned, time healed many things, but some things it made worse.
“Were you able to get a loaner from the body shop?” he asked when she disconnected.
“Yes. Jake takes good care of me.”
“Boyfriend?” Brilliant, Dane. It was none of his damn business who she was dating. It should have been of no interest to him either. She was his brother’s widow. Off-limits to him just like she had always been.
She snorted. “I am too old for a boyfriend. Jake is a friend.”
He wasn’t sure if that meant Jake was her boyfriend or not, but he refused to give in to the temptation to ask. “Thirty-three isn’t old.”
“You
say that because you are old.”
He laughed. Classic Sophia. She never did have a filter. Except when she and Bryce were married, he amended. She’d reinvented herself to fit his baby brother’s image of the wife his agent, fans, and his family expected. Adam was happy to see the old Sophia back. “Thirty-eight isn’t old,” he told her.
The irony didn’t escape him. At twenty-three, their five-year age difference had felt insurmountable. The thought annoyed him, and he refocused his attention on the winding road to the lodge instead of on the woman beside him. But his mind wasn’t on board with his plans. The warm, seductive scent of her perfume filled the truck’s cab and his mind with memories. Over the years he’d done his damnedest not to think about her, and now his head was filled with regrets, thoughts of what might have been.
“I thought you were older,” she said.
“Thanks a lot.”
“I meant when we were young. You were always more responsible than us, more serious.”
“You make me sound like an old man. All I did was try to keep you out of trouble. It wasn’t easy.” She stiffened beside him, and he winced. He’d stepped on a land mine. There were so many between them that it was only a matter of time before he did.
He should have gone with his gut and said no when his grandfather and brother insisted he attend the grand reopening of the lodge tonight of all nights. With Autumn dating Logan, the likelihood Sophia would be here had been good. The two women were inseparable.
“Oh, yes, I was the wicked, wild woman who was not good enough for your brother. The woman who would lead him astray.” There was more than anger in her voice; there was hurt too.
“You know what? It’s long past time we got this out in the open.” He pulled to the side of the road and put on his hazards.
“There’s nothing to get out in the open. I know everything you said about me when you dragged Bryce outside the night of our engagement. He told me after you left. But even if he hadn’t, it was obvious how you felt. How your family felt. I’m surprised you didn’t all stand up at the wedding and object.”
