by Holly Jaymes
I laughed. “Both sound thrilling. When do we start?”
“Now.” He pushed off and we started down the hill. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my cheek as we picked up speed. I laughed, loving the wind, the speed, the man holding me close.
“I love you, Victoria,” he yelled as we careened down the hill.
When we hit the bottom and slowed down, he pulled me back and kissed me. “That’s how I feel all the time with you. You’re exiting, thrilling, and I’m so fucking glad to be making a life with you.”
I pushed him back off the tube and lay over him. “Let’s go home and do adult thrilling, shall we?”
We stayed at the tubing hill long enough to watch our friends slide down the hill. I had to admit, watching my parents, and Pax’s mom, sliding with his dad, was quite the sight.
We opted not to have a reception and instead, we left them to enjoy the tubing and headed straight to Vegas. Then tomorrow we were going to London.
“It’s the Pax and Victoria Historical Tour,” Pax said when he suggested it for the honeymoon. “This time, I’m going to get it right, though.”
This time, I knew, without a doubt, that he would.
Introduction: Her Forbidden Boss
I had a one-night stand with a stranger. Turns out he’s my new boss!.
I was devastated that I didn’t get my promotion, so I drowned my sorrows in the arms of a charming stranger.
I let go of all of my inhibitions for one night and I did everything he wanted me to.
And then he walked into work the next day as my boss.
Awkward.
I wanted to hate him for taking my job.
But Reece Alexander was too charming, too sexy, too tempting to resist and so I broke the rules, risking my job again, to have a secret affair.
After-all, he wasn’t planning to stay and I wasn’t planning to fall in love. So what would be the harm?
But you know what they say about best laid plans…
Now I’m left wondering should I play it safe, or risk everything one more time?
Chapter 1: Two Ships Passing
Sasha
“You want to what?” I sat in the living area of a cabin at Pine Rest as rock star Pax Ryder and his wife told me their plans to have a wedding ceremony even though they were already married.
“We want to have a ceremony at the top of the tubing hill,” Pax said, grinning at Victoria.
She blushed. “It holds a special place for us.”
“Can you do it? I’ll rent the entire place out. Whatever needs to be done,” Pax said.
It must have been nice to have that kind of money to rent out an entire snow resort. Then again, with his money, he could go to Paris and get remarried at the top of the Eiffel Tower. But he was in Eden Lake asking me to help him. Since planning events was my job, I was happy to help.
“By Valentine’s day,” Victoria added.
I arched a brow. “That’s just over two weeks away.”
“Yes. Can it be done? I know you had more time with Lily’s wedding,” Victoria asked.
Pax’s sister Lily’s wedding was still fast for most weddings I worked on. Generally, I had six months, sometimes more to plan a wedding. I had only six weeks with Lily’s wedding. But Pax and Victoria weren’t wanting all the other frills that went with a wedding. And this was Pax Ryder. Having him as a client would surely secure my bid to become the manager of the Eden Lake office of Sterling Starr Event Planning.
Eden Lake might have seemed like an odd location for an event planning company with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and clients in the upper crust of society. But Eden Lake was a playground for many rich and famous, especially since it was only two hours from Los Angeles. The company also had offices in Palm Springs, Lake Tahoe, and Napa, three other places rich people liked to hangout.
I’d gotten the job as an assistant planner right out of college after earning a degree in business and hospitality. Within a year, I was a full-fledged event planner. Now, six years later, my mentor was retiring and her job as the manager of the Eden Lake office was open. She encouraged me to apply. I was young, but I was good. Getting Lily Maddox and now Pax Ryder as clients was proof that I was an asset to the company.
“Yes. I find that anything can be done, if there are sufficient resources,” I answered Victoria’s question.
“I’ve got lots of resources,” Pax said.
“I have a few too,” Victoria said, not to have her million-dollar skincare company dismissed. They had to be the richest couple in Eden Lake. Maybe even the state.
***
Two weeks later, on Valentine’s Day, I stood at the top of the tubing hill as Pax and Victoria redid their vows in front of a small group of family and friends that included Pax’s supermodel mom and sister, and his father, who happened to be the sheriff of Eden Lake. It wasn’t the oddest event I’d ever put on, but it was still one that would probably stick out in my mind as the years went on.
The couple kissed, and Pax ushered Victoria to a tube and together, they slid down, whooping and laughing and kissing. The romantic in me thought that moment was the best. Pure joy and bliss were emanating from them as they started their lives…or restarted their lives, experiencing the thrill of sliding down a snow-covered hill.
“Well that was different,” Pax’s mom said.
“How about some hot coco?” the sheriff asked her, looping an arm around her shoulders. “My treat.”
“Put some bourbon in it and I’m there,” she replied.
I knew they were divorced, but there was a look between them that suggested they sometimes still hooked up. I sensed a romantic element there too.
“You two go down in tubes,” Allie told Josh and his brother Wyatt. “Me and Lily will walk down with everyone else.”
“We can’t let you go down by yourselves,” Wyatt said.
“You know you want to. I know I would if it weren’t unsafe for the baby.”
“Me too,” added Allie, pressing her hand over her stomach. Tubing was a great wedding idea, but it would have worked better if most of the guests were going to slide down the hill. But several were pregnant and others seemed to think it was beneath their dignity to tube down a hill.
“I’ll go with you,” I suggested. I was dressed nicely for the event, but as I’d known it was outside on a snowy hill, I was prepared for wet and cold. “Or I’ll walk down with the ladies, although the sheriff is hoofing it too.”
“You go with them. Make sure they don’t kill themselves,” Allie said, her brow arched as if Josh was prone to extreme sport accidents.
“I’m not the one that falls when hiking,” he quipped.
She blushed, suggesting there was something behind the story.
I got a tube, as did Wyatt and Josh.
“It’s nice of you to escort us down,” Josh said.
“It’s all part of the job.” I watched as they pushed off, racing each other like two brothers would. Then I started down. I closed my eyes, letting the rush of the wind and cold wash over me. Today is going to be a good day, I thought. As thrilling as this was, the real excitement would come later that day when I was officially told I’d be getting the manager job.
Pax and Victoria didn’t want a reception. They headed out for a honeymoon the minute they hit the bottom of the hill, but they did arrange a small gathering at the recreation building at Pine Rest. Since Mason and Tucker McLean had partnered with the Minors to renovate the resort, it had become a popular place for events. So, once we finished at the tube slope, I met them at Pine Rest where a caterer had prepared a meal.
I was conferring with the caterer when Allie pulled me aside. “This was so fun. I almost wish we had our wellness retreat in winter to include tubing.”
I laughed. “You probably could.”
“Something to think about. In the meantime, Mason and I want to talk to you about helping us with the summer wellness retreat. Would you have time next week?”
>
I nodded. Mason McLean was another bigwig client I’d secured. He had a fitness empire that included his own streaming channel. I’d helped with his wedding to Willa and then consulted with him and Allie, the town’s yoga instructor, on their retreat last year. “Sure.”
“We’d like to hire you to help out more. We pulled it off last year, but we were in over our heads on some things you could have done in your sleep.”
I laughed. “I don’t know about that, but I’d be happy to help. Will it be here at Pine Rest again?”
“Yes. All the cabins are finished now, and a new dock will be going in as soon as the weather warms up, so we’ll have an easier time kayaking and paddle boarding.”
“Call me when you know when you and Mason can meet.”
“Sounds good. So, do you have big plans for tonight? It’s Valentine’s day after all,” Allie asked.
I shook my head. “No big plans.” Well, that wasn’t true. I had a bottle of champagne I was going to drink to toast my new job. But I’d be alone. That was okay. It was the price I paid for success. Being an event planner meant I worked nearly every day, which didn’t fit well into a dating life. But I was only twenty-seven, I had time to find love. Plus, once I got the manager job, I’d be able to have better hours. I’d be managing people, not events.
Allie frowned. “You know what they say about all work and no play?”
“Makes me successful at my job?”
She laughed. “If that’s what you want, then it’s all good.”
When my duties had ended, I headed back to Sterling Starr and to the office I’d earned after I’d secured football star Tucker McLean as a client for his wedding. I closed my door and considered packing up. While this office was nice, the manager’s office was bigger and had a view of the lake.
My phone buzzed and I picked it up.
“Sasha, can you come into my office?” my boss Carolyn asked.
Butterflies flittered with excitement in my belly. This was it. The job offer. I was giddy, but worked to tamp it down.
I walked down the hall and entered Carolyn’s office. “You wanted to see me.”
“Yes. How was the Ryder-Sinclair wedding?”
I laughed as I sat in the chair. “They slid off into the sunset.”
She rolled her eyes. “When I started, nearly all weddings were in a religious building, by the lake, or in a hotel ballroom.”
“Or Vegas,” I added, since technically Pax and Victoria were married at the beginning of the year in Vegas.
“Yes, well.” She blew out a breath and looked down as she brushed her hand over papers on her desk. It seemed like a nervous gesture which made my stomach clench. “About the manager position.”
“Yes.” My breath stalled in my lungs.
She looked at me and there was such disappointment in her eyes I knew I wasn’t going to like what she was going to tell me.
“The home office is sending out my replacement from there.”
All the wind left my lungs and I sagged back in the chair. “What? Why… I thought for sure…”
“I did too, Sasha. I really did. I hate that I got your hopes up.”
“Why? I’m young but I know what I’m doing.”
She made a fffttt sound. “I told them that. They’re sending someone with more experience in the celebrity crowd.”
My gaze jerked to hers. “What? I have celebrity experience. Tucker McLean. Lily Maddox. Pax Ryder. Even Mason McLean, if you include him as a celebrity.”
“I know.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “I told them they were jerks. You brought on these clients and now since we’re doing more, they decided we needed someone with more experience.”
My eyes narrowed. “So, since I brought in more celebrity clients here, they’re rewarding me by giving an outsider my job?”
She nodded. “That about sums it up. I think because most of our celebrity clients in the past were referred out from the main office. Our generating them here is new, and apparently they think we need help.”
I wanted to swear. I wanted to throw something.
“I’m sorry, Sasha. I don’t know if it will help, but they did give you a bonus and raise.”
I supposed it was something that the home office recognized the work I’d done at least. Still. I rose from my chair.
“Take the rest of the day. Go find a drink and man and numb away your pain. You can even take tomorrow off if you want.”
I was too upset to say anything so I simply nodded and left the office.
As I drove away, upset turned to anger that then turned to rage. How dare they hand over all my hard work to someone else. I should quit. I could start my own event planning business. Except I couldn’t. At least not here because of the non-compete contract I’d signed.
No problem, I could get a job as an event specialist at one of the resorts here. It would be so much easier since the facility and the catering was on site.
I made a beeline to Eden Lake Resort, ready to talk to my contact there about a potential job. I was walking through the lobby, then I remembered I was going to work with Allie and Mason on their retreat. I couldn’t do that if I left Sterling Starr. It was probably a bad idea to make a decision in the heat of anger anyway.
“Hey, Sasha.”
I turned to see Bobby Easton at the bar. “You look like you could use a drink.”
“Hey, Bobby.” I knew him from the events I coordinated here where he was the bartender. “I could use several.”
“Hop on up. What can I get you?”
“What will numb the agony of being betrayed,” I asked, going to the bar.
He frowned. “Some douche bag break your heart?”
“Sort of.” I climbed up on the stool next to a man who looked like he’d been here for business, but his tie was loosened and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, revealing tan, strong forearms.
“Whisky, scotch, vodka or tequila.”
“Does it work?”
He laughed. “No. But it can make you forget for a minute.”
“Vodka.”
“One shot?” he asked.
“Yes. Then mixed. Maybe with cola or something.”
“Coming up,” Bobby said.
“Tough day?” the man next to me asked.
I looked at him. Eden Lake was small enough that nearly everyone knew who everyone else was, if not personally, then by simply having seen them around. This man, I’d never seen. Then again, I was in a bar at the resort, so chances were he was a tourist.
“I’ve had better,” I answered.
Bobby set a shot of vodka in front of me. I lifted it, mentally prepped myself for the jolt, and then downed it. I gave my head a shake as the potent liquid burned its way down my throat.
“Forget yet?” Bobby asked, putting a vodka with cola down and taking the shot glass away.
“Nope.”
“Whoever he is, he’s a dumbass,” the man next to me said.
I glanced at him again, wondering what he was talking about. Then I remembered I only mentioned a betrayal, so he probably thought it was a man.
Still he wasn’t wrong. The powers that be at Sterling Starr were dumbasses.
“Definitely his loss,” Bobby said. “Sash here is as good as they come.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Bobby.”
“Our friend Reece here was stood up too.” Bobby handed him another beer.
“Oh?” I looked at him again and couldn’t believe it. “What’s wrong with you?”
He looked puzzled. Bobby laughed.
“What makes you think there’s something wrong with me?” At least he was smiling, taking my comment in good humor.
“Well, you look like you stepped out of an Armani ad, so it’s not because you’re ugly.”
He grinned. “You have a way of saying something so it’s both a compliment and a criticism.”
I realized I was being rude. “Sorry. I just…”
“No problem. Let me bu
y you a drink and maybe I can improve the impression you have of me beyond the fact that I look like an Armani ad.”
I wasn’t one to sit in resort bars and drink away my troubles, and yet there I was. I also wasn’t the sort of person to let a man pick me up in a bar, but as the saying went, when in Rome.
“Sure. Why not?”
He smiled, making his hazel eyes look warm, which made me feel warm. I was a sucker for great eyes. This guy had a great face overall, high cheekbones, well-groomed beard scruff, an expensive haircut where it was short along the sides, and longer on top, combed back in a way that made it look like he’d run his fingers through it. But it was the eyes that I kept coming back to.
“I’m Reece, by the way.” He held out his hand.
“Sasha.” I shook his hand, feeling the tingle of attraction. Normally I ignored that. Not that I didn’t like men or ever want to be in love, but my career had been my all-encompassing focus. But an hour later, when he invited me to dinner, I said yes, because if my career wasn’t going to be a source of joy, I’d enjoy myself on a date. Plus, Reece was turning out to be a really fun guy.
I learned he was from a small town outside of San Diego, his sister once put a snake in his bed, and he loved movies, with a particular interest in cheesy eighties teen movies.
“So, you want to be a screenwriter, like John Hughes. Are you here to find your muse?” I asked as he poured me another glass of wine.
He shrugged. “Not exactly, but I’m hoping she’s here.” He sipped from his own glass. “What about you? What do you do?”
I waved the comment away. “I don’t want to talk about my work.” I sat back and sighed. “I just want to have fun for once.”
“How is it a smart, charming, beautiful woman like you is alone on Valentine’s day?”
“I’m not alone. I’m with you.” The minute it left my lips, I felt stupid. I wasn’t his Valentine. Good God, he could already have a Valentine. “Besides, I could ask the same of you.”
His hazel eyes flashed with a green spark that had my girlie bits flaring to life.
