by Allie Burton
She got out of bed and grabbed her robe, covering herself from temptation. She couldn’t let herself say yes to a date. Tonight had been amazing, but she had work to accomplish before escaping from this arctic hamlet. She didn’t see herself getting involved and Paul had relationship written all over him. From his caring to his concern for her well-being to his wanting to please.
“The following day?” His tone dropped an octave finally understanding there wouldn’t be another time.
“Sorry, I can’t.” She hated herself for sounding cold. It was for her own protection, and his. Why draw out the inevitable? She’d promised no heartbreaks and a clean ending was best.
She’d learned that lesson the hard way.
* * *
Paul’s feet froze to the icy ground. He couldn’t move.
He stood at the bottom of the slope after his brother’s competition with eyes wide as a mountain valley. He wasn’t watching the race. He was watching the woman he’d slept with last night. She sauntered up to professional skier Luke Logan and planted a huge smooch on the man. In front of the entire crowd.
Her bright red lips pouted. The same pout she’d used on Paul to lure him to bed.
His chest clenched, and his lighter-than-normal heart plummeted into his churning stomach. Vivienne had asked him if he’d been married or had a girlfriend. He’d assumed by her questions and aggressive attitude the answers for her had been the same. A big fat no.
And yet, here she was kissing another man like making love had never happened. Where was Luke Logan last night?
Her tight, long leather coat hugged her tall frame and round hips. A different coat than the ruined one from yesterday. She wore tall, high-heeled boots that spiked into the snow. Full make-up as if she needed a mask. Her flowing blonde hair was styled in fashionable curls. Not muddy, or wet and straight after their shower.
Paul fisted his hands in his gloves. A knee-jerk jealous response hardened every muscle and tendon. He wanted to rip her out of the man’s arms. Except she’d turned him down flat. Wasn’t interested in a second date or ever seeing him again. She’d treated him as a sexual object. He felt used and abused.
Clenching and unclenching his fingers, he tried to loosen the grip of anger building in his bloodstream. He’d never treated any woman the way she’d treated him. In college, he’d had real relationships. Granted, they didn’t last long, and his last girlfriend broke up with him when he’d returned home to take care of his brother and sisters. Since then, he’d barely dated and when they made love it was mutual. Not a wham-bam-thank-you-sir.
And here he’d been feeling guilty for taking advantage of her emotional upset.
He’d worried about her the rest of the night and all day today. He’d been tempted to swing by the lodge and see how she was doing.
She was dating or in a relationship with Logan and had been using Paul. For what he didn’t know. Shoving the guilt aside, he wiped his hands one against the other. Good riddance. If she couldn’t stay faithful, he wanted nothing to do with her.
Clouds moved in front of the bright winter sun adding a chill to the air.
The over-the-top kiss ended, and she tossed one of those beguiling smiles. Logan’s frown showed displeasure.
Air evacuated Paul’s lungs. How could any man not enjoy her kiss?
Maybe Logan and Vivienne had had a lover’s spat and that was why she’d turned to someone else last night. The cold and mud from yesterday seemed to reappear on Paul’s body weighing him down. He truly had been a one-night stand. Never before had that happened. Never would it happen again.
He was a one-woman type of guy.
His younger brother Jay waved, bobbing up and down even while carrying his skis and helmet. “Did you see my last run?”
Paul hadn’t. His shoulders slumped. He’d been distracted by the blonde bombshell. With a hole gaping in his midsection, he totally understood the meaning of the description. “Sorry, I missed the last one. I saw the others, though.”
The reason he’d come to the ski hill. To watch his brother race. Not to ogle a woman he never should’ve slept with. He wanted to kick himself. When he’d been in the relationship game, he’d meet a woman he was interested in and woo her. Not try to get her into bed as soon as possible. Not use her.
His brother’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead. A hopeful light brightened his gaze. “And?”
“You were great! Just great!” He needed to stop thinking about the woman and focus on his brother.
His family, his siblings, were his life. And his anchor.
Anchors were a good thing. They kept you centered, focused, in one place.
He brushed the last thought aside. He loved his brother and sisters. He didn’t resent leaving college to come home and take care of them. He would do anything for them. They’d become closer after the tragic car accident that had killed their parents.
Jay pulled back his shoulders. He resembled a miniature version of Paul. Too much blonde hair, making him scruffy. Too much energy, making him move non-stop. Too much skill, making him act egotistical. “Coach Ryder said I could go pro.”
Except that. Paul would support his brother in anything except professional skiing.
The career was too risky. Chances of making it were small. Chances of injuries were high. As a paramedic in a ski town he’d seen plenty.
He clenched his jaw. “No way in hell.”
He hadn’t spent the last seven years of his life watching out for his brother, so he could get killed in a dangerous sport. Or worse, cause permanent damage from long term abuse of the body. Jay would be graduating high school this year and the kid had to start taking life more seriously.
“Look at Luke Logan.” Jay pointed in the direction Paul didn’t want to note. “Logan’s from Castle Ridge and he made it in professional skiing.”
Green envy sliced through Paul leaving his lungs in shredded ribbons. The man had been kissing the woman he wanted. Who’d taken care of her needs last night? He had. He wanted to pound his chest.
His brother spoke of the skier with hero worship. Who took care of Jay when he was sick? Who took him to ski practice? Who fed him and made sure he had clean clothes to wear?
Paul.
Not to mention clothes that fit. The kid grew like a bean sprout.
As a family they’d struggled. Emotionally and financially. The little money their parents left had gotten them through the first few years. Once he’d become an EMT, he began to make money. He’d worked hard and earned his current managerial position without neglecting his siblings. Only his social life.
After his desperate need last night, maybe it was time to change. To start dating again. He was only twenty-seven. There was time to find someone. A blonde vision floated in front of him and everything inside morphed to stone.
Not her.
Not after the way she’d treated him.
“Logan is back here now, coaching kids from what I heard.” Paul tried not to be petty even though the rumors in town were rampant.
“Logan is injured and rehabilitating. He’ll be back on the slopes soon.” The hero worship stayed on his brother’s face.
Paul wished the kid looked at him that way again. When Jay was younger he’d admired his big brother. Since high school he’d rebelled. Didn’t every teen?
“I’ve got to go see Coach. I’ll see you later.” Jay’s resentment chilled the already cold environment. He swiveled on the heels of his ski boots.
“Dinner’s at six.” Paul couldn’t help surveying in a certain direction.
Vivienne and the skier were in an intense discussion slightly removed from the adoring crowd.
“I’m almost eighteen.” Jay might be close to adulthood, but he acted the whiny kid.
“Dinner’s still at six.” Paul spoke to no one because his brother had disappeared into the crowd.
The loneliness blasted him at once, opening a hole in his future. His sisters were busy with their lives and his brother kep
t pushing him away. Maybe he was the only one clinging to the past.
He swiveled around and stopped. Vivienne and Logan were standing right there. They weren’t holding hands and she wasn’t clinging to his arm. They appeared separate. And yet there’d been the kiss.
Her green eyes widened, and her mouth shaped into a red bow. “Paul?”
Don’t stare at her lips, don’t stare at her lips.
Because he’d want to take her in his arms and kiss her, prove to her skier boyfriend exactly what she’d been doing last night. No way was he getting in the middle of their relationship though. It wasn’t his business. Maybe in the professional ski world people slept around.
Another reason to stop his brother from becoming a professional skier.
Lovemaking was about love and relationships. About caring for the other person. Last night had been an aberration. Something about the woman called to him, connected to him, convinced him to stay.
The tart taste of regret slipped away imitating what they could never become.
Logan assessed both of them. Older by a couple of years, they hadn’t known each other in high school. The skier’s dark tan spoke of a life outside. His athletic build and sunny smirk brought him lots of media attention. “You two know each other?”
“Intimately.” The word slipped out of Paul’s mouth and he smashed his lips tight. He hadn’t planned on tattling.
“What?” The skier scanned back and forth.
Vivi’s cheeks went red and she glanced at the ground. The almond soap scent reminded him of their shower, of taking care of her before making love. He didn’t want to hurt her. Part of the promise he’d made. “I mean, because of the car accident last night. It seems like I know her intimately.”
Her cheeks grew redder. She touched the skier’s coat sleeve. “I told you about the car accident.”
He didn’t want to let her completely off the hook. She’d lied by insinuating she wasn’t in a relationship. “You didn’t mention you were dating one of our most illustrious hometown heroes.”
Did he sound uptight and angry?
Beneath the red of embarrassment her skin went pale. Concern struck, and he leaned forward ready to comfort. He stopped himself. Logan could comfort her now.
“Relationship? No.” Logan shook his head.
The kiss Paul had witnessed had to signal some type of relationship. He remembered rumors of the skier’s scandals and affairs. A hard shell built around him. Guess Vivienne had the same type of affairs and one-night stands.
Like theirs.
Her gloved hands fluttered. “No. We’re—”
“Doesn’t matter.” Paul didn’t want to know what they were to each other. Lovers, friends with benefits, whatever. Shaking off the new dirt clinging to him, he needed to get away before he said something he’d regret. “I’ve got to get home and cook dinner.”
The statement wasn’t manly, the opposite of everything Logan probably did. Paul couldn’t compare to the athletic, successful, celebrity skier. No wonder she’d said no to a date. Nerves roiled with pride in his gut. The sex had been good, right?
“Cook dinner?” Logan spoke like the task was a completely foreign concept. It probably was for him going from one hotel to another. From one woman to another.
Vivi continued to study Paul as if she was trying to figure him out.
Agitation had him bristling. Why bother figuring him out if she wanted nothing to do with him? “For my family.”
“You said you didn’t have a family.” Her voice went sharp. Could she possibly be even a little jealous?
The agitation smoothed a bit. “I said I didn’t have a wife or a girlfriend.”
Her expression cleared with understanding. “Brothers and sisters.”
At least she remembered some of their conversation. Not that there’d been much talking. There’d been caressing and kissing and sex. Just sex. Nothing more. Not making love.
Did she think the sex was good? Memorable even? Because he remembered every moment. Green envy spiked in his arteries making his heart pummel. Had it been better sex than with Luke Logan?
Or was bad sex the reason she’d said no to a second date?
Chapter Four
March
Vivienne rubbed a hand across her tired eyes and sank into a booth at the bar of the Castle Ridge Lodge. She’d been in and out of the tiny mountain hamlet several times over the past three months. Quick visits to meet with Luke and to sign another client, Michael Marstrand, a celebrity chef with contract issues and now a public relations nightmare.
Normally, she thrived on the intensity of her business. These circumstances were different. A reality show set-up with innocent victims and ruined reputations. A desperate situation where she’d fought alongside her client.
She scanned the patrons, not searching for anyone in particular, or so she told herself. When she didn’t spot a familiar face, disappointment flowed through her veins.
Several people were crowded around the glossy wooden bar. Probably because the notoriety of her client. The restaurant at the lodge, The Heights, had been fully booked since the nightmare. A beat-up piano sat on a small stage. Pleasant smells wafted from the kitchen. Booths surrounded the bar area, mostly full of people.
None of them were Paul. Why couldn’t she get the man out of her head?
On her other business trips to Castle Ridge she’d thought about searching for him, except she didn’t even know his last name. She couldn’t call 9-1-1 in the hopes he’d arrive in his ambulance to her rescue. She didn’t need rescuing. She needed to forget him.
And yet, the one night together had been special. It might’ve started out as sex, but she’d experienced the tug of something more. Which was why she’d turned him down flat for a date. She’d been terrified and wasn’t ready to get involved.
Now? She wasn’t so sure.
He tempted her like no other. A lure on a fishing line, only she didn’t want to be caught. Did she? She slapped a hand against her forehead. She’d been hanging around with the locals too much talking about fishing. Next thing you know, they’d have her on skis.
This from the woman who only moves on? Luke Logan’s harsh observation from the night she’d given him relationship advice came back to haunt her.
A ghost shivered across her skin. Luke knew little about her personal life. Their normal business relationship didn’t include touchy-feely conversations or kisses to make someone jealous. And this mess with Michael, had her being pulled into her clients’ personal relationships again. She was losing her sharp edge. The shiver morphed into an onset of nerves.
Her male clients didn’t understand her looks put her at a disadvantage. She’d been given a man-eater reputation in the sports and entertainment industry. Other agents, male agents, in her industry called her VaVoom Vivienne and had treated her like a sex kitten. She’d had to get tough and cold to be successful.
Softness showed weakness, and relationships only dragged her down.
In a way, she’d been grooming her tough exterior since her parents died. The harsh lesson learned at the age of eight had stuck. She’d had to be tough to get over the loss of her parents and to deal with the foster homes she’d been sent to. If she didn’t look out for herself, no one else would. She’d had to push the limits to reach success. She didn’t regret a single moment.
Even though it was only late afternoon, she ordered a glass of wine from the passing waiter. She deserved it after the last few days she’d had. Her bullying negotiation tactics and the threat of lawsuits would help her client, Chef Marstrand. The only bright spot of this emergency, she’d get to meet her newest client face-to-face.
A fresh-faced, eighteen-year-old skier who could be the next Luke Logan. Who knew such a small town would be a hotbed for new clients?
The waiter set the glass of red wine in front of her and she took a long sip appreciating the way it slid down her throat and warmed her inside. She was always cold in Castle Ridge.
&n
bsp; “Miss Tucker.” Jay Bradford approached her booth with a so young and so eager smile. His youth and enthusiasm creaked through her twenty-seven-year-old bones. He wore a knit cap on his blond hair and innocent blue eyes peeked out from a clean-shaven face. “It’s great to finally meet you in person.”
They’d met over video conferences, signed contracts, and discussed which races he should enter and opportunities for his future.
Standing, she stuck out her hand. “Nice to meet you, too. I can’t wait to finish your promo reel from the videos you sent. I’ve got several sponsorship opportunities I plan to pitch you.”
“Awesome!” He bopped on his feet. “My older brother should be here any minute. He um…he’s not too thrilled I signed with an agent before consulting him.”
The wine she drank burned down her throat. They’d discussed parental participation or guardianship. Jay had stonewalled her saying there was no one. An older brother suddenly dropping into the picture capped an already bad day. She’d put in a lot of hours creating a promo reel and contacting corporations who might be interested in a fresh-faced skier. “You’re eighteen and an adult. You know your own mind.”
And yet normally she discussed contracts with parents and guardians of her younger clients, legal age or not.
“My brother is afraid you’ll take advantage of me.”
Sticking her chin up, she tried to not take offense. She never took advantage of her clients. She was here to help them, to work for them, to make them successful. A college swimming friend hadn’t had an agent and ended up signing away her rights. Vivienne didn’t want the same thing happening to anyone else. “Your big brother needs to back off.”
“I’m not only his big brother.” A man sauntered up behind Jay. A familiar voice with a deep rumble that did something to her belly. “I’ve been his legal guardian for the past seven years.”
Paul.
His blond hair curled at his shoulders, longer than in December. His laser-focused glower shot arrows hitting her heart. His five-o’clock shadow made his skin darker, angrier. The blue in his plaid shirt reflected the color of his eyes and his jeans hugged his hips.
