She tugged her coat tight around her and made her way back to her car, shivering. She rubbed her hands together before typing in the address to Golden Mountain Sports, but she needn’t have bothered; it sat right across the highway for easy access to the pass that led to the ski lift. She felt an insane pride well in her chest for everything Tommy had accomplished. She’d known he would succeed at whatever he chose to do. She’d never met anyone so determined to make his own way in life.
Gretchen input one more address and hit Go with a shaking finger. Going by his house was risky, but she couldn’t turn back, especially when the GPS said she was only three miles from her destination. “Three miles and ten years,” she said and pulled back onto the crisscrossing highway. When she was instructed to make a right onto a pebbled drive, she wondered if she should turn around. Doing a casual drive by would be impossible if Tommy lived deep in the woods with little to no neighbors.
Despite her trepidation, she crept forward around curves and up an incline until his paved driveway came into sight. She marveled at the stone and cedar home that seemed to have taken root and grown up through the towering trees. His massive wooden front door was flanked by two gas-burning lamps that cast an inviting glow over the deep porch. An illuminated lamp sat on a desk near the window, and a floodlight flashed when two deer emerged from the fringe of trees and nibbled on the grass in the side yard. Gretchen knew she was pressing her luck by idling in the middle of the road staring at the house of the man who’d made quite a life for himself without her.
Did he share that home with a woman? Did he live alone? Did he have children? She’d find out. From the sizes of the towns she’d driven through and the nature of his business, she wouldn’t be able to avoid running into him on her trip.
Chapter 4
Lyle Woodward couldn’t keep the smile off his face when, just as Jill and Ty’s limo pulled away. Erica turned into his arms and burrowed against his chest.
“Let’s go home,” she said while peeking up at him through her lashes. She’d snared him from the very first look, and he felt happily trapped.
“Your wish is my command.” Lyle waved at his mom and stepdad as he led Erica to his SUV. He opened her door, settled her inside, and jogged around the hood to the driver’s side. He started the car and raised the heat, willing it to warm as quickly as possible. The last thing he needed was for Erica to cool down. He reached over and rubbed her leg below the hem of her pretty dress. “The heat takes a minute to get going.”
She laced her fingers through his. “The temperature has really dropped.”
“You’ve never experienced winter until you’ve experienced winter in the valley.”
“Does it snow much?” she asked.
“Not really. The mountains provide a buffer, so we don’t get as much snow as you’d think, but that buffer holds the cold air against the valley floor and keeps us frigid until spring.”
“How cold is frigid?”
He thought about lying but decided to tell the truth. “Sometimes as low as forty below.”
She turned her head, her mouth tipped low at the corners. “You’re kidding, right?”
Lyle put the SUV in reverse and chuckled. “Why do you think I’ve got so much firewood stacked outside my place?”
“I thought you knew I liked it when you’d chop wood without your shirt.”
He cut his eyes in her direction. “I didn’t know you were watching.”
“Oh, come on. All that flexing and posing? You totally knew I was watching.”
“Well, maybe once or twice,” he admitted. “I had to get you back for distracting me. Do you know how hard it is to work on your brother’s book when a beautiful woman is singing just across the river?”
She shoved his arm. “I didn’t know I was bothering you or that my voice carried that far.”
“Listening to you sing is never a bother. Have you written any songs?”
“No,” she said with a sigh. When she turned to look out the window, Lyle regretted bringing up her struggle to read and write. “Every time I try, I get frustrated. I’m getting better, but I’m not learning as fast as I want. I think my time’s better spent on the reading material Olivia gave me.”
“I could write the songs down for you,” he suggested.
“You could, but then you’d take away one of my motivations to become a stronger reader. I’m going to do this on my own.” She snorted. “If I’m stuck inside all winter, I should be ready to take the GED by spring.”
“You can do whatever you put your mind to. I’m so proud of everything you’ve accomplished.” She’d gone from a scared and defensive pain in his ass to the center of his life. That she only saw her weaknesses and not her incredible strength bothered him more than he could express.
“I haven’t accomplished much yet. But I will. I want Jack to be proud of me. I want to be proud of myself. I want to be someone you can be proud to be with.”
He looked over when he felt the heat of her stare. “Erica, I’m already proud to be with you.”
She smiled and glanced away. Even in the darkened cab, he could tell she was blushing. They rode in silence until the turnoff for her drive. “Lyle, stop.”
He pressed the brakes hard at her sharp command. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I…” She stared at her lap and twisted her hands tightly together. “I don’t want to go home.”
His heart gave one hard knock against his ribcage, a warning shot to remind him not to get his hopes up. “You don’t?”
She peeked at him and shook her head.
“I don’t think much is open at this hour.”
Her eyes pleading, she huffed out a breath. “Are you going to make me say it?”
“Say what?”
“I don’t want to go to my home. I want to go to yours.”
Keep it light. Too much emotion in either direction would send her running back home. “I’m not walking you across the river in this weather.”
“I’ll walk myself across.” Before he could utter the words over my dead body, she said, “In the morning.”
Lyle let the heady rush of anticipation wash over him as he stared into her eyes. They were as dark as coal and so beautiful they made him ache. He whipped the car around and punched the gas before she could change her mind. Her feminine giggles filled his head. “I’m not going to ask if you’re sure because I might cry if you change your mind.”
“I’m not going to change my mind. I want this. I want you. I have for a long time.”
“Why tonight?” he asked as he made the final turn toward home.
She shrugged. “I don’t know if it was the wedding, or Jack and Olivia’s announcement, or maybe both, but I’m tired of waiting until I feel worthy. For whatever reason, you want to be with me—”
“I do, and there are too many reasons to list.”
“I want to be with you, too. So, why not tonight?”
Lyle threw the car into park and leaned over the console, putting his face a hairsbreadth from hers. He threaded his hand through her hair and stifled a growl when she rested her cheek against his palm. Words, held for so long in his heart, sprang free. “I love you, Erica.”
Her eyes flew open, and she sucked in a breath. “Oh, Lyle, I love you, too.”
When she reached for him, he jerked back and shot from the car. He yanked her door open and had her in his arms before she could catch her breath. He fixed his lips to hers, kicked the door closed, and carried her to the threshold. It would have been easier to open the door to his cabin if he could have taken his eyes and lips off of Erica, but he didn’t want to break contact. He groaned when the door flew open, and they stumbled inside.
He’d known her and studied her for months. He knew the curve of her cheek, the delicate line of her neck, and could guess the depth of the divot between her collarbones to the millimeter. She liked to be coaxed into a kiss, but she would drop her guard at the first brush of his lips. He would finally know m
ore. He would learn everything. Lyle stilled her frantic hands as they shoved at his coat. “Erica.”
“Is something wrong?” she panted. “I’m doing something wrong.”
“No, you’re perfect. I’ve waited so long for you, for this kind of love. I don’t want to rush. I want this to be as perfect as you are.”
“You say the most amazing things. I don’t know what I ever did to deserve you.”
“Words are easy and so woefully inadequate,” he said.
“Woefully?”
“Just go with me. Let me show you how you make me feel. Let me show you what I don’t have the words to say.”
Her complete surrender told him everything. He felt more alive, more the man he wanted to be. Strong. She was so strong, so fierce and full of passion. He wanted to feed that passion, own it, make it his. He unbuttoned her coat and pulled it from her shoulders. His hands found the zipper at her back, and slowly, with agonizing care, he peeled away the burgundy dress that hugged her curves. She stood before him in black lace and heels, and he thought he’d never seen beauty so flawlessly captured. “Erica, you take my breath away.”
“Touch me. I can’t stand for wanting you.”
He glided a fingertip along her neck and down between the valley of her breasts. He was surprised he hadn’t left a trail of smoke in his wake; her skin felt so hot to his touch. She quivered when he twisted the clasp of her bra, and the cups loosened as her chest heaved with every breath. He nudged the straps aside with his teeth and didn’t try to stop the black lace from falling to the floor. He lowered his mouth to feed on her hardened peaks while his hands slipped beneath her panties and molded her silken skin to his hips.
She moaned his name. She pushed his suit coat to the floor and yanked at his shirt, desperate to find flesh. As the first button gave, her passion, never fully set free, erupted. She wrenched open the shirt, buttons flying, and devoured him with her hands and her clever, sharp-witted tongue. His belt was next, flung across the room and landing with a clatter. He backed her into the bedroom and onto the bed, shedding his pants along the way. As he settled over her, her hair cascading over her shoulders and onto his pillow, he knew he’d never forget her like that. Just like that.
“I love you,” he said as he slipped inside her waiting heat.
She bowed up, sucked in a breath, and opened her eyes. Their gazes locked. “I love you.”
Chapter 5
Shiloh Woodward sat at her parents’ scarred kitchen table picking at a gash she’d put there in middle school. She’d slammed her backpack onto the thick oak not long after Kevin Woodward had moved into the valley and ignored her for the better part of seventh grade. Considering how he’d ignored her lately, she felt tempted to hack the table to bits with her bare hands.
“Quit picking at that spot and tell me what happened,” her mother said. “I’ve given you two days to hide out and sulk, but I’m at my limit.”
“Oh, Mama,”—Shiloh dropped her forehead onto her arms—“It’s Kevin.”
“Honey, when you came home for Thanksgiving alone, I knew that much. What’d he do?”
“What hasn’t he done?” She sat up, hoping to find that her vague answer had appeased her mother. She should have known better. “We’ve been fighting. A lot.”
“About?”
“Money, mostly.”
“I thought you were doing pretty well since you just bought a house.”
“The house was my idea. Kevin wanted to wait. That’s his answer to everything. Wait to get married, wait to have kids, wait to buy a house.”
“Two out of three’s not bad.”
“The house took a big chunk of our savings. All of it, really. It needed some work…Well, you know that. You’ve seen it.”
“It’s big and pretty and in the part of town you wanted. I warned you not to get in over your heads.”
“Kevin was nervous, but I talked him into it.” Like she always did. He always gave in to whatever she wanted. Was it crazy for her to want him to say no and mean it every once in a while? “When I started buying things for the house and trying to make changes, he freaked out. He’s been freaking out on a regular basis since we bought it.”
“Okay…” Regina stretched the word out in a way that told Shiloh to go on.
“So we’ve been fighting about money, and things at work have been really stressful for him. They’re laying off some pilots, and Kevin’s concerned he’s next.”
“I didn’t know he could lose his job.”
Shiloh nodded and stood up. She couldn’t sit still while telling her mother the details of their last encounter. “He had a meeting with his boss. He was all worked up about it, and he told me to be prepared for the worst. Making the mortgage payments on my salary alone would never work, so he had me freaked out, too. I called him as he was heading into the meeting to wish him luck, and he was short with me. He asked me not to call again. I got huffy—which was my right! He’d been downright rude on the phone. I left my office to go home.
“I was distracted, and it was dark. Something ran out in front of my car, and I swerved to miss it. I ended up blowing a tire. I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I’ve never changed a tire. I did the first thing that came to mind.”
“You called your husband,” Regina offered.
“Yes, only he didn’t answer. So I called him again. And again. I couldn’t believe I was stranded on the side of the road, and he couldn’t even bother to pick up the phone.”
“Who’d you call next?”
“No one. A car pulled up, and a man in a business suit got out. He looked kind of familiar, and he asked if we had recently moved into Summer Heights. I guess he’d seen me out walking or something. He called a tow truck because it wasn’t safe to change a tire along the highway, and then he gave me a ride home. I was so grateful and relieved.”
“Thank God he came along when he did,” Regina said, clutching her chest. “I’ve got half a mind to wring Kevin’s neck for not answering your call.”
“Then you’ll really want to wring his neck when I tell you what he did next.”
Her mother set her coffee cup down. “What?”
“He pulled up to the house just as I was getting out of Mike’s car.”
“Mike’s the neighbor who helped you?”
“Yes. Kevin took one look and assumed I’d been sleeping with him! I’ve never cheated on him, never even looked at another man, and the first thing he thinks is that I’ve been unfaithful? Well, I lost it. We stood in the driveway yelling at each other. We basically voiced every grievance we’ve had with each other in the last eleven years before I stomped inside and packed a bag.”
“Is that why you’re driving his car?”
“Yes. Mine was at the shop. For all I know, he’s stranded back in Denver.”
“Okay, so you had a fight.”
“Mama, it was more than a fight. A fight is arguing about replacing the carpet or upgrading the appliances. This was so much worse.” Shiloh clung to the counter and looked out the window. “The things he said…I had no idea he felt so…drained by me. I’ve never felt so useless and small.”
“Oh, baby.” Regina came to her, wrapping an arm around Shiloh’s shoulders, and pulled her into a solid hug. “Marriage has ups and downs. You and Kevin have been together for so long, I thought you’d bypassed some of this stuff. I guess you didn’t.”
“I’m afraid he doesn’t love me anymore.”
Regina turned Shiloh to look at her. “He doesn’t know how not to love you. You were children when you fell in love. You’re trying to figure out how to be in love as adults. It takes some doing.”
“He hasn’t called. He hasn’t even tried to reach me. I think he’s giving up.”
“Are you? Because there are two people in a marriage.”
Shiloh sighed. “I don’t know what I feel.”
“Maybe he’s giving you both time to figure it out. When you’ve taken the time, I have a feeling you’ll fin
d yourselves back together.”
Chapter 6
Tommy sat at his desk at Golden Mountain Sports and finished his third cup of coffee. He’d gone through the online ski rental reservations, set a schedule for delivery, and organized the helmet cameras. As he filled out the local newspaper’s online help wanted form for his waitress position, he wondered again if he should just bite the bullet and look for a restaurant manager so he didn’t have to deal with the headache of running the Golden Tap anymore.
Tommy loved business, but there was something about owning and operating the restaurant he couldn’t appreciate. His seasonal businesses were perfect because just when one became tedious and boring, the season would end and it was time to open the other. In April, when he could barely stand to fit another boot to ski bindings, the sun would melt the snow and he could focus on rafting and fishing. But the restaurant was constant—a constant drain. It made money and provided a vital resource to the town, but he hated the day-to-day operations.
His email dinged, and since he was looking for any excuse not to focus on the restaurant, he shook his mouse to dislodge the screen saver. Then he scowled at the monitor. Why in the hell would Robert Holcomb, the man hell bent on destroying Bear Stream and turning it into the equivalent of a ski Disney Land, send him an email? He pursed his lips and scratched at the hair poking out from the bottom of his sock cap. Sucking in a breath, he clicked on the email and read. Feelings of dread settled in his stomach and made another cup of coffee seem unlikely. Damn. It was only a matter of time.
A sharp rapping on his door had his head whipping up. Without invitation, Patrick Garrity strode inside and sat down in Tommy’s guest chair. Patrick’s somber look made Tommy wonder if he weren’t the only one to hear from Holcomb.
“Did you get one, too?” Tommy asked.
“What?”
“An email from Holcomb. Did you get it?”
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