by Penny Wylder
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Contents
1. Rose
2. Asher
3. Rose
4. Asher
5. Rose
6. Asher
7. Rose
8. Asher
9. Rose
10. Asher
11. Rose
12. Asher
13. Rose
14. Asher
Epilogue
More Must Reads by Penny Wylder
Fake Vow (For Now)
Penny Wylder
Copyright © 2021 Penny Wylder
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or businesses, organizations, or locales, is completely coincidental.
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1
Rose
I take a deep breath before I get out of the car.
You know how to do this, Rose. Be charming. No one will know the difference.
But the pep talk that I give myself every time I go on one of these undercover assignments doesn’t make the knot in my stomach go away. Or make me feel any less guilty about it.
Not like I really have a choice.
Stepping out of the car onto the gravel, I look around. This place is beautiful. Blue Mountain Wilderness Lodge, sitting in the foothills of the mountains, is blanket in green. It’s far enough away from everything that the sounds of the city fall away and there’s nothing left but peace.
I could use a little peace right now, but that’s not why I’m here. Just one more month until school starts again, and then I don’t have to do this anymore.
My father thinks that Blue Mountain is lying about their safety record, hiding accidents and guest injuries, so they can protect their liability insurance, which is fraud.
He didn’t tell me why he thinks that, but it’s not my job to question. My job is to pretend to be a potential guest. Take a tour like I’m planning on booking this place for some kind of event, and take pictures of anything he might be able to use as ammunition against them.
Not exactly my idea of a fun summer, but I’m doing what I have to. If my scholarship hadn’t dissolved, I wouldn’t have had to ask my dad for money in the first place. It was just like him to require payment in services like this. Charming my way into places he couldn’t in order to take people down.
I make myself feel better by telling myself that my only job is to take pictures and pass them on. I won’t do anything truly damaging. But I’m not sure that I quite believe it.
The nausea and nerves in my stomach definitely don’t believe it. But I have to. My dad hasn’t been very present in my life, and he’s certainly not the affectionate father figure some daughters would hope for, but he’s a decent guy overall. Minus the whole leaving my mother and me thing.
If I don’t get my ass over to the main building, I’m going to be late for my own tour. I pick up the pace. The faster I can get this over with, the faster I can go home.
The main building is beautiful. Classic log construction with a wide wrap-around porch and plenty of places to sit. I can see that it’s been designed to welcome guests and set the tone for adventure and relaxation..
Up the porch stairs, the door is open, and I can hear laughter coming from within.
“Stop keeping the guests waiting, will you?”
“Fine, fine.”
I knock on the doorframe. “Hello?”
Two men turn to me, startled. Then the one on the right smiles. “You must be Rose.”
“Rose Evans. That’s me.”
“Hi.” He walks over and offers his hand. “I’m Asher Pearson. This is Leo Harris. We’re two of the owners of Blue Mountain.”
Leo shakes my hand too. “Nice to meet you.”
“Leo here is heading out on a hike with some of our guests, so I’ll be the one showing you around,” Asher says.
And I am really fucking glad about that. Because holy shit Asher Pearson is hot. Blond hair and green eyes, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. He’s got a casual lumberjack vibe going on. If this weren’t a business meeting, or if I’d met him in a bar somewhere, I’d be salivating right now.
Who am I kidding? I am salivating right now. “That sounds great,” I say. “I appreciate you taking the time.”
“Not a problem,” Leo cuts in. “We get it. No two resorts are the same, and you want to make sure we’re the best fit for you. But trust me,” he winks, “we are.”
Asher rolls his eyes. “This is why we don’t let you do the tours, Leo.”
But Leo is all smiles and energy. “Nonsense. I’m amazing. I could land all the clients.”
“Go lead your excursion before I kick your ass, okay?”
Leo pins me with a stare. “Just keep in mind, Rose, he’s a heartbreaker, but tell your friends he doesn’t sleep with paying guests.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say, pressing my lips together to keep from laughing.
Asher looks like he’s either going to die from embarrassment or murder his friend. Leo is still laughing as he heads out the door, and I smile at Asher. He really is so fucking beautiful that it’s not really fair. I have no complaints being shown around the place alone by him. He may not sleep with paying guests, but I’m not a paying guest and I’m going to look to my heart’s content.
“I’m sorry about him,” he says. “He’s newly in love, it’s overflowing into everything.”
I laugh. “I’ve had friends like that. I get it.”
“Well, it’s been pretty unbearable, but we’re happy for him all the same. Shall we?” He gestures outside.
“Sure.”
“Do you know much about what we do here?”
I shake my head. “Nope, I’ve been saving it for the tour. I did some cursory research, but I wanted to have the full experience.”
“Great,” he smiles. “Well, we started Blue Mountain a little over two years ago. Myself, Leo, and our good friend Hudson. We all went to school together, and we spent more time outside than we did in our dorms. And we got our friends into it. We brought them on our adventures, and we became the go-to guys for hikes, rafting, that kind of thing. Finally we came up with the idea of Blue Mountain. A place for people to come and get a taste of the outdoors in a safe way without having to travel thousands of miles or break the bank to get some of these experiences.”
“That’s kind of you.”
Asher shrugs. “We like teaching and guiding. Thankfully it’s worked out well.”
“This place really is beautiful,” I tell him. It’s not a lie. Maybe not as beautiful as the man standing in front of me, but beautiful all the same.
He leads me down the porch steps and across the wide-open space in front of it to a path on the right. “We’ll start out by the river and work our way back. It’s a scenic walk.”
“Sounds good.”
We fall into step beside each other, and though he’s a good foot taller than I am, he paces himself so I’m not running to keep up. “What kind of event are you thinking of planning?”
I hesitate. I didn’t actually plan that in my head, so I spit out the first thing that pops into my head. “Girls’ trip. Maybe this fall?”
“We get more of those than you might think,” Asher says. “I’m told we provide excellent opportunities for hot tub and wine time.”
“Oh really?”
/> “Really. Nothing but glowing reviews.”
I raise one eyebrow. “Anything go along with that service? Or is there a reason Leo told me you don’t sleep around?”
“He says that to get under my skin and embarrass me, mostly. And I don’t sleep with guests because it’s unprofessional.”
I don’t know what possesses me to push and flirt because that’s not what I’m here for. But he’s gorgeous, and the fact he’s standing less than a foot away makes me painfully aware of both his body and mine. “I’m sure that causes a lot of disappointment.”
He looks over at me. “We haven’t had any complaints.”
I smirk, “No, I don’t imagine that there would be.” The part that I don’t say out loud is that there aren’t complaints because the girls are all back in their beds fantasizing that he was there with them. And even the fantasies are so good that they can’t complain.
Asher turns and looks at me, and there’s a flame of interest in his eyes. “I hope that Blue Mountain will be a good place for your girls’ trip, regardless of whether eye candy is included.”
“So you admit that you’re eye candy?”
He smirks. “I know I am.”
Fuck, he’s smooth. But when you look like that, you can definitely afford to be smooth.
We pass through a tunnel of trees, the sound of water suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Breaking past the tree line, we’re now on the bank of the river. There’s a small boathouse filled with canoes and boating equipment. My first opportunity to look for the evidence that I’m supposed to gather.
“This is the launch point for all our white-water rafting excursions. Every morning before a planned excursion, one of our team members drives down the river to check the status of the rapids so there are no surprises. Everyone is required to wear life vests, and the team makes sure that they’re on properly. We had an incident this spring that made us reevaluate those procedures, so we’re pretty strict.”
“That’s good.”
Pointing out the safety features is a good call, and it sounds like they’re taking precautions. Maybe the violations are somewhere else. But I’ll try to get some photos anyway.
The river is beautiful, though it’s fast. “Are there any other places on the river that are slower? Better for swimming?”
Asher nods. “There are. They’re a bit further down, but we can swing by in that direction toward the end of the tour if you like.”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
I wander into the little boat house and look at all the canoes. “Is it okay to take some pictures?”
“Of course.”
Framing the shot of the canoes as best I can, I try to get everything in the picture. But I can’t really get close enough to take what I need because Asher is watching me. Constantly. Intently. With heat in his eyes that’s extremely hard to ignore and equally as distracting.
Still, these pictures are the entire reason that I’m here, and there’s too much riding on this for me not to try.
2
Asher
This morning I was pissed that I was the only one available to give a tour to a prospective guest. Tours are boring as hell and answering the same questions over and over gets old really fast.
But now I’m thanking the fucking universe that I drew the short straw because in spite of that crack Leo made about me not sleeping with guests, I can’t take my eyes off this woman.
Rose.
She’s all curves, and the light summer dress she’s wearing isn’t hiding it. And given the way that she’s staring at me when she thinks I don’t notice…she wants me to look.
The bad thing is that Leo’s putting ideas in my brain. Because he said he doesn’t sleep with paying customers. Which only reminds me that she isn’t one. Not right now. Between that and that fucking dress, I’m dying to venture down and see what’s underneath.
For the sake of the lodge, I’m trying to keep it professional. This place is my life, and the more clients that we have, the better. But I would be lying if I said that I’m not fantasizing about pushing her up against the wall of the boathouse and peeling her out of that dress.
Rose takes a few pictures, but they’re strange. Not exactly the type of photos that people on tours usually take. They’re usually enamored of the view and the trees. Rose seems particularly fascinated by the equipment and boats.
But who am I to judge? I’m not going to tell anyone how to pick their vacation spot, and if those pictures help us book her girls’ weekend, then I couldn’t give a fuck.
“If you guys come here, what would you be looking to do?”
She hesitates, and I swear that for a moment she looks wistful. “Just…get away.”
“That’s all?”
“I guess.” She comes back to herself and smiles at me. “I imagine that we’d be pretty loose about it. Do a couple of excursions but mostly just relax. Get away from everyday life.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
I lead her away from the river, around the back of the property and away from most of our buildings. We haven’t done anything with this area yet, but maybe we will. But there’s a part of me that also just wants to keep it undeveloped. It’s a lush green field with tall trees that form a canopy. In a way, it’s always reminded me of a ballroom. A giant, natural ballroom.
If we were a different kind of company, I’d suggest that we hold some kind of fancy event here. String up some lights and make it a party. Hell, that might not be a bad idea to pitch to people. Not only a natural getaway, but a party venue. Could we handle the parking?
Rose’s voice breaks through my thoughts and I snap back to the present. “I’m sorry, can you say that again?”
She blushes. “I just asked what it’s like to live out here. It seems like it would be pretty peaceful.”
“Most of the time it is,” I say. “Especially when there’s no one here. We have all this at our disposal, so even if it gets crazy busy, we can always just escape into the woods for a while.”
“That sounds nice.” The longing in her voice is obvious.
“We can tailor your trip to whatever you’d like it to be,” I say, keeping my voice even. “If you want it to be a week of adventure, we can make that happen. If you want something quiet and nature-focused, we can make that happen too.”
Rose glances at me with a smirk on her face. “If I choose the quiet and nature-focused, are you going to drag me and my girlfriends out here for yoga and meditation?”
“If I did, it would be a terrible class.”
“I don’t know,” she shrugs. “We were talking about eye candy. I don’t think anybody would care much about the class. You might even have more people than you can handle sign up.”
Fuck. She was flirting with me. And I wanted to serve it right back. We stopped in the middle of the field, facing each other, and there is no one around. No one stopping us from collapsing into the grass and fucking right here.
It would be fucking incredible, too. I can already see her hair spread out on the grass underneath me and hear the soft sounds of her moans getting lost in the wind.
“I’ll have to keep that in mind at our next strategy meeting.”
“If it makes you a shit ton of money, then I expect a cut.”
I laugh. “Noted.”
Crossing the rest of the field, we enter another section of tall trees, this time strung with rope and contraptions that might look like torture to someone who doesn’t recognize them. “Ropes course,” I tell her. “Part of the adventure package.”
I could be crazy, but I could swear that she looked down at my belt when I said the word package. And that has me thinking about my package and how much I want to give it to her. Christ, Rose has me all twisted up and I’ve only spent twenty minutes with her. I need to get my shit together.
“Probably not for me. I’m clumsy and I have terrible balance,” she says.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “We have you harnessed up for thi
s, too. Even if you fall, you won’t hit the ground.”
“How?”
I walk over to the shed that houses all the harnesses and open it. “You’re in one of these.” I hold it up. “I know it looks messy at the moment, but it wraps around your whole body. Shoulders, legs, chest, and you’re attached to the top in the back. Then if you fall, you’re held up by the suspension system we have in place.”
Rose looks up and snaps a picture of all the ropes, and then a picture of the shed with all the equipment in it. Her friends must be really safety oriented. Or she’s got someone that’s afraid of heights. I’ve seen that before.
I wait until she’s done with her pictures before we move on. “Over here we have an archery range. All our bows are examined and tested before anyone uses them in a session, arrows replaced regularly.”
Rose looks like she’s suddenly lit up. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”
Giving someone a lesson on archery range isn’t something that I usually do on a tour, but I can’t resist the urge. It gives me a reason to be close to her. “You want to?”
She nods.
I grab one of the bows and string it while she takes her pictures, and just like I told her we did, I inspect the bow and fire a test shot at the target. We always do. The last thing we need is an improperly strung bow breaking and snapping a guest in the face. “Here.” I hand her the bow and another arrow.
“Will you show me?”
“To show you, I’ll have to touch you. That all right?”
Her cheeks flush pink, but Rose nods. I could make a career out of making her turn that color.
Stepping up behind her, I wrap my arms around and guide the bow into place. My hands are over hers, and I don’t think she realizes the soft way that she’s pressing back against me. I know she doesn’t realize how hard I’m concentrating so I don’t get a hard-on while I’m flush against her ass. Because my cock is practically begging for it and it’s on a very, very short leash.