by Piper Rayne
“Your high school girlfriend?”
“Yeah. We got engaged after she finished college. It’s been four years now.”
“Long relationship. Long engagement,” he said.
“Maybe a sign of something I should have seen a while ago,” I admitted.
“I remember her. Pretty girl.”
“She still is. Great family, too.”
“Sorry, man,” he said. “That’s rough. But maybe the timing is good then. I was hoping I might be able to convince you and your brother to come out here, maybe sell me some of that hooch you’ve been making out there.”
“Not hooch,” I corrected. “Half Cat is premium whiskey.” I wiggled my eyebrows at my brother. This was a hill I was willing to die on.
“Of course it is,” he laughed. “But your brother already told me he’s too whipped for a road trip.”
“He is.” I grinned at Wade, who was busily texting his girlfriend. She lived here half the time and spent the other half at her winery in Virginia, and my brother was well and truly whipped.
“But maybe you’d be interested in an extended vacation in the Rockies?”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Jasper told me a long story about his uncle dying and leaving some mountain resort in Colorado to him and his sister. “The place is in rough shape,” he said. “But we’re going to make a go of it. My uncle was a little bit eccentric. He left some crazy treasure maps and shit, along with a ton of debt. But I think there’s something here, and I want to get the place going again.”
“Is it a ski resort?” I asked.
“It will be. We’re going to start with summer operations, and my sister the mountain man has some crazy yurt plan she’s setting up. But we’ll need a stocked bar at the very least.”
“Of course,” I agreed, trying to remember if I knew Jasper’s sister. I couldn’t picture her, but she’d been a few years younger. She sounded a little scary, based on his mountain man description.
“So we’ll feature Half Cat as our premium whiskey of choice. Spend your summer out here with me, man. You can run the bar, help me figure out what else to stock and maybe toss in some manual labor while you’re at it.”
“You know what?” I said, the idea taking root inside me and relieving some of the uncomfortable feelings of detachment I’d had since leaving Amberlynn’s. “That sounds perfect.”
We made arrangements, and I hung up.
“So you’re leaving the nest?” Wade asked, turning back to me.
“Just for the summer,” I said. “Think you can handle things here?”
He grinned. “I got this. You go do what you need to do. Tell Jasper I say hi.”
We drank together for another hour, reliving some of the memories we had from the time when Archie Jasper had lived in Singletree, Maryland with us, and then I crashed in Wade’s guest room. When I woke to the sun streaming through the big windows overhead, I was filled with a sense of hope.
I was about to have an adventure.
Chapter Two
Aubrey
“Who was that?” I asked my brother, tossing a piece of popcorn at him across the living room of the shabby hotel suite we’d turned into our new home.
He grinned at me, his dark eyes flashing. “Hooch hookup.”
“Let me just get out my Archie dictionary,” I said, pretending like I was reaching beside me for something. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Do you remember the Blanchard twins from back when we lived in Singletree?”
“You mean podunk, Maryland?” A shudder went through me. That had not been my favorite place to live on the long list of not great places my dad’s naval career had taken us.
“Yes,” Archie said, ignoring my distaste.
“No. I don’t remember them.”
“Twins? Tall guys?”
I totally remembered them. They were both cute, in a high school guy kind of way. Of course, I’d been a kid, so any and all attraction I felt was both exaggerated and futile. “Okay, yes, I guess so.”
“Well, they’re pretty well known now because they run their family distillery, and they’ve expanded it a ton. So I called them to see if they want to come hook up our liquor program here.”
“Liquor program?” I looked around. So far, the old resort our insane uncle had left us consisted of a main hotel building so run down it might have been legally condemnable, and two ancient chair lifts practically falling down the side of a mountain outside. “For when we give up on this ridiculous plan and decide to just drink ourselves silly?”
My brother shook his head. “Nope. You just focus on getting that yurt situation pulled together. I’m going to have a functional bar here soon, and people are going to travel just to visit it.”
“Why would anyone travel to visit a bar when they can get a beer on any corner in any town?”
“Because Jasper Mountain Resort is going to be a destination.”
That was a little hard to imagine, considering the place qualified only as the kind of destination most folks would flee, but my brother had been known to accomplish some amazing feats. “Okay,” I said. “So, these guys are coming out here?” I pretended that the idea of seeing the grown-man version of my childhood crushes wouldn’t be a big deal.
“Only Wiley. And go easy on him. Sounds like he just ended an engagement.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of this news. I felt a little douse of disappointment for no reason I could put my finger on. Was I sad that he hadn’t come chasing after the twelve-year old sister of a guy he’d known in high school to propose to me instead? Or was I excited at the prospect of meeting Wiley Blanchard again in my decidedly more adult form?
“Okay. When’s he getting here?”
“A week, I think. So we’d better get another one of the rooms cleaned up for him.”
“Roger that.”
I spent the next week supervising assembly of the yurts I’d ordered—high-end tent-like structures being built behind the main lodge on wooden platforms. The idea was to attract the glamping set up here for a high-end adventure vacation during the summer while construction on the main resort was underway.
The yurts were super cool, with king-sized beds and little bathrooms set up inside. They sat around a central fire pit and outdoor kitchen area where we’d serve food and drinks.
During the day, I’d lead hikes and rock-climbing outings in the mountains around us, which I’d been exploring with my uncle since I was a little kid. Archie hadn’t been part of much of that—he always had his head buried in some model plane kit. All he ever wanted to do was fly a plane. He got his wish, but now I wondered if he would have been better off learning to tie rock climbing knots with me.
We didn’t talk about the crash that ended Archie’s military career.
And that was fine with me, I guessed. As long as my brother was happy. And for whatever crazy reason, it seemed like this rundown resort project was making him happy.
“Hey,” Archie called as I passed through what would one day be a high-end lobby on my way back out to the yurts. “Look what I found up in Wiley’s room.”
He held up a piece of crumpled parchment, and I knew immediately what it was.
“Another piece of the map? Where was it?”
“Under a floorboard.”
“You’re pulling up the floorboards now? I thought we were just tidying a bit for this guy.”
“No, it was already halfway up. I was trying to push it back into place, and the edge of this was poking out.”
“Lemme see.” I grabbed for the map, but Archie held it over his head. I was only five two, so this was his favorite way of keeping things from me. I huffed out a breath. “You’re going to regret that.”
“Oh yeah?”
My brother had a really short memory. Every time he did this, I kneed him in the nuts and he immediately crumpled, basically handing me whatever he was keeping from me. You’d think a guy would remember something like that
.
“Yeah,” I told him, lifting my knee hard and reminding him why holding stuff out of my reach never ended well for him.
As he lay clutching himself and moaning, I investigated the map. We had two other pieces of it, one of which had been delivered with the news that we’d inherited this old place. The second piece had been waiting for us in a shoebox, along with a letter explaining that Uncle Marvin had hidden some important treasure somewhere in the surrounding mountains, and that we’d need to locate it to understand the true nature of our inheritance.
The map was a mess of dotted lines, sketched-in trees and buildings, roads, and elevation marks. It didn’t make any sense yet, but if we kept finding pieces, it would soon. The newest piece didn’t offer much. “It’s like a corner or something,” I complained. “Almost totally blank.”
“Left side,” Archie moaned, and I looked to see that there was an interesting symbol there on the left side.
“What is that? Like a cross?”
Archie was getting to his knees. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Was Uncle Marv super religious?”
“You spent more time with him than I did,” my brother said, glaring at me. “That hurt. A lot.”
“Don’t hold things over your head and leave your nuts exposed.”
“I didn’t know leaving my nuts exposed was something I needed to worry about when I’m at home with my family.”
“The best offense is a good defense, “ I reminded him.
“You’re insane. Don’t ever do that again. I might like to have children someday.”
“Scary thought,” I said, poking him in the ribs as he stood.
“Put that with the other pieces, okay? I think I hear a car.”
Archie headed out the front door, and I ran the map up the stairs to the suite. Not because he’d told me to, but because from there I could get a better view of the circular drive out front, where a dark green Jeep was pulling in.
I watched as Archie greeted the man who stepped out of it. Wiley Blanchard had definitely grown up, I thought. And out. He was about six feet of broad-shouldered country-boy muscle, from the looks of it. I wondered if he still had that cute southern twang. Marylanders didn’t have a strong accent, but I’d noticed it when I’d lived there. And on a man that looked like Wiley Blanchard did now? I thought it just might be lethal.
Chapter Three
Wiley
The resort, if you could really call it that, was something. Just not something most folks would call a resort. It was huge, for starters, and it looked like it was well past its prime. The thing stood three stories, nestled into a flat spot atop a winding curvy road that had taken me about four hours from Denver. The rustic structure had definitely seen brighter days. The circular drive was in decent shape, but the structure that had clearly stood over it at some point, shielding arrivals from whatever weather the Rockies had in store, had crumpled and sat in a piled heap off to one side, the columns still standing in place to hold up the sky overhead.
“Wiley Coyote!” A familiar voice called, and Archie Jasper appeared, loping from the darkened double doors of the big building.
“Hey man,” I said, slapping him on the back. “You look good. Being out of the military is working for you.”
“Yeah.” A cloud passed over his face and I realized it was probably the wrong thing to say, but we’d have to get past that kind of awkward if we were going to be together all summer.
“Love what you’ve done with the place,” I quipped.
He turned to look at the dilapidated resort with me and laughed. “Yeah, I know it doesn’t look like much right now. But the bones are good. I’m pretty confident this is going to be something great.”
“Cool,” I said. I was up for an adventure. The flight and long drive up the mountain had given me time to think, and it felt like this was a next phase in my life. A new door opening. To reveal a really run-down hotel.
“Come on in, I’ll show you around. And you can say hi to Aubrey.” He grabbed a duffel bag I handed him as I pulled it from the car. “You remember my sister, right?”
“Kind of? She was like twelve, I think.”
“Yeah, she was twelve. But now she’s twenty-three.” He led me through the big doors of the building and into a high-ceilinged space that must once have been beautiful. I could see how it might be again, with the right attention.
“This is all yours?” I asked him as he led me to an elevator and we stepped inside.
“Yeah,” he said. “It’s either a blessing or a curse, I guess. But it came right when I really needed a focus, and so I’m going with blessing.”
“You guys both staying here then?”
“Yeah, Aubrey was just finishing school, and instead of looking for a job, I convinced her to come back here. Wasn’t a hard sell. She’s always loved it here.”
We stepped out of the elevator and into a hallway where half the carpet had been pulled from the floor and lay in tatters at the sides of the wide space. Ornate chandeliers lit the way down the long corridor, half the bulbs dark.
“Set you up in a room down here,” Archie told me, leading me along the hall. Eventually, we stopped outside a large set of double doors. “This room is on the corner. Awesome views. Might still need a little work, but it’ll be good for now, I think.” He unlocked the door and handed me the old-fashioned metal key as we stepped inside.
I dropped my bag and walked into the space. This room had clearly been one of the higher end accommodations. I saw three doorways leading off from the central space, which held a long dining table, a living area with low couches situated in front of sweeping windows looking out on the mountains, and a little kitchenette. “Nice,” I said, grinning at my friend. “This is the nicest place I’ve ever stayed, if you don’t count the holes in the furniture and the way the rug is kind of half-eaten over there in the corner.”
“One day, my friend, we’ll get thousands a night for this room.” Archie smiled, and I could almost picture the place fixed up.
As I looked around my new home, which was a two-bedroom suite with a king-sized canopy bed in one room and a second space that had been turned into some kind office, I felt a sense of rightness. The lingering sadness over Amberlynn and her absence from my life fluttered around inside me, but they were overshadowed by the potential of a new adventure, and this was certainly going to be an adventure.
“Hey,” a voice came from the doorway to the suite, and I turned to find a woman leaning against the frame, her arms crossed over her chest and a little smile on her face.
“Hey,” I managed, though something about the way she gazed at me had me a little off balance.
“You remember my sister, Aubrey.” Archie walked over and pulled the woman into a rough hug and then proceeded to give her a noogie. She responded by performing some kind of maneuver I’d only seen previously in kung fu movies, but it happened fast, and she executed it so adeptly that Archie was on his back on the floor in a matter of seconds.
“Remind me never to challenge you to a fight,” I said. I reached out to shake her hand over Archie’s gasping body.
“Don’t manhandle me, and we should be fine,” she said. Her voice was raspy but feminine, and I was intrigued by her total self-possession, her clear take-no-prisoners attitude. She wore tight jeans tucked into sturdy looking hiking boots and a fitted V-neck T-shirt that revealed some intriguing curves beneath the hard exterior. Her hair was obviously very long, but had been braided into a complicated arrangement, leaving just the end of the braid to hang over one shoulder in a golden-brown rope.
“My sister,” Archie said, once he managed to get to his feet again. “The best wingman and bodyguard I’ve ever had.” He rubbed his low back and shook his head. “You’d never know it to look at her, but she’d give John Cena a run for his money in the ring.”
Aubrey grinned at this with what I thought was pride, and I made a mental note not to piss her off.
“Nice to see you aga
in,” I told her. I didn’t really remember the scrappy little sister of my high school friend, but if I’d had any idea what she was going to grow into, I might have taken more notice. She wasn’t pretty in a traditional way, but there was something so sure and put together about her that you couldn’t help but admire her. A flicker of interest glowed to life inside me—something I barely recognized after being with the same woman my whole life.
“Archie says you’re going to get us all set up in the bar,” she said. “Care to see what you’re working with?”
“Yeah, I brought a case of Half Cat to get us started,” I said. “Show me the way.”
“A case?” Archie said, leading us out of my new room. “That’ll be enough for the three of us, but we’re going to need more when we get this place open.”
“Not a problem,” I assured him, and I followed them down the long hallway, doing my best to keep my eyes off my friend’s little sister’s very tight, very perky ass.
Chapter Four
Aubrey
Crap on a Pringle. The grown-up version of Wiley Blanchard was hotter than anything my pre-pubescent mind could have imagined. And then I went and flipped my brother to the ground within three seconds of meeting the guy. I’m sure he saw me as womanly and attractive now. He was probably scared to death of me, like every other guy I’d ever been interested in.
So I came off a little . . . gruff.
I’d had to protect myself most of my life. Once Dad and Mom were gone, Archie was all I’d had. And he was off flying jets all over the place, so I learned how to take care of myself. It had definitely come in handy once or twice in college.
“Bar’s in here,” Archie said, leading us back through the lobby. I was filled with equal parts pride and shame as we showed Wiley our new home. It was going to be incredible, I knew it was. But right now, it took a special kind of person to see the glowing jewel shining from within the dusty, dilapidated trappings of the resort.