Chapter 2

2

BOONE

T he hottie at the front desk was checking me out. I couldn’t stop thinking about her as I sat at the bar, a sweet tea and basket of hot wings and fries in front of me.

I probably shouldn’t have called my meeting with Alex an interview. It wasn’t like I was looking to get on his payroll. I simply heard he was in need of some lumber for the chalets he was building and reached out to throw my hat in the ring. And now here I sat, twenty minutes after our scheduled meeting time, wondering if I was being blown off.

“Mr. Thornton?”

A female voice behind me had me nearly jumping off the stool. I knew that voice. That voice had been running through my head, along with the beautiful smile and big blue eyes that went with it, for the entire twenty minutes I’d been sitting here. I turned to the right—someone was seated to my left, so it was the only way to go—and there she stood, the angel in a Summit Seduction Lodge uniform.

She had long, reddish-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her ample curves somehow made what would normally be a plain knit collared top and pair of khaki pants sexy. Every guy’s dream, working right here at a lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

She was even more beautiful than I remembered. I didn’t want to gawk at her or anything, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away once my eyes landed on that face.

“Mr. Jewell said he’s already found someone. He left a voicemail for you. He’s sorry you drove all this way.”

I had turned fully around by then and was facing her. The restaurant wasn’t very busy, probably because most people staying here were on the slopes right now. But we may as well have been the only two people here for all the attention I paid to everyone else.

“I didn’t come all that far,” I said. “I live in Adairsville.”

I waited to see if she knew where that was. She worked at the front desk, which meant she no doubt lived in town or in Adairsville. There weren’t many homes here, so local residents were used to going back and forth. But the lack of confusion in her eyes told me she probably knew exactly what I was talking about.

“I may poke around and see if anyone else in town needs help,” I said. “I keep hearing Seduction Summit is ripe for the plucking when it comes to logging work.”

Now she looked confused—and a little uncomfortable. She probably had to get to work, but damn if I wanted to let her go.

“Why don’t you have a seat?” I asked. “I’ll buy you a drink.”

She shook her head. “I’m on the job. I mean, technically, it’s my lunch break, but I can’t drink alcohol.”

“So I’ll buy you a…what do you drink?”

“Water with two lemons.”

I liked a woman who knew what she wanted, but I couldn’t exactly buy her a glass of water. “How about lunch? Whatever you want.”

I waited for her to say no. And in the seconds that passed, as her gaze darted around the area behind me, the weight of that upcoming “no” paralyzed me. If she turned me down, I’d have no reason to see her again. Sure, I might run into her around town, but it would suck knowing the first woman I’d been interested in—really interested in, going back as far as I could remember—didn’t feel the same.

“Sure,” she said. “But you don’t have to pay.”

“I insist,” I said.

“You can at least use my employee discount,” she said as she climbed up on the stool and ordered a water with lemon and a patty melt with fries from the bartender.

“Name’s Boone,” I said, thrusting out my hand.

She eyed it for a second before sliding her much more petite one into it and said, “I’m Skye.”

We weren’t moving, which meant instead of a handshake, this was more of a hand-holding session. Once I became aware of it, I gave her a couple of gentle ups and downs for good measure, then released her hand.

But the warmth that spread through me at her touch remained. That was something I hadn’t felt before. Maybe it had been too long since I’d been with a woman. Or maybe I’d never met a woman I had true chemistry with until now. This definitely felt different than anything that had come before.

“So you cut down trees for a living?” she asked, adding a thank you to the bartender who set her water glass in front of her.

“I run my own logging operation,” I said. “I started with my dad when I was a teenager. He’s no longer with us, though. My brother and I took over the operation, but my brother got bored with it. Decided he wanted to be all corporate. So he went back to school, and here I am, drumming up work in a new town.”

There was so much I was leaving out. The brother that had never tried all that hard, but had always been Dad’s favorite. The feeling that I was disappointing Dad even now, long after he was gone, by letting his business sink further into the red. The feeling that no matter what, I’d never be good enough.

No, I had to make this work. There was plenty of business to be had in this town, and I’d find it.

“So how long have you lived in Seduction Summit?” I asked Skye, eager to turn the conversation around to her.

“Just a few months. My mom grew up here, and my dad was working as a ski instructor when she met him. When my grandma died, she left her house to my parents, and instead of selling it, they agreed to rent it to me while I figured out what I want to be when I grow up.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I guess we all have trouble with that one.”

“You don’t want to be a logger when you grow up?”

The words had just slipped out, but now that she mentioned it, no, it wasn’t really my dream to do the active work of cutting down trees. I did love being out in nature all day. My dream was to run a thriving business like I’d watched my dad do all my life—to hire a team and oversee them. Yeah, I’d pitch in and do some of the work when I wanted, but my dream wasn’t to have the entire operation hinge on me.

“The job opportunities are limited in a town like this,” Skye said. “But I love this lodge, and I’m having a blast running the gift shop.”

“Gift shop? I thought you worked at the front desk.”

She shook her head. “That’s why I thought you were here. We’re down a night clerk. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I thought you were here to interview for that job. My boss has a bunch of interviews set up for this afternoon.”

I almost laughed at the idea of me standing behind the desk, checking people in. That would last about five minutes before I was fired for telling someone to go fuck themselves when they yelled at me over something beyond my control.

“Customer service isn’t really my thing,” I said. “I’m good at the part of it where I have to interact with people like your boss to get the details of the job, but the general public? No, thanks.”

“Yeah, that can be a pain. Thank you.”

Skye directed that last part at the bartender who set a plate in front of her. I had to admit that patty melt looked mouthwatering, and I knew the fries were delicious because my wing basket had come with them as a side.

“I’m going to have to eat here more often,” I said.

“I hope you do.”

She said that just before taking a giant bite of her patty melt. The words left me smiling. She hoped I did.

Yes, I definitely had to find a reason to see her more often, which meant I needed to make my business here in Seduction Summit, at least for a while. Whatever logger Alex had hired better watch out. The competition was here to kick butt.