Chapter 4

4

brANDON

K acie kicked my ass on the slopes. It was almost embarrassing.

Most of the past two decades had been spent working for ski lodges, so you’d think I’d know how to tackle a green run. But I was the very definition of all work and no play. And skiing was play.

“I could go for a steaming hot bath,” Kacie commented as we once again sat in front of the fire.

This time, we both held mugs of hot chocolate while we sat on the same couch. There was a cushion between us, but I’d take anything I could get where this woman was concerned.

“There’s a hot tub,” I blurted.

“I don’t have a bathing suit,” she shot back.

The idea of this woman sinking, naked, into a bath sent blood straight to my groin. The image of her wearing absolutely nothing was now imprinted on my brain. Not surprising, considering I’d seen her naked less than a few hours ago.

“The gift shop can help you with that, I said.

I was suddenly very grateful I’d made that suggestion to Alex. I’d overheard someone in the lobby talking about wanting to go for a swim back in August, but the closest place to buy a swimsuit was all the way in Adairsville. Alex had ordered some swimwear and set aside space for it in the gift shop just in time for the outdoor pool to close. The swimsuits were overpriced and lacking in design options, but they helped out people in a pinch…like Kacie was right now.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “I’ll grab swimsuits for both of us. Meet me over near the indoor pool.”

Was I being too bossy? Probably. That was a bad habit of mine. I needed to pull back on that and remember that this was a woman I was interested in, not one of my employees.

A woman I was romantically interested in. I thought about that a long moment. Yes, she was definitely a woman I was interested in. But it’d been a long time since I’d thought about romance. It was suddenly all I could think about.

I stared at the fire, holding my breath, hoping like hell she’d take me up on my offer. But if she didn’t, I’d just have to find a way to keep her here in front of the fire, talking to me, until she fell in love with me. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I had to try.

“It’s a deal,” Kacie said. “Meet me at the hot tub.”

I discovered a new problem as I crossed the lobby alone, heading toward the gift shop. I had a growing erection that I was pretty sure anyone with eyes could see.

“Where’s Kacie?”

The voice came from behind the desk. It was the day clerk, Georgia. She’d worked here for the past few years, according to Alex, and she was now his most valuable employee.

“We’re both going to take a dip in the hot tub to warm up,” I said, coming to a stop halfway across the lobby.

“Of course, Mr. Brighton.” Georgia nodded, keeping a professional demeanor as always. “You know, the door to the hot tub room locks from the inside, so if you both leave and want to come back, make sure it’s unlocked when you walk out. People get locked out of there all the time.”

At the end of that statement, she gave a little tilt of her head, along with a sly smile. For a second, I thought she was flirting with me, but then I got what she was doing. She was telling me the door to the hot tub room locked from the inside for a reason—a matchmaking sort of reason.

“Good to know,” I said. “I’m going to buy some swimsuits.”

“Have fun,” Georgia said, again with a sly smile.

I liked that woman. I made a mental note to suggest Alex give her a raise.

The woman in the gift shop was around Georgia’s age, and both of them were around Kacie’s age. Like Georgia, this woman had a bright, sunny personality rather than Kacie’s straightforward, no-nonsense demeanor. It was easy to believe Kacie was wise beyond her years because of that.

“Do you know what size she wears?” the gift shop clerk, whose name tag read Skye, said.

Crap. I had no idea.

“She’s about your size,” I said.

Skye smiled. “That’s what all men say about their wives.”

I opened my mouth to correct her that Kacie wasn’t my wife, but then I shut it again. I liked the idea of it. My wife. The woman who had vowed to spend the rest of her life with me. I wanted to live in the fantasy if only for a few minutes. I wanted Kacie to be my wife.

“What size do you wear?” I asked. “Not to get too personal.”

I was going through the only rack of bathing suits. Only four design options, total, and two were skimpy bikinis. Even though my first sight of her had been naked, Kacie didn’t seem like a skimpy bikini type of person.

Skye pointed me to her size in the basic black one-piece I was eyeing and rang up that and my plain black swim trunks. Then I headed toward the hot tub, heart pounding.

In my lodge back in Pleasure Point, the hot tub had been out in the open, next to the pool. For whatever reason, this lodge had put it in its own space with a door that apparently locked. But stepping into the pool area, I was puzzled to see no sign of Kacie.

What if she’d had second thoughts and headed home? She’d have no way to let me know. Maybe she’d left a message with Georgia at the front desk.

No, I’d walked right past Georgia. She was on the phone at the time, but she would have definitely called out to me if she’d seen Kacie head out the front door.

I took another glance around the completely deserted pool area before heading to the door to the hot tub. As I approached, I saw through the little window that she was sitting in the hot tub, eyes closed and head tilted back. Her shoulders were bare.

Holy shit. Was she in there naked? My erection notched up a level or two at the thought. Maybe she’d remembered she had a swimsuit in her car or something. No. Once again, Georgia would have mentioned her exiting.

Only one way to find out. I turned the knob and jerked the door open, walking through it with the gift shop bag in hand.

“I figured I’d have to undress in front of you anyway,” she said. “May as well put the swimsuit on underwater.”

Yet another reason I’d expected to see her out by the pool. There were changing restrooms at the far end. She could have easily changed and come out. But I liked her approach better.

“This door locks,” I said, turning and pointing to it. “We could both sit here in our birthday suits and nobody would know.”

“Except for the window.”

She pointed toward it. I turned and looked. She was right. Anyone could come up and peek through it.

I opened the door again and slid the gift shop bag handles over the top of it. Then I closed it and pulled the bag over so it covered the small window. It was almost as if the bag had been sized to give us privacy here.

When I turned back around, Kacie’s eyes were wide as she stared at the bag. She didn’t look shocked or afraid. In fact, the hint of a smile told me she was enjoying the adventure of all of this.

If adventure was what she wanted, adventure was what she’d get.

I shrugged off my coat and pulled my sweatshirt over my head, tossing it to the floor. Her eyes grew even wider as she took in my naked torso. The hours every week I spent in the gym at my lodge, working off steam, were now well worth it.

When I went for the fastening of my jeans, I wondered if I should suggest she close her eyes. But what was fair was fair. I’d seen her naked before I even knew her name.

I didn’t take my eyes off her as I shoved down my jeans, stopping to kick off my shoes and socks. That left me wearing only my underwear.

That was when I got a little shy. I was fully confident in the way I looked naked, but I also put a lot of stock in what this woman thought of me. It was ridiculously important that she liked what she saw.

“Let’s see it,” she said, her eyes on the very noticeable bulge under my boxer briefs. “I showed you mine.”

“It was a little hard to see through all the plexiglass,” I teased.

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Fine. Get naked, and maybe I’ll stand up.”

That was definitely an offer I couldn’t refuse. I had my underwear off and on the floor next to me in seconds, at which point I began trying desperately to read the expression on her face.

Did she like what she saw? Was she disappointed?

She was staring—gaping, actually. Her expression was completely neutral, although her eyes remained wide. I considered reminding her of her offer to show me hers but thought better of it. I knew what was under that water. I could recreate the scene from this morning a thousand times over—and probably had done just that already.

So instead, I stepped down into the hot tub and settled on the seat on the opposite side. Her expression had changed. Her eyes were glassy and she wore a frown. Had she changed her mind about hot tubbing naked with a guy she’d just met?

“I’ve never done this before,” she said.

“Been naked with a guy in a hot tub?” I joked, relieved that this was why she’d been frowning. “Me, either. If that’s what your friends consider fearless, they probably would dare me to do a few things too.”

Kacie looked like she wanted to say something, but the words weren’t coming. Instead, she just stared at me, making me wonder if I’d scared her off with my massive erection.

Yes, it was clear she turned me on. If she didn’t have sex with me in mind, she might be looking for a way out of this.

“I probably should tell you something before this goes any further,” she said.

A rollercoaster of emotions followed those words. She was thinking about this going further. That was a good sign. But she wanted to tell me something.

She was married. Engaged. Dating someone. All those things would bring this to a screeching halt. No way was I going to be someone’s side dude. Besides, I wouldn’t do that to another man. Cheating sucked.

“This morning, when you saw me on the gondola, you were the first man to ever see me naked,” she finally said, the words coming out in a burst. “I’ve never done any of this before, and that’s why my friends think I’m living my life in fear. I want to prove them wrong. And I want you to help.”