Chapter 2

2

Lucy

“ O ww.”

“Goddamnit!”

With every lurch of the minibus comes a tirade of abuse and wounded looks. Each one aimed in my direction.

“Just part of the wilderness experience, guys—!” I say with my sunniest smile. But before I can finish my sentence, the bus bounces through an extra-gigantic pothole and the Marketing Director yowls like a cat that’s had its tail trodden on. He’s literally green. I look frantically for something he can puke into, but all I can find is a super-size soda cup. That’s definitely not gonna fly.

“Fricking hell, Lucy!” someone mutters.

“Sorry!” I chirp. I’m mean, it’s not like I built the minibus myself and chose to send the driver along the dirt track from hell. Nope. I was just working with the miniscule budget that my line manager gave me, and I booked the place she told me to book. I feel bad for the team, though. They’ve been talking about this team-building weekend forever.

Well, I’m just gonna have to make the best of things. And luckily that’s my middle name.

Me, I would’ve picked something closer to town—like an escape room or cooking classes—and skipped the expensive overnight stays. But she insisted on staying at Twin Falls Mountain Retreat because she used to come here as a kid, and it’s a real bargain, apparently.

That might be because it’s currently rated 5.6/10 on the VacayVibes app.

But if I mention that, I can definitely kiss goodbye to this job. And anyway, I’m not the kind of girl to say I told you so.

Outside the window, one pine tree after another rolls by. So far, all I’ve seen is trees and mud. Surely, we should be here by now? I pull out my phone, click on my maps app, and watch as the blue arrow edges along the road that leads to our destination. Come on, little guy , I coax it.

I’m still staring at my screen when the minibus lurches to a stop.

Some instinct for self-preservation keeps my attention right there, as a deafening silence erupts.

The tips of my ears are burning. Slowly, slowly, I lift my head.

Holy moly. One of the front windows of the lodge is boarded over. There’s a big hole in one of the porch steps, and half of the blue neon Twin Falls Mountain Retreat sign is not lit. It’s even worse than the photos.

My heart sinks to my boots.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” someone mutters.

I grab my clipboard. “Wait till you see the rooms!” I say, fingers tightly crossed behind my back. Hopefully, hopefully the owners have taken the guest feedback on board, and they’ve done some renovations since the last stinking review appeared on the booking app.

And no, I’ve made a point of not checking how recently said stinking review was written.

The driver jumps out of his seat and hauls open the sliding door. I leap out, clutching my pièce de resistance—a bunch of necklaces that I had made up for the team. They feature a whistle and a tiny LED flashlight, but just for fun, the girls’ is decorated with pink marabou feathers, while the guys’ is a string of fake animal teeth. So fierce!

As I help each person down, I drape the gender-appropriate necklace around their necks.

Not everyone is delighted, but they’ll come around. It’s the perfect icebreaker.

Natasha, my line manager, is last out. Her long maroon nails dig into my shoulder as she clambers down. Oww .

Her lips move close to my ear. “Lucy, remember that Tweet you sent…” she begins in a pleasant tone.

I close my eyes.

The Tweet that will never die. The time I almost sunk the company in 145 characters. The most humiliating moment of my life.

“Uh huh,” I mutter, as a truckload of adrenaline shoots through my veins.

“Well, if anyone asks you who picked this place, you tell them it was you, okay?”

I stiffen.

Her nails dig deeper into the flesh of my shoulder, and I force myself not to yelp.

“Yes, o-of course, Natasha,” I gasp out.

“Good,” she purrs. Then she turns on the heel of her six-inch Manolos and stalks off.

Sheesh. I would’ve done that if she’d just asked me nice. She didn’t have to hit me right where it hurts.

Everyone is huddled together, glaring at the lodge and muttering to each other:

What a dump.

Looks like that hotel from The Shining.

Did Lucy pick it?

What d’YOU think, bro?

My cheeks burn, but I shove my shoulders back.

These are not criticisms, Lucy Cole, they’re incentives. And every sentence is gonna motivate you to provide the greatest team-building weekend that ever was.

The driver peels out of the lot like he can’t wait to get away, leaving our bags in a heap in the dirt. I squint at the lodge. Anyone coming to help us with our luggage?

Guess not.

I grab my bag and someone else’s, and drag them up the porch steps to the reception.

Yeesh, those ol’ front doors are heavy. I turn sideways and put my shoulder into the unforgiving wood. But suddenly the door disappears and I’m pushing at nothing…

Instead, I’m flying into the lobby like I’ve grown a pair of wings. A sound like a dying squirrel escapes my lips.

Then I’m no longer flying, but plunging right into something.

Someone.

A grizzly bear in a T-shirt and jeans.

Huh?

No, a man. But a real big one. Like double the size of a regular guy.

Shoot, this is confusing.

And now his arms are around me. He’s holding me up so I don’t hit the deck.

“Thank goodness you were here!” I blurt out.

“Didn’t you see me opening the door, lady?”

He doesn’t speak. He thunders . And he does not sound impressed.

I lift my gaze to his face. “Guess not. But that’s okay?—”

Oh.

Wow.

I take in a mass of tangled dark hair, a heavy jaw, a wide, straight nose and dark, forbidding eyebrows. If a grizzly bear and a human had a baby, that would be their offspring.

But that’s not even the most amazing thing about him. No, the thing that’s making me feel all light-headed and palpitationy is his eyes. They’re like laser beams. Bright green laser beams, burning out from beneath those thick brows. And they’re staring right into mine, like he’s trying to find his way into my soul or something.

I can feel my mouth hanging open, but I’m too dumbfounded to do anything about it. Instead, I let him set me on my feet again.

I hug myself. It’s weird, but I kinda feel sad that those arms are no longer wrapped around me.

Now I’m upright, I barely come up to his pecs. Wow, he’s some kind of man mountain.

A man mountain at a mountain resort. I giggle.

Those caterpillar eyebrows draw together, and he looks even more grumpy. “What do you need?”

“Oh, I just need to check in.” I peer around his huge bulk at the empty check-in desk. “But doesn’t look like anyone’s here.”

He folds his arms. “I’m here.”

I swallow hard. Yup, he sure is. “Y-you’re the clerk?”

“The owner.”

I goggle at him. I know I should try to hide my reactions. People have told me that a bunch of times. But he looks nothing like the owner of a luxury resort. He looks like he just came from wrestling wild beasts. And are those bloodstains on the front of that plaid shirt of his?

The lobby door opens behind me. “What’s taking so long, Lucy?” Natasha’s voice whines.

“Just checking in, Natasha,” I trill. The door falls shut again, and I watch in amazement as this huge man-beast stalks behind the desk and opens an old-fashioned ledger.

“Got a reservation?” he grunts.

“Y-yes, under Lucy Cole.” I edge closer to the desk. Sheesh, he’s getting me all nervous and flustered. “Ten rooms.”

He flips through the ledger, kind of grunting bad-temperedly. “Okay.” He turns to the key rack behind him and pulls off all the keys, before dumping them on the desk. “Ten rooms. There you go.”

I blink at them. I was expecting some kind of spiel on what’s what. Which ones have king-size beds, hot tubs, et cetera. “Is one of them better than the others?”

He scowls at the keys for a while, before pointing to number 5. “That one.”

“Okay, great. I’ll give that one to my boss.”

I reach for it, but suddenly, his massive hand comes down on mine.

Huh? I feel the heat of his hand, the roughness of his skin, and a weird kind of electricity that seems to shoot between us. His body jerks. Did he feel it, too?

“That room’s yours,” he growls.

A nervous giggle bubbles out of me. “Oh, that’s okay! I’m kinda junior at the company. I’d be good with sleeping in a broom closet, really.”

His eyes burn into mine. I couldn’t tear my gaze away, even if I wanted to.

And I don’t. They’re the most incredible eyes I’ve ever seen. I feel like I want to look into them every day for the rest of my life.

Wow, where did that thought come from?

“Lucy Cole, that’s the room I’ve reserved for you.” He enunciates each word carefully.

Shivers blast through my body. Suddenly, I know I’m not gonna argue. Nope, I’m going to take the key, just like the super-hot scary mountain man told me to.

He steps out from the desk, gathers up my suitcase and the other one I was carrying, and marches toward the door.

All I can do is follow. My cheeks are burning; my body is tingling, and my gaze is fixated on those massive shoulders of his.