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“Ronni, look,” I whisper, pointing to the river’s edge.

“What? I don’t see anything,” she says, her eyes scanning the area I pointed out.

Before I say anything else, she notices the brush rustling, snow falling off some low pines. A cow moose comes out of the brush, shaking the snow off her back, walking into the clearing.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, clutching my hand. “I always forget how big they are.”

“Just wait.” I put my finger to my lips, gesturing to be quiet before pointing back to the edge of the clearing.

The moose scans the clearing, seeing us. Finally, she looks back to the pines, letting out a low grunt. An older calf pokes its way out of the brush, catching up with its mother.

I look to Ronni, she’s fixated on the mother and calf making their way across the clearing, before stopping in front of a bush to graze.

“I forgot how this place really is on the edge of wilderness,” she says, breaking the silence. “I can see why this is your favorite of the places you help take care of. It’s beautiful.”

I run my fingers through her hair. She’s right about one thing.

“Well, it’s definitely beautiful. But it’s still not myfavoriteplace here.”

She gives me a curious look. “Shit. I forgot you said it’s yoursecondfavorite. What could be better than this?”

I shrug, my eyebrows raised. “Honestly, it’s a no brainer. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out already. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. Only one more stop tonight.”

“Ugh. You just love surprises,” she says, her voice pretending to be annoyed as she presses her lips together into a line, trying to hide a smile and failing. She’s so cute when she does that.

Chapter 42

Veronica

So Talented

After leaving the giant ranch, we head back toward Teton Village. Tanner takes the truck down a familiar side road past an old dive bar and I finally realize where we’re going.

I palm my face and roll my eyes at him. “Ok, you were right. I should have guessedthiswould be your favorite place that you have to take care of.”

I look down the familiar driveway as we pull up to Tanner’s cabin, our final stop of the night.

“You know I’ve always loved this place,” he says, opening the door to let Rex hop out. “But I always thought it was missing something to be perfect. Now I know for sure that it was you that I needed here.”

God damnit, he’s adorable when he does stuff like this.

We head into the cabin and despite the relaxing day at the spa and my iced coffee, I’m still tired. Tanner wants to stay up and watch the weather forecast to see what’s in store for our ski day tomorrow, part of his nightly routine.

Watching the weather and hoping for a pow day together might seem like it should be a boring way to wind down the day, but here in this cabin, with Tanner, it’s everything I could ever ask for. I’m already in my flannel pajama shorts and my Teal Tigers crop top. Tanner’s in grey sweats, no shirt. He runs hot and sleeps without a shirt and I’m certainly not ever going to complain about that.

I curl up next to him, feeling his warm skin. My head is on his shoulder, one hand splayed across his chest, running my fingers through his chest hair. Looking at the coffee table, I can see my phone light up. Tanner, seemingly never missing a beat, catches my eyes lingering on it.

“You going to check that?” he asks skeptically.

I smirk, not moving my head from his shoulder. “Nope. I’m not even going to open the message. I already know it’s Jeff and I don’t care. I don’t even know why he’s awake this late back home. Whatever it is, I’m sure he can figure it out.” Jeff isn’t going to be my problem tonight.

His chest rises and falls with his laugh. “Good. That’s the spirit. I’m glad you’re having so much fun out here. Speaking of fun. It’s looking like it’s gonna be a banner day on the slopes tomorrow. You ready to shred some fresh pow?” he asks, still watching the TV, his arm wrapped around me twirling my hair in his fingers.

“I’m always ready, you don’t have to ask me. Just hope Collin and Lizzy are up for the task. They’ve been slowing down the last few days,” I say, chuckling a bit.

“Yeah, they clearly don’t have the endurance,” Tanner says, eyeing me carefully now. “I think they aren’t doing enoughcardio.”

“Hmm. I’ve been enjoying all of ourcardiolately.” Looking into Tanner’s eyes is something I could never get tired of. Hishooded gaze now drifts down to my crop top, the bottom edges of my breasts showing.

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