Page 6 of Brooding Mountain Man

I shook my head. “No, that’s Skye. She works in the gift shop. She’s my best friend.”

Best friend was another way I sounded like a kid, not a woman. Women had best friends, though, didn’t they? It wasn’t like I’d referred to her as my BFF or anything.

“Must be nice,” he said.

“What’s that?”

“To work with your best friend.”

I smiled. “We met here, actually. She and Darby are the only two on staff who are my age.”

He frowned. “Darby?”

I’d assumed he’d noted the name tag of the person who’d seated me. But I considered it a win if he didn’t memorize her name. I didn’t want him to notice my beautiful coworkers, as petty as it sounded.

I hitched a thumb toward the front of the restaurant. “The hostess.”

I followed his gaze to just behind me. Darby was approaching with a big smile on her face.

“Your server’s a little busy right now, but I told her I’d help out by getting your drink orders.” She immediately corrected herself with the word, “Order.”

Her gaze had landed on Lucky’s beer, reminding me he’d been here long enough to order that. Had he gotten here early to wait for me? Did that mean he was excited to have drinks with me?

“I’ll just take a glass of Moscato,” I said, closing the menu.

But as Darby turned and walked away, I worried that closing the menu had been premature. It had been out of nervousness. I didn’t want him to think I had no intention of ordering more.

“I know I just invited you for drinks,” he said, definitely reading my flip of the menu as a sign I didn’t want to eat. “I’ll order my food to go and take it to my room if you want to just enjoy your wine and go.”

“No,” I said, the words much more forceful than I meant them to be. I rushed to add in a more normal tone, “I mean, I’m hungry too. I barely had time to eat lunch. I left most of my sandwich in my lunch bag in the fridge.”

That brought a smile. Well, the closest thing he got to a smile, anyway. Just a twitch at the corners of his mouth and a softening of his features.

“They make a mean patty melt,” I said.

Meanpatty melt? Where had I gotten that terminology? Something I’d seen in a movie, no doubt.

“I’m thinking something a little heartier.” He scanned the menu. “Chicken on the Slopes sounds…interesting.”

I nodded. “Our cook is really good. That chicken dish is what we’re known for.”

“Have you tried it?” he asked.

I looked up at him. That was the question I feared.

I shook my head. “I guess I should have by now. I’ve been coming here since I was fifteen and my first friend got herdriver’s license. It was one of the few restaurants in town back then.”

“And it was so good, you got a job working at the lodge?”

I almost laughed at that one. “I wasn’t sure what to do when I graduated high school, so when I saw the job opening here, I applied. It was supposed to just be something I did the summer before going off to college, but…” I shrugged. “I guess I liked it too much.”

Correction—I likedthis towntoo much. It was in my blood. My parents still lived here, and even my sister, who graduated four years ahead of me, was thinking about moving back here. I’d seen how disappointed she was with big city life. It was nothing compared to what we had here in Seduction Summit.

“One glass of Moscato,” Darby said as she approached, speaking in advance probably to warn us we were about to have company. She set the glass down in front of me and stepped back, looking from Lucky to me. “Elizabeth will be right with you. Don’t order dessert, though.”

Lucky and I exchanged a glance. Finally, I looked back at her and asked, “Why is that?”

“They’re having s’mores out back by the pool,” Darby said. “Big fire pit. Free dessert.”

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