Page 45 of Wild Promises

"Just as long as you don't advertise this spot. This one is ours."

Xander moved closer to me, lowering his head.

My heart rate increased. Was he going to kiss me here?

"Uncle Xan, make snow angels with me."

Xander grinned at me, then took off his skis "Sure thing, buddy." He lay down next to Joey and let his arms and legs fan out. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture of the two of them.

"Come on, Aunt Tori. We need a girl snow angel."

I laughed, shoving my phone into my zipper pocket, then took off my skis. We made our angels, then rested in the snow, staring up at the stars.

"I haven't looked at the stars since we were kids." I never paused to enjoy the world around me, and if I had, I would have been disappointed. There wasn't a lot of nature to explore in New York outside of Central Park. Not that I had time for something like that. But here, I could work and enjoy the outdoors. I could have a life. I let out a breath, enjoying just being here in this moment with Xander and Joey.

"We should head back. I told Oliver twenty minutes, but it's already been longer." Xander jumped up and started brushing off the snow from his clothes.

"I'm sure he'll understand," I said, but Xander didn't respond. His movements were jerky as he helped me and Joey up.

Then he took off for the trail, looking back occasionally to see if we were following him. When we got to the bottom, Oliver stood in his coat , holding Joey's snow boots.

Xander came to a skidding stop in front of him. "Sorry. We lost track of time."

"You always do," Oliver said tightly to him, and then to Joey, "Come on. Dinner will be cold."

"Aw," Joey whined as Oliver helped him take off his skis and change into his boots.

I could feel the tension rolling off of Xander.

"We were looking at the new lights Xander put up—" I began.

Xander stopped me with a hand to my arm. "Don't."

I frowned. "Don't what?"

"It doesn't matter." Xander's expression was grim, his eyes lowered.

"What new lights?" Oliver asked.

Joey tugged on his dad's hand. "Uncle Xander put up lights on the trail. It's so cool."

Oliver's forehead creased. "You did?"

Xander nodded. "I thought Joey would enjoy it. Tori too."

"He placed them on the branches that line the trail, giving it a magical feel."I wanted to add that they could advertise the trail, but I didn't want to overstep, and I had a feeling I already had.

Oliver's gaze swung from me to Xander. "I would think the guests would like to know about that. That they'd enjoy it."

Xander shrugged. "I did it for us."

Oliver's brow furrowed. "That must have taken a lot of time and effort. I can't even imagine how you managed it."

"It was nothing," Xander mumbled, and I wanted to groan out loud.

I had a feeling Xander was falling into some trap where he acted like he was in the same role as when he was a kid. The littlebrother wasn't a good look for Xander, especially when he was supposed to be acting like a comanager of the business.

"We talked to you about doing more for the business, and then you do this and don't tell anyone," Oliver said, his voice trailing off.

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