Page 3 of Never Been Snow Lucky

Winter Falls had weathered plenty of storms since then, and I was sure there would be a ton more in our future. I tended to be a practical guy, but I couldn’t help but think that maybe one of them would bring me good luck like that one had done for so many of my friends.

As I approached the rustic log-cabin style building that housed the ski lodge, my smile widened. I grew up in a mountain town in Upstate New York, but the small resort in my hometown paled compared to The Snowed Inn and Lodge. It’d taken a little getting used to how it felt as though we were celebrating the holiday season all year round when I moved here, but I barely noticed the snowman decorations that Raven loved anymore.

Except as I entered the lodge, it was impossible to miss that she added more recently. Which wasn’t unusual since we were only three days away from Christmas Day.

Rapping my knuckles against the door of her office, I poked my head inside and asked, “Where do you even find all this stuff? Snowmen R Us?”

“Ha, ha,” she fake laughed, rolling her eyes. “As if I haven’t heard that one a thousand times before.”

Leaning against the doorframe, I shrugged. “Guess I won’t be throwing away my ski patrol career anytime soon to try my hand at being a stand-up comic.”

“Good call.” Her expression turned serious as she asked, “How can I help you?”

“I hate to add anything to your to-do list this close to the storm, but you know how it goes.” I explained what we needed to stock up the warming shacks, and she nodded.

“That’s doable.”

I followed her to the entrance that connected the lodge to the inn but came to an abrupt stop only a few steps through the door. My attention was snagged by a gorgeous brunette who had just walked into the lobby. Her long, wavy hair tumbled down her back, topped by a maroon knit cap. She blinked away the snow from the long lashes of her dark brown eyes, a pretty pink blush from the cold coloring her pale cheeks. She unzipped her ski jacket, and my gaze dropped to take in the delicious curves she revealed. My palms itched to cup her sweet tits, which appeared to be the perfect handful. And when she turned and bent over to mess with the lace on one of her boots, I got the perfect view of her luscious ass.

Unfortunately, I didn’t do a good job of hiding my interest in her because Raven realized who I was staring at and elbowed me in the side. “You should go talk to her.”

“What?” I asked, forcing my gaze away from the woman who had brought my long-dormant libido raging back to life.

“I recognize that gleam in your eyes,” she explained. “I saw it in Caleb’s when we first met and every day since then. So I said that you should go talk to her.”

“Her?” I echoed, even though I knew damn well who she was talking about. But unfortunately, the woman in question was nowhere in sight. I’d missed my chance for now. If I got another one, I vowed not to let it go to waste.

3

IRIS

Ispent most of my first day in Winter Falls sleeping. It wasn’t exciting, but when I woke up this morning, I felt more refreshed than I had in longer than I could remember. I knew that my grad school studies had taken a toll on me, but I hadn’t realized quite the extent of it until my plan to take a short, late-afternoon nap turned into fourteen solid hours of sleep.

It was only six o’clock when I woke up, but between all the rest I got and the time difference, I was wide awake. By the time I headed to the rental shop to get geared up for my snowboarding lesson, I had already downed two cups of coffee, eaten breakfast, and read a romance novel that had been on my TBR since summer break.

The door to the shop jingled as I entered, and I wasn’t surprised to see that they were snowman-themed when I glanced up.

The girl behind the counter caught my look and laughed. “Even the new trail signs we installed last year have little snowman cutouts on the end. Raven has left her touch on every inch of the place.”

“Raven’s the one who’s addicted to snowmen?” I asked, thinking about the nice woman who’d checked me in when I arrived.

“Yup, she’s one of the owners.”

“Gotcha.”

“I’m Sara, and I’m hoping you’re Iris?” She tapped her fingers against the keyboard on the counter in front of her. When I nodded, she explained, “Good because the schedule is a mess with the big storm coming in.”

My brows drew together. “Big storm?”

“Yeah, we’re supposed to get dumped on big time over the next few days. You’re lucky that your lesson is today. I’m not sure Lincoln will be available tomorrow, and he’s by far the best instructor we’ve got. As he should be since he’s got a crazy amount of pro snowboarding competitions before he met Bethenny and decided to settle down in Winter Falls. But I can’t see him being willing to risk getting stranded on the mountain while she’s at home with kids. Especially with Christmas only two days away.”

I had no idea who the people Sara was talking about were, but I had the feeling that if I didn’t divert her attention back to the reason I was here, I would miss my lesson while learning their entire life stories. “Sounds as though I will be in very good hands.”

“For sure,” she confirmed with a nod before having me sign a bunch of paperwork. Once that was done, we headed over to a wall of snowboarding boots. The lesson package I chose included all the equipment I’d need since my ski stuff didn’t do me much good while snowboarding—except for my helmet, which I’d brought with me. I got to keep everything for the next week and could extend for longer and add on additional lessons if I wanted.

The boots were softer than what I was used to wearing, so I made a few circles around the inside of the shop to get used to them. While I was doing that, Sara walked over to a row of snowboards and grabbed one from the middle. “This one looks perfect for you.”

I gripped the sides of the board when she set it in front of me, easily meeting her gaze since the top went to my chin, a couple of inches shorter than the skis I brought with me. “Thanks.”

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