Page 28 of Ms. Fortune
I snorted while picking at the food in front of me. “I’ve always been an overachiever.”
The attempt at dry humor didn’t amuse him in the slightest. “You need to put the property into a trust. If something happens to you, the trust will follow your order posthumously. If someone wants you out of the way because your beneficiaries are easier to deal with, that should eliminate any threat coming from those who want to manipulate your family.”
“What about the threat that clearly wants me dead? How do I deal with that one?”
“You don’t. I’m going to deal with it for you once I narrow down who’s behind it. I’m working on getting an ID on the driver of the SUV. Once I have that, I should be able to track down who paid him to run you off the road.”
“Shouldn’t the cops be doing all of that?” I couldn’t keep the disdain out of my voice.
“Hmm … they’re going to make it look like they’re doing something because there were witnesses to the attack and there’s video evidence. I work faster and have a better network, involving the sort of people willing to trade money for taking a person’s life. And I don’t have any red tape to wade through or annoying legalities holding me back.”
“You make it sound like you’re above the law.” I took the mug of coffee he handed me with my uninjured hand and nearly dropped it since it wasn’t my dominant side.
He’d called me clumsy earlier. He wasn’t wrong. I had a habit of getting distracted and letting my mind wander when I should be focused on whatever was in front of me.
“I’m not above the law. I’m just out of reach, which is even more irritating to those who interfered in the past. I’m going to do my thing; you worry about yourself and getting this place ready for winter. It’s supposed to snow later this week.”
I wanted to argue because I was the one being targeted. I was the one fighting to keep my business afloat and myself out of a coffin. So I should be the one quietly promising vengeance for all the wrongs I’d recently suffered.
Instead, I ate the breakfast he’d brought me and went back to bed. My aching bones and sore joints weren’t good for much else at the moment. It was the first time I’d ever been able to pull the plug on the hurricane-force winds of unease inside of me and just … be. There was someone next to me, holding the storm at bay. I’d never known the sense of relief that came along with having someone in your life you could rely on.
It was also a slippery slope. For the three days I rested and waited for my sprained wrist to stop screaming every time I moved it in the slightest, I found myself handing over more and more responsibility to Risky. I had him set up the initial round of interviews for the seasonal staff. I asked him to meet with the health inspector to get the outdoor kitchen signed off. I begged him to take me into town so I could follow up with the sheriff and my doctor. One appointment was irritating and offered no updates; the other was quick, and I left with a clean bill of health and orders to baby my wrist for the next few weeks. He never complained about the menial tasks, even seeming to enjoy the break from power tools and manual labor.
When I was finally ready to go back to the helm of the nearly sinking ship, the first order of business was to hire my new staff. I let Risky handpick candidates after his buddy with the Bronco ran extensive background checks on all of them. I was surprised by how excited so many of the candidates were when I interviewed them. Like Risky, many of them had beenthrough the area when my grandparents ran the property, and this place had lingered with them. It was nice that others shared such fond memories of the people who meant everything to me. I tried to keep the nostalgia at bay and hire based on skill and ability, but it was hard to keep my heart hardened when I heard how beloved my grandparents had been. I also hired a couple of younger kids who were just now old enough to spend the winter on the mountain. I figured there was nothing wrong with starting over with a blank slate and fostering a whole new generation who could appreciate how special the legacy left to me was.
My final interview of the week was with an alarmingly attractive young man named Nico who’d just barely turned twenty. I could tell he was a heartbreaker the minute our eyes met. As he opened his mouth, it was clear he was full of shit and used to using flattery and charm to make his way in the world. He was over-the-top flirty, especially for a job interview. I was ready to tell him he wasn’t a good fit for the lodge, but then he whipped out his phone and started showing me videos of him snowboarding. I hated that he was so damn good. When he told me he was going to try out for the Olympic team, I had no problem picturing him standing on a podium with a gold medal. He had to be a prodigy—or at least innately skilled. I shouldn’t hire him because his arrogance was going to be a problem, but I couldn’t turn him down because he was the best candidate for the job. It felt like I was in the reverse position from when I’d hired Risky.
Speaking of the dark-haired handyman, he was less than thrilled that the young snowboarder thought it was appropriate to playfully tease his boss. I thought he was harmless, and I knew his attention would turn to the girls I’d hired closer to his age. As well as the attractive vacationers who would soon swarm the property. Only Risky wasn’t patient enough to wait for Nico’sinterest to shift to someone else. I caught him pulling the smaller man aside, saying something that had him keeping a wide berth from me from that point forward.
Things were hectic. I could see the start of the season bearing down on me. Thankfully, the weeks following my accident were peaceful, and no other incidents occurred. Risky promised he was getting closer to having proof of whoever had tried to have me killed. As the days went by, I could tell he was getting frustrated, not having an answer sooner.
Finally, the first heavy snow fell, blanketing the mountain and turning the world outside the lodge windows pure white. It was beautiful and peaceful. Watching the snowflakes fall and seeing my breath fog in the air reminded me why I was so determined to preserve this space. Every time it snowed like this, it felt like life reset, and there was a chance to start over without as many missteps. All one had to do was wait for the snow globe to flip over, and the past was erased and covered in another layer of untouched snow and ice.
The lodge was empty. I cleared everyone out the weekend before my first week of being booked solid. I wanted the time to make sure all the loose ends were tied up and give everyone on staff their last taste of freedom before we all got too busy to think about anything other than making our guests happy. And maybe, subconsciously, I wanted a few stolen hours to spend some time alone with Risky. We’d barely had more than five minutes to talk since preparations had ramped up. Now and then, I would catch him staring at me with not a care as to who might be watching. His gaze had always been warm and inviting. Now there were hidden promises and a hint of sensual threat between each blink. I felt like he was just waiting for the right time to pounce.
He was.
I stood in front of the windows, drinking cheap wine out of a novelty pint glass and watching the world outside the glass turn pristine ivory. I saw Risky’s reflection in the glass as he approached me from behind. His image was wavy, but his intent was clear.
Whatever mood I was in, he was about to change it to something much sultrier and far sexier, just like he’d promised the day after he brought me home from the hospital.
He stood directly behind me. His head bent, and I felt his lips land on the back of my neck. His breath fanned across my skin as one of his hands wrapped around my waist. His fingers skimmed under the hem of my loose thermal shirt and inched across my lower abdomen. My abs contracted involuntarily, and my breath caught in my throat. The hand holding the glass of cheap wine shook ever so slightly, and my knees turned liquid. Risky used his teeth to nibble on the side of my neck. His free hand grabbed the glass I nearly dropped when the fingers of his other hand dipped beneath the elastic band of my underwear. My entire body trembled, but I was still hyperaware that we were technically standing in the lobby of a hotel, which was a very public space.
I caught his wrist with my still-healing hand to slow his aggressive movement. I felt the tips of his fingers feather across the very top of the slit between my legs. My body immediately went damp, and I felt my insides clench with desire.
“There are cameras everywhere.” I sounded breathless.
He chuckled into my ear and tried to move his captured fingers lower. “Don’t worry about it.”
I squeezed his wrist in warning and stared at his reflection in front of me. With the way he was standing behind me, with his head lowered and my entire body in his embrace, it looked like he was a vampire about to lure me over to the dark side with one bite.
“We spent weeks making this place perfect. I’m not about to let you mess it up. This is a proper business.” I sounded more prim and proper than I ever had in my life.
I wasn’t someone who lost my mind or my morals when it came to sex. In the past, I’d always viewed intimacy as a task or chore that was a requirement I needed to fulfill when I was involved with another person. It was never something I craved or sought for my own pleasure. I never longed for the touch of another person or ached for the feel of a warm body pressed against mine.
All of that changed when Risky dragged his tongue down the side of my neck and broke free from my hold so his fingers could slip between my legs and dip into my fluttering opening. My head dropped back with a gasp and rested against his shoulder. He smelled good. Like a campfire and roasted marshmallows. My favorite. His beard rubbed against the sensitive hollow where my neck met my shoulder.
His lips landed where my pulse was jumping erratically, and I heard the smile in his tone when he replied, “This is your home. That means you can do whatever you fucking want.”
