I pull her up out of the snow and into my arms to get us both balanced and on stable footing. Her green eyes are snapping with irritation. She blows her bangs off her forehead and takes a deep breath.
“My shoe, please.”
“I’m going to lean you against the house and then I will get your shoe.” Hopefully the house won’t collapse behind her.
“I can stand on one foot,” she says. “I have excellent core strength and I do squat exercises every day.”
I clear my throat, instantly reminded of her tight ass in those ski pants, and then later, out of them. “I definitely appreciated your core and squat regimen last night.”
Kayley rolls her eyes. “Just get my shoe. It didn’t cost seven hundred dollars, but I’d like it back for obvious reasons.”
Stepping into the drift, I retrieve her shoe, which is an incredibly impractical black flat. I brush it off and bend over to put it on her foot. She grips my shoulder and allows me to slide it on.
“Here you go, Cinderella.”
“There’s nothing fairy tale-like about this at all, unless Prince Charming is a land thief.”
Rising back up to standing, I eye her. “The only thief in this situation is Hans Shinglepuss. Can I ask what brought you up here?”
“Why areyouhere?” she counters without answering.
I can’t tell her my plan is to stay in this shack until further notice. “I wanted to come curse Shinglepuss for ruining our second date.”
Kayley snorts and dusts off her knees, knocking snow to the ground. “We should be cursing him for leaving the world’s biggest junk pile to deal with. It’s going to take four dumpsters to clean this mess out.”
“So does that mean we still have a date for dinner later?” I’m not ready to give up on the idea of seeing Kayley again, in spite of our competition for this property, though I’d honestly be shocked if she feels the same.
I’m expecting her to say I can take my dinner and shove it, but she surprises me with a long assessing look.
“You still want to go to dinner?”
I nod. “Absolutely. I had a great time last night.”
“Then fine, let’s go to dinner. You can certainly afford it since you won’t be shelling out cash for this mountain when Chase determines it belongs to me.”
She gives me a smile.
It’s a little devious and a little scary and a whole lot sexy.
“And the room at the inn?” I ask. “Should I book that?”
“Let’s see how dinner goes first.” Then she bends over, scoops up a handful of snow and tosses it at me.
It lands right on my crotch.
I can definitely use the cooling down.
This woman is the hottest thing I’ve ever met.
ChapterSix
KAYLEY
Keep your friends closer and your enemies closer—that’s the only reason I’m still going to dinner with Bran, let alone anything else.
You’re also a liar who lies. You’re sex-crazed, weak-willed, and have an unnatural obsession with fancy roast duck and Bran Ratcliffe’s cock.
Ignoring the snarky inner voice, I head into my office at the resort through the back entrance, the better not to be observed by guests who might wonder why I’m doing my best “bear rudely awakened from winter hibernation and pelted with snowballs” impression.