Chapter one

“Iamexhausted,”Annasaid as she dropped into the chair in the lodge’s lobby.

“Girl, I don’t remember skiing being that hard before,” Lucy, her friend, sighed in agreement.

Lucy had invited her on this ski trip to celebrate her engagement to Rick, her boyfriend turned fiancé. It was supposed to be a group trip, but a few others had fallen through, and there was only them and one other guy, Andrew, that had come along.

Anna had been working her butt off at the tech startup company she had been with for the last two years and needed this break. She hadn’t been skiing in years, but anywhere was better than her office right now.

The lodge was great, though. She could appreciate the rustic look of the architecture combined with the modern conveniences. From where she sat in the lobby, everything she could see was stained wood and plaid.

Just off to her left was a door that led to a game room. Down the hall was another large room that served as a bar at night. It was definitely different than the room she was in. The bar was modern, with glowing lights, and sharp lines, it was anything but rustic.

Anna shifted in her seat and removed her gloves and unbuttoned and unzipped her jacket. It took a while to warm up when they first got back from skiing, but she was starting to get very hot.

The fireplace roared to their right and she wanted to crawl inside it. With her jacket undone, she pulled her arms free and sank back into the chair.

She used muscles on the slopes today that she hadn’t used in years. She was sore all over and wanted to soak.

“What do you say to some hot tub time?” she asked Lucy.

“That sounds like heaven,” Lucy sighed. “Or it could be, as soon as I can move again.”

“Girl, same.”

“Incoming,” Lucy said.

Anna turned her head to look at the group of men that were coming in now. There were three of them but one stood out to her the most.

He was taller than the rest. His pepper-gray hair was perfectly styled, and he had just enough tan on him to assume that he lived somewhere sunny. It wasn’t a spray tan; she could spot those a mile away.

He was in a suit which told her he was a businessman. The other two men were dressed similarly, all in a suit tailor-made for them. No one bought anything off the rack that fit that well.

“Go talk to them,” Lucy encouraged.

Anna laughed. “First off, they are busy. Second off, I look and feel like crap right now.” She’d run in the other direction if she approached herself right now.

“No, you don’t,” Lucy said encouragingly.

“Did you not see us in the mirror when we walked in? Both of us,” she stressed.

Lucy screwed up her face. “It’s not that bad.”

“What’s the baseline for not that bad? Swamp monster?” Anna rolled her eyes.

“Okay, fine.” Lucy folded her arms across her chest.

“I love you like a sister, but I’m about to leave you down here. I want to go do something warm that involves my muscles feeling better.” Anna groaned but managed to push herself to stand.

Lucy snorted. “I can think of something warm to make you feel better,” she mumbled.

Anna’s mouth fell open in shock at her friend’s words. She reached forward and knocked her back down into the chair she’d just stood from.

“Anna,” she complained.

“You did not just say that,” Anna was still trying to recover from her shock at her friend’s words. Lucy wasn’t normally so outspoken.

“What?” I was talking about the sauna.