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  “I was fine.”

  “You’re always fine.”

  “That’s right,” she said cautiously, her smile fading. “What’s the matter?”

  “You risked yourself needlessly.”

  “Needlessly? There was an injured party down there and I went after him. That’s a part of the life out here. And I’d have thought you, of all people, got that.”

  That she was right didn’t ease his tension or make him feel any better. She’d turned away from him now, gathering a rope to entwine it. He snatched it from her and did the job himself. “Go get some ice,” he said, probably more roughly than he’d intended. But screw it. He’d let her mess with his head, and that was so far from his usual realm of not caring enough, it shook him to the very core.

  She stared at him for a long moment, then backed away. “All right. Thank you.”

  And then she was gone.

  10

  WHEN SHE GOT DOWN THE MOUNTAIN, Lily cleaned up her cuts, wrapped her wrist to match her knee and dug into work. There were other fires that had to be put out all over the resort, such as someone posting a party notice for that night in the bar on the bulletin board in her name. Obviously a joke, but she removed it—thankfully before Sara or Gwyneth caught wind of it.

  Or maybe not a joke. Maybe the same person who’d messed with her food delivery.

  Aunt Debbie happened by as Lily was tossing the party flyer in the trash, and lifted a brow at her. “Mom always wondered if you’d outgrow your party years.”

  “She knew I had,” Lily said.

  “I guess that’s why you inherited.” Debbie’s smile went from playful to wistful. “One of us had to grow up and be responsible, huh? Oh well, it wasn’t ever going to be me, that’s for sure.” Surprising Lily, she pulled her in for a hug. “Thanks for putting up with me.”

  Since Lily sensed a lingering sadness alongside the usual mocking humor, she endured the embrace. “I’m sorry you’re sad.” She wished for Sara, who was better at this nurturing, mothering thing.

  “Are you?” Aunt Debbie pulled back and laughed. “Well, that’s unexpectedly sweet. You must be mellowing with old age.”

  “Am not.”

  “Used to be no one was badder than you. You never took anyone’s crap.”

  “I don’t take any now, either. Speaking of which, stop telling stories about me.”

  “But you’re a legend.”

  “Pete took a crazy chance today because of your stories.”

  “Pete’s a big boy, he should have known better. See?” She clucked Lily under the chin. “You’re not yelling at me. Definitely mellowing. And you know what else, kid? I’m not the only sad one here.”

  Lily thought about that as she went back to work. Was she mellowing? Sad? All she knew was that the day-to-day running of this place was eating away at the joy and peace the mountain gave her, and she was tired, so damn tired, from trying to keep up with everything.

  Maybe that’s what Aunt Debbie had seen—pure exhaustion.

  She thought about that while she sorted her way through the piles on her desk as evening came. Gwyneth showed up and reported that the cafeteria looked filled to brimming and that Logan had joined a group of dispatchers and cops from L.A. who’d come up to ski. Sounded like so much fun that Lily rushed through the expense report she was working on, but by the time she got to the bar, she was too late.

  “They took the moonlit trails on rented snowmobiles,” Matt told her, drying glasses and watching her carefully. “I suggested it.”

  “Oh. That’s…nice.” She sat on a bar stool and joined him in drying.

  “Didn’t know you were going to go back for seconds.”

  Her gaze whipped to his.

  “It’s not like you.”

  “I’ve gone out with guys more than once.”

  “Name one.”

  “Pete.”

  “Yes, but he’s a ski bum who shows up on this mountain once, maybe twice, a year. You’ve always been safe pretending to date him.”

  Lily shook her head. “Matt?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Shut up.”

  He grinned. “Not until you take back calling me a sap.”

  “You are a sap. A sap who has to build me new shelves.”

  He grumbled at that and moved away to serve a customer.

  Lily’s job of irritating him now complete, she got into her car and drove to town to visit Pete at the hospital.

  He was flat on his back, casted up and suitably high on pain meds. He grinned like a lunatic at the sight of her.

  She couldn’t help but sigh at the bigger-than-life athlete, tall, angular and so Swede with his blond, blue-eyed good looks, lying still and broken. “You’re such a lucky bastard.”

  “How’s that?”

  “You could be dead. God, that was stupid today.”

  “Hey, you’re supposed to be nice to me.” He tried to shift and winced. Leaning in, Lily helped him get a pillow behind him for comfort, making him sigh. “You know why I never asked you to marry me, right?” he asked.

  She pulled his blankets smooth and patted his arm. “Because being attached to one woman gives you hives?”

  “Well, there’s that.” He sighed. “I watched you come down that mountain today. You put your life on the line for me, and I realized something.”

  “That you’re a selfish SOB?”

  His smile was weak. “That, too. You’re a great catch, Lily. I should have—”

  She put her fingers gently over his lips. “Don’t.” Even though they went back a couple of years, they’d never been a real couple, partly due to his women addiction, partly due to her own commitment issues. In fact, they hadn’t been together at all for some time, and looking at him now, she felt a softness, a genuine affection, but not the heat. Not a single spark. “I came to tell you that I’m sorry you were hurt. Get better, Pete, soon. But when you do, stay off my cliffs.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “You’re really over me, aren’t you?”

  “Quite.”

  He smiled as his eyes closed. “You’ll change your mind. You have before.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  His smile dissolved and he opened his eyes. “It’s that skier you were with today, isn’t it?”

  She scrambled for the denial, just a little too quickly. “I’ve only known him a few days.”

  “Days, years, minutes. Doesn’t matter when it’s the real thing.”

  “Like you would know the real thing if it bit you on the ass.”

  He laughed, then grimaced in pain. “Yeah. But you’re the real thing, Lily. I’m just an idiot. Be happy, babe.”

  “You, too.”

  “I will, soon as you get out of here so I can get the pretty nurse on duty to come make me feel better.”

  Lily laughed, kissed him goodbye, then drove back to the resort, feeling each and every ache and bruise. She went to her apartment and took a hot, hot shower, thinking sleep would cure her. Then she proceeded to stare at the ceiling while the clocked ticked off the minutes. Then the hour.

  She didn’t want sleep. She wanted…

  Logan.

  Days, years, minutes. Doesn’t matter when it’s the real thing. Pete’s words echoed in her head as she dressed again and made her way through the quiet lodge.

  The real thing.

  She’d told Pete he wouldn’t recognize it if it reared up and bit him, and she’d always assumed the same thing about herself. She didn’t want to recognize it because the real thing didn’t fit into her life.

  Love, if it existed, was a pain in the ass. It obligated. It forced a responsibility for someone else’s feelings. It disappointed.

  But lust…now lust was right up her alley.

  She found herself in front of Logan’s room.

  Yeah, lust worked.

  She hadn’t seen him since Pete’s hair-raising, ulcer-inducing rescue, and given how he’d looked at her after, as if he wanted to both shake her