Free Fall Read online

  “That’s my line to you.”

  “I skied. It was amazing. No emergencies today, though.” Reaching up, he stroked away a long strand of hair poking out of her beanie and into her eye. “You didn’t get out?”

  “Too busy.” Still was. Sasha, the other bartender, was sending her frantic help-me glances. “In fact, I’ve got to go,” she said very reluctantly.

  “That’s too bad.”

  She looked into his dark eyes and sighed. He didn’t know the half of it. “I’ll buy you a drink,” she said. “What would you like?”

  His free hand came up, his fingers dancing over the side of her neck, lightly probing right over her sore muscles. “Are you hurting?”

  The touch sent little shock waves through her system. “Just a little kink.”

  He massaged it, applying a pressure so gentle that she wanted to drop into a puddle on the floor. “Oh, my God.”

  “Good?”

  “Extremely.” She bit back her moan and locked her knees to avoid falling to the floor. “Are you hungry?”

  Cocking his head, he studied her with that dark, dark gaze. “You’re awfully good at that. Deflecting the pampering.”

  “It’s my job.”

  “I don’t want to be your job.”

  “No?”

  “It should be your turn for a little pampering.”

  She laughed. “Not in my job description, unfortunately. I really do need to go.”

  He caught her hand when she would have moved toward the bar. “Two days ago you made me an honorary member of your staff.”

  “I did.”

  “Maybe you could do the same right now.”

  Her breath caught. “What job would you like?”

  “You.”

  The temperature in the room shot up, and Lily looked him over. For two nights, he’d played heavily in her fantasies. She’d already decided it’d been too long since she’d indulged in a nice—or not-so-nice—hot fling. “Have at it.”

  His answering smile was the sexiest, wickedest thing she’d ever seen and nearly melted her bones. She wished, just for a moment, for her old, uncomplicated life.

  “I’m just afraid it’ll have to be later. I have to get to the bar.”

  When he followed her, sitting at one of the tables as she went behind the bar and began working, she couldn’t help feeling pleased. Work was a heck of a lot more fun when she had a great view. She brought him a beer as soon as she and Sasha caught up with the rush.

  He tugged her down next to him, and she smiled. “Are you tired of being alone on vacation?”

  “I’m not often by myself. I’m doing fine.”

  “Search and rescue keeps you pretty busy, I imagine.”

  “I thought so. Until I saw you. I think you’re busier.”

  She laughed. “Not because I want to be, trust me. Tell me about your work. It sounds more interesting. You fly your own helicopter?”

  “I own it with a partner. Wyatt and I both have other jobs, as well. He flies traffic reporters and I fly people with too much money to meetings with other people with too much money. It pays the bills,” he said with a shrug.

  “It’s a lot nicer than paying them from behind a desk. How did you get into all this?”

  “Coast guard. My father and both my brothers are military, too.”

  She smiled. “So you live in quite the testosterone world.”

  “Guess so.”

  “And yet by the very nature of what you do, you’re there for others, saving them. Nurturing.”

  He tipped his beer to his lips and took a pull.

  She read the irritation in his expression and laughed. “Oh, sorry. I know a guy doesn’t want to hear the word nurturing in connection with his character. Don’t worry, Logan, what you do is incredibly dangerous and also sexy as hell.”

  He ran a finger over the wet label on his beer. “Same goes.” He met her gaze then, hot and breathtaking.

  With a low laugh, she stood up. “I’ve got to get back.”

  He stood, too, and took her hand, squeezing it gently until she looked at him. “I’d like to see you later.”

  There was nothing she’d like more. Maybe she’d been extra careful this year to fit the mold of resort manager and owner, too much so, but she needed something for herself. Never shy, she smiled. “Later sounds good.”

  “Where do I find you?”

  She looked at him for a long moment, her engine revving. “Down that stone hallway are the employee offices. Past that is another wing. My apartment is the second door on the right.”

  He looked into her eyes, and when he didn’t say anything, she wondered if she’d jumped the gun. Maybe he hadn’t intended for them to rendezvous tonight at all. Or maybe he didn’t like aggressive women—

  “Later seems too far away, but I’ll live,” he said softly and, with one last dance of his fingers over her throat, let go of her hand. “Tonight, then.”

  God, she hoped so. Her entire body hoped so.

  7

  AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER, Logan made his way through the common room. The fire was low but still crackling and popping. People milled around here and there: a few guys talking in a corner, a couple holding hands, another man and a woman—Lily’s aunt in fact—flirting on the couch in the late, quiet night.

  He hadn’t expected to still be awake himself after three long, hard, exciting days on the slopes, but that had been before Lily had leveled him with her whiskey eyes and given him directions to her room.

  At the startlingly open invitation, he’d been floored, flattered and, even now, aroused.

  Three days into his weeklong vacation and he was enjoying himself more than he’d imagined possible, something he’d admitted to Wyatt before dinner when Wyatt had called to make sure he was having fun.

  “You get yourself a ski bunny yet?” had been the first thing out of Wyatt’s mouth.

  “The skiing’s good, thanks for asking.”

  “Yeah. Good. Just tell me this…is she hot?”

  Sizzling. “’Bye, Wyatt.”

  With anticipation humming through him, he made his way down the darkened hallway of the employee offices and into a separate wing, where he came to a stop at the second door on the right.

  He knocked, and when the door opened, Lily stood there looking at him with a surprise she couldn’t quite hide.

  Had she thought he wouldn’t show? “Hey,” he said softly. “Too late?”

  “No.” She let out a slow smile. “Not too late at all.”

  Yeah, she’d definitely thought he wouldn’t show. Had there been that many broken promises, that many disappointments?

  And why did that tug on the heart he hadn’t intended to engage?

  She stepped back and made room for him to come in, then made a sound of frustration when her phone rang. “Excuse me.”

  Her living room was small but comfy-looking, with a pillow-filled couch in front of a fireplace. There were pictures on the walls, landscapes of the Sierras and Lake Tahoe and some other intriguing vistas he didn’t recognize. She had a small kitchen off to the side, done in bold red and white, and then another door.

  Her bedroom?

  Phone to her ear, Lily paced in front of the fireplace. “Yes, Gwyneth, I bolted the bear box.” She listened a moment. “Well, wasn’t that nice of Aunt Debbie to worry about me doing my job. Look, do us both a favor and go to sleep.” She clicked the phone off and drew a deep breath.

  Seemed his wild ski bunny was tense, very tense. And not such a wild ski bunny at all. “Nice accommodations,” he said, wanting to see a smile back on her face.

  “Thanks.” She looked around. “I keep thinking I’ll buy my own place in town but I just love to be on site. I’m the only one who lives here full-time, since my grandma died last year.”

  His gaze cut to hers, and he didn’t miss the quick stab of pain there. “You were close?”

  “Very close—Damn it.” She went to the kitchen counter and picked up her