“You sound as tired as I do. We’ve both been running nonstop. How about I fix that? My suite has a ridiculous soaking tub. I could run you a bath. Keep you company. Wash your hair. Maybe give you one of my world-famous massages.”
That earned a genuine laugh—warm enough to hit straight for my heart. “World-famous, huh?”
“Come over. No lodge talk. No Madison. Just you and me in a tub big enough for two.” The image nearly killed me of Lilah, relaxed and trusting, steam curling around her skin. Us. Together. Quiet times leading to more…
“I’ll take a rain check?” Regret softened her tone. “I’m stressed and missing a key ingredient for a dish I planned to unveil on opening day. The storm wrecked my delivery schedule.”
“What ingredient?” I asked immediately. “I can make some calls with my connections in New York.”
“I doubt they could get white truffles flown in from Italy in time for New Year’s Eve. I need them for the Snowfall Risotto I designed for the Quest by West signature dish. Comforting, luxurious—named for your mountain.”
“It sounds incredible. Do they have to be from Italy? Is there nothing you can substitute?”
“I can’t present a signature dish without the signature part.”
“Ah, foodie logic, got it,” I quipped.
The line fell quiet until a stifled yawn crackled through.
I sighed. “I’m collecting that rain check for a bath after this week is over.” There’d be no Lilah keeping my poor cock company tonight. Which was for the best because I needed a good night’s rest, too.
“Deal, Mr. Snowman.”
“Get some sleep, Frosty. Big day tomorrow with that interview with Madison.”
“Right. Goodnight, Holden.”
“Night, Lilah.”
We hung up. I lay there staring up at the shadows across the ceiling. I tossed and turned most of the night like a man who’d gotten far too used to her beside him scrunched on a leather couch together.
She was only supposed to be a Christmas fling. Someone to pass the storm with. But between cookies, chaos, the sexy moments in the library, and the way she fit against me like she belonged there, Lilah had become something else entirely. Something I wasn’t ready to lose.
17
LILAH-BILITY
HOLDEN
We heldthe interview in the library. In hindsight, I should’ve fought harder for another room. That space had become sacred—mine and Lilah’s. Now, Madison intruded upon it.
She sashayed in, fully made up for the camera, wearing a blue suit and the shark-like smile she saved for moments when she smelled blood.
“You avoided me, Holden. Nice trick, having your staff show me around. What’s going on?” Hands on hips, she saw right through me.
“I thought your profile of the lodge could benefit from a variety of voices and scenes from the property.” I played it off coolly, ignoring the fact that sweat gathered under my collar.
“And what about us?” She lowered her voice, fluttering her eyelashes.
“As you can imagine with the opening of the lodge, I’m pulled in fifty directions right now, making it difficult to?—”
The door opened, and Lilah entered like a breath of fresh air, stealing my breath away and all my attention, too. Her hair curled in golden waves, like an angel, like she’d stepped out of one of my dreams. In a festive green dress with pearls at the neck, she stunned no matter what she wore.
Our eyes aligned and sent me back to our nights in this library, on the couch, the roaring fire a silent witness to everything we experienced together. I missed her; my arms ached to reach for her and plant her under my chin.
“Oh, I see,” Madison astutely assessed what was going on here between us. “Well, I suppose we’d better get the interview underway so that I can catch an early flight back home.”
She turned on her heel, whipping her hair in my face, and conferred with her cameraman, giving me a moment to take Lilah aside for a talk.
