Leaveit to my dipshit older brother to blow up my winter plans by pawning off his best friend—who also happens to be my ex—at the family chalet that I specifically told him I was planning to stay at by myself.
Sterling’s eyes find mine, and the breath catches in my throat, as a chill shudders through me. Three years. It’s been three years since I last saw him, and somehow, he looks even better than the memory I’ve been trying to forget.
His skin is darker now, more bronzed than it usually is, from his endless days in that beach town he ran off to. His curls, once as dark as night, are streaked with sun-bleached strands. And those dark brown, all-consuming eyes I swore I’d never fall into again stare back at me.
There’s no way in hell he can stay here.
With me.
Alone.
“Oh, come on, Maisy.” Levi throws me a look, irritation peaking through his easygoing tone. “I don’t have a spare room at the ski resort for him.”
Sterling turns, brows drawing together. “What about the instructor that bailed for Banff? Can’t I just stay in his room?”
Levi shakes his head, exasperated. “Cody lives in Bluewater Bluffs. He never stayed at the resort because he would always just drive up on workdays.”
“Unbelievable.” My arms cross tightly over my chest, hiding the angry tremor in my hands. “Levi, I told you I was coming up here for a month—for me. To focus and finally learn how to snowboard without a hundred eyes on me. How the hell am I supposed to do that with someone else in my space?”
“Maisy, stop being such a princess,” Levi shoots back. “You’ll still have your ‘you time’ while Sterling’s at work. And as for your lessons…” He slaps a hand on Sterling’s shoulder with a grin. “You couldn’t ask for a better teacher.”
“What?!” Sterling and I say in unison, our heads whipping toward him.
“I don’t want any of the other instructors trying to get in your pants, Maisy. Sterling is the only person I trust to respect that boundary, given your past and all.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea,givenour past,” Sterling says.
“Exactly!” I shout. “What if we kill each other out there?”
Levi sighs, already checking his watch. “Come on, guys. Put your big-girl and big-boy pants on, bury the past, and deal with this. It’s one month. Plus, who knows? It might even be fun.”
I gape at him. Fun? My pulse is pounding, and Sterling looks like he’s about to strangle him.
“I’ve got a group orientation in twenty minutes,” Levi mutters, already backing away toward the truck. “You two will be fine. I promise.”
He scrambles inside before Sterling can respond. Tires rolling over thin ice, and then he’s gone, disappearing down thewinding road and leaving me stranded in the silence of the chalet driveway with the one person I thought I’d never face again.
When Sterling finally turns his gaze back to me, it’s like standing under a spotlight and feeling exposed. A million unsaid words ricochet through my head, none of them making it to my tongue.
“Are you coming in,” I ask stiffly, “or are you planning to sulk out here all day?”
“I can call a taxi,” he says flatly, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Find a hotel in town if that’s easier.”
And God help me, because a part of me wants to tell him to do it. To tell him to get the hell out of here. But another part of me—traitorous and buried deep—aches with something dangerously close to longing. For him. For us. For what we had before everything went to shit.
“Levi’s right,” I hear myself say, cutting him off before he can scroll. “We can be adults about this. We can share a roof without it being weird.”
His mouth curves into a slow smirk, and my heart kicks so violently it feels like I’ve swallowed a grenade.
“Maisy Hart,” he drawls, eyes glittering, “playing grown-up?”
I roll my eyes, heat crawling up my neck. “Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.” Spinning on my heel, I stalk toward the chalet, ignoring the wild thud of my pulse while knowing full well that his gaze is glued to my ass right now.
“I don’t wantyou bringing back any snowbunnies into this place.” My tone is firmer than I intended, and my grip tightens around my water bottle as I watch Sterling toe off his boots by the door.
He glances up, amusement tugging at his mouth. “Snowbunnies? I thought you liked those fluffy little hoppers.”
I roll my eyes, arms crossing tight over my chest. “You know exactly what I mean.”
