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I laughed and put my arm around her shoulders, then led her out to the plane. Once again, we settled in. This time, we sat beside each other.

We ate dinner somewhere over the Atlantic. After, Lucy changed into comfortable clothes and claimed the bedroom in the back.

“Join me?” she asked, pausing at the door.

I didn’t need to be asked twice, although we didn’t do anything beyond sleep. Both of us were exhausted from the early start and the time zone changes and knew the coming week would be busy. But falling asleep with her tucked against my side felt like the most natural thing in the world.

I could get used to this. I wanted to get used to this.

When we landed in Switzerland, the sun was just coming up over the Alps. Lucy pressed her face to the window again. I joined her, taking in the incredible view. Snow-capped peaks that actually touched the sky or rather the low-hanging clouds. Valleys carpeted in white. The kind of landscape that looked fake, like something out of a movie or a dream.

“Oh my God,” Lucy breathed. “Jeremy, look at this.”

“I’m looking.”

“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

I looked at her profile, lit by the morning sun, her eyes wide with wonder. “Yeah. It really is.”

She caught me staring and blushed. “Shut up. I have bedhead, morning breath, and I’m puffy. Altitude kicks my butt.”

“And yet, I still think you’re gorgeous.”

She turned and scowled. “You didn’t deny any of that. You didn’t say I don’t have morning breath.”

I shrugged, earning a playful shove before she rushed into the bathroom.

A car was waiting to take us to the chalet. The drive wound through villages that looked like they belonged in a storybook. Wooden buildings with flower boxes that were empty now but in the spring they’d be bursting with color. Church steeples rising above the rooftops. People walking dogs and going about their lives in this impossibly picturesque place.

And then we turned into a valley.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

I understood why Sebastian had chosen this location. The mountains rose on either side, dramatic and imposing, their peaks disappearing into low-hanging clouds. The valley floor was a patchwork of snow-covered fields and dark green forests. A river cut through the center, partially frozen with a few more people taking advantage of the view.

In the middle of it all sat our chalet. A traditional Alpine building with a sloped roof and wooden balconies, smoke rising from the chimney. It looked like something from a Christmas card. In all my travels, I had never been anywhere so magical. I half-expected to see woodland faeries.

“This can’t be real,” Lucy said. “I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

“Welcome to Switzerland.”

The chalet was even better inside. Lucy and I were sharing one. The rest of the crew were spread out around the village in their own accommodations. The crew had stocked the kitchen with food, wine, and the bottle of whiskey Lucy had put on my rider.

“It’s so warm and cozy,” Lucy said. “I love the exposed wooden beams. And look at that gorgeous fireplace. I’m glad someone got the fire going already.”

“Are you forgetting I can start a fire?”

She laughed. “Let’s check out upstairs.”

We had separate bedrooms. That was the official arrangement, anyway. Lucy’s room was on the left side of the upstairs hallway, mine on the right. We dutifully put our bags in our respective rooms, unpacked our clothes, and pretended we were going to sleep apart.

After a late lunch or early dinner, or hell, maybe it was breakfast, we went up to our rooms. I lay in bed, stared at the ceiling, and listened to the silence. I should have been exhausted from the travel, but I couldn’t sleep. The bed felt too big. Too empty.

A soft knock on my door.

“Come in.”

Lucy appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a thick robe that could double as an outdoor coat. Her hair was loose around her shoulders. She was taking her warmth and comfort seriously.