Slow Heat

Christ, he was tired. He rubbed the spot between his eyes where he had a headache coming. “I’m over this.”

“Of course you are,” Gray said. “You know, this reminds me of a conversation we had about six months ago about Aidan and Lily.”

Aidan had resisted falling in love with Lily with a muleheaded obstinacy that none of the rest of the family had understood. “Lily was perfect for him,” Hud said.

“Yeah,” Gray agreed. “And she’s it for him, just as Penny is it for me. There’ll never be another woman for either of us and we’re happy for the first time in far too long.” He gave Hud a long, meaningful look.

“What?”

“You’re the one who pushed Aidan to go for it,” Gray said. “So now I’m going to do the same for you.”

“Who told you I pushed Aidan to go for it?”

“Aidan told Lily, who told Penny, who told me.” Gray grinned. “Sensing a pattern? We’re all gunning for you to trip over your two left feet for a woman. It’s your turn.”

“Jesus,” Hud muttered.

“What?”

“I just can’t believe that you have yourself a hot wife and yet the two of you waste your time talking about this shit instead of—”

“Instead of nothing,” Gray said. “Haven’t you heard of pillow talk? Someday you’ll have someone sharing your pillow, so after you get yourself some, you’ll lie there with them and tell them all your funny shit.”

Hud shook his head.

“No? You’re really going to sit there and tell me that you’re too busy to get laid every night?” Gray asked. “Too busy to roll over in the morning and find a woman waiting for you with a smile on her face?”

“Listen to you,” Hud said. “You fell in love and got all stupid and mushy.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” Gray called out as Hud walked away from his brother’s smug face.

He did know what he was missing. And that was part of the problem.

Halfway through the week Bailey had gotten an email from Cedar Ridge Resort and her tummy quivered. So did some other unmentionables because just the sight of the email brought her back to the weekend before.

She’d kissed Hudson Kincaid.

She had no idea what she’d been thinking. Nope, scratch that. She knew exactly what she’d been thinking—that she’d been so happy and excited and hopeful, and on top of that she’d been standing right there in front of a good-looking guy who’d been smiling at her like she was hot as hell.

He hadn’t seen her as a cancer patient.

He hadn’t seen her as someone to feel sorry for.

He hadn’t seen her lying on the bathroom floor, sick as a dog, unable to lift even her head. He hadn’t seen her throw up. He hadn’t seen her stripped of her dignity, stuck on hospital death row in a gown with needles protruding from her everywhere.

He’d seen her as a woman, a sexy one given the light in his eyes. And it’d been the most empowering, wondrous feeling. She couldn’t have contained herself if she’d tried.

So she hadn’t tried.

She’d kissed him instead.

God, she’d really kissed him…

The email stated that her draft was family approved and she could start whenever she was ready.

So she’d rushed through the rest of the week and the following Saturday morning she hit the road before dawn. She was just pulling into the Cedar Ridge Resort parking lot when Aaron called.

“You’re not home,” he said. “I’m standing at your door with two McDonald’s breakfasts and you’re not home.”

“Nope.” She paused and bit her tongue so the automatic I’m sorry didn’t pop out. She wasn’t sorry. She was happy. She had an entire weekend of working on her mural in front of her. “I didn’t know you were coming by. I told you what I’d be doing with my next two months of weekends.”

“You’re at Cedar Ridge,” he said, none too happily.

“Yes.”

“You had a long week at work,” he said. “Scott said you were run ragged.”

This was the problem with her biggest client being her ex’s brother. She’d known that going in and she’d known that going out. The ties hadn’t been fully severed and never would be. “I’m fine, Aaron,” she said as gently as she could. And actually, she was so much more than fine. Excitement was thrumming through her and she couldn’t wait to get to work.

“I’m tempted to come up and see that for myself,” he said.

“No,” she said. Not gently. Bailey forced herself to speak calmly for fear she’d set off his protective nature and he’d come up here no matter what she said. “I’m working. We’re not together anymore, Aaron. You know this.”

“What I know is that it was a mistake to let you go.”

“My choice,” she said quietly. Firmly.

“And my fault,” he said just as quietly.

Unbidden came an image of Aaron locked in the arms of another woman, pressing her against the wall, his face a mask of savage pleasure—a side he’d never shown her, not once.

She’d wanted that kind of smokin’ chemistry. She needed it and craved it like air.

But it was too late for that.

Another image came to her, a far better one. Hud pulling her in hard and kissing her like she’d always dreamed of being kissed, hard and hot and deep… “You’re going to let me do this,” she said.

No response.

“I’m going to repeat that,” she said. “You’re going to let me do this.”

“As long as we stay friends,” Aaron said. “You promised that, Bailey. And friends check on each other.”

“Agreed,” she said. “And I’ll let you know when I need checking on.” With that, she disconnected. She slid on her jacket and got out of her car, stretching her legs. The air was crisp and felt good. She felt good. Maybe she’d only been in Cedar Ridge twice before in her life, but somehow the place already felt like home.

Chapter 8

They’d had a big storm over the week, Bailey saw. The lot had been cleared but she could see several feet of new powder in the berms lining the walkways.

Kenna Kincaid greeted Bailey and shook her head when Bailey marveled at the new snow.

“Three feet,” Kenna confirmed, sounding annoyed. “And people have come out of the woodwork to ski it this weekend too. Hud and his crew have been working twelve-and fourteen-hour days getting ready. It’s going to be crazy today.”

Bailey hadn’t given much thought to the day-to-day life of those who actually lived here and had to run this place. But if Hud’s phone and radio last weekend had been any indication, he was swamped twenty-four-seven.

Kenna took her to a large storage unit where they had scaffolding stored among other equipment such as a large snow-blower and a snowcat. “Help yourself in here,” Kenna said, and then eyeballed Bailey’s small frame. “You going to need help?”

In truth, Bailey had no idea. She’d never worked on scaffolding before, but she gave her standard statement. “I’ll be fine.”