I roll my eyes knowing what a minute is to my brother. What he meant to say was, I might be back in an hour when the vet arrives, but probably not.
He hops to his feet, ready to head in Rhonda’s direction, but hesitates, then stops and turns to me. “By the way, Elsie had phones delivered. Yours is in my room. Oh, and the cash is in the safe. It’s the usual combination.” He reaches in his pocket and tosses me his room key. “Room 312. I have another key, so you can have that one. Just make sure you knock first, you know, just in case.”
“Got it. Did Elsie say anything else?”
“Yeah, I almost forgot. Most of the film crew won’t be here until sometime tomorrow afternoon. A few are already here somewhere. Elsie got them the luxury suites. And it’s not just the people from National Discovery.”
“Who else is coming?”
“All the CEOs we were supposed to meet in LA. They’re bringing their families too. Elsie rented snowmobiles for all of them.”
“So, we’ll do the whole thing here? Little kids and all this snow sounds like a recipe for disaster.”
“Not exactly. We’ll do a few things with them, not much, then they’ll stay for the weekend while we head to Big Bear to set everything up for them, then they’ll meet us there for the week like we originally planned. Elsie wants us to leave assoon as the film crew is done.”
He pauses and scratches the stubble at his chin. “I was thinking—”
He doesn’t have to say it, I already know. “You want to stay here while I go to LA to get everything ready.” Of course he does.
He grins like I’ve already agreed. “Good,” he says, slapping the back of my shoulder. “Glad that’s settled.” Suddenly his gaze drifts up to something behind me. Whatever it is, it’s holding his attention like I no longer matter when it comes to his plans, probably because I don’t. “I’ll be right back.”
Before I can object, he’s already walking off.
“I didn’t say yes,” I call out after him. But he doesn’t care. I know because he simply waves a hand in the air not bothering to look back. Typical Ash.
I wonder if that Rhonda girl is the reason he wants to lag behind. Sitting here cradling the fisher, I watch as he saunters up to her, tilts her chin up with his finger, then plants a kiss on her puffy lips. By the way she’s kissing him back, I think I have my answer.
Resigned to my fate as the sole babysitter of this little furball, I massage the fisher’s back with long, soothing strokes as she nestles into my lap. I can feel her heart racing. Poor thing.
On the other hand, Elsie is going to lose her mind when she hears about this. An animal rescue is exactly the kind of thing big network execs go crazy over. And I still can’t believe Ash showed up when he did. I never did ask him how, or who he was expecting to find out there, but it was perfect timing. He really must have a horseshoe up his ass.
CHAPTER 14
Maddie
“I have to thank you,” Ash says when he finally comes up for air.
He must be quite the kisser because my friend is practically a puddle.
Then, with the cockiest of grins, he’s looking me dead in the eyes, and I’m all too aware of his hand unabashedly cupping my best friend’s ass. And I’m even more aware of the way she’s pressing her tits against his well-defined chest like the little slut she is.
I straighten my spine, refusing to let my face betray the warmth creeping into my cheeks at their brazen PDA. At the same time, I can’t help wondering what it would be like to have a guy who looks this good put his hands all over me. He’s definitely hot, but his older brother… well, he’s something else entirely. What would it be like to have Riggs pulling me into his rock-hard chest this way? A girl can wonder, can’t she?
Suddenly, aware that I’m practically drooling at that thought, I snap out of mysinful fantasy and clear my throat with a delicate cough. Ash is still staring me down with a look that screams sexy-reckless-bad-boy. Definitely Rhonda’s type. But what was he talking about?
I blink. “Thank me?”
“Yeah,” he says, bringing his hand from her ass to wrap around her waist and pulling Rhonda closer, eliciting a tiny moan from her. She’s loving this and I can’t help being a little excited for her, even if it is just a weekend fling. “Your little prank really paid off,” he says with an annoying smirk.
I’m confused. “Paid off?”
“Yeah, I ended up getting there just in time to help my brother chase down that poor animal. We got it all on camera too. The whole thing is a really big deal for us.”
I don’t know what to say. What was meant to be a harmless prank somehow turned into Ash’s golden opportunity? He’s one lucky guy, not to mention he managed to snag my very single, very sexy best friend who also happens to be very horny. Isn’t that every guy’s dream come true?
Ash’s gaze flicks over to the entrance of the lodge’s bar. “What do you say we get out of here, beautiful?”
Rhonda beams up at him, nodding in agreement. As I watch them go, I’m a little surprised that he’s leaving Riggs to babysit the animal by himself.
