“Oh, that’s okay.” I smile. “I’d rather freeze to death.”
“You don’t know how to get back from here,” he points out as I awkwardly maneuver my crutches and fish out Ollie’s headlamp that I packed in case of an emergency (if this doesn’t qualify, I don’t know the meaning of the word).
“I know this cabin is just a little farther down from mine on the same trail,” I say. “Just tell me if it’s a left or a right out of here.”
“It’s a right, but Margot, listen—”
“No, Forrest,youlisten. You gave me every indication that you were interested. I thought maybe we could have a little fun in this godforsaken place, but since that’s obviously not something you’re capable of, I’m happy to find it somewhere else.” I open the front door with a swirl of cold air and pull on the headlamp. Outside, it’s pitch black and terrifying, but getting away from Forrest to nurse my wounded pride is currently sitting above oxygen on my pyramid of needs.
“Thanks for carrying me down a mountain and making me dinner. I know you were just doing your job, but how about next time you don’t almost kiss me and then claim you’re notinterested. I’ll see you around.”
With that, I limp out into the bitter cold, leaving him to stare after me in utter silence.
8FORREST
Goddamn sauna. Goddamn warped boards. Goddamn shipping costs. Goddamn hardware. Goddamn… everything.
As I finish up my latest list of things to damn, I wedge the last replacement board into the sauna’s wall. I drill a screw into the pilot hole with a satisfying squeak, and I line up the next one.Nearly done. This whole project has been a pain in my ass, but as usual, I try imagining the look on my dad’s face when I tell him the sauna’s fixed. This time, though, instead of Dad’s crow’s-feet and silver mustache, my mind’s eye conjures a face that would probably be even more excited by the prospect of a sauna. A face that tilted toward mine last night, flushed with whiskey and heat. Full lips that parted invitingly and—
I accidentally hit the trigger on my drill, and the screw at the end of the bit goes flying.
“Goddammit.” I get down on my hands and knees and naturally find it hidden under the bench in the farthest, darkest corner. I groan as I stretch for it—Margot isn’t a large person, but carrying her for miles tested my strength, and I’m feeling it now.
Serves me right. Ishouldbe paying a price, because as much as I want to blame everyone and everything around me, Margotwas right when she said I started all the trouble last night. Despite my so-called ironclad rules, I took one look at her tears while she read her sister’s letter and I asked her to stay for a drink. I sure as hell didn’t move my leg away when hers slid against it, or stop my hand from touching her face.
My eyes close at the memory of her smooth skin beneath my fingertips. Her voice when she said she wouldn’t mind seeing how I’d handle her.
At the thought, desire instantly spikes in my bloodstream, like every other time I’ve replayed that moment. It’s chased immediately by a jittery, almost panicked feeling when I think of how close I came to fucking up. How close I came to picking her up and taking one more short hike with her to my bedroom.
God knows it’s been long enough. I scrub a hand down my face and line up the next screw, trying and failing to stem an upsurge of self-pity. The last time I had the company of someone other than my left hand was back in L.A., where a casual arrangement with one of my work-driven colleagues checked a weekly box. Nothing too distracting. In other words, the polar fucking opposite of what I feel with Margot.
I exhale and drill in the last screw.Get a grip, I command myself.She’ll be gone in less than six weeks.I didn’t give up my whole career and move my entire life only to jeopardize my family’s business with another ill-fated fling. Margot already implied that she isn’t beyond writing North Star Lodge a review that could seriously damage us, and after last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s got one drafted. After all, that’s what happened four years ago. Charlotte Bard—the lifestyle influencer and destroyer of worlds I made the mistake of sleeping with while she was here reviewing the lodge—aired her grievances about me to her entire following and the Internet at large the moment she regained Wi-Fi access.
I’m not sure if my dad and Jo could forgive me twice. And to judge from the way Jo talks about Margot, she probably has widerinfluence than Charlotte. Which is why it’s even more essential to keep my distance. I came here to care for my father, period. Not to get tangled up with a woman who represents everything I left behind. A woman who could make my future a lot harder than it already is.
I sigh as I look around the sauna, taking a moment to admire the finished result. I’m considering giving the room a test drive when I hear voices coming up the path. A few seconds later, the door to the outer vestibule that serves as a changing area opens, and it’s like I’ve swallowed an emergency flare.
It’s Margot and Ollie. I can see her smile through the little window in the sauna door and hear her muffled laugh. She pulls her hat off and shakes out snow-dusted blond waves. One of the front strands catches on whatever the hell is making her lips shine like that, and my fingers itch to brush it away. Clearly, Ollie’s fingers are itching too. I can’t see him, but a calloused hand appears in the little window that frames Margot and gently pulls the strand away from her mouth. His thumb grazes one of her dimples, and the part of my brain that communicates exclusively in angry gorilla grunts takes over. Grabbing my drill, I march to the door and throw it open.
Margot and Ollie startle like they’ve been caught in flagrante, and as far as the poisonous green snake coiling in my belly is concerned, they might as well have been.
“Hey, man,” Ollie says with a cocky smile as Margot steadies herself on her crutches. My eyes automatically drop to check if they still have the nonslip guards I put on them last night, and I’m relieved to see they’re in place. But the last thing she needs right now is an unnecessary hike through the snow, and if Ollie had spent one second thinking about her safety, he wouldn’t have brought her here. Oblivious to my disapproval, he says, “I was just showing Margot the sauna. It’s open now, right?”
For fuck’s sake. When Ollie and Topher first arrived, I promisedthem the sauna would be up and running soon. But I didn’t mean it was open for the kind of recreational use Ollie sure as shit has in mind.
Not that I’m allowed to care,I remind myself. I turned Margot down, and she told me point-blank that she’s on the hunt for someone to keep her warm at night. If she wants to bunk up with Ollie for the rest of their time together, that’s her prerogative. Even if he’s barely out of footie pajamas and sure as hell can’t give her—
“Funny,” Margot says coldly, shifting her weight on her crutches as she looks at me. “You never mentioned a sauna tome, Forrest.”
“Because it’s out of order,” I say, pointing my drill and triggering it at the sign I conveniently haven’t removed from the sauna door yet.
Ollie’s and Margot’s eyes snap to the wordsCLOSED FOR REPAIR, and I half expect to hear a sad trombone accompany the disappointed looks on their faces. In return, I try not to smile like the Grinch.
Ollie rubs the back of his head, ruffling his coppery hair. “Well, damn. Sorry, Margot. Any idea when it’ll be up and running, Forrest?”
“I’ll keep you posted,” I say, daring to glance at Margot. Her eyes narrow.
“Let me guess,” she says. “It’ll be fixed exactly five weeks from now.”
