Page 37 of The Christmas Accomplice

“Okay, so why are you here now?”

“Just thought I’d take advantage of some of the benefits of working at a ski resort.”

“You’re going skiing?”

“Nope. Thought I would hit the toboggan run.”

Nick frowned. “You seem different. What’s changed?”

Reece wouldn’t meet her eyes as he looked through drawers and under papers. “I don’t know. Is it my shirt? I changed my shirt since yesterday.”

“Very funny. No, something about you is different. And since when are you interested in tobogganing?” Nick sucked in a breath and Reece looked up quick, thinking something drastic was happening. Were they being robbed? Had she seen a celebrity? But Nick was staring at him with wide eyes and a broad smile. “You’re going on a date.”

Reece quickly looked away. “What? That’s ridiculous. I don’t have a date to go tobogganing.” Yet.

“You know,” Nick said, and from the corner of his eye, Reece saw her cross her arms and lean her hip against the edge of the counter. “Toboggans are a very long form of downhill transportation.”

Reece shrugged but avoided looking directly at her. If she caught his eye, she’d easily be able to read his plans and call him out on it. Or, even worse, want to help.

“People don’t usually go on solo rides on toboggans.”

“I like to live dangerously.” He opened another few drawers and said, “Ah ha! Here it is.”

Nick approached to look over his shoulder. “The employee pass book. Ah, thrifty. That’ll be a good look for your date.”

“It’s not a date.” Reece stepped away from her as he carefully tore a pass from the book. Every year, Snowcapped lodge provided each employee with a book containing coupons for free recreation. Reece and Nick had left their books in a drawer at the desk and used maybe five of the passes during the year, most of them with each other.

“You keep saying that, and yet you’re acting nervous and edgy, like you’re about to go on a first date with someone you really, really like.”

Reece pocketed the tobogganing pass and scowled. “Stop saying the word ‘date’.”

“Why? Because you’re about to go on one?”

Before Reece could respond, Dean, the strange man who had approached him and Welton outside the cabin the night before, entered the lobby. Dressed in the same ski gear as last night, he was whistling as he strode through the lobby toward the restaurant.

Nick noticed him staring and looked over her shoulder. “Who’s that?”

“Not sure. I saw him last night when I walked Welton back to his cabin, and he was either drunk or just odd overall.”

“You walked Welton back to his cabin?”

Reece sighed. “Yes. I mean, he spent all day helping me set up for the activity tonight, I wasn’t about to let him walk back to his place alone.”

“Of course not,” Nick said as she moved away to greet a guest. “Especially not after buying him dinner first.” She stopped and looked back at him, grinning as she lowered her voice. “Those waiters in the restaurant love to gossip, by the way.”

Reece cursed quietly and, as Nick assisted the guest, typed Dean into the first name field of the search screen in the computer. A few pages of information came back, and he muttered a curse, then looked up to see Welton came in through the revolving doors. The smile on Welton’s face lit up something within Reece, and he forgot all about Dean as he walked out from behind the desk and approached him.

“Hi,” Reece said. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. How are you?”

“I’m doing well.”

Welton looked him up and down. “Are you working today? You’re dressed more casually than usual.”

“I’m on the later shift since I’m going to be running the karaoke.”

“Oh. That makes sense. As long as whoever’s working the desk with you doesn’t mind.”