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SCARLETT
The sun is bright when I wake up and stretch, feeling deliciously sore everywhere.
The ache between my legs is persistent enough that I think it will stay with me, reminding me of the night I just had. My body heats up as I remember all the ways Jamison worked my body over, and I smile and sit up, looking around.
“Jamison?” I call, my stomach dropping when I see that his suitcase is gone. There’s no response and I feel kind of sick, the euphoria dissipating with the reality of the morning.
Something skitters to the floor when I fall back on my pillow. I lean over and pick up a piece of paper, pressing my fingers to my lips as I smile at his words. Turning it over, I’m disappointed to see the other side blank. I read what he wrote again and then close my eyes.
There’s no way that level of intensity could’ve held up over the long haul anyway, I tell myself. Best to chalk it up to one of the greatest experiences of my life, a gift, and hope that I’ll eventually meet a man that can come close to lighting up my body the way Jamison did.
At best, he did exactly what I needed him to do—made me forget the dumpster fire that is my life right now. At worst, I’ll never meet another man like him again.
My exhale is loud in the quiet room. I force myself to get out of bed and pick up my blouse and skirt, the lace teddy that Jamison loved so much taking more time to find. I grin again, imagining his face when he saw me in it.
“Guess I’ll be making more of you,” I say out loud when I find the lingerie under one of the pillows on his side of the bed. Maybe it’s time to get more serious about my sewing hobby now that my dreams of running our family resort are flushed down the toilet.
And the funk is fully back.
Landmark Mountain Lodge is no longer ours.
I’ve given my entire life to that place. It’s the only home I’ve ever known, the only job I’ve ever had, and I’m the only one out of my four brothers who feels that way. They love the place and hated to see it go, but each one of them already has the career they love, all successful in their own right, and the upkeep of running the lodge to the extent it needs to return it to its five-star glory would take each of us giving everything we had…not just our money but our time, our passion.Everything.
My overachiever brothers have never imagined themselves running the resort, and for me, the baby of the family and the only girl, I’d never imagined doing anything else. From as far back as I can remember, I have craved any and everything that keeps the tradition and stability in our family. Our parents died in a car accident when I was two and our grandparents raised the five of us. We’re like stairsteps—each three years apart. I often wonder if I was the last child my parents planned to have or if they’d lived a year longer, maybe another baby would’ve been born by then.
Theo is the closest in age and a livestock vet. Wyatt is a family practitioner, Callum is a rancher, and my oldest brother, Sutton, is a judge, divorced—thankfully—and has a little boy named Owen, who is the light of all our lives.
And then there’s me, the only one who has the hospitality blood in my veins.
My phone vibrates and I pick it up and set it back down when I see that it’s Theo. I’ll call him on my way home. In the bathroom there’s still a faint scent of Jamison, lime and sandalwood. I shiver, my skin remembering every touch from him, every sensation.
Still naked, I look in the mirror and point at myself. “Snap out of it,” I hiss. “Time to figure out what you’re doing with your life.”
I take a quick shower, putting the same clothes back on minus the teddy but surprisingly okay with it. It’s not like I’m in Landmark, where I can’t go anywhere without being recognized. Is it even the walk of shame if no one knows? This was the most spontaneous thing I’ve ever done and I can’t even bring myself to regret it.
When I see the note lying on the bed, I pick it up and put it in my purse and then I get out of Jamison’s hotel room quickly so I’m not tempted to crawl back into that bed and wallow. Once I’m in the car, I call Theo back and put him on speaker before I put the car in reverse.
“You okay?” he asks, skipping over the greetings.
“Oh, you know…I’ve been better.”
“Where are you? I got worried when you didn’t show up at The Pink Ski last night. Called you a ton,” he grumbles.
“I told you I wasn’t up for a family dinner. As much as I love you guys and would do anything for every single one of you, I’m just not up to celebrating yet.” I make a few turns, on high alert with all the traffic. I’ll breathe easier once I’m out of the city limits.
“I’m an idiot for not realizing what all of this would mean to you. We all are.” Theo sighs.
“I would’ve just brought you all down last night. I ended up staying the night in Boulder after I left the real estate office. I wasn’t ready to go home yet.”
“Really? That…surprises me,” he says. “I don’t know what Granddad was thinking, but I’ve said that at least a hundred times since the will was read. And Grinny is worried sick about you. You need to call her.”
A wave of guilt hits when I think about my grandma worrying about me. I should’ve at least let her know I was okay last night.
“I’ll call her as soon as I get home. Did you see the buyers at all?” I ask, my stomach already churning like I’m talking about the enemy.
“No, Sutton did, but since we didn’t all have to, we just signed the paperwork and headed right back to town. Two weeks will come soon enough. I’m surprised you didn’t stay to meet them, since you’re the one that will have to work with them for the next ninety days. It was nice of you to agree to that, by the way…”
The first contract had stipulated that I stay on for six months to help with the transition. I might not be a consideration to own Landmark Mountain Lodge, but I at least have an iota of negotiating power when it comes to my time. Although lowering it to three months doesn’t feel like much of a win for me.
