Gold (All that Glitters #2)(28)

They took their seats next to each other on the private jet.

She leaned into him. “Where are we heading?”

“Somewhere you can’t run away from.”

She threaded his tie through her fingers and looked up at him under her lashes. “I don’t plan on leaving anyway.”

“Good. I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re driving me crazy.”

“I didn’t mean to,” she lied through her teeth.

She hadn’t known he was going mad over her. He had been decidedly absent from her life. She had been left wondering if they were going to get back together again.

“I want this to be a special trip for us,” he said softly.

His eyes were so sincere. Chills broke out on her body.

God, he really meant all of this. She had him hook, line, and sinker…and she was wondering if perhaps a part of her was falling for him, too.

No…probably not. Just a warm wave of déjà vu.

About an hour later, they circled around the beautiful mountains and gorgeous lake a couple of times before landing outside of Lake Tahoe. Growing up, she had skied here once or twice, but her father preferred Colorado or Europe, so she hadn’t spent much time here.

Once they arrived at the resort, a valet took their bags up to their room, and Hugh was immediately greeted warmly.

“Mr. Westercamp, what a pleasure to have you back on the premises,” a woman in a tailored black skirt suit said.

Bryna wrapped her arms around herself to try to fight back the cold. She had been hoping for somewhere warm, and her mind went to the beautiful Caribbean feel of St. Barts. She cringed and forced herself to stop thinking about Jude. Motherf*cker haunts my thoughts.

“Good to see you as well, Meredith.” He wrapped an arm around Bryna. “You must be freezing.” Ever the gentleman, he stripped out of his suit coat and threw it around her shoulders.

Meredith’s smile never wavered as she watched the exchange. She stood by dutifully. “Please allow me to escort you around the resort.” She continued speaking as she walked them through the luxurious resort lobby, “Will you be skiing this afternoon? There is fresh powder on your favorite slopes.”

Hugh glanced over at Bryna. “I have dinner reservations for tonight, but I left our afternoon open. I wanted to spend some time with you. Do you ski?”

“A bit,” she said. It wasn’t entirely true. She was an excellent skier and had been doing it her whole life, but he didn’t need to know that. “But I didn’t bring anything to ski in.”

“We have a fully stocked ski store on the first level,” Meredith said.

Hugh raised his eyebrows as if he hadn’t already planned for this. It wasn’t what she had planned for, but it might be fun to try to relax with him. He was trying to make her comfortable here with him. This had to count for something, more than a dress or earrings.

“All right,” she agreed.

“I think you took advantage of me,” Hugh said. He was laughing as he walked through the snow with both of their skis and poles in his hands.

She gave him a sheepish look. “So, I might or might not be more experienced than I’d let on.”

Red colored her cheeks, but she wasn’t sure if it was from his scrutiny or the bitter cold from the slopes. Perhaps it was both.

“A little? I own the resort, and you were skiing circles around me.”

“Not…literally.”

“I bet you could though. Why didn’t you pursue it?”

She shrugged but held her head up. “Los Angeles doesn’t leave you much time to practice. It was something fun my father and I used to do. My mother was always too worried about hurting herself. She’d stay in the ski lodge and drink most of the day away. It was really my thing with my dad. We used to ski together all the time when I was growing up. He worked a lot more when I got into middle school, so I tended to spend a lot of time on the slopes alone.”

She snapped her mouth shut before she got into her whole family diatribe. She hadn’t meant to spill all of that to Hugh.

She didn’t usually remember her childhood that way, but it didn’t seem like much had changed. Her father still worked too much, and her mother, Olivia, continued to drink much of her life away. Neither of them spent any time with her.

Bryna and Hugh were silent as they trudged up the last hill before he grabbed her and softly kissed her on the lips.

“I like that you’re sharing more of yourself with me,” Hugh said. “I want to share more of myself with you.”

She smiled languidly. She was sure there was a double meaning buried in there.

“This way,” he told her.

He returned their ski equipment and then took her the back way up the elevator. It opened up directly into a massive penthouse suite complete with a perfect view of the mountains, an outdoor Jacuzzi, several bedrooms, and a grand kitchen. Every luxury was accounted for.

“Hungry?” he asked, kissing the soft spot between her neck and shoulder.

“Starving.”

“Me, too.”

She swallowed hard. “Maybe we should eat now…”

He gripped the top of her new jacket in his hands and peeled it off. “Yes, I’d very much like to eat right now.”

She shivered against him. His hands ran down her arms and then gripped her hips. He lifted her shirt, so he could touch bare skin. The tips of his fingers trailed along the inside of her pants.