Falling Fast, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 4) (2 page)

Gage threw his head back with a laugh. “I’ll have to tell her you said that.” He sobered and looked up the slope Cam had just skied down. “Did you find the trail leading off to the side up there?”

“Yup. It’s behind the small cabin up there, right?”

Gage nodded. “That’ll take you through the trees and onto the trails for back country and cross country skiing. So far, I’ve got about twenty miles of trails, but I’d like to double that. The trees are thin enough, so we don’t need to do much cutting. We should be able to work around the natural lay of the land. Take a look and let me know what you think.”

“That was my plan. I’ll head up there now as soon as I switch out my skis.”

At that, he and Gage pushed off on their skis simultaneously. He followed Gage up onto the back deck of the lodge. While Gage went inside, Cam quickly swapped his downhill skis for his more versatile telemark skis and headed back out. Telemark skis were designed for variation. They could handle downhill and cross-country and had enough flex to tolerate rougher trails if needed. As he rode up the lift, he realized the lodge could charge for the view from the lift ride alone. Diamond Creek, Alaska lay on the shores of Kachemak Bay with mountains rising tall behind it and on the far side of the bay. The ski lift offered an elevated view. The pristine waters of the bay sparkled under the early afternoon sunlight. The spruce forest scattered over the mountains was lush and deep green, the snow standing out in contrast.

Cam pushed off the ski lift when it reached its stop and skied onto the start of an interconnected map of backcountry trails. As he skied through the quiet forest, he breathed in the crisp mountain air. The air here held the subtlest hint of ocean. In all his years of skiing, he’d always skied in landlocked areas, so it was a new experience to be high in the mountains and see and smell the ocean. His mind was quietest when he skied, which is what brought him here to this remote corner of the world.

Skiing had been the center of his world for most of his life. He’d been born and raised in the mountains of Utah and skied throughout childhood, chasing his older brother, Eric. Two years older than Cam, Eric had been Cam’s idol. They’d skied together and competed, taking turns winning. Their rivalry had been good-natured, though Eric took competition more seriously than Cam. One night, after Cam unexpectedly won a race, Eric had been sullen and silent on the drive home. When Cam asked him what was wrong, Eric glanced over right as a truck came around the corner on the icy road. In a split second, the car clipped the corner of the truck and skidded, colliding with the guardrail and bouncing over. Eric hadn’t worn his seatbelt and was thrown from the car. He died on impact.

Cam, on the other hand, had worn his seat belt. He’d sustained some nasty bruises, a jagged cut on his cheek, and a fractured arm. Since the day he walked out of the hospital, he could hardly breathe for the grief at times. He’d tried to make a go of it in Utah, but it was filled with one too many painful memories. He couldn’t stop skiing because it was the only thing that brought him a modicum of peace, so he’d been drifting from ski lodge to ski lodge, following the jobs. When he’d seen the ad for Last Frontier Lodge, he figured it was perfect. It was one of the few ski lodges he and Eric had never visited. They likely would have had it been opened during their heyday, but it had been shuttered for almost two decades until Gage reopened it.

Cam stopped along the trail at an overlook. A small valley opened up beside the trail with a stream winding through it. It was frozen in the deep of winter, but the sun struck sparks off the ice. A pair of moose stood on the far side of the field, lazily nibbling on a cluster of trees. He lifted his eyes up beyond the field. The bay spread out before him in the distance with another mountain range rising tall on the other side. If he didn’t know there was a ski lodge nearby and a town at the foot of these mountains, he could convince himself he was in the middle of nowhere. He took a gulp of the bracing air and tried to push the pain of Eric’s death out of his mind. In his effort to think of anything else, his mind flashed to Ginger. Simply picturing her chased thoughts of Eric out of his mind. He couldn’t say why, but he couldn’t forget her eyes, so bright and with a flicker of vulnerability that called to him.

***

A few hours later, Cam walked downstairs through the hall toward the lodge restaurant after a shower. He was good and tired from skiing almost all day and starving as a result. As he walked, he was staring at the floor, idly following the pattern of the carpet, when he collided with someone. He looked up, straight into Ginger’s eyes. She wasn’t wearing ski clothes that obscured her figure anymore. Oh no. She wore a pair of pants that hugged her full hips and swirled around her ankles, and a blouse that was fitted at the top and with a scoop neck. The curves of her full breasts rose above her blouse. As his eyes made their way up, he could see her pulse fluttering in her neck.
Oh damn. Damn.
One look, and she grabbed hold and sent lust surging through him.

He literally had to force his eyes up, only to have them land on her lips, which were plump and full. Her bright blue eyes held a sharp gleam. She had an edge to her he hadn’t noticed before.

“Well, hello Cam. Fancy meeting you here. Are you heading in for dinner?”

Cam found himself nodding though he couldn’t seem to speak.
 

“How about you join me and Marley?” she asked. “I figure since you’re here for a while, we might as well be friends.”

Chapter 3

Ginger slammed her car door behind her and hurried through the icy air into the post office. Today was one of those bitter cold days. For the most part, she enjoyed winter with its snowy landscape and the sheer beauty of the snow-capped mountains. Everything felt sharper, brighter and so fleeting with the abbreviated days of winter. Living in Alaska, it was a damn good thing to enjoy winter. But the days she didn’t enjoy were like today. A cold, biting wind blew steadily. The sun, so precious in winter when every second of daylight counted, was hiding behind a wall of heavy gray clouds. No snow fell, so everything felt gray and frozen. She couldn’t ever seem to get warm on days like this no matter how many layers she wrapped around herself. The warm blast of air that hit her when she pushed through the door into the post office was a heavenly relief.

The post office was a central place in Diamond Creek. In the far flung towns of Alaska, post offices were relied on much more heavily than in more urban areas. Many Alaskans conducted the majority of their shopping via mail. Ginger glanced around, her eyes coasting across many familiar faces. She was so chilled, she wouldn’t have minded if she needed to wait in the slow-moving line at the counter. She tugged her gloves off and loosened her scarf as she made her way to the aisle that held her post office box. It had been a few too many days since she’d checked her mail, so the box was stuffed. After yanking the pile of mostly junk mail out, she stationed herself at a table by the windows and made her way through the stack, tossing most of it in the recycling bin under the table.

She glanced out the window and saw Cam Nash walking across the parking lot. He was like a magnet for her eyes. The second he appeared, her eyes tracked him across the parking lot. He was distractingly handsome, which flustered her. She’d believed herself immune from any man. After she fell at his feet the other day, she’d determined she’d play it cool and move right past the silly attraction she felt. With him working at Last Frontier Lodge, she knew she needed to get a grip because she was going to end up seeing him a lot. With that in mind, when she’d seen him walking toward the restaurant, she’d called upon her usual bold self and invited him to eat dinner with her and Marley. She’d hoped the whole ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ would hold her in good stead. She’d fake calm, cool, and collected around him and it would be so.

No such luck. With Cam sitting across from her and her best friend, she’d been distracted and flushed the entire time. Marley looked askance at her a few times, but there were enough interruptions from other friends and customers, Ginger had managed to avoid any questions from Marley and excused herself early. Now, she watched him shoulder through the door and pause to hold it for another person coming in behind him. The wind swirled through the door as it closed, sending the remainder of her mail in a spin with a few pieces of mail blowing on the floor. Relieved for the distraction from staring at Cam, since she could barely keep her eyes off of him, she bent over to collect the scattered mail.

A pair of boots came into sight. She glanced up to find Cam looking down at her. Her pulse immediately took off. She felt a literal pull inside—physical and emotional—and it unsettled her. She didn’t like how easily he affected her. She gathered the last few envelopes and stood quickly.

His amber eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “I thought that was you. Didn’t mean to send your mail flying. It’s pretty windy out there. How’s it going?” he asked.

Trying and completely failing to slow her pulse, Ginger stared at Cam. His golden brown hair was windblown. He wore a pair of faded jeans topped with a cotton jersey shirt and heavy down jacket, which he’d left unzipped. Inconveniently, this made it possible for her eyes to trace the sculpted muscles of his chest and abdomen visible under his shirt. As her eyes, over which she’d lost all voluntary control, made their way up to his face, her belly somersaulted when she caught his warm amber gaze.
Now would be the time where you say hello. You remember how to do that, right? Oh shut up.
She snipped back at her critical voice and took a breath.

“It’s going fine. Are you getting settled in at the lodge?”

Cam nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Gage gave me a nice suite, so I’ve got everything I need. I haven’t been here long, but honestly, it’s one of the best places I’ve worked so far. Gage is great, and the lodge and trails are amazing. I’m finally venturing around town some. Diamond Creek is small, but it’s got some high-end restaurants and shopping. It’s also flat out beautiful. I love the mountains and the ocean, so being in a place where I get to enjoy both is unbelievable.”

She felt a curl of pride. Born and raised in Diamond Creek, there had been times when she’d chafed at growing up in a tiny town on the wild coast of Alaska. A few years away in college and she’d learned Diamond Creek had a lot to offer, in addition to having a tight-knit, supportive community. Cam also put the conversation on a topic she could talk about easily, even with her pulse pounding wildly and heat sliding through her veins.

“Diamond Creek may be small, but we get a lot of tourists, so most of the restaurants and shops cater to them. It’s hard to beat the views around here. Up at the lodge, you’ve got some of the best views around.”

“Oh yeah. I was telling Gage he could charge for the lift rides if he wanted,” Cam offered with a soft chuckle. “Haven’t seen you skiing since the other day. Planning on coming up again soon?”

Ginger obviously couldn’t tell him the sole reason she hadn’t been skiing since last week when she fell at his feet was because he flustered her so much she couldn’t think straight. She was usually up there several times a week skiing with Marley or other friends. She was about out of excuses, so she clung to the idea if she just kept ignoring this incredibly inconvenient attraction to Cam, it would go away. “It’s been a busy week. I usually head up on the weekends though, so I’ll probably be up there tomorrow.”

The door pushed open again with another swirl of wind blowing through the entrance area. Marley Hamilton’s auburn hair was impossible to miss when pushed her hood back and glanced around. As soon as her eyes landed on Ginger, a smile spread across her face. She strode to them and threw her arm over Ginger’s shoulder. “Hey! I was just saying to Gage I hadn’t seen you in a few days. How come you haven’t been by?”

Ginger’s cheeks got hot, but she forced herself to keep her expression calm. “I’ll probably be up tomorrow. It’s been a crazy week at work.”

Marley nodded and turned to Cam. “Did you stop by Misty Mountain like I suggested?”

“Of course. Their coffee was as good as you promised,” he replied with a smile.

Marley’s green eyes bounced between them. “I told Cam he needs to get out and about. He’s hardly left the lodge since he got here two weeks ago. I told him he needed to check out Misty Mountain Café, The Boathouse, Sally’s, Glacier Pizza…”

Cam’s eyes landed on Ginger again, and Marley’s voice faded as she rattled off various local favorites. Ginger could have sworn he noticed she was about to melt. Between her pulse galloping beyond her control and the liquid heat building inside of her every time he looked her way, she was feeling ridiculous. Marley finally stopped talking and glanced between them. “Did you hear anything I just said?” she asked, directing her question to Ginger.

Ginger scrambled to pull her thoughts together and form words. “Of course I did! You were telling Cam all the places you said he should check out.” She mentally breathed a sigh of relief when Marley nodded and turned to Cam again.

“So, Gage said you guys are going to get started on the back country trails. Any idea how many trails you think you can get cleared for grooming this season? Ginger and I used to go cross-country skiing all the time when we were kids, but now we have to drive clear across town to the local park if we want to go.”

“I’ve scouted out the area and marked some trails already. He’s ordered a tracksetter and…”

“What’s a tracksetter?” Marley interjected.

“It’s what will actually smooth down and groom the trails once we clear them. It’s a contraption that hitches onto the back of a snowmobile. We’ll ride along the trails with it to keep the snow packed and smooth. Depending on how many people start skiing on them, we’ll see how often we need to use it. At least once or twice a week at a minimum.”

Ginger couldn’t believe it, but all she wanted to do was listen to Cam talk. His voice was warm with a gruff edge. It sent hot shivers coursing through her.
You are seriously out of your mind. You are so into this man you just want him to talk. What the hell is wrong with you? We had a deal. No more men. It’s been easy peasy for a few years now. Cam is just new and exciting.
Ginger lost track of what Marley was saying and only heard the slow rumble of Cam’s voice while the content of his words was entirely lost on her.