Furever Yours (2 page)

            “
Gracias, nina
.”
He enveloped her in another one
of his hugs.
“
You
’
re the best
.”

            Jade
changed into a new pair of jeans and a green sweater that brought out the color
in her eyes. With no time to shower, she settled for scrubbing her face over
the sink until her cheeks were rosy, then quickly touched her face up with some
make-up before heading down the stairs.

            Gabriel
was standing by the reception desk, already buttoned up for the snowy weather
outside.
“
Thanks so much,
”
he said, giving Jade a quick
hug.

            “
No problem
.”
Jade smiled up at him, amazed
at how much taller the 19 year-old had grown since she’d last seen him.
“I
’ll
have to catch up later with you and your mother, huh
?”

            “
For sure
.”
He gave her a quick kiss on the
cheek and was gone.

            Sighing,
Jade settled behind the counter and re-familiarized
herself with the computer, the register and the
drawers. Her username and password from the previous year still worked, so she
logged in and pulled up a game of solitaire so she’d have something to do since
the lodge was mostly empty, its guests already checked in and out on the
slopes.

            Ten
minutes later, the door opened and a gust of cold air whooshed in behind it,
distracting Jade from her game. She looked up as a tall, dark haired man
dressed in a thick, heavy woolen jacket with a fleece lined hood and dark jeans
entered the lodge. He stomped his snow-encrusted boots on the rug
before looking up at her, causing her breath
catch in her throat as his deep silver gaze connected with hers. Frozen to the
spot, she could do nothing but stare as he approached, and the closer he got,
the more his eyes pulled her in.

           
Damn, he’s hot.
Thick, wavy black hair dusted with flecks of
snow framed his tanned, oblong face. The tight jeans he wore showcased long,
muscular legs, and though the jacket was thick and padded, it didn’t hide the
breadth of his shoulders or his trim physique. She bet there were muscles under
there, too, maybe even a six pack.

            “
Excuse me
?”
His deep, slightly gravelly
voice drew her gaze back to his face with a snap
—
and it is a gorgeous face
, she thought with an inward sigh. His silver
eyes were thickly lashed, his mouth firm and sensual, his cheekbones
razor-sharp. A five o
’
clock shadow dusted his strong, square jaw, and
there was a cleft in his chin she was dying to flick her finger against.
“I
’m here
to check in
?”

            “
Of course
.”
Flustered, Jade dropped her
gaze to the computer and pulled up the guest reservation portal.
“
Umm,
what’s your reservation date
?”

            He
arched a brow, a slight smile playing on his sculpted lips
. “
That
would be today
.”

            Heat
scalded her cheeks.
“
Right,
”
she muttered, wishing she was
in private so she could smack some sense into herself. Why was she tripping
over her tongue like a fool? She’d lived and worked in Hollywood long enough to
get fully desensitized to masculine beauty, so he shouldn’t have affected her
just because he was hot. But, for some reason, he was making her pulse
skyrocket and her hormones fly into overdrive, and she wasn’t sure whether she
liked it or not.

            “
What’s your name so I can look up your
reservation
?”
She pasted on a bright smile as she said it to
cover up her awkwardness. She was not going to mess this up any further.

            “
Dawson McKinnon.”
A
smile tugged at the wicked curves of his lips.
“
And you are
?”

            Butterflies
tickled the lining of her stomach.
“Jade
Garcia.”

            “
Jade,”
he
murmured.
“
Just like your eyes
.”

           
Oh God.
She was going to combust if he kept talking to her like that in that deep, sexy
voice of his.
“I’
ve found your reservation,
”
she
chirped.
“
You
’
re here for the week
?”

            “
Yes, ma
’am.”
He slid his credit card over
the counter so that Jade could charge it, and their fingers brushed.
Electricity raced through her nerves, and she snatched her hand back as quickly
as she could without being offensive.

            “
That
’s
nice
.”
She swiped the card, then laid it back on the
counter.
“
With friends
?”

            “
No
.”
Something flashed in his eyes that spoke of
bitterness.
“
No friends. Just me and the wilderness
.”

            “
At Christmas time though
?”
She
couldn’t stop herself from asking the question even though she knew better than
to pry but something about the look in his eye tugged at her heartstrings.
“
Seems
like a strange time to want to be alone
.”

            His
lips curved, and he crossed his arms over the counter, leaning forward.
“
Oh, I
never said I wanted to be alone,
”
he said, his husky voice like rough velvet.
“
Just
that I haven’t managed to find any company yet
.”

            “
Oh.”
The
sound came out as a squeak, and Jade wanted to kick herself. She was acting
like some mousy little girl! Straightening her shoulders, she tossed her curly
brown hair over her shoulder and smiled.
“
Well, I
’m sure you’ll find many people here you can
enjoy the slopes with. We
’
re usually packed this time of year
.”

            “
I
’m
sure,
”
he agreed, but he didn’t increase the distance.

           
Seconds ticked by as they stared into each
other’s eyes, and the skin beneath Jade’s sweater grew uncomfortably warm.
After a few moments, he straightened up, and Jade sighed in both relief and
disappointment. But, his next words threw her off balance all over again.

            “
I’m also sure you’d make good company yourself.
And if you
’
re not too busy, I’d love to take you out on the
slopes tomorrow and teach you how to ski.”

Dawson
had never seen a woman look so taken aback after he’d asked her out. Usually
they smiled coyly up at him, gave him an annoyed look or simply brushed him
off—the last one was rare but it happened occasionally—but none of
them had ever looked completely floored as though they hadn’t expected the
question at all.

            The
silence stretched on for several seconds, and then something unexpected
happened. She giggled.

           
His brows furrowed as her hand flew up to cover
her mouth, her eyes wide, but that didn’t stop the laughter. Her elegant
shoulders shook beneath her green sweater, and soon the sound of her merriment
filled the lobby.

            “
Alright
.”
He crossed his arms over his
chest, feeling decidedly annoyed, though he wasn’t sure whether or not it was
with himself or her.
“
What exactly is so funny
?”

           
She shook her head, still clearly trying to get
hold of herself.
“I
’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh. It’s just
…
my
grandparents own this lodge, and I
’
ve been skiing since I was ten years old. So,
the idea of you offering to teach me as if you were doing me some kind of favor
… I
’m
sorry. I just thought it was funny
.”

            “
Well
.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling
decidedly embarrassed. He supposed he should have expected an employee of a ski
resort to know how to ski. She’d looked so soft and curvy, he’d assumed she was
an
indoorsy
type.
“
You certainly know how to make a man feel good
about himself
.”

           
Jade cleared her throat delicately.
“
Well, I
suppose I could pretend to be ignorant about skiing so that you can teach me
and feel good about yourself again
.”
Her pale green eyes sparkled with mirth.

           
Dawson couldn’t help it—
he grinned.
“
That sounds more like it,
”
he
said.
“
Two o
’
clock tomorrow
?”

             “
That should be fine
.”          

            “
It
’s a
date, then
.”
Before she could change her mind, he plucked her
hand off the counter top and pressed his lips to it. Her skin was soft against
his mouth, and he smiled as he heard her indrawn breath and felt her pulse
rocket.
“
See you tomorrow
.”

           
He felt her jade eyes on him all the way out the
door, and it took a mighty effort for him to resist the urge to turn around.
But, he knew if he did that he’d want to spend the rest of the day hanging
around the lobby with her, and he didn’t want to come off as a total creep.

           
As he got into his truck and made his way over
to his assigned cabin, Dawson wondered what had drawn him to her so quickly. He
wasn’t usually attracted to thick, curvy girls, but something about her had
pulled him in hard and fast.

           
There’s no denying she’s beautiful
, he thought as he opened his cabin door. Her
exotic, Latin-American features were beguiling,
and those thickly lashed,
sparkling green eyes of hers seem to hold another world in them...and that
figure.
While not slender, it was killer. He was definitely looking forward
to getting his hands on those curves.

           
Dawson set his suitcase by the front door, then
looked around the living room. It was a charming space with oak furniture and
muted, earthy colors. A small fire crackled in the hearth, already lit in anticipation
of his arrival, and he sat down in the wooden rocking chair next to it. As his
cell phone buzzed, Dawson pulled it out of his pocket to read a text from one
of his pack mates, Rand.

           
Dude. When you coming back? You
’
re
needed here.

           
Gritting his teeth, Dawson resisted the urge to
chuck the phone in the fire and instead powered it off, tossing it onto the
coffee table. He’d come out here to get away from the pack—the last thing
he needed was for the problems he’d left behind to follow him.

           
As the beta to the Los Angeles Wolf Shifter
Pack, Dawson was responsible for enforcing the Alpha’s Law. But lately, the
Alpha had become more and more unreasonable in his demands, causing pack
members to desert. The result was a dwindling spiral—the more people who
ditched, the harder Romero, the Alpha, wanted Dawson to crack down on the ones
left.

           
In the end, Dawson was long overdue for a
vacation, so he’d told Romero he was taking off for a little while. Someone
else could be around to deal with his mood swings and crazy bullshit. What
Dawson needed to do right now was get some time and space, and hopefully some
perspective, so that he could make the right decision.

           
Right.... And falling into bed with a human
woman is going to help you do that?

           
Dawson cringed. Good point. Shifter and human
dalliances were problematic enough on their own, especially when the human in
question didn’t know your true nature. Add in the fact that he was going
through a mid-life crisis and you had the makings for a disaster.

           
But does it really have to be a disaster?
He argued with himself as he stared into the
crackling flames. It wasn’t as if the pack were there now to make his life a
living hell. He could surely enjoy Jade’s company for a few days. A good romp
in the sheets would be just the thing to clear his head and release the pent-up
tension and frustration burning a hole in his gut. And once that was done, he
could focus his attention to the future, and make a decision once and for all
as to what he wanted to do with his life.