Secrets of a Chalet Girl

Lorraine Wilson

A division of HarperCollins
Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

I live in Wiltshire with my husband but love to travel and have lived in four continents. From playing amidst Roman ruins in Africa as a child to riding a Sultan's racehorse in the Middle East as a teen, I’ve many experiences to draw on for the stories I’ve been writing ever since I can remember. When I’m not writing you'll find me listening to audiobooks while I sew or design handbags, usually with a rescue terrier or two curled up on my feet!

I'd like to say a big thank you to the lovely team at HarperImpulse and also to Maria and Dawn - thank you so much for your help with this book.

“Pick a Dare, Flora, it’s your turn.” Tash thrust the shiny, silver gift bag across the bar towards Flora.

Flora had assumed Tash brought the bag along from Chalet Repos because it contained an early wedding present for Holly, or more likely silly ‘L’ plates or even worse…she’d heard talk about inflatable costumes.

No such luck.

Even dressing up as an inflatable penis might be preferable to carrying out a dare Tash had made up.

“Um, I don’t know … ” Flora licked her lips nervously. Looking around at the group she could tell everyone was glad it wasn’t their turn. Tash’s wilder streak was enough to make anyone uneasy. She should’ve known Tash offering to take a hand in organising Holly’s Hen night was a bad omen.

Really? They were playing some kind of Truth or Dare game? She’d played spin the bottle as a teenager. It never ended well.

It might have been better if Holly’s best friend Pippa had been in charge of the plans. But she’d only arrived in Verbier this morning. Plus she had lively one-year old Lexie to keep her busy, so she was hardly in a party planning frame of mind.

Take a bunch of emotional girls, add in copious amounts of cocktails and play Truth or Dare… What could go wrong?

There’d be tears before bedtime. Hopefully not hers.

Her skin prickled with the awareness she was being watched by the other bar customers. It was the third Verbier bar in their bar crawl this evening. The fact they were wearing dresses in a resort town where everyone wore salopettes by day and jeans, albeit designer ones, by night, had already attracted them a fair amount of attention. Holly insisted they dress up, saying she never got a chance to be ‘girly’ nowadays.

“Come on Flora, get on with it.” Sophie giggled, signalling to the barman that they needed more drinks. Her shiny mane of blonde hair and baby blue eyes, coupled with a dress that revealed an impressive cleavage meant they’d had no trouble getting served.

Feeling self-conscious in her silky blue evening dress, Flora shifted uncomfortably on her barstool and hoped she wasn’t going to humiliate herself in public.

Ha! Dream on…

“You should just be glad you don’t have to do the chalet girl initiation thing I went through.” Holly grimaced sympathetically.

“Me too, she’s right, you should count yourself lucky.” Sophie laughed. “The initiation was you had to go to Wonderbar, take your bra off and flash the crowd. Although some we could mention fudged it.”

Sophie winked at Holly, smirking but Flora couldn’t join in the laughter, panic now rising about what she might have to do. Her face flamed with heat. She hated blushing, always had ever since she’d been teased at school for her ability to turn scarlet so easily.

“How do you know I haven’t put that Dare in the bag?” Tash winked and practically thrust the shiny silver bag under Flora’s nose.

I am so not taking my bra off and flashing the crowd. No. Not. Not!

“I’d really, rather not. I mean I couldn’t…” She faltered.

Bloody Tash.

Flora caught Holly’s eye, pleading silently ‘
Help me.’

“We won’t make you strip, I promise,” Holly interrupted, placing a hand on Flora’s elbow.

Flora exhaled slowly with relief and smiled gratefully at her boss.

Rescued!

Holly was lovely like that. Not to mention great to work for given she’d actually been doing the job herself last season and wasn’t afraid to muck in when they needed help.

Maybe she was paranoid but it felt like everyone in the packed bar was staring at them. A quick glance confirmed most of them were. Now Flora wished she hadn’t worn her high heeled boots and been persuaded into wearing her silky midnight blue dress. Right now she might as well be wearing a sign over her neck saying she was on the pull.

Do I want to be on the pull? It might be a good distraction and I certainly need one of those.

That would probably be the Dare, knowing Tash. Ever since she’d found out Flora hadn’t had sex since coming out of a long-term relationship she’d been on at her to get back in the game. Or had it been ‘on’ the game? With Tash you never really knew. She liked to shock people.

The group of men closest to them sniggered. She was sure she heard them assessing the hen party girls, picking their favourites and giving marks out of ten. She seethed quietly, skin burning as she swallowed down her irritation. Only one of the men here had caught her attention when they walked in and he wasn’t even looking over at them, his attention purely on his mobile phone.

“Okay, I’ll do Dare then,” she said crossly, gulping her cocktail and trying to force a smile to her face for Holly’s sake. It was Holly’s night after all. Sophie and Amelia were playing along with Tash’s stupid game, which meant she had no choice…

It was going to be a long night.

She tried to keep the smile in place as she pulled a card out of the bag. Sophie and Tash cheered.

‘Kiss the sexiest man in the room.’ Fantastic! Not much better than having to flash a crowd.

Flora bit her lip as the girls grabbed the card before she could toss it back in the bag and pick again. Why couldn’t she have picked a drinking challenge involving cocktails? Now that was a Dare she wouldn’t mind.

She caught Holly’s eye, trying to smile but her cheeks ached with the effort. She didn’t want to be a buzzkill. Pippa looked shattered and had made it clear she hated leaving baby Lexie in Steve and Scott’s hands for the evening but she was making an effort. As for the others, well, you couldn’t share a room with three other girls and not realise fitting in wasn’t just preferable, it was a matter of survival.

“I’ll need another Mojito if I’m going to do it,” she squeezed her eyes shut.

You can do this Flora, pretend you’re in a film. Act the part. You came to Verbier to have fun so how about you fricking well get on with it?

The Mojitos and Cosmopolitans consumed so far this evening certainly helped.

I was supposed to get married tomorrow.

I need another cocktail.

“So, who is the sexiest man in the room?” Sophie spoke too loudly, swivelling round on her bar stool and almost falling off. Holly laughed, putting an arm behind Sophie’s back to steady her.

The stocky barman winked at them as he served their drinks but Flora’s mind flickered instantly to the gorgeous looking man still glued to his BlackBerry. Apart from the whole phone addiction thing, something about him initiated warm stirrings in parts she’d thought had iced over permanently.

She hadn’t been able to properly put him out of her mind since they’d arrived. He’d been on his own, leaning nonchalantly against the bar, focused on his phone and looking very scrumptious. When he sensed her checking him out, he’d looked up and given her the sexiest smile she’d ever seen. His eyes were a rich dark blue and they crinkled at the corner when he smiled. It was then she’d felt that…not-at-all-unpleasant stirring thing…

Instead of maintaining eye contact he’d gone straight back to his BlackBerry, so maybe he hadn’t felt what she had if his phone was a bigger draw than she was in her sexiest dress.

So, kissing that guy had its attractions. But walking up to him and kissing him without any prelude? She needed to be a hell of a lot drunker than she was.

Although, I could always just kiss him on the cheek like I’m greeting him and then claim mistaken identity.

As excuses went it was so lame it needed a walking stick. But in the absence of any other plan it was going to have to do.

“I think she already has someone in mind,” Sophie slurred. “What fun.”

Flora guessed she’d seen the involuntary flutter of her eyes towards the end of the bar and cursed herself for being so easy to read.

People who know you this well should be banned. Or at least banned from giving you stupid Dares.

This was what came from sharing a small dorm room. You all got to know each other way too well…

“How old are we?” Flora rolled her eyes, trying to look dignified but fearing she resembled a nervous horse.

“It might be fun,” Holly said, smiling at her. “You might even enjoy it. And it’s better than having to take your bra off in public, trust me!”

Tash narrowed her eyes at Flora. “You must make it a proper snog. No pecks on the cheek allowed. If you fluff it we’ll make you do the Wonderbar Dare instead.”

Flora shuddered; she knew Tash meant business.

Mental note to self - don’t let Tash anywhere near my hen party preparations.

Not that she planned on getting married.

Ever.

Oh sod it. She was delaying the inevitable. It was only a kiss for goodness sake. Time to woman up. She took a quick sip of the cocktail that’d appeared in front of her – Sex on the Beach instead of the Mojito she’d asked for. Maybe it was an omen. Not that there were many beaches around here, except if you counted the lake shore beaches.

Stop faffing about, Flora.

“Okay, I’m doing it,” Flora announced, and the girls whooped in unison as she clambered carefully off her bar stool. Falling flat on her face and flashing her knickers would not be a good look.

To cheers of “Go Flora,” she made her way through the crowd to the end of the bar, clutching the velvet strap of the beaded evening bag she’d designed herself tightly, more for something to hold onto than anything else. Inexplicably she couldn’t remember what to do with her hands when she walked.

She had a prickling sixth sense feeling she was being watched. Oh yes, that would be because she
was
being watched.

Nice evening Holly. I’m here to celebrate you getting married by making a complete tit of myself. Nice.

Her mouth felt dry and her brain woolly as her target came into view. He was still texting on his phone.

A quick in and out, before he knows what’s hit him. Then a very swift exit from the bar…

Before she could move he looked up and they both stared, a flash of connection passing between them. It felt like the world around her was melting away, leaving only her and BlackBerry guy in the bar.

He smiled again, a devastating smile. She froze, fear and adrenalin pulsing through her, competing for control.

Go now. Quick. It’s only a kiss!

Only a kiss? Huh. And he was
only
the sexiest man in the room.
And
the girls were all watching her.

So, no pressure then.

Someone shrieked behind her and Flora looked back to see Sophie, Amelia and Tash falling about laughing, clutching each other like schoolgirls. They would pay for this. Pippa and Holly were also smiling but in a ‘sorry it’s you but glad it’s not us’ way.

They clearly weren’t sympathetic enough to save her.

Was this what all bar hook-ups were like? Perhaps there was some kind of special code she should know about? Who knew, one raised eyebrow and you might accidentally agree to re-enact ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’!

You’re acting remember, just do it!

She closed the gap between them, hands trembling as she leant forward towards him, rising up on tiptoe so she could whisper in his ear. She desperately hoped he spoke English. The vast majority of Verbier residents did, to her surprise. Her French wasn’t up to more than ordering food or asking where the loos were. It hadn’t been an issue up until now given Scott only marketed Chalet Repos in the UK.

The scent of him momentarily distracted her; it was citrusy, clean and masculine.

Concentrate Flora!

“I’m really sorry but I’m afraid I have to kiss you,” she whispered in his ear, aware of how close their bodies were. “I promise you I’ll go away immediately afterwards.”

Then she sent her inhibitions flying and went for it, meaning to kiss his cheek and sod what Tash said but instead BlackBerry man turned his head and kissed her fully on the lips. Before she could register the feel of his lips on hers he was tasting her and teasing her and her lips responded to him, obediently, unthinkingly… it felt like she was falling down into another world – Flora in Wonderland.

Christ, she really was actually falling. The guy had dipped her backwards, firmly supporting her back as he leant in for a deeper kiss. Her parted her lips with his tongue and her mouth welcomed him instinctively, wanting to say yes to whatever he asked.

It felt strange. Strange and wonderful.

Not to mention that this was a hell of a lot more than she bargained for. Her skin fizzed and the attraction hit her like a body blow. She’d thought these kinds of kisses only existed in the movies. Something deep inside her melted, mellowing her, her inner romantic responding to this stranger against her conscious will, issuing him an invitation.

Her inner romantic was clearly a tart.

In her dim awareness of what was going on in the background she heard wolf whistles. One of them sounded very much like Tash. It hauled her back to reality with a sudden lurch.

Bloody hell. I’m in a ski resort bar with an audience. This has to stop.

She tried to struggle upright. Instantly he helped her up, drawing back a little but his face remained close to hers, dark blue eyes locked on her in a way that sent darts of anticipatory desire zinging through her body. The air between them fairly crackled with sexual electricity. Every nerve ending tingled.

Wow.

Six months without sex could clearly send a girl a bit loopy.

“Hi, I’m Zac Hengler, and you are?” His tone was as cool as though they’d simply bumped into each other, not shared
that kiss
, the kiss she was still reeling from.

“Um, Flora,” she replied, feeling dazed and disorientated.

“Umflora?” He grinned wolfishly. “Unusual name.”

“Umflora Lyndon.” Despite her mortification Flora’s lips creased into an automatic smile, joining in his joke, her body determined to give this guy the green light no matter what she did.

“I don’t usually do this, honestly. I’m sorry.” She shrugged, wishing she couldn’t still inhale the clean, citrus scent of his aftershave, that it didn’t make her want to bury her head against his chest.