Henry gulped again and tapped furiously on his computer.
Ava tugged on Alex’s hand and whispered something in his ear that caused his shoulders to relax, though he kept his glare pinned to Henry.
I leaned against the counter, not dumb enough to open my mouth while Alex was on the warpath. Even Jules was silent, though that might be because she was too busy eye fucking some guy across the lobby.
I gave the guy a quick once-over. Blond hair, unnaturally white smile, the same pale blue shirt and khakis as the rest of the resort staff. I’d bet my last dollar he was a ski instructor. He just had that annoying, eager look.
“Put your tongue back in your mouth, JR. You’re drooling.”
“I don’t drool.” Jules smiled at Ski Bro, who smiled back.
Irritation curled in my stomach. It was the resort’s grand opening weekend, and he was loitering in the lobby, flirting with guests. Didn’t he have a job to do?
“There’s one VIP lodge left,” Henry said. “The Eagle Lodge isn’t as big as the Presidential Lodge, but it has the best view and the same amenities. Of course, we’re happy to refund you for the difference in pricing as well as include a complimentary meal and spa gift card to make up for the inconvenience.”
If Ava weren’t here, I was sure Alex would’ve ripped the guy a new one, but all he said was, “How much smaller is the Eagle Lodge?”
“It has two bedrooms instead of four. But the couch in the living room can be converted into a bed,” Henry hastened to add when Alex’s brows lowered.
“It’s fine.” Ava placed a hand on Alex’s forearm. “It’s just for the weekend.”
Alex’s nostrils flared before he acquiesced with a short nod. “The Eagle Lodge is fine.”
“Great.” Henry’s relief was palpable. “Here are the key cards…”
I shifted my attention back to Jules while he gave instructions on how to get to the lodge.
“You done having sex in the lobby?”
Jules was still silently flirting with Ski Bro, but she tore her eyes away from him at my comment. “If you think I’m having sex right now, it’s no wonder women leave your room unsatisfied.”
Touché.
A small smile played on my lips. If adventure sports were my physical release, sparring with Jules was my mental one. Nothing else gave me quite the same rush.
“Women leave my room feeling all sorts of things, but I guarantee unsatisfied isn’t one of them.”
“That’s what men always think,” she scoffed. “I regret to inform you they’re probably faking it.”
“I can tell the difference between a fake orgasm and a real one, JR.”
“So you’re saying women have faked orgasms with you.” Her voice was all sugar and arsenic.
“My first few times.” I wasn’t embarrassed by the fact. Everyone started at zero. “But practice makes perfect. Maybe you’ll find out for yourself one day, if you’re lucky.”
Jules gagged as we followed Alex and Ava out of the lobby to our lodge. “Don’t make me throw up. We just got here, and I despise vomit.”
A laugh rumbled in my throat. She was so fucking easy to rile up.
But when we arrived at the lodge, my laugh died in the face of hiccup number two: the pullout couch was not, in fact, a pullout. It was just a damn couch, which meant there were only two rooms for the four of us, and every possible pairing sounded worse than the last.
“I can room with Jules.” Ava slanted an apologetic glance in Alex’s direction. “You and Josh can share.”
“No.” I would rather swim naked in the icy river bordering the resort than room with Alex.
“What’s the alternative?” she argued. “I don’t want to spend all day debating room assignments.”
There were only two other options. I could room with Ava or Jules. If I roomed with Ava, Alex and Jules would have to be roommates, and that was fucking weird.
“I’ll share with JR.” I jerked my head in Jules’s direction. “You and Alex take the master. The guest bedroom has two beds, so we’ll make it work.”
It wasn’t ideal, but it was the least terrible choice.
Jules echoed my sentiment with as much enthusiasm as a mouse entering a snake’s cage.
“You sure?” Ava was fully aware of the animosity between us, and she was probably picturing us murdering each other in our sleep.
It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
“Yep. Let’s just get this over with so we can hit the slopes.” We wouldn’t be in our rooms much, anyway. I could just turn in for the night and pretend Jules wasn’t there.
Unfortunately, the universe and its fucked up sense of humor had different plans.
When we opened the door to the guest bedroom, we were greeted with hiccup number three, AKA the worst thing I’d ever seen in my entire life.
“No fucking way,” Jules said at the same time I growled, “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
Because sitting smack dab in the middle of an otherwise beautiful room, piled high with fluffy pillows and a luxurious navy comforter, was a four-poster bed.
Bed. Singular. As in, there was only one.
And I had to share it with Jules Ambrose.
Kill me now.
11
JULES
God was punishing me for wrongs I’d committed in my past life. That was the only explanation I could think of for why I’d been subjected to my predicament.
Josh and I both refused to back down and take the couch, so we were stuck in the same room, the same bed, for the next two nights. A gentleman would’ve offered to sleep elsewhere, but Josh wasn’t a gentleman. He was the spawn of Satan…one who was currently staring at me with narrowed eyes as I tried to finesse my way out of skiing.
“You guys go ahead,” I told Ava, making a pointed effort to ignore Josh’s suspicious gaze. “I just remembered I left something at the cabin.”
“You sure? I can go with you.”
“Nah. We already wasted enough time with the room situation, and I might hang in the lodge for a bit first.” I waved a breezy hand in the air. “You go ahead. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” Ava sounded doubtful. “We’ll be here.”
I held my breath and waited until Alex and Ava disappeared on the ski lifts before releasing it. A prickle of anxiety wormed in its way into my system as I eyed the vast expanse of snow before me.
I didn’t think I would be this affected, considering it’d been seven years since my last ski weekend, but that trip had spawned so many awful memories. Plus, there was the tape—
Don’t go there.
“What the hell did you leave at the cabin?” Josh interrupted my reverie. For someone who’d been so excited about skiing, he didn’t seem in much of a hurry to hit the slopes.
He was fully decked out in top-of-the-line ski gear—black pants, a blue jacket that stretched across his broad shoulders, and ski goggles he’d pushed up so they sat on top of his gray cap. The outfit lent him a rugged, athletic charm that had half the woman in the vicinity eyeing him with interest.
“I left my phone.” I shoved my hands in my pockets and gripped the phone nestled at the bottom of the right pocket.