Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72586 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Within a moment, all three of the handsome brothers appeared right beside me.
Emma lay still in the snow, and for a terrifying moment I thought the worst.
But then she groaned.
"That wasn't supposed to happen," she mumbled as I reached her.
"Don't move." I ran my hands over her legs, checking for injuries. "Does anything hurt?"
"Just my pride. And maybe my ankle. Just a teensy bit."
The brothers hovered anxiously. "Should we call ski patrol?" Theo asked.
"I've got her." I slid my arms under Emma, lifting her easily despite all the layers. She curled into my chest with another groan.
"Show-off," she muttered.
"Says the woman who just tried to ski Thunder Ridge after one lesson."
"I was doing great until gravity got involved."
I couldn't help laughing, relief making me a little giddy. "Come on, Pink Marshmallow. Let's get you inside before you try anything else crazy."
"My hero," she said sarcastically, but her arms tightened around my neck.
As I carried her toward the lodge, I couldn’t help notice Richard Wellington and Dick having a somewhat heated discussion as they shot occasional looks our way.
I couldn’t make out the words, but it was a reminder that I needed to find more time to look into them and their secrets.
As soon as I started looking into Marcus and Lily’s engagement, my alarm bells had begun to ring. She was young, beautiful, and the owner of a rapidly growing business that was poised to be worth multiple millions if she kept it up. She was the whole package, and supposedly, so was Marcus. He didn’t show any of the usual signs of a cheater. But there were signs. Little warning flags I’d picked up, and I was determined to get to the bottom of it.
But that could wait. Right now, I had a wounded marshmallow to take care of.
And if I enjoyed that job a little too much? Well, that was nobody's business but mine.
14
EMMA
"It was just a small tumble," I insisted as Lily fussed over my bruised knee and sore ankle. My sister looked perfect as always—long blonde hair falling in soft waves, her skin perfectly smooth and glowing. Meanwhile, I looked like I'd been put through a snowblower and then partially thawed.
"You went airborne," James corrected from where he was arranging pillows on the oversized leather chair. "And did a very impressive cartwheel."
"I did not—"
"Two full rotations. I counted." He grinned. "Though your form could use work. I'd give the technical execution a six, but the dramatic flair was a solid nine."
“Well,” I said, smiling a little. “Thank you for appreciating my dramatic flair, at least.”
James gave me a sympathetic pat on the head, then walked off toward the lounge bar.
We'd found a cozy corner of the resort's main lobby, where a massive stone fireplace crackled and popped beside intimate seating arrangements. Outside, snow was starting to fall again, making the whole scene feel almost magical. It was so damn cozy I could almost forget my aching everything and the fact that my stubbornness nearly got me killed on a mountain today.
Okay, I probably hadn’t almost died. But my dignity might have.
"Here." James returned and handed me a steaming mug of hot chocolate, complete with tiny marshmallows. "Drink this while I grab more pillows."
"I don't need—"
He was already gone. I'd finally managed to placate Maggie with a text promising "every scandalous detail later, including why I might have chosen death by ski slope over facing another night alone with the wedding wrecker." But now I had an overly attentive fake boyfriend to deal with.
A fake boyfriend who'd changed into a soft gray sweater that made me want to run my hands over it. Or maybe that was just an excuse for wanting to run my hands over what was under it. Between that and his slightly windblown hair and the way his jeans fit as he walked away... I took a long sip of hot chocolate and tried to focus on my bruises instead of his assets.
"He's sweet," Lily sighed, curling up on the couch. Her engagement ring caught the firelight. I remember being somewhat impressed when I’d seen it. After hearing how filthy rich the Wellington’s were, I expected it to look like a geological artifact—something so large she’d barely be able to straighten her wrist under its weight. Instead, it was a surprisingly modest ring, almost like something an average guy could’ve afforded.
"You don’t think this injury is going to keep you from coming to the activities right?” Lily asked. “I was really looking forward to having you along for it all.”
“It’s seriously not even worthy of being called an injury,” I said. “James is just fussing over nothing. I’m only a little sore and a tiny bit bruised. I promise, I’ll be completely fine by tomorrow morning.”
“Mhm,” Lily said with a knowing grin. “I imagine anybody would recover with the level of pampering your boyfriend is lathering on. Maybe I should hire him to run a Pawsh Pets franchise for me. If he applied those skills to my customer’s pets, his franchise would be a hit the moment it opened.”