Page 4 of Moonlit Colorado

A tuxedo in a garment bag lay on my bed, along with a black mask for the masquerade ball and a note in Margot’s handwriting. She was thousands of miles away, but that never stopped her from having thingsjust so. One of the reasons I trusted her so much.

The party won’t be that bad. Try to enjoy it.

-M

I grunted skeptically, hung the garment bag in the closet, and tossed the mask onto the dresser to deal with tomorrow.

This trip was an investment for the company, sure, but also a chance to see Ashford and meet his daughter and fiancée. The guy was my closest friend in the world, yet I hadn’t seen him in person inyears. There were a lot of reasons for that, some of them nobody’s fault.

But…mostly my fault. I wasn’t the type to make excuses.

Hard to believe a man in his thirties with my kind of net worth was stuck in a job he hated. If I had thought serving my country and then making my own fortune would earn my father’s respect, I’d been wrong. I would never have joined Knightly Global if it wasn’t my mom’s greatest wish that I reconcile with my father and brother. As if the three of us working together would transform us into a happy family unit. Ha. But I wastrying. For her.

Even if this job felt like a straight jacket in the form of a tailored suit.

The moment I’d heard this ski resort needed a new owner and an infusion of cash to finish building the hotel, I’d known it was perfect. This was the first project I’d had in a while that I actually cared about. It wasn’t really the resort. It was this town. The hope of maybe finding a sliver of the meaning Ashford had in his life here. If I was stuck working for Knightly Global, then I needed something like this or I would lose my fucking mind.

And I’d known that Mom would love Silver Ridge too. At some point I wanted to bring her out here. If I could get Dad to agree.

Good thing I was nothing if not persistent.

When I truly wanted something, it was only a matter of time until I found a way to have it.

TWO

Grace

I lookedat the stacks of books on my kitchen counter. Then at the undersized cardboard box in my arms. Then back at the books.

“They’re not going to fit,” Callum said.

“They are too.”

I set the box on the counter. Adjusting my glasses on my nose, I planned my attack. Nestled a book inside. Then another. Taking my time. Callum watched over my shoulder.

“Quit being so stubborn,” he said. “Just grab another box. The garage is full of them.”

“No kidding.” But those were all moving boxes, and I was sick of looking at them.

Niko wandered shirtless into the kitchen. “Hey, Cal. Grace, you look busy.” He was one of Callum’s roommates.

Oops. Make that one ofmyroommates. Because I now lived with my brother and three other overbearing firefighters instead of in my cute little bungalow bymyself.

Exactly why I was annoyed at those stupid moving boxes.

Until the summer, I’d rented the same house for years. My pride and joy. My landlord and I had made an oral agreement that I’d buy the place from him when I had the downpayment saved up, and in the meantime, I’d made all sorts of improvements.

Then my landlord had sold the house out from under me for a far higher asking price than I could afford. And because we’d been going month-to-month on my rent instead of bothering to keep the lease paperwork current, I got kicked out. There was nothing I could do.

I had trusted that man to keep his word. Big mistake.

I should’ve known better.

My brother Ashford had offered me his spare room. But Ashford had my seven-year-old niece, a golden retriever, and a fiancée to take care of. He didn’t need to be worrying about me too.

With no other affordable units available, I’d had no choice but to move in with Callum and his buddies, all of whom treated me like their baby sister. As if I didn’t have enough big brothers already. And the amount of food they ate. It wasastonishing. They’d demolished a lasagna last night like a school of piranhas. I shivered just thinking about it.

At least they were good at dishes. Firefighters knew how to keep a place clean.

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