Page 1 of Snowed In With You

Prologue

Sara

The moment the last two months had been leading to arrived to applause and cheers as the newlyweds walked into the reception hall in time to the music. I was already three glasses of champagne deep into the night so my claps might have been a little sloppier than that of the groomsman next to me, Fletcher. But to be fair, I had helped plan this wedding, so I should definitely get to enjoy it now. I’d flown out to California to stay with my brother, Robert, and his fiancé-now-wife, Tanya. It had been... bearable. Mostly. Tanya was a sweetheart and I’d been glad to have the chance to get to know her properly before the wedding, as well as offer her an escape if she got cold feet about marrying Rob. I loved my brother, but God was he an ass.

‘They look so happy,’ Fletcher said, a giant smile on his face that sent butterflies flapping in my belly. Then there was the other reason wedding prep had been so enjoyable – a well-built and tanned reason, standing at about six-foot-two, looking unfairly dapper in his navy suit.

‘Yeah,’ I said dazedly, staring up at his face. In my heels, his jaw was in my eyeline and it was a nice jaw. A hint of stubble, strong. I cleared my throat when he glanced down at me and turned my gaze back to my brother and his new wife. ‘They should, everything went off without a hitch.’

‘Well, they have us to thank for that,’ Fletcher said with a quick wink that made me giggle. Then Rob and Tanya were upon usand I pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks as I offered my congratulations.

‘Thank you, both of you, today has been amazing,’ Tanya gushed, her brown skin prettily flushed against her white mermaid dress.

‘Well, it’s not over yet!’ I gave her a quick nudge as the music for their first dance queued up and they drifted out onto the dance floor, illuminated by two spotlights. It was a lot of fanfare, but my brother always had been a little more dramatic than me.

Thankfully, one of the pros of helping to organise this wedding was that I’d got to pick my own dress. Traditionally the bridesmaid dresses went one of two ways: hideous or stunning. There was no inbetween. My dress was a light silvery colour that made my pale skin look luminous and my red hair bright and I was supremely grateful to Tanya in that moment as Fletcher turned to me and held out his hand. Couples were starting to drift onto the floor to join Rob and Tanya and Fletcher smiled at me confidently, and – yeah, I liked that. A lot.

‘Shall we?’ he asked, as if there were ever a world in which I’d have said no.

‘I’d love to,’ I said, gulping back the last of my drink and leaving the empty glass at a nearby table as I placed my hand into Fletcher’s.

His hand met the small of my back and I shivered, his cologne was nice, something clean and masculine that made me want to lean closer. I had been helping Tanya practice for her first dance with Rob, and from the way Fletcher waltzed me about effortlessly, I’d guess he’d been doing the same for my brother.

We smiled when the song ended and I hesitated as I took my hand from his, only to be surprised when he gripped it a little tighter. ‘Another?’ he asked and I grinned. A faster, modern song came on and he began to move his hips in time, my cheeks flushed lightly and I looked away before I embarrassed myself.He tugged my hand lightly, smiling and pulling me closer until our bodies were pressed flush and my pulse jumped. I glanced quickly around, not sure how Rob would feel if he saw how cosy we were getting. The dance floor had become pretty packed though and nobody was paying us too much attention.

Fletcher’s hand grazed the outside of my thigh and a shudder worked its way through me. When I looked up his blue eyes were heated and I bit my lip in indecision as I flicked another look around for any sign of Rob.

‘I think I need another drink,’ I sighed and Fletcher laughed.

‘Sounds like a plan.’

Chapter One

Sara

This couldn’t be happening. My brother’s voice continued to rumble through the phone I had pressed tightly to my ear, oblivious to the maelstrom of panic now crashing through me. When I’d reluctantly agreed to go on this trip – mostly to stop Rob’s whining – I’d known it was possiblehewas coming, as this was supposed to be a thank-you trip for organising the wedding. But I’d thought,It’s a big lodge, I’m sure I can avoid him for a week. Maybe he won’t even come.Ha. Apparently Rob (and whoever I’d pissed off upstairs) had other ideas. What could I say though? Um, sorry Rob, buthell no?

It would seem like a pretty strong reaction to someone that (as far as he knew) I’d had only a passing acquaintance with and there were a thousand reasons I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole. Firstly, it was none of Rob’s business what I did or who I did it with. Secondly, he was my brother and the thought of talking to him about sex made me want to barf. Lastly… it was hard to simply tell your brother you had a one night stand with his best friend. At his wedding. And it hadn’t even been worth it.

‘Sara? Hel-lo, God I swear you are the most – Have you even been listening to anything I’ve said?’ Rob sounded annoyed, it was a tone I was fairly familiar with as it was almost always directed at me and I’d heard my fair share of it back in September when I’d flown out to California to stay with Rob and Tanya for the wedding. Admittedly, on this occasion he wasright to be mad, I had tuned out all of his words afterFletcher will probably be on his way to pick you up by now. That sort of seemed like information he might have wanted to mention before this whole trip was organised. The fact that I was going to have to spend several hours in the tight confines of Fletcher Harris’ car and pretend like we hadn’t screwed each other’s brains out less than a month ago? Not that Rob knew that last part so he’d probably just thought it made ‘economical sense’ seeing as Fletcher apparently lived close-by.

‘I’m here, I’m listening,’ I said with a huff of breath, flipping my auburn bangs out of my eyes a little harder than was strictly necessary.

‘So, you’ve packed a swimsuit then, yeah?’

‘Erm–’

Rob swore colourfully, ‘There’s a sauna in the lodge. Bring a suit so I don’t have to see your naked ass.’

‘Sure,’ was what I said, but internally I was screaming. Pack asuit? What swimwear did I even own any more? I lived inAnchorage,not Florida. This day was only going to get worse. I’d never even thought to ask Fletcher where he was from, I had just assumed he lived near Robert in Cali. I’d never felt more terrible about being wrong. ‘Listen, I’ve got to go, I’ll see you at the lodge, right?’

Rob murmured an affirmative and then said sternly before hanging up, ‘Be nice to Fletch. He’s not been himself recently.’

Not been himself?Was this me reading into things, or was Fletcher just as unhappy about my presence on this trip as I was about his? Which, honestly, seemed a little unfair –I hadn’t done anything besides give him the ‘best head of his life’ and let’s be real, there was no way it wasn’t the best sex he’d ever had either. I was there. It was great. The evening up until then had been nice too, we’d laughed together and danced together and Istill couldn’t shake off the way his eyes had heated when I’d told him I was going to bed.

‘Oh,’ he sounded disappointed as he glanced away from me. ‘You’re tired?’

‘Not at all,’ I’d said with a slow smile and an answering grin had tugged at his mouth as his eyes turned molten. He wanted me and I was more than happy to oblige.

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