Never Been Snow Lucky (Snowed Inn Romance)

Chapter 12

12

JACK

D ragging myself away from Iris was even more difficult to do now that I’d spent most of the past few days inside her sweet pussy. Unfortunately, duty called when the blizzard started to break. But at least I could take comfort in the fact that she wasn’t any happier that our winter bubble was about to burst.

“No,” she whimpered, reaching out for me as I started to scoot off the mattress. “Do you really have to go?”

“Sorry, angel.” I leaned over, meaning to brush a quick kiss against her lips, but it quickly spiraled out of control. “Fuck, you’re making it hard to go do my job.”

Her palm glided down my chest to cup my dick. Her eyes sparkled with happiness as she teased, “Literally and figuratively.”

My hips bucked off the mattress, pressing my thick shaft deeper against her soft palm. “Having your hand on me sure as hell isn’t going to make it any easier…or less hard.”

“I suppose I can wait until later.” She pressed her thighs together with a sigh. “If I’m going to be completely honest, I could probably use the break.”

Iris wasn’t one to complain, so my protective instinct—one that I didn’t even know I could have toward a woman until her—went into overdrive. “Are you hurting? I shouldn’t have taken you so many times. Not so soon after popping your cherry.”

“Hey,” she whispered, lifting her arm to press her hand against my bearded cheek. “I was right there with you every step of the way. In fact, I instigated my fair share of our bouts of lovemaking.”

If she had been any other woman, I would have freaked out at any use of the word “love.” But hearing those four letters coming from Iris’s luscious lips, even just at the start of a term that women often used to describe sex, stirred something deep inside me.

Even though I had seen my guy friends fall hard and fast for their women, I hadn’t really expected it to ever happen to me. But after the time I spent with Iris, there was no denying that what I felt for her wasn’t casual. I’d already developed feelings for this incredible woman, and it was killing me inside to know that she was booked on a flight out of my life in a little more than a week.

“I’ll do my best to hurry back so you have the chance to work your wiles on me again.” I sifted my fingers through her hair. “But first, you need to take a long, hot bath. Ease any aches I left behind so you’ll be ready to take me again without any pain.”

“Will do,” she promised.

After giving her one last lingering kiss, I padded into the bathroom to take a quick shower and change. Then I reluctantly left the suite where I’d been holed up with Iris.

Breaking the bubble of privacy the blizzard had provided us fucking sucked, but I didn’t have a choice. Gavin still couldn’t make it up the mountain, which left me in charge of making sure all of the trails were checked to see if they were safe for skiers. The snow was still coming down, but it had slowed enough that the guests would be pushing hard to get back on the slopes soon. And the wind gusts were finally low enough that we could consider reopening the lifts sometime in the next day, assuming the storm hadn’t done any damage.

I was going to be busy as fuck taking care of all that, but I refused to sacrifice too much time with Iris. I was a man of action who went after what he wanted…and I sure as fuck planned to do the same when it came to her. She was too important to leave our future in the hands of fate.

After I spoke with every member of the ski patrol who was on the mountain, delegating more than I normally would, I went in search of Raven to make sure she didn’t need anything before I strapped on the planks to check out the more dangerous trails where there was a higher risk of an avalanche. I had plenty of skilled skiers available, but I was the only one who was comfortable with using explosives. No way in hell was I going to hand off that particular task to anyone who wasn’t one hundred percent confident in their abilities.

I was exhausted when I was done, but I had another important task that couldn’t wait. So I went in search of Caleb, finding him in his wife’s office, shoving a cookie in his mouth.

“Dude, you’re living dangerously, scarfing those down when you know damn well that Raven was hoarding them for herself.”

Swallowing the bite he’d just taken, he shrugged, unconcerned by my warning. “My wife is happy to share all her cookies with me.”

My fake gagging sound had a degree of truth to it. Hearing the insinuation in his voice made me regret using the same connotation with Iris a few days ago. “There’s such a thing as oversharing, dude.”

“Not when it comes to?—”

I lifted my hand to cut off whatever ridiculous thing he’d been about to say. “Seriously, though, I wanted to talk to you about the winter training center.”

The facility was in the process of being built—one that he was most likely to run once it was ready to open since Raven and Colin didn’t need much help with the inn and lodge. Plus, he was more qualified than anyone else in Winter Falls.

At the mention of the project, his expression turned serious. Leaning toward me, he asked, “What about it?”

“Have you guys given any thought to bringing someone on board to address the mental aspect of being an athlete?”

“Not really.” At my look of disappointment, he added, “But now that you mention it, the idea holds a lot of merit. Sports psychology is a hotter topic now than ever, and I know the field has been growing by leaps and bounds. We will have to do some research on qualifications before we start the search for one. It’s too bad we have one hanging around Winter Falls like we did with Cammie being a physical therapist.”

This was the opening I was hoping for. “Actually, we do.”

“No shit?” he asked, his brow rising.

“Yeah, Iris already has her Masters in Applied Sports Psychology and is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant. And by the time the facility is open, she will already have defended her thesis for her Masters in Sport and Exercise Psychology.”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before nodding. “Sounds as though her qualifications are up to par, and I trust your recommendation. Even if you’re more than a little biased.”

I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t need to ask who Iris was to me. The gossip mill around here was always in overdrive, and his wife wasn’t great at keeping secrets when it came to other people’s love lives. She—like most of the other women in our social circle—enjoyed matchmaking too much to keep shit like this to herself. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”

“I can’t guarantee she’d be hired,” he warned. “She would still need to interview. But we’ll do that first, then decide if we still need to post the position.”

“Thanks, man.” I stood and shook his hand.

“I’m the one who should be thanking you, Jack. Offering this kind of service will help the facility stand out against our competition,” he explained with a grin. “Santa basically dropped an extra present under the tree for us, bringing Iris to Winter Falls.”

“For me,” I growled, shaking my head as his laughter trailed me while I strode away. The bastard had no place in finding my possessiveness funny when he was the same damn way with his woman. And he had less reason to worry about other men since she wore his ring and had given him four children. Goals I was hoping to accomplish with Iris sooner rather than later. Starting with one baby of course…and maybe with a boy or two sprinkled in so I had some help watching over the girls.