Laurie’s Wolves(88)

“Perfect, because there are about two dozen of them stuck here for the night, and I don’t do kids at all. So you can corral them and organize a game or something.” Melinda grinned.

“Let’s get people fed first,” Carlie said. “And yes. We have beer. She pointed to a giant refrigerator door behind Laurie. “I think Sharon’s back there somewhere. She can help. Why don’t you grab a few cases and hand out the bottles. Don’t worry about keeping track of who has what. We’ll settle everything with whatever people want to donate in the morning.”

Laurie loved this woman. She was kind. Generous. And sweet on top of that. Who on earth would be mad at the Masters for any length of time?

She headed for the walk-in fridge, found stacks of cases against the left wall, and heaved one off the ground just as Sharon popped in. Moments later, the two of them made two dozen people very happy, and Laurie returned for another case.

When she stepped out of the fridge the second time, she found one of the employees she’d met the first day she’d arrived leaning against the wall outside. “Hey.” She wondered why he was just standing there as she tried to place his name in her head.

“Brock,” he stated, as if he’d read her mind.

She snapped her fingers. “Right. Sorry. Forgot your name. Met you at the upper lodge last week, right?” She remembered him—the guy she and Zach had joked about, hoping he wasn’t their third. And he’d proven to her he was a sleaze ball.

“Yep. You were with Zach.”

“Yeah.” And I’m still with him, she thought as she watched this man’s gaze roam up her body. He even licked his lips in slow motion as if he were ogling a stripper—which she most certainly was not.

She shuddered as she stepped around him. “Gotta hand out more beer. Later.” The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Half of her wanted to touch him to see what he was made of. The other half hoped she never got close enough to him to even graze his skin in this lifetime because she could tell what sort of man he was without needing the mental image his touch would give her.

“You okay, Laurie?” Zach communicated from somewhere else in the building.

She lifted her gaze and scanned the room. He wasn’t in sight. “Yep.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. No worries.” Damn, the man was perceptive. She didn’t want to piss him off with the tale of her strange encounter with Brock while he was so busy. It had been obvious the other day that Zach didn’t care for Brock.

“I have a weird feeling is all. No biggy. I’m probably still shook up from being separated from you. I’d much rather be back at the condo naked with you between me and Corbin than here working our asses off for the night.”

“Agreed. But this is what landed on our plates for today, so we’ll live through it.”

“Glass half full…” He chuckled into her mind.

Two dozen more men grabbed a beer, although some of them were repeat customers from the first batch. A few had already finished their first beer, and several were simply planning ahead. She hoped no one got drunk and belligerent stuck in the lodge without the ability to leave.

Corbin grabbed the empty box from her hand. “The snow is still coming down.” His brow was furrowed in concern. “You got any weird vibes?”

She shook her head. “No. But I haven’t had a chance to think since we got here. I’ll see what Melinda thinks.” She started to walk away, but Corbin grabbed her hand and tugged her back until her chest slammed into his. He met her gaze and smiled. “I love you,” he whispered.

She felt the heat rise on her cheeks. “I love you too,” she muttered, hoping no one was paying attention to them. What they didn’t need was a riot caused by people freaking out about her relationship with two men tonight. Or worse, the fact that she was half Native American. That wasn’t something people could readily identify looking at her, but they could see that Corbin was Native if they were discerning. And Zach was so obviously Caucasian.

Never in her life had she pondered the idea of racism in the twenty-first century. And more than likely no one visiting Cambridge from other parts of the world to ski this week was as bigoted as the locals. But there was no telling how many of the people trapped for the night were from the area. She simply didn’t know enough people to recognize them.

As Laurie turned around, leaving Corbin in his spot to head back to the kitchen area, she stopped short.

What were the chances? Of all the people, the very woman she’d met on her first day of job hunting was sitting on one of the couches, and her gaze was trained toward Laurie.