Chapter 9
Risky’s hand slid around the back of my neck, simultaneously pulling me closer and locking me in place. His arm wrapped around my waist in an effortlessly possessive hold, and his mouth moved over mine with practiced skill.
He was much better at kissing than he was at being a handyman.
His lips were surprisingly soft, and his tongue was playful and agile. He tasted like chocolate and peppermint. It was a shockingly sweet combination that didn’t fit his outwardly rough and tumble appearance. The minty flavor woke up all my senses and had me forgetting that I’d promised myself I wouldn’t kiss or get involved with anyone until I had the lodge up and running and turning a profit. Then I could do whatever—or whoever—I wanted without worrying about the ramifications. I’d certainly never expected my vow to crumble at one seductive touch from a near stranger.
However, kissing Risky and letting him kiss me didn’t feel foreign or awkward. There was zero embarrassment or shame. Kissing him felt like it was something I was meant to do. And having him kiss me seemed like I’d found something I hadn’t realized I’d lost. I couldn’t look for something I never knew was missing, so the touch of his lips and the flick of his tongue were as unsettling as they were tempting. I was a woman who prided herself on always having her feet permanently on the ground, but the minute Risky used his teeth to nip at my sensitive bottom lip, my head was in the clouds, and my eyes were full of stars. I knew the moment I came to my senses, I was going to be horrified by how quickly this man had gotten through my defenses. But for now, it felt so good to lose myself in the heated sensations coursing through my blood and the tingling feeling erupting along my nerve endings.
Risky let out a low hum of pleasure and used his hold on the back of my neck to pull me even closer. His facial hair lightly scratched at my skin, and I could feel his powerful body slightly tremble when my chest collided with his. Since he’d just said he wasn’t afraid of me, I knew the response was excitement and pure passion. Through the lust-filled haze clouding my judgment, I knew I should be worried that his reaction was no less intense than mine. I wasn’t a stranger to making men weak in the knees, but this was the first time I felt that way in return. It was dangerous to get turned inside out by a man I knew nothing about.
When he deepened the kiss, his tongue and lips moving more purposely and his hands holding me together, I got dizzy. I’d never imagined a man making my head spin, but Declan Risk was doing it without trying very hard. He moved one of his jean-clad legs between mine, and the motion sent flames of desire shooting through every limb. It was far too easy to forget we were outside, totally visible and unprotected. This was the most I’d allowed myself to feel and the most vulnerable I’d been in ages.
I’d forgotten how lovely it was to have someone else’s warmth reach all the deep, hidden places inside I’d believed were going to stay frozen forever. It took a rare breed to run across the tundra as if they couldn’t feel the cold.
When Risky pulled back to catch a breath, I took the opportunity to put some distance between us. The heated bubble was broken as the sound of a semi’s horn from the pass blasted through the mountain valley. Reality settled on my shoulders like a jacket lined with lead as I raised shaky fingers to touch my tingling lips.
Risky’s golden eyes glittered with bright amusement as he joked, “Now we both have to talk to HR for inappropriate actions toward a coworker.”
I gave him a shove, and he immediately moved back. When my hand hit his chest, I felt just how strong he was. I bet he looked like a fallen god without his clothes on. No wonder he’d adapted to manual labor so quickly. He had plenty of muscle to throw into all the different chores I’d tasked him to handle.
“Not funny.” I moved farther away and took a moment to catch my breath and get my bearings. “I don’t even know if you’re married or if you have ten kids stashed somewhere.”
I shuddered at the thought of making out with a married man. I shook my head at my recent weakness where Risky was concerned. With everything going on in my life at the moment, the very last thing I needed was to catch feelings for a man I knew nothing about.
“This”—I pointed a finger at him, then back at me—“cannot happen. I’m not in the market for a fling.”
Risky chuckled. I watched as he lifted his thumb to his lips and rubbed his bottom lip. It looked like he was savoring the taste of me, leftover from the deep and fiery kiss. The action was sexy and more when paired with the feverish gleam in his eyes.
“No wife. No kids. No family to speak of. I was engaged years ago when I was younger, but it didn’t work out. Don’t beat yourself up too much for threatening my virtue. I don’t have any.”
I knew he was kidding to lighten the tension I’d forced on us, but I couldn’t let go of the rising panic in my heart. “Why didn’t the engagement work out? Was it because of you or her?”
“Oh, it was definitely because of me.” He chuckled and shrugged, as if his past relationship was nothing more than a joke. “We were both young. She wanted me to choose between her and my job. And since my boss had saved my life and practically raised me, I would never choose her. The work always came first.”
He lifted a hand and sheepishly ruffled his hair. The motion made the shiny black strands stick up at odd angles and added a boyish charm to his already-potent appeal.
“What I used to do was very demanding. I never had the time or energy to put into a relationship. Not to mention, when someone started to ask questions about the ins and outs of that career, they didn’t stick around for very long when they got the answers. It made more sense to keep things loose and light within the small circle of my colleagues, which was how I ended up being a plaything for the boss’s daughter.” He lifted his eyebrows. “I don’t know why, but I’ve always been like catnip for the morally upright. I’m the worst choice for a woman who sees the world in black and white.”
I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t ruled by a strict code of ethics. It was impossible, considering my parents barely had any integrity. And while my grandparents had been honorable to a fault, I still managed to live my life in the cracks of what most would consider righteous or noble.
“We’re in luck. Gray has always been one of my favorite colors.”
Risky tossed back his head and laughed at my offhand comment that had slipped out. The sound was clear and sharp, and it made my heart tremble.
I cleared my throat and tried to get the conversation back on track. “What was it about your previous job that scared other women off?”
I was curious what he’d fixed that would send someone running for the hills. With that face and body, it must have been fairly awful for his lovers to let him go without a fight.
“You ask me to fix things like burned-out lightbulbs and leaky toilets. I used to fix things like dead hookers and gambling debts to the tune of millions. Rich people get in just as deep, if not deeper, than those lacking funds. The difference is, their screwups affect things like the national economy and the stability of an entire nation’s infrastructure. They pay a ridiculous amount of money to make problematic things go away, and I rarely said no to a mess that wasn’t mine.” His bright eyes dimmed, and a sour look crossed his face. “Cheating spouses. Blackmail. Drug addiction and human trafficking. Embezzlement. Leaking trade secrets. Manipulation of different political factions. Bribery. Sabotage. You name it, and I’ve had my hands in covering it up or bringing it to light.”
He must’ve been prepared for the look of bewilderment that crossed my face because his expression turned serious and his gaze went cold.
“I drew the line at anything that hurt the vulnerable. I only took those types of assignments if it was to uncover who was behind them and ending their very profitable corruption. I refused to cover up anything that made innocent individuals, and any child, nothing more than a tool used for personal gain. That was a boundary I’d had to set after several years of watching rich people get away with things they absolutely shouldn’t. The longer I worked for my former boss, the more I tried to avoid any situation with a major power imbalance.
“When two billionaires want to duke it out and get one over on each other, who cares if there’s a winner or a loser? But if that same billionaire goes after a single mother, living paycheck to paycheck, simply because she’d turned him down for a date”—his eyes narrowed, and I could see that he was thinking of something that didn’t sit right with him—“then there’s a problem.
“My former boss did a good job of knowing where my bottom line was. We only butted heads occasionally when I turned down an assignment. But it was getting harder and harder to keep that line defined. There are more and more awful people in leadership positions, and they do not give a fuck who they hurt or what laws they have to break to stay exactly where they are. When my boss left politics, I knew it was time for me to retire.”
I blinked rapidly and tried to process all the information he’d just laid at my feet. I thought he was incompetent. He wasn’t. What he was, was deadly.
I didn’t know if I wanted to run away from him and call the sheriff or give him a high five for having a working moral compass in such a hostile environment. No wonder he wasn’t afraid of me. How could I stack up to the level of maliciousness and evil he’d dealt with on the daily? I questioned how anyone could make it out of that environment with a scrap of humanity intact.
“How did you end up on the mountain? What brought you to Blue River?”
“I’d been here before on a job. Wealthy people love to have second or third and fourth homes they hardly ever visit stashed away in expensive mountain towns. They’re the perfect place to slip away with your mistress or to have covert meetings you don’t want anyone to find out about. Despite that visit being distasteful, I liked this area very much. I’d hitchhiked across the country because I’d left everything from my old life behind. Including a luxury sports car that would have been useless on these roads anytime it rained or snowed. My ride dropped me off at the base of the pass, and I just started walking. On that previous trip, I’d stayed at a charming little ski lodge. The man and woman who ran it were the kindest people I’d ever met. I thought I’d stop in and see how they were doing.” A sad smile touched his lips, and his expression softened. “I was sorry to hear that they’d passed away. I’ve seldom come across such genuine concern and care from strangers.
“It was a mere coincidence that you picked me up and brought me to where I’d unconsciously wanted to go. When you started talking about needing a hand with everything around the property, I offered before my brain could catch up with my mouth. I was pleasantly surprised to find that being kindhearted ran in the family.”
Stunned, I struggled to get my head around the revelation that he’d been here before and liked my favorite humans enough to return. It was a little like stepping into the twilight zone. How did he always catch me off guard?
I snorted and dragged my hands through my hair. I didn’t know what to do with myself. “No one has ever called me that. Usually, they say I’m mean or problematic. I told you, my luck doesn’t make me any friends.”
He laughed again and reached out a hand so that the back of his fingers brushed over my cheek. “Anybody saying that shit to you has never spent any time around someone who is actually mean and problematic. There’s nothing wrong with you, Lucky.”
I fought the urge to lean into his touch. Instead, I moved away and muttered, “If that were true, I wouldn’t have unnamed enemies trying to destroy my life’s dream.”
Sensing that I wasn’t willing to prolong the deeply personal and poignant moment, he said, “Speaking of that, if I’m not fired, there’s something in the cabins that I want to show you.”
I frowned, following him through the door of the A-frame he’d been working on before I interrupted him. I didn’t comment on firing him or not. We both understood there was already a tenuous agreement between us. If I sacked him, it would be like I was admitting defeat and couldn’t handle the complicated feelings he aroused within me. And while every warning system I had in my body was shouting at me to retreat, it wasn’t in my nature.
My heart was a barren wasteland and inhospitable. Even if Risky thought he could brave the cold at the moment, he would get sick of winter.
Inside the cabin was clean and shiny. The updated décor was chic and modern, and all the finishes were high-end. Now that I’d put so much into having them updated, I could charge double what my grandparents had in the past. If they really took off and stayed booked throughout the season, they would make enough to cover all the yearly expenses of the lodge. The rooms inside the main building would just be extra income I could spend on fun stuff instead of survival. That was, if I managed to make it to the busy season without getting shut down.
Risky took his cell and flashed the light over the smoke detector and one of the lamps. He showed me an outlet that didn’t look quite right, and an addition to the expensive coffee machine that hadn’t been there when I set the system up.
“Cameras. They’re everywhere, and not hidden very well. I checked this cabin and the next one. Both have illegal surveillance set up in them. I can’t tell if they’re wired up and transmitting, or if they’re all for show, but the second a guest finds one …” He trailed off, and his expression went stark and serious.
“The lodge will be shut down, and I’ll be looking at invasion of privacy charges—or worse, if a family with children is involved.” I swore and lifted my hands to tug on my hair in frustration. “How long have these been here?”
He shrugged. “Hard to say. I’ll check the new security footage to see if there’s anything on there from the last couple of weeks, but it’s unlikely. The cabins are far enough from the main building that anyone could come in and out of them without us noticing them. They could’ve been here since before I moved in. And these are only the ones we can see. There’s equipment we need to get our hands on to make sure there aren’t any hidden ones that can come back and bite you in the ass down the road.”
“This is getting to be too much.” I pulled on my hair again and willed back the burn of tears I felt in my eyes.
Fighting a battle with an invisible enemy was exhausting. Punching the air was so unsatisfying, and losing the war I’d never asked to take part in had me grinding my back teeth to dust.
I looked at Risky and asked, “You aren’t doing this, are you?” When he had rattled the long list of misdeeds from his previous employment, I’d belatedly realized a handful of those offenses applied to my current predicament. “If you are …” What? What would I do if I’d let the enemy this close? So close that I could still taste him and feel his lingering heat.
“I’m not this sloppy. And I don’t move this slowly. Plus, I’m retired.” He watched me with an indescribable look in his eye. I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed that I’d asked or that it had taken me this long to ask. “I’m not saying those real estate developers don’t keep the numbers of other people in my line of work on hand, but I promise, none of them have mine. I told you I like this place, and I liked your grandparents.” His tone lowered, and I felt him trying to harness his overwhelming presence. “Believe it or not, I’m on your side, Lucky.”
I wanted to trust him, but my judgment was all twisted up and tied in knots because of my unwanted attraction to him.
“My side is the losing side, Risky. You might want to rethink that choice.” I sighed and looked around the cabin, angry that yet another place that held such precious memories for me had been violated and defaced by whoever was out to hurt me. This was definitely worse than a physical injury. “If things keep going at this rate, I’m going to lose everything.”
“Hey.”
I felt the press of Risky’s index finger under my chin. He forced my head up, making it so I had to look at him. I was surprised to find he appeared almost as angry as I felt.
“I’m not going to let that happen. I might not know how to operate a fucking snowblower, but I can go toe-to-toe with another fixer, no problem. And if we aren’t dealing with a professional, they don’t stand a chance. Trust me.”
Trust him? Could I? Did I have a choice?
Someone with my luck knew better than to wait for a hero to arrive. But nobody ever said a villain might just be the solution to all of life’s problems under the right circumstances, and it seemed far more likely that was what I’d be given if I asked for help for the first time in my life.