head fell back as her hips rocked to his. 'I forgot what I wanted to say.'
'That's okay, too,' he said, and let her take him.
On Logan's second-to-last day a snowstorm hit. Luckily for Lily, Chris ended up short-staffed, so she used that as an opportunity to work ski patrol in the morning. Logan skied along with her. After lunch, she had to get back to the office. Logan walked her there, kissing her goodbye-a kiss that led to her dragging him into her bathroom and enjoying the body she could not seem to get enough of.
Afterward, she staggered to her desk with a grin on her face. She had to attend several nap-inducing meetings, one for guest services and one for accounting. The first ended with Sara moody and teary, the other with Gwyneth demanding and critical. Aunt Debbie attended each as a member of the board of directors-a position Lily's grandmother had given her to keep her in the loop but not actually in charge of anything. She sat back, looking quite pleased with herself and her lack of responsibilities.
It drove Lily crazy. The meetings turned into one long excuse to be critical of her efforts, and the lost ad file gave her sisters plenty of ammunition. Since they didn't believe that she'd actually drafted the ads in the first place, she figured that revealing her suspicion that someone was messing with her on purpose was totally useless. Besides, who could she possibly point her finger at? One of them? They might think she was incompetent, but neither of them would sabotage her on purpose. A disgruntled staff member? But she knew every single staff member, in the lodge and on the hill, and none of them fit the bill, either. Most of them had worked for the resort for years, and those that hadn't had been screened. No one had been fired lately, or even disciplined.
Could it be an unhappy customer? She'd certainly annoyed the hell out of those two identical twins who'd been fighting, but they wouldn't have the access they needed to her office-or the brains needed to pull off a sustained effort like this. She was drawing a blank on suspects and motives and frankly, if she wasn't being targeted personally, she'd have trouble believing it herself.
The glow of wild, animal sex long gone, Lily did her best to put them all out of her thoughts. By that evening, she was chomping at the bit. She'd promised Logan she'd meet up with him at the bar. Already late thanks to another computer crisis, she ran through the cafeteria and got caught by a frantic Carl, who had a hot date and needed help with cleanup. Sighing, she grabbed two large bags of trash and walked down the long driveway around the back of the bar and cafeteria. Lugging a bag in each hand, she admired the dark night around her as big fluffy snowflakes fell from the sky, thick as a soft, gauzy white blanket, utterly silent.
Walking alone, with the lights of the resort behind her, only a flashlight tucked under her arm for guidance, bobbing a thin beam of light up and down, she felt chilled on the outside but dreamy and sated on the inside, thinking about the night ahead.
She'd enjoyed their eight minutes in her office bathroom. She probably still had the faucet impressions in her butt from where he'd pressed her back while he'd pounded himself into her, but then again, he most likely had her fingernail impressions in his.
In the dark, quiet night, she grinned, and then laughed. God, he made her feel good. Sexy and shameless, too, and that was a little scary because he was out of here soon-but suddenly that wasn't nearly as scary as the big lump that rose between her and the Dumpster. The big lump that suddenly stood up on its back paws and towered over her.
A big bear the size of a small VW Bug.
Oh, shit.
But it was one thing to remember the bear rules, another entirely to follow them in a calm, clear manner when there was a bear looking at her, licking its chops. Oh, God. She dropped the trash bags.
And though she couldn't see clearly, she imagined the bear made eye contact, held it.
She didn't blink. Hell, she didn't breathe. In the dark came a low grumbling. A growl. Her stomach dropped, her entire body went rigid. She'd run into bears before. Once she'd seen a mama bear and her two cubs, but from a nice, cozy distance. Another time she'd been hiking and had nearly stumbled over a big brown bear lying right in the center of the walk, sprawled on his back, the sun on his belly. He'd tipped his head back and studied her from his upside-down pose, a look on his face that said,
But this bear didn't seem fat and lazy. He'd rumbled to his feet quickly, as if she'd startled him, which was the last thing one ever wanted to do to a bear. Now he stood only a few feet from her, close enough to take a good swipe at her with a massive paw.
'Hey, big guy. You want the trash? Take it.' She nudged it closer with her foot. 'Here.' •
He didn't move, not a twitch, putting them at an impasse she'd never wanted. 'I'm just going to go away now.' She lifted a foot to take a backward step, but another rough growl erupted from his throat and she froze.
Her heart was pounding so loudly she was surprised he didn't cover his ears in pain.
He took a step toward her, snapping his teeth at her, a sign of aggression.
Despite the frigid night, she felt sweat trickle down her spine. Close as she was, she could see his sharp canines glowing. His mouth was watering. She imagined he had bad breath from his last victim.
She didn't want to be his next one, she really, really didn't. Even as crazy as her world got sometimes, hanging off a cliff trying to make a rescue, for example, she rarely thought about dying.
She thought about it now, about the things she'd miss. The lodge. Her friends. Her sisters, crazy as that seemed.
She'd miss her last night with Logan. She'd miss that a lot.
A loud metal-on-metal noise clanged through the air, and the bear jerked. Lily jerked, too, but the sound kept coming. Someone was banging, trying to scare the bear off for her. The large animal craned its head away from her and she used the opportunity to take another step backward, not daring to whirl and run yet.
The clanging grew louder, accompanied by a shout.
The bear started, then began moving quickly, lumbering right past Lily, so close she felt his snow-covered fur brush her arm and leg.
And then he was gone.
She didn't remember sinking to the snow, but that's where she was when Logan hit his knees in front of her. 'Lily. My God, he was huge. Are you okay?' Without waiting for her to answer, his arms came around her hard.
She discovered another thing she'd miss-his hands on her. She'd miss that a lot, too. 'Was that you making that noise?'
'Yes.'
'I'm okay.'
'I'm not. Hold on to me a minute.'
She could feel his heart pounding hard, or maybe that was hers. In either case, she did as he'd asked and held on. In fact, she considered never letting go.
From behind them came voices now, where before there'd been only eerie silence. A handful of people rushed toward them, led bv Matt.
'Tell me the whole lodge didn't see that,' she said.
Matt crouched beside them and tugged on a strand of her hair. 'Just a few guests, and they're still inside.'
'I think he's gone.'
'Yeah.'
'I'm glad he's not busy eating you.'
'Because you'd miss me?'
'Because you'd have given him indigestion.'
