“You’re not?” Luke asked, masking his surprise as best he could.
Brendan shook his head. “No way. I lost her once, and now that I know she still thinks of me as the one, I’m not going to lose her again.”
Luke was saved from commenting when Caylee walked back into the room and smiled brightly at Brendan.
“Another Christmas Camper,” she said happily.
Luke faked his own cheerfulness. “And another . . . friend of Riley’s.”
The way Luke said friend had Caylee giving Brendan a curious look before she glanced back at Luke.
“Well, I’m Caylee, and it’s nice to meet you. So, let me guess, you’re surprising Riley?”
Brendan smiled and nodded. “That’s right. Where is she now? I can’t wait to see her . . .”
Caylee jumped in before Luke could say anything. “Riley’s upstairs getting ready for the party tonight. You’ll be able to see her then. She wants to make an entrance, you know?”
“Yeah, sure,” Brendan said. “That will give me a chance to plan something special.”
“Like . . . ?” Luke asked. He hadn’t meant his voice to sound so sharp. He hurried to continue in a better tone. “We just have a pretty full night scheduled to kick off our Christmas Camp.”
“I totally get it,” Brendan said. “Don’t worry, I won’t steal the spotlight. This is Riley’s night. I was just talking about planning something for later tonight, after she’s done working.”
Caylee jumped in when Luke struggled to find his words. His felt like his brain was about to explode trying to process what was going on with these two guys and Riley.
“Brendan, why don’t I show you your room so you can get settled in?” she offered.
Luke gave Caylee a grateful look.
Brendan smiled at her. “Thanks, Caylee, that would be great. Then turned to Luke. “And thanks, Luke, for making room for me when I know you were sold out. This is going to be one epic weekend.”
“It sure is,” Luke said. “Well, see you down here later. The final schedule of activities is in your room. The cocktail party starts tonight at six.”
Caylee was already heading out of the room. Brendan followed her. “See you then.”
When Caylee let Brendan go upstairs ahead of her, she turned back to give Luke an incredulous look and mouthed the words, What is going on?
Luke shrugged because he didn’t have a clue. He felt like he was on some kind of crazy dating reality show with both Colin and Brendan showing up for Riley. A reality show that got even more insane when a third guy came through the front door next.
Only this guy looked like he belonged on Wall Street, not in the mountains. He was totally different from Colin and Brendan, who seemed pretty laid back. They’d come dressed in jeans and winter hiking boots, but this guy was wearing a black overcoat and what looked like Gucci loafers. His scarf screamed fashion, not function.
When he smiled at Luke, Luke guessed the guy’s million-dollar smile had also been bought. He looked like something out of a magazine. He was that perfect.
“Welcome to Christmas Camp,” Luke said. “I’m Luke. I’ll be one of your hosts this weekend.”
The guy frowned. “I’m here to see Riley? Riley Reynolds? She’s supposed to be hosting this.”
Luke nodded. “And she is. She will be. And you are?”
“Tyler, Tyler Caldwell. I called earlier. You found me a room last minute . . .”
Luke nodded. “Yes. You’re a friend of Riley’s.”
“From New York City,” Tyler said with pride. When he took off his coat and carefully draped it over his arm, Luke could see Tyler was wearing an immaculately cut gray designer suit with a matching classic gray tie.
Luke made the snap judgment that there was nothing casual about this guy.
When Caylee entered the room, she smiled at Tyler. “Welcome,” she said warmly. “I’m Caylee.”
“Thank you. I’m Tyler.”
“Can I take your coat for you?” Caylee offered.
“I’m fine,” Tyler said. “Where can I find Riley?” Tyler’s tone was all business.
“She’ll be at the party tonight,” Caylee said happily. “We have quite the weekend planned. We’re really happy to have you at Christmas Camp.”
“Honestly, I’m only here to see Riley,” Tyler said. “I won’t be doing any of the activities. The only thing I want to do is get Riley and me back on track.”
Luke couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Back on track?”
“Our relationship,” Tyler responded quickly. “And I don’t have a lot of time, so the sooner I can talk to Riley, the better. I really need to get back to the city for work.”
Caylee looked even more confused. “Do you work with Riley? Are you on her publishing team?”
Tyler laughed. “No, I’m a lawyer. Riley isn’t my colleague. She’s my girlfriend.”
“Wait, what?” Caylee asked, not even trying to hide her confusion as she looked over at Luke.
Luke just kept smiling, because what else was he going to do?
Tyler shifted his coat to his other arm. “More accurately, she was my girlfriend, but clearly after seeing the interview on TV and hearing her talking about me, I know she wants to get back together, so here I am.”
“Here you are,” Luke said, pretending not to see the shocked look Caylee was giving him.
“Let me guess,” Caylee said flatly. “You’re surprising her.”
Tyler nodded. “I know she’s not really into surprises, but I didn’t want to distract her from her job doing this camp. Riley always puts work first, just like I do, and that’s why we’re such a good match. We’re both career driven, and we both understand that about each other.”
Caylee was frowning. “That sounds . . .”
Luke jumped in, knowing whatever Caylee was going to say wasn’t going to be positive.
“It sounds,” Luke said, giving Caylee a warning look that Tyler couldn’t see, “like you
