Second Chances: A Small Town Love Story Read online

  The oven beeped as it reached its temperature and Megan slid the test batch of cookies in and started the timer. “I’m interviewing front of house staff today. Do you want to have any input on the resumes?”

  “Nope. I trust your instincts. Sugar Peaks Café is your baby. I’ve got to go back to the city for a listing presentation for a mid-town Brownstone. I should be back for the weekend. We can talk about everything then.”

  That reminded Megan, “Oh, yes. There’s something else I want to talk to you about – a potential business venture. A brewpub.”

  “Ooh. On trend. I can’t wait to hear all about it. And those smell delicious. I hope that they’re on the menu.” Charlotte jumped off her stool and tried to pick a cookie off the sheet. Megan smacked her hand with the spoon.

  “You’ve got to let them cool.”

  “Save one for me then.” Charlotte gave Megan a hug, grabbed her handbag and was out the door.

  Megan set the cookies on the cooling rack and went to shower. She had a long day and night ahead of her.

  ARMED WITH FRESHLY baked cookies and meringue tarts, Megan pulled up in front of the Sugar Peaks Café. The wrought iron sign she and Charlotte had picked out was being installed, and she walked into a flurry of activity inside. The drywall boards were all screwed on and the guys were mudding and taping. The appliances had been delivered and were sitting in the kitchen area under plastic to protect them from the construction dust. Boxes of hardwood flooring littered the floor. Charlotte had told her that it had to be onsite ahead of time to acclimatize to the humidity inside the shop.

  “Those smell delicious.”

  Megan recognized the voice behind her and the hair on her arms stood up as her body sensed how close J.J. was behind her. “The meringues are going to be Sugar Peak’s Café’s signature dessert.”

  “How appropriate, they look like little mountain peaks.”

  “By design,” Megan said and blushed. “Try one.”

  Josh picked up one of the tarts and took a bite. “I think I just melted. Guys, you’ve gotta try these. Do you mind?” Josh asked Megan.

  “Not at all, I brought them for everyone to sample.”

  Josh took the plastic tub from Megan and the drywallers flocked around like seagulls. Murmurs of appreciation rippled through the room and Megan felt her chest swell with pride.

  “As soon as you’re ready for the tables and benches I’ll be able to bring them in in pieces and assemble them for you. I just have a few finishing touches to do today,” Josh said and reached for another tart.

  “That’s amazing. I can’t wait to see them in here.”

  “Are we still on for cross country skiing tonight?”

  “I was um, hoping you’d forgotten about that.” Megan grinned at Josh.

  He smiled back, “Not a chance girl. You’re skiing or swimming tonight, and I think you already made your choice.”

  “Alright, alright.” Megan couldn’t resist matching his smile. “What should I wear?”

  Josh leaned in so close to Megan that she could feel his breath tickling her earlobe, “Your sexiest long underwear and snow pants.”

  “Is that even a thing? Sexy long underwear?” she whispered back.

  “Only if it’s on you.” Josh turned and walked away. “Good work, boys,” he shouted at the team of drywallers as he stepped out the front door.

  Megan spent the rest of her day interviewing staff. She was glad to have something to keep her occupied otherwise she would’ve spent the day obsessing over what long underwear to wear, and how afraid she was of setting foot on skis.

  Chapter 18

  Josh looked around his garage, his climbing gear sat unused in rubber bins, but instead of layers of snow, his powder skis had layers of dust on them. His mountain snowmobile sat under its cover, where it had slept for the past five years.

  He trailed his fingertips over the line of skis in the hand-carved wooden rack – ten pairs in total, but only five were his. The shorter, pink versions, Erica’s. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to get rid of her gear, he’d even waxed them the first year after her death, thinking that somehow, she’d walk through the front door, ready to head to the mountain and ski some fresh lines with him.

  She had been one of the best skiers in town, and when he moved to Chance Rapids to be with her, she made it clear that skiing was her passion, and if he wanted to spend time with her once the snow flew, he was going to have to be able to keep up.

  He pulled out his classic Nordic skis and boots, and only hesitated for a moment before pulling Erica’s off the rack.

  “Come on Timber,” he shouted and pointed to the truck. Timber whined excitedly when he saw the skis being loaded into the cab.

  He knocked rapidly on Megan’s door, the rhythm of his knock mirroring that of his heartbeat. The door opened, her huge grin welcoming him. He took a quick glance up and down, she looked amazing, every bit of her a mountain girl.

  “For someone who doesn’t ski, you certainly have all the right gear, or did you go out and buy all that Gore-Tex today?”

  Megan ran her hands down the front of her expensive pink coat, “What, this old thing?”

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “As ready as I’ll ever be. As long as we don’t have to climb any cliffs or anything,” she added.

  “Nah, the ice-climbing is the date. I mean, um, small town lesson number three,” he stammered.

  Megan pulled a matching pink hat with fur pom-pom onto her head, “Do I need anything else?” she asked.

  “Nope, just made sure you’re warm enough. I’ve got everything else covered,” he said, handing her a headlamp.

  She looked at him quizzically and reached out to take the headlamp from him. She stretched the elastic around her hat and pushed the button, the small LED light shone to life, temporarily blinding Josh. He reached out and clicked off the light. “You don’t need to turn it on just yet, and when you have it on, don’t look me in the eyes when you talk to me.” He knew that he was saving his eyeballs from temporary blindness, and his heart, from the racing that happened when her blue eyes met his.

  “Oh, ok. Sorry about that,” she giggled.

  “I’ll let you get away with it this once.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked as the two of them walked side by side down the pathway to the truck. Josh opened the door and Megan grabbed the handle to hoist herself into the cab, his nubby winter tires made the truck taller than any Megan had even been in.

  “It’s a surprise,” he said and closed the door. Timber stood on the center console and gave Megan a sniff and lick on the nose.

  Josh hopped in the driver’s seat and put the truck into gear. He noticed Megan rubbing her gloved hands together and turned up the heat. “Just so you know, after you left the job site today, Brian was able to get most of the ductwork installed, and he will be able to finish up the job tomorrow.”

  “That’s amazing,” Megan replied.

  “But we talked about work enough this afternoon, I think tonight we should just focus on your lessons to help you become a real Chance Rapids local.”

  “A local? Is that even possible? You are a pretty tight-knit group here. From what I have seen, if your parents weren’t born here, you will always be an outsider.”

  Josh laughed. “You’re not far off. I’ve been here almost fifteen years and some of the old-timers still consider me an outsider.”

  The headlights from the truck shone on a small back road, there were about 5 inches of fresh snow and the tracks their truck left were the only ones on the road. “Is this where you whisk me off to a cabin to hold me captive before you murder me?”

  “Exactly.” Josh grinned. “But because of the massive snow storm headed our way, I’ll be forced to spend days with you in front of the fire. And, are you familiar with Stockholm syndrome? Because that’s going to happen for sure.”

  Megan’s face flushed. “I think I am.”

  Josh could’
ve kicked himself. Sometimes he wondered why he couldn’t think faster than his mouth could speak. “Well, it sounds like you’ve seen too many movies. There will be no kidnapping. No murder. And no falling in love with your captor tonight.” Shit, he did it again.

  He saw Megan’s breath hitch, and then she turned to him, “That’s too bad. Murder and kidnapping aside, that sounds like a nice evening.”

  “How about we just start with a little cross-country skiing.”

  He pulled off the side of the road beside the Arrowheart trail sign.

  “What. Here? There’s nothing here.” Megan leaned forward examining the trailhead.

  “There are a lot of things here, you just have to know where to look.” He put the truck in park and jogged around to open the door for Megan, but she had already hopped out of the truck.

  “The trail was groomed today, you can see the parallel dips in the fresh snow.” He pointed to the barely perceptible trail. He opened the tailgate and pulled the skis out of the back and stuck them in the snow. “Have a seat.” He patted the tailgate. Megan hopped up and kicked her feet in the air like a five-year-old on a chair meant for an adult. “What size are your feet?”

  “Seven.”

  Erica’s had been seven and a half. “Perfect, put on these socks.” He pulled out a pair of thin wool socks from his pocket.

  “Ooh, freshly warmed.” She unfolded them and rolled them over top of her other socks. He loosened the laces on the boots and slipped one onto Megan’s foot, holding her thin calf in his hand. He felt Megan stiffen with his touch and then exhale like she had been holding her breath. He stepped back, his hands up, “I’m sorry about that, I’m sure you can put on your own ski boots.”

  “It’s okay,” Megan smiled. “Nothing wrong with playing Cinderella every once in a while,”

  “Does that make me Prince Charming?” he replied, finishing up the laces on her boot before reaching for the second one. He blew on his fingers to warm them up and rubbed his hands together. It was one of the coldest nights so far that winter.

  “I suppose it does.”

  Josh patted the side of her foot and then hopped up onto the tailgate beside her. The cold metal permeated through his snow pants and thermal underwear. He pulled on his boots as quickly as he could and hopped off. He held out his hand for Megan. She took it and hopped down into the snow beside them. “Barring a snowstorm, or random cabin, I should have you back before midnight.” He set the skis down in the snow and handed Megan a set of poles. “You’ve never done this before?”

  “Never,” Megan replied, shrugging her shoulders. “But I have used the ski machine at the gym, does that count?”

  “Actually, it does,” Josh chuckled. He knelt in the snow to hold Megan’s foot and guided her boot to the binding, “Just press that metal piece into the binding here, you should hear it click in.” Megan clicked in her boot and lifted her other foot to click into the second ski, not taking into account that the first ski was now ready to slide. The ski shot forward, and she was airborne for a brief second. “Eeeeee,” she squealed. Her poles went flying and her arms flailed, catching Josh’s back before she landed ass first into the snow. She paused, her face was inches from Josh’s neck and he could feel the warmth from her breath radiate down his collar. She let out a nervous giggle. He stood up, her hands sliding down from his back. He reached out his hand to help her up. She took it and he had to use all his might to manhandle her up off the ground, the lone ski insistent on starting its journey, making it tough for her inexperienced foot to make contact with the ground. When she did, she set her foot down beside the groomed trail and sank down to her crotch in the deep snow.

  “Is this a sign?” she gasped, exasperated.

  “A sign of what?” Josh asked.

  “That I should get back into the car and burn Charlotte’s snow pants?”

  So that’s where they came from. He wondered why she just hadn’t told him that she was wearing her friend’s clothes.

  “It’s a sign that you should let me help you put on the other ski, and now we have a good idea of how deep the snowpack is beside the trail.” He muscled Megan’s post-holed leg out of the snow. He grabbed her boot and stuck it into the second binding and handed her the ski poles. “You put the straps around your wrists like this.” He slid his own straps over his gloves and clicked into his skis. “Now, follow me, push with your poles to get started, and then pretend that you are on the machine at the gym.”

  Josh planted his poles into the snow and slid off down the trail. He took a few strides to illustrate the technique then turned to watch Megan. She steadied herself on the trail, took a deep breath, planted her poles and then pushed.

  Hard.

  She flew toward Josh squealing. He didn’t have time to move, her body thudded into his and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her body, so she didn’t crumple to the ground. He could see the frustration and embarrassment on her face. The roundness of her chest was pressed against his and he could feel his cock begin to stir. She looked up into his eyes, then grimaced and looked away, blinded by his headlamp.

  He reached up and clicked off the small light, darkness immediately enveloping the two of them. He could hear her breath and feel the warmth of it against his neck, her chest expanding into his with every breath she took. Instinct took over, and even though he knew it was a bad idea, he let his cheek linger next to her forehead. She tilted her head back in response, pressing her cheek to his. All it would take was for one of them to turn their head and their lips could meet. He pressed his hands into her lower back and pulled her tighter against him. The corner of his lip was at the corner of hers, the steam from their breath mingled together between the warmth of their faces. His cock was not just stirring, it is pulsing and well on its way to tenting out his snow pants. He didn’t know how long they remained that way, cheek to cheek, the only sound their breathing and the snowflakes falling gently on the surrounding pine trees. He closed his eyes tightly and moved a fraction of an inch at the same time Megan did, their lips granting each other permission to mesh. He met her soft lips with his and heard a slight whimper escape from her mouth as her lips responded to his. She reached her arms around his shoulders and he could feel her gloves gripping the collar of his jacket. He pressed his hips into hers tightly, but pulled back his face slightly, she responded by leaning forward to nip at his lip.

  That was it.

  He responded hungrily. He threw down his ski poles and gripped her entire back with his arm, their mouths growing aggressive with want. He could feel his heart pounding like it was going to burst through all the layers of his clothes, something had awoken in him that had been asleep for so long, and like a bear emerging from its den after a cold long winter, he was hungry. His cock throbbed and pressed against his long underwear. He wanted nothing more than to throw Megan down in the snow, rip off her snow gear, and plunge into her warmth.

  He wondered if she was feeling the same way. If she wanted him inside her the same way, he wanted to spread her legs and taste her. Something about the way she was kissing him told him she did, but when she reached her hand to the front of his snow pants and began fumbling with the button, he had his answer.

  “Megan,” he breathed into her mouth, the skin on his lower abdomen tingling with the sensation of her cold fingers gripping the waistband of his pants. “We can’t.”

  Her fingers slid out of his pants and he felt her body lose all its tension, “I know,” she sighed.

  Josh needed to step away from Megan, to give his raging hard on some space from her body, but he was afraid if he did so, she would crumple to the ground in a heap of Gore-Tex, skis, and heat. “I need you to plant your poles in the ground and get ready for me to let go of you, okay?”

  Megan nodded in the darkness.

  “Was that a nod?” he asked.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  Josh clicked on her headlamp and then turned his gaze from hers as he clicked on his own. “Are
you ready?”

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied breathily.

  Josh gingerly let go and when he was certain she wasn’t going to fall, strode a couple ski lengths away. Megan planted her poles and pushed off, less aggressively this time. She pushed again with both poles and began picking up speed. She started to get into a rhythm. Despite her rocky start, the woman was a natural. Josh stepped out of the tracks and let her pass.

  “Keep going, you’ve got it,” he yelled as she skied by him, Timber hot on her heels.

  He heard her laugh and she yelled, “This is fun,” without turning back to face him.

  He pushed off and followed behind, hoping that the light from his headlamp wouldn’t give away the fact that he couldn’t take his gaze off her round ass as she skied.

  His manhood had settled down somewhat, but he knew that it wouldn’t take much to get it going again. He took a deep breath. It felt so good to be on skis, but it felt even better to have a woman in his arms again.

  It’s too bad that this was one woman who he could never have. He couldn’t fall for a big city girl, especially a rich big city girl, one that was currently signing his paychecks.

  Nope, that fine ass in front of him could never be his. He wouldn’t, no he couldn’t, let her into his heart. It would only end in disaster for both of them.

  Chapter 19

  Once she got into the rhythm, the skiing thing turned out to be a lot of fun. The two of them slid through the nighttime forest, the only sound was the sound of their skis sliding on the snow and their ragged breathing – it wasn’t easy. Josh had let her lead and at first, she found the dark shadows that bounced through her headlight daunting but felt safe with the mountain man behind her.

  “Be careful Megan, there’s a hill coming up – it will kind of sneak up on you,” Josh yelled from behind her.

  Megan adjusted her headlamp and scanned in the distance. She didn’t see anything until the ground basically disappeared from beneath her. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she cried out. “You call this a hill?” Ahead of her, the trail plunged down a long steep grade into darkness.