“No. I don’t think so.” I’ll have to hunt through Henry’s e-mails and calendar to find out who was with him today and their respective assistants, but I can figure that out.

“What was that look back there?”

“Uh...I...what?” I stammer, caught off guard. He likes doing that. “What look?”

“Don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you.”

I bite my bottom lip, unsure what to say but feeling summarily chastised and two feet tall.

I say nothing, which seems to frustrate Henry because he stops, turning to glare at me with his arms folded over his chest. He drops his voice. “When your roommate came to deliver drinks. You were upset.”

“No, I wasn’t,” I’m quick to say, averting my gaze.

“Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

Swallowing my nerves, I lift my face to meet his gaze again. Cold amusement dances in them as he dissects me, cutting past my poorly veiled attempt to hide my attraction like a well-honed blade against flesh. “You were upset because it seemed that I might want more than just my drink from her.”

I shake my head in denial, and that beautiful, hard jaw of his grows taut. He’s too perceptive.

“This will all go more smoothly for you if you tell me the truth.”

“And what? Get fired?” I whisper.

His brow arches in surprise. “If I were going to fire you, I would have already done that. Don’t you agree?”

Why are we having this conversation now, here, in the middle of the lodge, where I can feel curious eyes on me like bugs crawling over my skin?

“Remember what I told you? Out here, I am Mr. Wolf at all times. You can’t be looking at me like some poor, wounded animal. Like I’ve broken your heart. Do you understand? My staff is always watching, waiting for the next juicy detail to gossip about. I can’t have them making up stories. It reflects badly on me, and on my company.”

“Of course.” I hug the iPad to my chest, wishing I were anywhere but here right now. At least my face isn’t burning bright. I’m pretty sure all the blood has left my head.

He heaves a sigh. “Please don’t allow your crush to get in the way of your job. If you can’t control it, then we can’t continue our arrangement.”

Which arrangement is that, exactly? The one where he strips down to nothing while I stand there and watch?

I nod, not trusting my voice, fighting off the tears that burn behind my eyes as I trail him to the Summit room for our daily meeting.

Feeling all the more like a stupid bright-eyed doe being led by a cunning wolf.

Chapter Eighteen

My phone dings with an incoming text. I leap for it.

You can call it a day. See you tomorrow at seven a.m.

It’s only 4:00 p.m.

Do you want me to give you a ten-minute rundown of your revised calendar? I made a lot of changes.

I wait, biting my thumbnail.

I’ll review on my own.

He wants me gone before he gets back, that much is obvious. He sent me back to the cabin as soon as the daily update meeting was over, with barely a glance.

Peeling myself off the couch, I grab my jacket and head out, glad to be free of him and whatever game he’s playing with my head for a night.

~ ~ ~ ~

“You sure are the talk of the town, Abbi,” Tillie mutters beyond the curtain that I pulled around my bunk. I want to hide from the world.

Panic strikes me. I throw the curtain back in time to see her yanking her badge off her neck. “I am?”

She kicks off her loafer shoes. “Sounds like the boss tore a strip off you in the middle of the lodge lobby today.”

I guess that was what it would have looked like to any innocent bystander watching. And there were plenty of them doing that. The gossip queen hasn’t heard the reasons behind it, thank God. I let a small sigh of relief slip. “Oh. Yeah.”

“They say he looked pissed.”

“Yeah. I screwed up.”

“You best be careful.”

I want to pull my privacy curtain closed again and curl up into a ball, but that would be considered rude. As it is, I move my attention back to my e-reader. I’ve been staring at the same page for an hour now, unable to focus on the words. “I’ll be fine. I won’t make that mistake twice.” From now on, my eyes are down and my mouth stays shut. I just want this icky feeling that’s taken over my conscience to go away.

“What’d you do to get his panties in a bunch?”

“A scheduling mistake,” I lie.

“Don’t worry. Guys like him are quick to blow up and even quicker to forget. He won’t even remember it tomorrow,” Rachel offers from her place on Katie’s bed, where Katie paints hot green wax around her brows. “I saw him at the bar about an hour ago, drinking scotch with some suit. He seemed fine.”

“Okay. Stop talking!” Katie demands, pressing a white strip over the spot and then, holding Rachel’s skin taut, pulls it off fast, like you would a Band-Aid.

I wince with the action, but it doesn’t seem to faze her.

Katie grins with satisfaction. “There. Gorgeous, as usual.”

Rachel sits up and peers at her eyebrows in a handheld mirror. They look so thin and neat and tidy. Not like my brows, two caterpillars above my eyes. “They look nice,” I offer with a smile.

Katie holds the little wand up toward me, excitement flashing in her gaze as she sizes up mine. “Please, please, please, please let me do yours?”

“She won’t leave you alone until you do,” Rachel says with a chuckle.

“What? I can’t help it! I like my women to be well groomed.”

Yes, I’ve noticed. It’d be so easy to say yes to her right now. “Aren’t my eyes too big to have skinny brows, though?”

“Trust me. Please!” Katie pleads. “You have such an angelic little face. Let me do it?”

“Okay?” I say before I can change my mind. Maybe this will make me feel better. At the very least, it’ll distract me.

The broad smile on Katie’s beautiful face makes me think I’ve made her day.

And ten minutes and a few moments of yelping pain later, I’m staring at my face in the mirror, awed, convinced that she has made my summer.

“It makes such a difference, doesn’t it?” Katie purrs, admiring her work.

Rachel looks over her shoulder. “Amazing. Seriously.”

“My eyes look so different.” I’m grinning stupidly at myself. “Why have I never done this before?”

“See? Now all you need is a ginger eyebrow pencil to fill them in.”

“I don’t have the first clue how to do that.” My mama failed me in the “being a girl” department, more interested in teaching me about breeding chickens and milking cows.

“I’ll show you,” Katie offers.

“Could you?” I’ve never had friends like Katie and Rachel, so in tune with beauty techniques and style.

She shrugs, as if it’s no big deal, her fingers playing with my braid. “You know what? Silvia over in cabin two is the stylist at the spa. I’d bet she’d love a go at this mane.”

“Like a trim?” That’s all I’ve ever had. I’ve had hair down to my butt for twenty-one years.

She peels the elastic out of my hair braid, letting my long, heavy hair fall down across my back. “More like a shape-up. You have beautiful hair. It just needs to be tamed.” Her lips twist together. “And Tris over in cabin twelve does color. She could throw some lowlights and highlights into it. That sort of thing.”

Color.

“I can’t color my hair. I’m a ginger.”

Katie’s head tips back with her throaty laughter. “Oh, you’re so adorable. You can color your hair, as long as you have someone who knows what they’re doing. Tris knows what she’s doing. She was trained at a top school, too. She won’t fuck it up, I promise.”

“Do you think she’d do it?”

“She will if I ask.” Katie winks.

“I don’t know...” That’s a lot of change all at once. But maybe change would be good.

She sighs, her fingers weaving through my hair. I can’t be entirely sure that it’s innocent but right now I find comfort in the small act of kindness. “I promise you, it’ll make you feel better about whatever happened today with Mr. Wolf.”