Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best large ereader .txt) 📗

“One at a time,” muttered Lucian, shaking his head.

“What was that?” asked Sebastian.

“Nothing. Just thinking out loud. If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

“Okay. Thanks. For everything, man. Seriously.”

The video chat ended and Sebastian closed his laptop, feeling at loose ends, mixed emotions swirling through him. More and more, there was this divide: the happy Prescotts and the miserable Prescotts. Aerin was happily married with twins on the way, and Theo was newly engaged to his best friend. And there was him—a recovering gambling addict who’d massively fucked up his life—Lucian, and Max. The dark ones. The fucked up ones.

He shoved a hand through his hair and pushed it all away, not wanting to think about the damage he’d done to his life, his loneliness, his uncertainty about the future. Setting his laptop aside, he reached for the remote.

Netflix and chill wasn’t nearly as fun alone.

3

Kayla adjusted her pink beanie as she stood in the lobby of the Blizzard Ridge ski resort while a hundred of the company’s executives milled about, creating a buzz of voices bouncing off of the stone walls. Frowning, she glanced down at her iPad, flicking between apps as she tried to manage everything.

“You know,” she said to Davis Ashford, the man who’d been promoted into her old position, “I don’t recall Sebastian Prescott ever having to plan a freaking corporate retreat. I still don’t understand how event planning of any kind is even remotely my job.”

Davis snorted out a laugh. “Do you seriously think they would’ve trusted Prescott with something like this? He’d have had everyone on a red eye to Vegas and we’d have all come home broke with gonorrhea.”

She let out a little laugh. “Very, very true.”

She sighed, glancing around the opulent lobby again. A massive stone column that housed an impressive fireplace sat in the middle of the room, soaring up into the ceiling where it met the dark wood beams crisscrossing the stones above. The stone floors shone in the dim lighting, inlaid with intricate mosaics of the mountains and pines surrounding them. Burgundy leather chairs dotted the space, many of them facing the floor-to-ceiling windows along one wall that looked out onto the main ski hill. It really was a pretty place; it was one of the reasons she’d chosen it out of the options she’d been given by her Stammler. In years past, the corporate retreat had taken place at a hotel in Manhattan, but the company had had a very good year and Stammler had wanted to kick things up a notch. He was counting on her to deliver the best corporate retreat ever. Even though it wasn’t really her job, and event planning wasn’t her area of expertise.

Passing her iPad off to Davis, she moved into the center of the room. “Hey everyone, if I could just have your attention for a minute,” she called, and the voices around her died as her colleagues all turned in her direction. She pasted a smile to her face, already counting down the seconds until this stupid retreat was over and she could get back to the city. She didn’t like the snow, or the cold, and had no desire to break her neck on a damn ski hill. Kayla considered herself an indoor person, sort of like an indoor cat. Give her a good book and cup of tea and she was happy. Or a glass of wine and a crossword puzzle. Or a bottomless bowl of popcorn and a Netflix marathon. She liked to travel, but outdoor activities like skiing were totally out of her wheelhouse. She was a city girl, through and through.

“If you’ll check your email, you’ll see that I’ve sent you all copies of your itinerary for the next four days. Everyone has individualized schedules based on the online questionnaires you filled out, so please stick to your assigned timetable. There are a few common events, including the welcome cocktail reception tonight. On Thursday morning, we’re going to have our company wide meeting in one of the banquet rooms, and breakfast will be included. You’ve all signed up for various professional development seminars—again, please stick to your timetables because this is all very tightly organized in order to give you the best experience possible. You’ll also have plenty of time to enjoy what the resort has to offer, including small group ski and snowboard lessons. Let’s all cheer each other on this week, encourage each other to try new things, and really come together to make this retreat—and this year—the best it can be.” She glanced at her watch. “Once you’re checked in, you’ll have a few hours of free time before the cocktail reception.”

There was a round of murmurs and halfhearted applause, which made her heart sink. She didn’t want to be here either, but it was her job to sell it and impress Stammler. Even though she’d been promoted a few months ago, she still felt like she was finding her footing and needing to impress at every turn. Getting fired or demoted or whatever wasn’t part of the Perfect Life Plan. There was no backtracking on the Perfect Life Plan, because backtracking meant she’d made a mistake. And the whole point of the plan was to not make mistakes.

“So, are you a skier or a snowboarder?” asked Davis, handing her iPad back to her. She shook her head and frowned.

“Neither. The only thing I ride is the subway.”

He nodded, his eyes skimming over her size twelve curves in a way she definitely didn’t like. “Yeah, you don’t really look like the athletic type. But there’s a beginner snowboarding lesson in half an hour. If you want to set a good example, you should probably come.”

She frowned and checked the time again. “Um, yeah. Okay.” Not what she really wanted to be doing, but Davis wasn’t wrong about setting a good example. Even though she would’ve much rather found her room and