Sweet Victory Read online

  “Hey,” Sam said sounding offended “I've slowed way down on those since Ryan moved in!”

  “Slowed down is not stopping!” Karina parried in a sing-song tone.

  “Fine,” Sam sassed defensively, “No more unannounced drop ins, I'm going to be too busy with my schedule at Mountain Ridge. But, mark my words, you’re gonna miss our morning talks.”

  “Yay!” Amanda exclaimed, jumping up and throwing her arms around Sam.

  “Be careful, once she's your employee, that might be considered sexual harassment,” Karina smiled and ducked as Sam and Amanda tried to swat at her.

  “This is perfect!” Amanda enthused, “So, if you’re sure this is what you want to do, then would you mind sitting in the interviews with me? I have a half a dozen people coming in tomorrow, and you would know more than me what to look for in a resume, and what the right questions to ask are. Plus, you're going to be working pretty closely with whoever it ends up being, so you may want to have some say in it.”

  “Sure, that sounds great!” Sam was starting to really like the idea of having some place to be every day, something close to a ‘normal job’ type schedule, “What time do you want me there?”

  “The first applicant is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. so I would need you there say by 7:45. Is that too early?” Amanda asked.

  Sam snorted, “Spoken like a true lightweight. Please! I will be up, have had breakfast, been on my morning run, showered and answered emails, and checked Facebook and Twitter by 6. Half the day's already gone by 8 a.m,” she finished with an air of superiority.

  “Right, of course, I forgot for a moment who I was talking to,” Amanda smiled as Justin came over and picked her up in a bear hug, kissing her neck.

  “Hey, baby, guess what?” she said gleefully, “Sam said yes! We have our first ski pro!”

  “That's awesome!” Justin said enthusiastically, “Hey, you should sit in on the interviews. Is quarter to eight too early?”

  Sam started to answer, but her three friends beat her to it.

  “Don't ask!” they all exclaimed in unison.

  --- ~ ---

  Sam walked into Amanda’s office at Mountain Ridge Outdoor Adventure with her coffee at 7:45 on the dot. Amanda wasn’t there, she was probably running late. Sam couldn't imagine what the pressures of running a huge operation like Mountain Ridge must be like.

  Sam decided to sit down and wait for her here in her office rather than go up to the house and try to find her. She shuddered. Who knows what she would walk in to if she went to Amanda's house? Justin and Amanda couldn’t keep their hands off of each other even in public, Sam didn't want to think about what they must be like alone with each other!

  Sam sat down and gazed out the window. Amanda's office, formerly Parker's, had the best view of the entire building. In the foreground, it overlooked the river that meandered through the property. Then, when your eyes naturally followed the curve of the gently babbling stream, they were drawn upward to the mountains that rose majestically in the background.

  It was so peaceful, so serene, here at Mountain Ridge. A strong sense of calm settled over Sam. She was more certain than ever, this was exactly what she needed to figure out where the direction of her life should go. She sat there gazing out the window, her mind quiet as she sipped her coffee, not even thinking about the fact that she was actually there to meet Amanda.

  Voices interrupted her zen-like quiet moment, but she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying through the heft of the solid wood door.

  One of the voices belonged to Amanda, she could tell that much, and she sounded very formal and business-like. Sam smiled. She knew it wasn't the most respectful thing to think about her new boss, but every time she heard Amanda adopt that 'I'm in charge here' tone, all she could think was, 'That is SO fricking ADORABLE!'

  The other was deep and smooth, and the instant it hit her ears, she felt goosebumps involuntarily rising up all over her arms. She looked down at her forearms, puzzled.

  That's bizarre, she thought, the only person’s voice that has ever given me goosebumps is...

  Before she was able to finish that thought, the door swung open and Amanda stepped in. Seeing Sam sitting in one of the visitor’s chairs, her face lit up.

  “Oh, good!” Amanda exclaimed, “You're here! Sam, I'd like to introduce you to Luke...”

  As soon as Sam heard the name Luke leave Amanda’s lips, it felt like all of the air left the room. Sam tried desperately to suck in a breath, but the timing was unfortunate, as she also happened to be in the process of swallowing her coffee at that moment.

  This caused her coffee to go down the wrong pipe, and she started coughing and choking. She tried to set her coffee cup down on Amanda's desk, but her hand was jerking so violently from the coughing fit that she missed the mark and sent coffee spilling across Amanda's floor. Her eyes were watery, her face was red, and all she could think was, “This cannot possibly look attractive right now! Please, God, don't let it be the Luke I think it is!”

  Sam was trying to pull herself together when she heard Amanda’s voice break through her coughing.

  “Oh my God, Sam, are you OK? Breathe! Here let me get you some water,” Amanda ran behind her desk and quickly pulled out a bottle of water from the small fridge in the corner of her office. She opened it and handed it to Sam.

  Sam suddenly felt two strong hands on her body. One grasping her arm and holding her up, and the other firmly patting her back, in what she assumed was an effort to subdue her choking episode. Oh, lord, those hands! That skin! That musky aroma! She gave up on any illusions she may have had that this Luke was not, in fact, HER Luke.

  Unfortunately for Sam and her attempts to stop having an embarrassing medical emergency all over Amanda's office and pull herself together like a normal human being, Luke’s hands being on her skin had the exact OPPOSITE effect than she was sure he had intended them to have. She got all tingly and lightheaded at the contact, making it even more difficult to breath.

  Sam made a herculean effort to will herself to relax, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. After all, she reminded herself sternly, you're a world class athlete. There have been many times when you have had to force your mind to gain mastery over your body, when you've had to play through the pain! What makes this so different?

  Sam wasn't sure what made this different, she only knew that it was.

  When she was finally able to get herself under control and began breathing normally, she took the water from Amanda and began to sip it carefully.

  She pulled out of Luke’s grasp, trying to regain some semblance of dignity. Could she be more embarrassed? Nope she didn’t think so.

  Well, possibly if she would have swooned and fainted from Luke's simple gesture, the one which caused his hands to come into contact with her arm and back, then that could definitely classify as more embarrassing.

  “Are you OK, Samantha?” Luke asked in a concerned voice, one that Sam was sure he didn’t intentionally use to make her lady parts tingle...but that was the effect!

  The way it rumbled from deep in his chest. The way he said everything with such an innate strength and assurance, completely in control. The way he never appeared to be unsure of anything.

  She sighed.

  And why would he be? He was a god, professionally and personally. He was one of the most sought after instructor/pros in the country. He had a list of celebrity clients a mile long. He made everything he did on the snow look effortless and easy.

  And to say he was ‘popular with the ladies’ was the understatement of the year. He was not only strikingly gorgeous, with his deep brown hair and brilliant blue eyes and a smile that could quite literally melt your panties off. Add to that a charm that was very difficult to resist.

  He always had a sexy scruff of stubble that added to his sex appeal tenfold. He was smart, funny, athletic and nice. Not a combo that you see very often, in Sam's (albeit limited) experience. As effortless and e
asy he made his prowess on the slopes appear, multiply that by one thousand, and you would start to get an idea of how effortless and easy his prowess was off the slopes.

  “Sam, are you sure you're OK?” Amanda repeated cautiously, glancing back and forth between Luke and Sam, perhaps sensing that Sam’s choking had more to do with the person who had just walked in the room and less to do with the coffee she was drinking.

  “Yep, just went down the wrong pipe.” Sam stated curtly. Damn. She had been going for nonchalant, and had achieved bite-your-head-off.

  Sam wiped her watery eyes and took a deep breath, trying to fortify herself against the humiliation – not only about her choking episode, but also the onslaught of butterflies, goosebumps, tingles, and throbbing – yep there was definitely a possibility of some throbbing in places that she wasn’t even sure should throb – when Luke Reynolds was anywhere in the vicinity.

  “Are you sure?” Luke asked with a twinkle in his eye. “You might need mouth to mouth.”

  “I’m good Luke, but thanks,” Sam replied, aiming for dry indifference. Had she achieved it? Aw, damn, she couldn't tell! Her brain had been hijacked by a mental image of Luke's lips on hers. Holy moly! If Luke administered mouth to mouth, Sam was not sure she would survive it..although it might be worth it. What a way to go!

  Sam tried her best to conceal any reaction she may be feeling in Luke’s presence. Cool, calm and collected! Yep, she could pull that off. Right? Yes!

  Sam tried to put on her best poker face as she turned towards Luke.

  But as soon as her eyes met his, her legs turned to Jell-O and her knees start to wobble. OK, time for plan B. Probably best to sit down. She smiled weakly and turned to sit in her chair, staring straight ahead at Amanda, who was standing behind her desk.

  Good Lord, why did this man have such a strong physical effect on her?

  Pheromones. Yep. It had to be pheromones. That was the only logical explanation.

  Amanda, taking her cues from Sam, smiled and sat down as she slowly said “Why don’t we all have a seat?”

  The questioning look in her eye indicated she was definitely trying to assess the situation.

  Sam didn't need to assess the situation. She could describe it in one word: trouble.

  --- ~ ---

  Luke Reynolds sat down in the chair beside Samantha, and when he leaned back his arm brushed against hers. He felt a shiver run up his arm and down his back. Well, it’s still there, he thought wryly.

  Whenever Luke had gone long periods without seeing Samantha he would always convince himself that some of the potency of her presence would have lessened, worn off, or better yet, would now be completely nonexistent.

  But that was never the case. In fact, it seemed every time he was around her, no matter how long or how short the intervals were in between seeing each other, his physical response to being within twenty feet of the girl only grew stronger.

  The interval this time? Six months. He had not seen Samantha Holt in six very long months.

  Sam had burst onto the snowboarding scene, and into Luke’s world, when she was barely 18 years old. Still a baby, really. At that time Luke was 26 and doing everything in his power to draw out his competing years, although he was recovering from what he would find out later was a career-ending injury.

  He had such a strong physical reaction to her at the time that honestly, it had scared him. She was too young for him and he knew all too well the road that she had in front of her. It was the road he was at the end of traveling himself, with his competitive years drawing to a close.

  That, however, had not stopped Luke from keeping an eye on her from afar. Luke had made it his business to stay in touch with Samantha’s manager and coach, Stephen Humphrey. Every so often, he would subtly inquire about her, ensuring she was OK, that she was staying out of trouble...and also trying to keep tabs on any sort of romantic entanglement in her life.

  The romantic portion of Sam’s life proved to be the most difficult to track, due to the fact he had never heard of any sort of romantic relationship at all. As far as he knew Sam hadn’t had anyone serious in her life since he knew her. At times, this had confused him, but he had always put it down to the fact that she was in such high demand and, considering her schedule, a relationship would be next to impossible.

  The only other possibility was that she actually WAS with someone, and it was serious enough for her to want to keep it private, just between the two of them. And frankly, he couldn't really bear to think about that too much, so he didn't.

  Whenever Samantha was in Luke’s presence, he always found it hard to keep his eyes off of her. He was drawn to her like a magnet. It felt like she had an invisible force field that pulled Luke to her. He just wanted to be near her.

  Sam, however, did not seem to be afflicted with the same infatuation, as evidenced by the fact that every time they were in a room together she seemed to find the first excuse to leave it.

  Luke didn’t know what he could have possibly done to make her so standoffish. Normally, people – let’s face it, women in particular – liked him, gravitated toward him, they would make excuses to STAY in rooms with him, not leave them!

  But not Samantha. It wasn’t even that she was merely indifferent towards him, she genuinely seemed to dislike him. He found this odd because she seemed like a very warm person to everyone else in their circle.

  He smiled to himself. Well, unless she was in competition mode. When she was competing, she was all business. She was a beast, and he found that sexy as hell.

  Sam wasn’t anything like all of the snow bunnies that were always falling all over him, and she certainly wasn’t like all of the other women athletes he knew. Nope. Samantha Holt was in a class all of her own.

  She had the most beautiful shade of auburn hair, one that he would bet his life was natural. Her eyes were the most fascinating deep hazel, sometimes leaning more towards green, other times closer to an amber shade, depending on what she wore and her mood. His favorite thing about her eyes, though, was that they held an innocence that he had never encountered before.

  She also had the cutest path of freckles sprinkled over her nose. Every time Luke laid eyes on them, he always had the most intense urge to kiss each and every one of them. He also wanted to find out if she had freckles in any other places on her body, and kiss those too.

  Oh, God, yes, her body! Then there was that body.

  Luke had always wondered what was hiding under the baggy, puffy clothes that she wore whenever she was competing or training. His fingers had itched to peel her out of them each time he had seen her.

  That desire was strong even BEFORE he had seen her in next to nothing. After what he referred to in his mind as The Incident, he now had firsthand knowledge that her body was not just athletic and trim, but that Samantha Holt had curves in all the right places.

  Sam’s body did not run straight up and down as the clothes she liked to wear would lead you to believe. No. Underneath those layers of clothing Sam had a body that was worthy of worshiping. And Luke Reynolds had made the decision to come to Hope Falls because he believed he was just the man for the job.

  Chapter Two

  The last time Luke had seen Samantha, she was at the resort in Aspen he was working at.

  He had heard through the grapevine that she was going to be doing a photo shoot for one of her sponsors in the Presidential Suite. He checked in with Stephan and found out that she would only be there for the day.

  Luke wanted to see her, even if it was only to pop his head in and say ‘Hi.’ He pulled a few strings with the cleaning crew and got a keycard for the room she was shooting in.

  As he walked through the doors of the suite where the photo shoot was taking place, he heard her arguing with the wardrobe consultant.

  “There is no way in hell I am going to pose on a snowboard topless!” came her shrill, almost panicked voice.

  Topless? Hmmm, he thought, this just got a lot more interesting than a quick
hello. He picked up the pace and stepped around the curtain which sectioned off the room for the photo shoot.

  He heard an older woman with an Eastern European accent say “Cover yourself viss your hands. Vill be fine. You haff beautiful body.”

  “I don't care if I HAFF the best body in the whole world, it’s never gonna happen, Lady! Hand me my robe, I'm calling Stephan!”

  He had never heard Sam sound angry with anyone before. Even when she didn’t come in first in a race, she always graciously congratulated the winner, and seemed more frustrated at herself than angry at the loss. But she sure as hell sounded hopping mad now!

  Luke pulled the curtain back, thinking maybe he could use some of his considerable charm to help diffuse the situation. As he began to step through, he saw Sam standing with her back turned away from him, and he was stopped dead in his tracks by the sight.

  Luke had dated models, actresses and female athletes. He had had women on his arm that were considered some of the world's most beautiful. And that wasn't just him talking out his ass, either - women from his romantic past routinely showed up on Maxim's and People's lists of the world's most gorgeous specimens. And, Luke's powers of romantic persuasion being what they were, he had seen pretty much all of them naked.

  But never in his life had he seen anything even close to the perfection that was standing in front of him at that moment.

  The way her back sloped into a perfect V at her slim waist, then curved back out over her hips. And the way that the curve of her hip led right to an amazing, mouth-wateringly perfect heart shaped backside that was barely covered by a bright red bikini bottom.

  Luke realized that he must have made an involuntary noise out of pure unadulterated appreciation, because the next thing that registered in his brain was a scream of surprise coming from Sam. This was followed immediately by her snapping her arms down and scrambling to cover herself.

  Luckily for Luke, her need for modesty had the opposite effect. In her haste to cover the derriere that she had caught Luke looking at, she had forgotten that her arms and hands were the only things which had stood between Luke's eyes and the most epic pair of breasts they had ever laid eyes on.