I stood up, wiping the dirt from my knees and looking over my work. I hadn’t meant to work late tonight but I’d found a foundation issue in our latest project and felt compelled to fix it before I left. I pulled my gloves off, shoving them in my pocket as I made my way into the building. I stopped when I saw a woman standing out on the patio by herself. She was shivering, and the look on her pretty face was one of frustration and anger. I couldn’t help but just look at her for a moment. She was tall and slender, with pale blonde hair that was pulled into a stern bun at the top of her head. I couldn’t tell what color her eyes were, but I could tell her features were soft and lush, her body slim and supple even under the clothes she was wearing.

I almost went to her, to ask her what was wrong, when I saw a man come out of the building and walk toward her.

“Lily,” he said. “There you are.”

I saw her grit her teeth, a look of annoyance passing over her face before she turned around.

“I came out for some fresh air,” she said, her voice tense.

“It was getting a little hot in there,” the man agreed, then leaned in close to her, sniffing her. “But I think it could get it even hotter out here.”

Lily took a step back from the man. I could see the disgust even in her profile.

“Sorry, Michael,” she said. “I just need a minute alone. Is that okay?”

The man put his arm around her waist, pulling her body against his. She didn’t struggle, but froze.

“Don’t you want somebody to talk to? You can talk to me,” the man said. I couldn’t take it then. I walked over to them, grinning at Lily.

“Lily,” I said to her, holding my arms out and pulling her in for a hug, away from the other man. I put my arms on her shoulders and looked at her face. “God, it’s been so long. It’s so good to see you. How have you been?”

“Good,” she said, staring up at me, her mouth open. She seemed to collect herself, and her face broke into a radiant smile. “I can’t believe you’re here. How long has it been now? Five or six years?”

“Around that long,” I said, then looked over at the man. “I’m so sorry. You guys were talking. I didn’t mean to interrupt but Lily and I, we used to be close.”

“It’s fine,” Michael said, his voice sharp and cold. He looked down his nose at me, a look I was used to from the folks who came to the retreat. “But if you would excuse us—”

“Actually, if you don’t mind, Michael, I’d like to talk to…”

“Logan,” I said, reaching out to shake Michael’s hand. “My name is Logan Mitchells.”

“Michael Banks,” he said, then looked over at Lily. “I’ll see you inside, Lily.”

“Okay,” she said, staring after him as he left. Once he was inside, she turned to me, a look of relief on her beautiful face.

“Thank you,” she said gratefully, and the look in her eye made an unfamiliar warmth spread through me. “I can’t even begin to thank you enough.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, looking after the man with distaste. “Who was that guy?”

“My boss,” she said in a miserable voice.

“Asshole,” I said.

She met my eye, grinning at me, and I drank in the look for a long moment. She was so beautiful, her hair almost as white as the snow around us. I wondered if it was as soft as it looked.

“He is that,” she said. She gave me a shy look then. “Um, are you here for the convention?”

“No, ma’am,” I said. “I work here. I’m a construction guy.”

“Oh,” she said. The look on her face was one of interest rather than dismissal, something that intrigued me. I’d had my fair share of women at the retreat who were interested before they found out what I did, then would turn up their noses as soon as they saw the callouses on my hands and the dirt on my clothing. At this moment, I was relatively clean, but there had been times I’d walked around looking like I’d just rolled around in a mud puddle, something that was definitely not attractive to the high-class women who stayed here.

“You’re here for the convention?” I said. “So you’re a lawyer?”

“I am,” she said. “I wasn’t really interested in coming, but the boss made me.”

“For obvious reasons,” I said, frowning. “Has he grabbed you like that before?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking down at the snow on the ground. “He has. But it’s just something I have to deal with for now until I move up at the firm.”

I found myself putting my finger underneath her chin, tilting her face to look at mine. It wasn’t something I’d planned to do, but I found myself captivated by her gaze, the soft blue of her eyes.

“You don’t have to deal with it,” I said firmly.

She stared at me, her eyes wandering over my face. “Thank you again for helping me,” she said softly. “I really didn’t know how I was going to get away from him.”

“Anytime,” I said. She was shivering, but as I started to take my coat off, she put up her hand to stop me.

“I’d better go inside and join the party,” she said with a look of regret.

“Or you could stay outside and talk to me,” I said.

She smiled at me again. “I don’t think it’ll do me much good to network with a handyman,” she said.

“You’re probably right,” I told her, holding her eye. “I’m afraid I don’t have much to offer to you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” she said quickly, her eyes going wide. “I just meant—”

“I know what you meant,” I said, grinning at her. I didn’t take it personally. “I’ll see you around, Lily.”

“See you,” she said, but lingered for a moment before she disappeared inside. I kept my eyes on her until she got lost in the crowd, then went inside and up to my suite. I got angry just thinking about the man and wished there was something I could do about it. It was none of my business, I knew, but I hated men who took advantage of women under their power. Those kinds of men were the lowest of creeps, and I vowed to myself that I would keep an eye out for Lily while she was on the property and try to protect her from Michael.

The next morning, I got up and started work. I’d been doing construction for the past week, having cleared out most of the trees the week before. There was still some work to do in that area, but I liked to alternate jobs week to week in order to keep things from getting mundane. I was working at the new building where the spa part of the retreat was to be located when I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to see Michael, the man I’d had to save Lily from the night before. I stood up, trying my best not to give him a disgusted look. I didn’t want to get too involved and offend him by telling him off directly, but it was hard to hold my tongue while looking into his face.

“Can I help you, sir?” I asked.

“How do you know Lily?”

“Excuse me?”

“Where do you know Lily from?” he asked impatiently.

I stared at him, dumbfounded, anger coiling in my stomach. “I really don’t—”

“It’s a simple question,” the man said, annoyance all over his features. I found myself speaking before I even thought about the words.

“We were together a few years back,” I told him. He lifted his eyebrows at me, and then he looked me over for the first time.

“Are you broken up now?” he asked.

I shrugged. “We never officially ended things, but I haven’t spoken to her in a few years.”

“Oh,” he said, his nose in the air again. He was looking at me smugly, but his eyes were anxious. I could tell that jealousy was welling up within him and it gave me some satisfaction. Plus, I thought that maybe if he thought I was interested in Lily, he might leave her alone. I was a big man, over six and a half feet tall and as broad as a regular doorway. Most men didn’t try to compete with me for anything. This man, though, was standing tall in front of me, though he was half a foot shorter and I probably outweighed him by a hundred pounds.

“You’re her boss, right?” I asked him, staring at his sniveling face. He was exactly the kind of guy I would have hated in school—stuck up and oblivious, completely useless in every situation.

He nodded.

“Partner at Ross & Ross law firm,” he said proudly. I somehow avoided rolling my eyes. “Um, I was just coming to you man-to-man to say—”

I snorted and he shot me an irritated look.

“—I’m kind of trying to get lucky this weekend, if you know what I mean. I’d appreciate it if you stayed out of the way.”

I stared at him without answering, amazed at the balls it must have taken to say something like that to a much bigger man. He didn’t look ashamed or bashful, but satisfied when I didn’t reply, as if somehow my silence was an agreement to his request.

“Not that I think she’d be interested,” he added. “You’re a construction worker, right?”

“Yes,” I said, trying to keep my voice patient and calm. I was used to people talking down to me, but coming from this guy, it was more irritating than it usually was.

He smirked at me, then walked away without a further word. I stared after him, glaring daggers at his back. I shook my head, knowing if I’d made an enemy of one of the guests, I was in for a long week.