Preston Alcott wanted only two things from this trip: investors, and Ashley Woodsen. Both equally as important, and both as hard to get as the other.

Truthfully, he’d wanted both for far longer than he admitted to anyone.

He first set the Alcott Resort in his sights a decade ago, when he was barely old enough to even understand property development, let alone have any involvement in it. But he’d always understood his grandfather’s vision here, and when he died, Preston became desperate to realize that dream. Only he’d had to wait ten long years, watching from the sidelines as his father let the project languish and die, almost to the point of no return.

And Ashley—well. She thought he first noticed her at Cami’s wedding, but the truth was he’d seen her months earlier, when he’d ended up in the ER after a minor car accident and had to get some stitches. Ashley was the nurse that assisted the doctor that night, and Preston could still remember how she took his breath away with her calm beauty and poise. He hadn’t said anything to her that night, barely even allowed himself to look at her—he’d been sort of involved with a dancer from New York at the time, and later he’d begged Cami and Maggie to give him her number.

But they’d refused, probably because Ashley was just coming off her awful divorce. Yet from the moment he first saw her, that perfect image of her imprinted on his brain and remained with him for the months that followed.

He didn’t see her again until Cami’s wedding, when Lady Luck granted him a single kiss. A kiss that tormented him for so long; a kiss that became the benchmark, with no other encounter affecting him quite as much as those few stolen moments with Ashley Woodsen in the cloakroom.

He had to start believing it was fate throwing him into her path when he found himself watching her from across a makeshift dance floor in a cabin, after yet another wedding. And this time, he wasn’t going to let her go without at least trying to make an impression on her.

He couldn’t have imagined where the night would lead, that he would get the chance to touch her, kiss her, see her beautiful body and worship her like she deserved, to taste her skin and feel her tremble around him, breathy with pleasure and mindlessly open for him—except it didn’t quite pan out that way. Ashley Woodsen went through life carrying the weight of her ex-husband’s despicable words and his betrayal on her shoulders, ringing in her ears and filling up her mind with damaging bullshit. And she didn’t know how to believe the opposite, not anymore.

Preston ached for her like he’d never wanted any other woman before. Every single inch of her was perfection—just the barest glimpse of her made his mouth water, and he struggled to remain in control of his desires whenever he came within six feet of her. She was breathtakingly beautiful, inside and out. He just needed her to believe that.

And now he’d managed to get her up on this mountain, in his company, every day for the duration of this event. He hoped with all his might that it was enough time.

Armed with her room key, he made his way over to the roaring fireplace in the lobby, where the three ladies had relocated while the husbands—and Preston—checked everyone in.

He caught the middle of a conversation as he approached, unseen.

Maggie was whisper-talking, leaning forward in the armchair to address Ashley in a conspiratorial fashion. “And he didn’t try to—”

“Nope,” Ashley said.

“Preston?” Maggie asked dubiously, bringing him to a grinding halt.

He sidestepped behind a pillar and waited.

Ashley sighed, but she didn’t sound annoyed. More like—dreamy? “Yep.”

“Preston.”

“I know.”

“But he’s the biggest playboy ever,” Maggie exclaimed. Preston considered taking offense, but he was far more interested in hearing whatever Ashley wanted to say next. “He’s never met a girl he didn’t get into bed,” Maggie added. Not quite true, but it didn’t matter, not if Ashley didn’t believe it—and that was all he cared about.

“It’s obvious he wanted to, though,” Cami chimed in. “Right?”

Yes, Preston thought with conviction. If they’re talking about getting to bury myself deep inside her and holding her tight as she screamed my name, then yes, way more than she’ll ever realize.

There was a pause, Preston holding his breath, and then Ashley said, “Yeah. I mean, I think so.” Then she sighed again, her voice adopting that dreamy quality once more. “The way he looked at me…”

Cami giggled. “Maybe you’re the one to tame the beast.”

Preston quite liked that—the beast. It spoke to the alpha in him, and he couldn’t help but puff out his chest a little.

And then deflated at Ashley’s next words, said with a flat bluntness that brought him crashing back down to earth.

“I think I’ll pass, thanks.”

“You don’t like him?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t have time for it.”

“That’s crap,” Cami said, but Preston had heard enough. He stepped out from behind the pillar and made a little more noise than usual with his footsteps as he approached the armchairs. “Well it is! We all know you go weak at the knees whenever he enters—”

Maggie caught sight of him and flapped her hand in Cami’s direction. “Shh, be quiet,” she hissed, causing Ashley to look over her shoulder and see. She instantly flushed a brilliant red and looked down at her lap.

“Ladies.”

Cami gave him a guilty, tight-lipped smile. “Hey, Preston.”

“You ready to head up to your rooms? I believe your husbands are waiting for you.”

Maggie and Cami nodded and got to their feet, grabbing purses and phones and shooting looks between Ashley and Preston that were probably meant to be some kind of code, but damned if Preston could figure it out.

“We’ll leave you to take care of Ash,” Cami said on a concealed giggle. Maggie, apology on her face, yanked her away.

In the silence that followed, Ashley released a breath and looked up at Preston with supreme awkwardness. “They think they’re subtle,” she said, but Preston didn’t want to make her feel any more uncomfortable than she already felt, so he didn’t press the matter.

Instead he held up her room key and tried on a smile. “Shall we?”

Ashley looked from him to the room key and back again, mouth opening to speak before she promptly shut it and stood up. Then she made a show of straightening her clothes and looking everywhere except at him, while saying, “You don’t need to take me to my room. I’m sure you’ve got tons of stuff to do for the event,” and then snatching the key from his hand as if afraid she’d catch something from him. “What’s the room number?”

“Uh,” he said, blinking at the weirdness of the moment. “112.”

“Thanks.” She bent to grab her luggage, and in a fit of mild desperation, he bent with her and wrapped a hand around her wrist.

She froze.

“This doesn’t have to be awkward,” he said.

“It’s not.” Her voice was tighter than her frozen stance, and when he just stared at her, she huffed and straightened up, shaking off his hand on her wrist. “All right, fine,” she said, blowing hair out of her eyes. “But it’s only because…” It was like she was floundering suddenly, casting about for the right word, gaze snapping around the room wildly until she visibly took a hold of herself and faced him. “You’ve seen me naked,” she said frankly. The blush was making a reappearance.

He considered all manner of responses, many of them highly inappropriate for this moment, and settled on: “Not exactly.”

“Close enough.” She rubbed a hand over her breastbone, opposite hand on her hip, teeth worrying her bottom lip. It was an adorable sight—not that he’d tell her that. “I’m just really embarrassed.”

Carefully, he said, “Because I saw your body?”

She didn’t answer immediately, eyes clouding over, and he understood—the words from her ex, her insecurities, the darkness of it all.

“All the things I said,” she muttered, “telling you about my ex… You didn’t need to hear any of that.”

“You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about.” He put a hand on her shoulder and, shockingly, she let him. For the length of a stuttered heartbeat, they looked at each other, and something like a charge passed between them.

“Anyway,” Ashley said, breaking the moment and stepping away from him just enough that his hand fell from her shoulder. “I better go and get settled. I guess I’ll see you at the event.”

“You’re not coming out to the slopes tomorrow?”

Looking up from where she’d once again bent to retrieve her luggage, she blinked and said, “You’ll be there? I thought you’d be too busy.”

He wanted to offer to help her with her bags, but didn’t want to risk sounding like he had an ulterior motive for going up to her room.

Instead he said, with complete sincerity, “Never too busy for you.”

It gave her pause as she stood straight, bags in hand, and she considered him, studied him almost, before saying, “I can’t really ski.”

“So we’ll sway.” The words flowed from him unbidden and he was glad for it—because hopefully it would remind her of an enjoyable time spent together, when he swept her off her feet on a dance floor. Or at least he liked to think he did.

It made her grin, laugh a little. “You charming bastard,” she said, and he smirked.

“Have a good evening.” Then he walked away from her, quitting while he was ahead. Caught up with Declan and the others as they loitered by the elevator banks and caught the tail end of a debate Cami seemed to be having with her husband.

“—be good for her,” she was saying. “She really needs this kind of no-strings fun. A fling, you know? Help her move on.”

Drew’s brows were knitted together as he read the resort’s brochure in his hand. “I’m not sure we should be meddling in any of this.”

“He’s right,” Preston said, stopping beside them. “You shouldn’t.” Because he knew what Cami was referring to, and this was none of her business. He loved her, thought she was an amazing woman and a perfect wife for Drew, but this truly wasn’t any of her business.

Not that she saw it that way. She huffed and turned determined eyes on him. “Look, Preston, we’re not looking to interfere. But Ashley’s our friend, and we care, and just—” She paused, glanced at Maggie as if in confirmation, and added softly, “There’s a reason she’s not been dating for the past year.”

“I know.” And this wasn’t the time nor place to talk about it.

“Yeah, Ash said she told you,” Maggie chimed in. “So you get it, right? We’re just trying to help?”

Cami narrowed her eyes at him. “Unless you don’t—you’re not interested?”

“Look,” he said, glancing over his shoulder to ensure Ashley wasn’t making her way over here. Seeing that she’d instead chosen the elevators at the other end of the lobby, Preston turned back to the girls and continued: “Whatever’s going on between me and Ashley, it’s not going to be forced by whatever you two have gotten up your sleeves.”

“No sleeves,” Cami said. “See?” She held up her arms to show her empty sleeves, but her eyes glittered with mischief. “Just concern for our friend.”

“She’s fine,” Preston told her firmly. “She’ll be fine. Better than fine.”

Declan, reaching the end of his patience, clapped Preston on the shoulder. “This is great, but I really need a drink, so—”

Drew nodded in agreement and hammered the elevator button some more, and as the two of them started up a conversation about the slopes tomorrow, Cami took the opportunity to step forward and speak directly to Preston in a lowered, terrifyingly serious tone.

“Ashley’s a very special friend to us, Preston,” she said, that glint of mischief in her eye now transformed to something hard.

Something like loyalty and protection.

Preston wanted to sweep her into a hug.

“I know.”

She studied his eyes for a moment, and then nodded. “You better,” she said. “Because she doesn’t need any more hurt.”

And he didn’t need the warning, although he appreciated it all the same.

If he had his way, no one would ever hurt Ashley again.