Ashby had so dearly wanted to ask Kadie about the grumpy guy with the puppy. She clearly knew him from the way she smiled at him, although Ashby stayed back far enough that he couldn’t hear what they were saying.

He had reminded himself sternly that this was to be a man-free holiday. Maeve had promised him there would be no hunks around to tempt him. So whoever he was, Mr. Tall, Dark and Rude probably wasn’t sticking around for long, despite getting a key for a room.

Ashby resolutely put him from his mind as he finished chatting to Kadie about the spa treatments available, then went back to his room to change. After a couple of days, he was getting the hang of his jetlag, so he’d gotten lunch from the resort’s restaurant at a reasonable time, then felt like a bit of pampering was long overdue.

Still, it might have been nice if the gorgeous guy hadn’t been in such a hurry to get away from Ashby. He was obviously straight, so Ashby had no doubt scared him off with his unapologetic fem-ness. Well, screw him. Ashby didn’t want to have anything to do with someone if they didn’t like him for who he was. Not again.

He couldn’t help but dwell on the mysterious stranger, though, as he pottered from his room to the spa facilities in his robe and flip-flops. Those muscles. Those dark eyes, like deep pools. The shoulder-length hair that was so thick and glossy, it was positively begging to be grabbed during a really good f-

“And this is you shutting down that thought and forgetting all about him,” said Ashby firmly and out loud. The couple approaching him along the corridor raised their eyebrows at him. He cleared his throat. “Good afternoon,” he said. They walked past warily and Ashby sighed. “No need to scare the locals,” he muttered quietly to himself.

The spa was in the same state as the rest of the resort. It had probably been bang on trend twenty years ago, but now just looked a bit sorry for itself. The paint wasn’t peeling, but the color had faded somewhat from the walls and the familiar beiges and creams looked tired. But there were actual live plants in pots injecting a much-needed shot of color to the reception area and the scent of lavender greeted Ashby as he walked through the doors. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the sound of soft panpipes that drifted through the air from a CD player in the corner.

A woman in her early-forties came out from behind the desk. Styled chestnut curls tumbled to her shoulders and her shiny lips were painted red. The technician’s blouse she wore was an immaculate white and unbuttoned just enough to show off her perky breasts. Her gaze raked over Ashby as she clasped her hands in front of them. At least her perfect French manicure gave Ashby some hope that this wouldn’t be a wasted visit.

“Well, hello,” she said, her voice husky.

“Hello,” Ashby said cheerfully. “I was going to book an appointment, but lovely Kadie at the front desk assured me it wasn’t necessary.”

The technician’s heavily mascaraed eyes lit up at him. He probably looked like someone who spent a lot of time at spas, because he did. If she was hoping he was going to take his break-up frustration and sexual longing for the stranger he’d just met and channel that energy into indulging in as much pampering as he could muster, she was in luck.

“No appointment necessary,” the technician purred. “Not for a pretty thing like you.”

“Oh, goody,” Ashby squeaked, wondering if he was going to get eaten alive. “That’s, um, wonderful.”

She beamed at him. “Anything in particular?”

Ashby eyed up the board with the list of available treatments. “All of them?” he joked.

The technician laughed. “Aw hun, in need of some TLC are you? Don’t worry. My name’s Skye and I’m going to fix you right up. How does a back massage sound to start with?”

Ashby sighed. “Heavenly.” He offered her his hand, which she shook. “I’m Ashby, by the way. I’ll probably be bothering you an awful lot over the next few weeks.”

Skye clicked her tongue and beckoned him to follow her. “Oh, that accent. You can come in as often as you like, sugar,” she said, winking over her shoulder at him. “Business slows down this time of year, so you feel free to come keep me company any time.”

“You’re very kind,” Ashby said, following her into the treatment room. The low-level lighting helped this particular area look slightly less run down than others and the scent of lavender intensified. Ashby sighed and got himself settled on the massage table.

For an hour, he drifted in and out as Skye’s hands worked their magic. He could tell by the tender patches she found that he had a lot of knots, but she didn’t comment until they were finished and she was eagerly laying him down for a full mud facial.

“You got a lot on your mind, hon?” she asked, cleansing his skin before applying the mask. At a glance, Ashby would guess the products they were using were about a decade behind current skincare trends. But that would make them cheaper, so it made sense. This place, for whatever reason, was clearly on its knees.

“Trying not to,” he replied with a sigh. The clay felt cool as she smoothed it over his cheeks with a brush. “The Grand looked like an ideal place to come and forget everything,” he admitted.

She snorted and clicked her tongue again, like she was popping bubble gum. “That’s because everybody else went and forgot this place, too,” she said. Ashby looked up to see her shake her head upside down at him. “Swish young fella like yourself would have loved it round here in its heyday. Why on earth you’d want to come here when you could go to Aspen, I don’t know.”

“Peace and quiet,” Ashby said simply.

Skye hummed. “There’s peace and quiet, then there’s tumbleweeds in a graveyard,” she said frankly.

Ashby chewed his lip as she brushed the clay between his eyes. “Why is it so run down, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Skye chuckled ruefully. “Well, you didn’t hear this from me,” she said, clearly eager to gossip. “But you come across Bob yet, the manager? He’s the sad-looking fella you’ll find propping up the bar most evenings. Balding, same old gray tie every day.”

Ashby shook his head, but Skye waved the brush at him, dangerously close to flicking clay on his white bathrobe.

“You’ll spot him soon enough,” she continued. “So, rumor has it his wife’s putting him through a nasty divorce even though their kid’s coming out the other side of chemo.” She tutted and dabbed more of the face mask onto Ashby’s chin. “Some people. Anyway, I don’t think his heart’s in it anymore. We can only work with what he gets the owner to give us, and lately, that ain’t been a whole lot.”

Ashby hummed. That was a real shame. He listened to Skye chatter on for a while about how things used to be, thinking of what Maeve had told him as well. The more he saw of the Grand Resort, the more he was convinced it just needed a little love.

Ashby’s fears that Skye was going to pounce on him were further allayed when she inspected his hands. “Urgh, you gay boys do keep your nails so nice,” she said. “Would you like me to tidy your cuticles and do a quick oil massage?”

Although it was a little presumptuous that straight guys couldn’t have nice nails, Ashby knew she meant well and accepted the compliment. “That would be wonderful,” he said sincerely.

While she busied herself moving her nail treatment station, Ashby chewed his lip. Surely, it couldn’t hurt to ask? Skye seemed to know so much about the resort.

“I made a friend this morning,” he lied as she began filing. “But I didn’t catch his name. Tall, dark hair down to his shoulders, big muscles. He didn’t seem like a guest.” Or at least, Ashby assumed from the familiar greeting Kadie had given him.

Skye’s perfectly penciled eyebrows slowly climbed up towards her hair. “Trenton Charles’s boy?” she asked. “No way. He’s back?”

“Um,” said Ashby. “Maybe? He had luggage with him. And a puppy. He was wearing a black leather jacket despite it being arctic outside.” Even thinking about that jacket put Ashby in danger of popping out of his robe.

“Dreamy eyes, muscles for days?” Skye sighed. “That’s him. Oh my god, I can’t believe he’s here. I’ll have to get an autograph.”

Ashby frowned at her. “Autograph?”

Her eyes went wide. “Uh, yeah,” she said. “You did recognize him, didn’t you?” At Ashby’s blank face, Skye gasped. “He’s TJ Charles! The movie star. It’s, like, this place’s only claim to fame.”

Ashby blinked. “TJ Charles?”

Oh no.

Yes, he was aware TJ Charles was a film star, but Ashby had not caught on that he was who he’d dropped to the feet of a couple of hours ago. He really should have realized he’d been flirting with a former member of Below Zero, though. How had he not registered it was one of his teenage crushes he’d been babbling to?

“Ah,” he said, shame washing over him. “Well, that’s embarrassing.”

Skye snorted. “Come on. Tell me all about it, babe. Then I’ll tell you how I once fell into the lap of Zac Efron at a Bar Mitzvah.”

“No?” Ashby said, scandalized and delighted all at once.

She nodded. “He’s a friend of a friend. So, come on, what did you say to our little TJ?”

Ashby sighed and recounted the whole cringe-worthy story from the lobby. But as he was describing it, he realized it wasn’t all that bad. It was TJ’s fault if he was too miserable to take delight in a puppy. Ashby promised himself he wasn’t going to let himself worry about it any longer.

Even if TJ Charles was still just as hot as when Ashby had stuck his posters on his bedroom wall. Hotter, even, now he was a fully grown man.

Ashby warred with himself as he bid farewell to Skye with the promise to come back soon. He needed to banish TJ from his mind. Yeah, he was hot. But he was also rude. Ashby had no time for that. Besides, he was probably just passing through the resort and Ashby wouldn’t have to see him ever again. At least, not in the flesh.

With that bittersweet thought in mind, he made his plans for the evening. After a short nap – he blamed the massage as much as the lingering jetlag – he showered and took himself over to the restaurant for dinner with a book. He would rather have had his old, paperback copy of Pride and Prejudice to keep him company, but if he’d packed all the books he wanted to read this holiday, there would have been nothing else in his suitcase. He begrudgingly admitted that his eReader was actually pretty brilliant.

He people-watched while he read about Lizzie Bennett for the umpteenth time and ate, enjoying a glass or two of a rather nice Malbec wine. As Skye had mentioned, there was a gentleman at the bar who appeared quite down-in-the-dumps. Bob, Ashby guessed, the manager of the resort. He would probably be quite handsome for an older man if he didn’t look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Wearing a frayed ski jacket and worn jeans, he picked at his beer bottle label and dispassionately watched baseball on one of the TV screens.

For a brief, horribly selfish moment, Ashby worried if that was how he was going to end up. Then he mentally slapped himself. Yes, he’d been through a tough breakup, but it was of his choosing and undoubtedly for the best. He was half this guy’s age and wasn’t facing anything nearly as bad as seeing a child through a long illness. Skye had assured Ashby the boy was out of the woods now, but a divorce on top of that was bound to be exhausting. No wonder the resort looked in dire need of love. Bob was in dire need of some love, too.

“Carpe diem,” Ashby reminded himself for the hundredth time since he’d left Gordon. He was only twenty-four, and he needed to start seizing the day more so he didn’t end up lonely and unfulfilled.

Starting with a nighttime swim.

He’d fancied the idea since he’d arrived, and after his third glass of wine, he decided now was the time. The hotel’s heated, outdoor pool was open late so guests could enjoy a warm paddle surrounded by snow. It sounded scandalous to Ashby. Something that surely should have been against the rules. Which is precisely why he wanted to do it.

Feeling tipsy and naughty, he went back to his room and put on his favorite tight swimming trunks. As it was dark and the hotel was low on guests, he figured he’d get away with no one seeing how skimpy they were. They left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Then he wrapped up in his robe once more and stuck his feet in his fluffy boots to head outside.

The shock of the cold cleared out the cobwebs and sobered up Ashby immediately. He giggled in shock at the sharp contrast of temperature between indoors and out, scampering over to the coat hooks to shuck off his robe and step out of his boots.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he hissed, hopping and dancing his way across the snow into the warm waters of the pool with another laugh. It was more like a large jacuzzi with pressurized jets creating bubbles and currents around the edges. Ashby sighed as he sank down until only his head remained in the frigid air. “Magic,” he said softly to himself as the steam rose from the water all around him.

There was a sauna house to the left that had a foot of snow on its roof. Ashby was looking forward to giving that a go soon. Trees rose up beyond the fence, encircling the back of the resort. Pointed pines that climbed up the start of the mountainside, hinting to the summit lost in the darkness. Ashby sighed, feeling blissfully peaceful.

Until he realized he wasn’t alone.

As he turned and glanced to the right, he realized there was someone else bobbing in the corner of the rectangular pool, hidden initially by the steam. Someone familiar.

“Oh, hello?” Ashby spluttered. Obviously, he wasn’t going to be able to play it cool, no matter when or where he saw TJ Charles. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. I didn’t splash you, did I? It’s damned cold getting from the clothes rack to the water.”

TJ was staring at him. His dark eyes were wide enough that Ashby could see a fair bit of the whites despite the gloom. “Uh…” he said.

Fuck. Ashby had forgotten he was wearing the skimpiest damn swimwear ever invented. It was practically a thong. He blushed, wondering how much of his junk TJ had seen bouncing around when he’d run over the snow.

“Sorry, I’m bothering you again,” Ashby mumbled.

His knee-jerk reaction was to get out of the pool as fast as possible and take himself far away from TJ’s judgmental stare. But his pride refused to bow down to that. His body was also extremely against the idea of getting back out into the snow any time soon.

So instead, he swam over to the opposite end of the pool, by the pine trees, and rested his hands on the stone edge. He stared up at the side of the magnificent mountain, trying to ignore TJ’s presence and enjoy himself.

Only when he heard the splashing of water and the door to the main lodge swinging shut did Ashby finally relax again.

Well, it seemed his unfortunate crush hadn’t left the resort just yet, after all.