“Here are your tickets. Bastien has arranged for one of the other chalet girls to pick you up from Grenoble airport when you land. Her name is Shawna, I believe,” Richard says, handing me the documents I need to get on the plane.

“Thanks,” I mumble, not able to express my true gratitude. To be honest, I am completely overwhelmed. The last few days have been a whirlwind of packing and making arrangements for my trip away. At first, when I told Mum of my plans she had been adamant that I shouldn’t go, that I was being a selfish brat, but when I explained how much money I would earn to send home to her she soon gave me her blessing. Frankly, I don’t care what she uses the money for. I just need to get away, if only for a short while.

“You are doing the right thing, Louisa. It’s about time you think of yourself. I’ll pop in on your mum from time to time, okay. Don’t worry about what happens here.” Richard pulls me in for a quick hug before planting a kiss on my head. Overhead the tannoy sounds and my flight is called.

“Thanks for everything, Richard,” I say, a lump forming in my throat.

“You’re very welcome. Now go on, go. Have fun, Louisa.”

“I’ll call in a few days to see how things are.”

“I look forward to it,” Richard says, before walking away.

I watch him leave through the sliding glass doors then pick up my handbag and luggage and make my way towards check-in, feeling equally excited and anxious. When I finally get to the front of the queue a British Airways attendant flashes me a beautiful smile. She is young, probably my age, and very pretty with dark hair, brown eyes and long dark lashes.

“Are you checking in on your own?” she asks.

“Yes. I’m going to be a chalet girl,” I blurt out.

“That sounds great, I always fancied a job like that with all those hunky ski instructors. How romantic, all that snow outside and warm, open fires inside,” she says, sighing dramatically.

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about that. I’m just happy to be getting on an aeroplane for the first time.” It’s true, I haven’t thought beyond the flight. If I’m totally honest, I am a little nervous, it being my first time flying. It didn’t help that just before I left, my mother decided to fill me in on all the plane crashes that have happened over the years.

“Is that so,” the attendant says, considering me for a moment. “Well, it just so happens to be your lucky day. You’ve been upgraded to business class.”

I look at her incredulously. “Wait, what? Oh no, it’s okay. I don’t have any money for that.”

She grins. “Don’t worry, it’s a complimentary upgrade. Enjoy your first flight on a plane,” she says as she sticks a label on my luggage. “You can go through to the departure lounge now.”

“Thank you,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief.

“That’s quite alright, Miss Budd. Have fun with the ski instructors and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She winks, handing me back my passport.

A few minutes later I am through the security check and heading towards Costa in the departure lounge. There is a separate sign showing the way to the business class area, but I don’t bother following it. Instead, I make myself comfortable with my latte, muffin and Cosmopolitan magazine and before long it’s time to board.

* * *

“Welcome on board. Your seat is through here and to the right,” the air stewardess says politely.

“Thanks.” I take my ticket from her and search for my seat. Business class is separated by a curtain partition and I can see that the seats in this section of the plane are roomier than the standard ones. I have a window seat rather than an aisle, and I’m glad because I can’t wait to look out of the window to view the scenery. After storing my coat and handbag in the overhead compartment, I sit down.

“Jesus, Max, can you not give it a rest for one minute?”

I look up to see a ridiculously handsome man with short, dark brown hair and the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen stop at the end of the row I’m sitting in. He’s talking to a blonde-haired guy who is taking a seat in the row opposite.

“Never, man. Why would I? You saw the way she looked at me. Looks like I’ll be joining the mile-high club today,” Blondie says, chuckling.

“Leave him alone, Hudson,” another guy says as he smacks green-eyes on the back. He’s a huge beast of a man and all the more attractive for it. “You’re only pissed because you didn’t get in there first.”

“As if, Bryce,” green-eyes snorts. “As the eldest, you know as well as I do that I always get first dibs on the ladies. She just wasn’t my type.” He turns his back on the laughing men and opens the overhead locker. Realising it’s full, he opens the next one along and stashes his holdall away. I watch him as he removes his thick, cable-knit sweater, revealing a glimpse of defined stomach muscles covered in a smattering of dark hair. I look away quickly, not wishing to be caught ogling him.

Now that green-eyes is no longer blocking my view, I can get a good look at the other men he boarded with. They don’t look much like brothers to me, but I guess just because you share blood it doesn’t mean you have to be the image of each other. The man-mountain is taller than green-eyes, the other, Blondie, slightly shorter. They both have the same tanned skin like they’ve been on a year-long holiday. Blondie, the one I think they called Max, has dark brown eyes and well-styled hair, long on top and cropped at the sides, whilst the man-mountain has dark black hair pulled back in a bun and is sporting a well-groomed beard. His eyes are hazel. Mountain-man catches me staring and gives me a wink, a sexy smile lingering on his lips.

I look down at my magazine, pretending to read, thankful that my long hair can shield my embarrassment. A moment later, Green-eyes takes a seat next to me. He coughs, and I look up.

“You might want to do that up,” he says, pointing to my lap.

I look down, expecting to see my flies undone, then frown when I don’t understand what he’s talking about. “Sorry?” I say.

He gives me a questioning look then leans over, grabbing a seatbelt I hadn’t noticed until that moment. I press my back into the chair, shocked by his sudden nearness. He smells of expensive aftershave and danger.

“There,” he says, clicking it together. “You’re all strapped in and ready for take-off.”

“You could have just told me,” I snap, pissed that he thinks he can just get into my personal space like that. I don’t know why I react that way. It’s not often you get an attractive man strapping you into a seat, but something about his presumptuousness pisses me off.

He looks at me, eyebrows knotting together as if he didn’t expect that response. Then he shakes himself and holds out his hand. “My name’s Hudson. Those two imbeciles over there are my younger brothers, Max and Bryce,” he says, pointing at them. I glance over, and they are both grinning inanely at us. “Ignore them, they have huge egos. They think they’re God’s gift to women.”

“And you? Do you think you’re God’s gift to women?” I ask before I can stop myself.

Hudson looks at me, the easy smile dropping from his face, replaced instead with something far sexier. “You tell me,” he says.

I look at his ridiculously handsome face and suddenly have the urge to knock him down a peg or two. He is way too cocky for my liking. “I think you and your brothers are very alike. Big egos appear to run in your family, no?”

Hudson’s eyes widen as his brothers laugh loudly. I smile inwardly, feeling I’ve handled the situation pretty well, considering.

For the rest of the flight, Hudson doesn’t bother talking to me again. Instead, he chooses to spend the entire time chatting up another air stewardess. Frankly, I don’t give two shits. After I get off this flight, I won’t be seeing either Hudson or his brothers again.