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Opening the door, he figured it was best to leave it at that. They’d had an awkward enough evening as it was, and there really wasn’t anything he could say to smooth that over. “Bye.”

She gave him a wave. Then, as he made his way up to the front door, she pulled away, as if she didn’t want to wait any longer before getting him out of her sight.

Chapter

Four

Rubbing his eyes, Sam turned on the coffee and leaned against the kitchen counter as the machine did its bubbly, noisy thing. The smooth, nutty scent infused the air, and he breathed it in, hoping that inhaling the caffeinated vapors might begin to kick-start his sleepy brain. He glanced at his watch, aware that this might need to be a coffee to go if he was to make it into work on time.

He wondered how much longer he could keep burning the candle at both ends. Vicky leaving the instructor team at short notice had them stretched thin. Well, it meant that Sam was overtaxed, as it was his duty to take up the slack as head instructor and protect his team. That, along with his latest promotion to assistant manager, had him thinking his success might be a poisoned chalice. Though it wasn’t as if shouldering the burden was a new thing in his life, being a task he was used to ever since his arsehole of a dad buggered off to Jersey with a woman half his age. A heaviness developed in his chest as he recalled how helpless he’d felt back then. Sam had shifted into the role of protector and problem solver and he’d sensed Liv taking on board some of the mothering influence, because God knows it had been hard for their mum to do it all on her own. The twin siblings had subconsciously become part of each other’s parenting team.

The butler thing wasn’t helping his fatigue, but the reason behind taking on that job was also down to his instinct to be everyone’s problem solver, even without being asked. And that drive wasn’t something he could shake.

It wasn’t as if Ben, the general manager, hadn’t offered for him to step back a bit on the instructing when he took on more management. But Sam loved the slopes too much to become entirely office based. And so he had opted to amalgamate the two roles and hire a new instructor to pick up the slack. But now, with Vicky’s departure, he was back to square one.

Wincing, he remembered the pulse-spiking mortification of locking eyes with Maya at that party the previous evening. It was like a bad dream come to life, walking into a room naked and finding your ex staring at you. Except, technically, she wasn’t his ex. They hadn’t gotten as far as becoming official before she’d unceremoniously rejected him. He should have seen it coming, realized that the Maya he’d fallen for wasn’t the real her. Because prior to working together she’d been aloof and ignored him.

Though last night she had, annoyingly, looked as good as ever. And despite the passage of eight years, the sight of her still drove up his heart rate and awoke a fiery longing within him.

The coffee stopped hissing, and he poured some into his takeaway cup. Perhaps being abandoned by Maya wouldn’t have stung so much if his dad hadn’t done the same thing eighteen months beforehand. Or if he hadn’t been infatuated with Maya like a pathetic puppy dog at the time. “Wanker,” he muttered under his breath.

“Pardon?”

Sam snapped his gaze up to meet Catriona’s hazel eyes. “Nothing.”

She frowned, entering the kitchen and lifting the coffeepot to pour her own mugful. “You got home late last night.”

“Yeah,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Arran’s get-together went overtime.”

He didn’t relish lying. But he couldn’t be arsed with the mouthful he’d get if she found out he’d been parading around half-naked in a room full of women. Well, maybe three-quarters naked. Perhaps four-fifths at a push.

Cat didn’t reply, and his heart sank. She was clearly pissed off anyway, because he’d gotten home later than anticipated. His fault for hanging around there, kidding himself that he’d wanted to make sure he’d performed all his duties adequately when really it was so he could spend a little longer in the presence of a mahogany-haired beauty from his past. Perhaps if he’d known Maya was coming home for good, then he wouldn’t have bothered. He was bound to see her around more of the time now. Who am I kidding? I still would’ve stuck around last night if I’d known. His insistence to himself that he didn’t feel anything for her was becoming harder to maintain. In any case, the car had died, so he never would’ve managed to leave any earlier.

Watching Cat silently take a seat at the kitchen table, her mouth drawn into an “I’m annoyed with you, but I’m not going to admit it” line, he rubbed the back of his neck. The journey home had been awkward to say the least, so it was probably best if he didn’t see much of Maya. She certainly hadn’t seemed to have changed her tune about him.

He cleared his throat. Time to forget about Maya Bashir and her glossy hair and alluring eyes—a task that he was clearly doomed to repeat in life—and head to work. He lifted his cup. “Can I borrow your car?”

Cat gave him a healthy dose of side-eye. “Why?”

“Mine broke down last night.” He averted his gaze. “It’s in the garage.”

She sighed as if he’d taken a sledgehammer to the vehicle and sabotaged it on purpose. “For fuck’s sake. When are you going to buy a new one?”

“When I can afford it.” He let out a breath, trying not to make it too loud, because that was bound to piss her off further. “So can I borrow yours or not?”

“Ugh! Fine. The keys are on the hall table.” She flipped her strawberry blond hair and grabbed her cup so forcefully that the coffee nearly sloshed out of it.

Sam headed for the door. “See you later.” He was greeted by silence, and waited until he’d left the room before rolling his eyes.

Catriona’s car was at least nicer to drive than his. Plus, it not breaking down every five seconds was a bonus.

Sam climbed in and started it, turning on the heating to defrost it a little before getting out to scrape the windows. After he climbed back in, he removed his jacket and woolly hat to begin the journey up to the ski resort, rolling his shoulders against the tension that had built up. Although he was unsure whether the stress response was down to running into Maya again or contending with Cat’s moody ice queen act.

As he navigated a turn, he glanced along the road that led to Maya’s parents’ place, and wondered how she was getting on with Omar. If she’d lost her job without having something else lined up, Sam could imagine it wouldn’t be met with a good reception. Even though it was hardly her fault—a lot of businesses were going under, so it wasn’t as if the situation were under her control. Not unless she’d single-handedly created the economic crisis that was weighing heavily on the country.

Starting along the road into the mountains, he shook his head, attempting to get Maya out of the little camp she’d set up inside his mind, but the thought of her didn’t shift. It was less of a camp and more an impenetrable fortress with iron gates and a patrolling dragon.

Sam glanced at the mountains. No matter how many times he admired the sparkling white, snowcapped peaks, they still took his breath away. Despite some people’s opinion that his career wasn’t worthwhile, to him, it was the best one in the world. He didn’t even resent the fact that if his dad hadn’t buggered off, then he might’ve gone to university and done something else rather than staying in Glenavie in order to keep watch over his mum and his sister. Because he loved what he did.