Read Falling Fast, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 4) for Free Online Page A

shook her head, somehow dredging up the brash side of herself. “Let’s just call it one hell of a kiss. Okay?”
    His mouth hooked up on one side and he nodded.

Chapter 5

    Cam maneuvered his skis along a rough trail, carefully dodging a branch that had fallen across the trail. The sun was high in the sky. The snow glittered where it melted under the heat of the sun. He was leading Gage through the backcountry trails he’d marked thus far. He came to a stop beside a rough bridge he’d built to cross over a narrow stream. Gage skied to his side.
    “You’ve made it farther than I guessed. You’ve added probably twenty more miles to what we already had,” Gage said with a grin.
    Cam tugged his gloves off and unzipped the top of his jacket. He’d worked up a sweat on the way out. Cool air sifted through the opening in his jacket. He glanced to the stream and back to Gage. “It wasn’t too hard. Like you said, we didn’t need to do much clearing. There are some rough areas though. I figure we settle on the layout for the trails and get everything marked, and then we can deal with getting rocks, roots and debris out of the way. After that, we use the tracksetter and we can open the course up for skiers.”
    “I’ve already said it, but I’ll say it again. I’m damn glad I hired you. Until I got back up here year before last, I’d never cross-country skied in my life. All I’d ever done was downhill skiing and snowboarding. I didn’t have a clue about what we needed to do for trails. Don knows the slopes and lifts backwards and forwards, but this part wasn’t his gig either. Thanks to you, we’ll be able to add this course for customers and locals. I keep going back and forth if I should charge for locals for this. There’s a series of trails on the other side of town, but they’re funded by the town park fund.”
    “You could charge a season fee like you do for the slopes,” Cam suggested.
    Gage idly twirled his ski pole and nodded. “Makes the most sense. So how much further do you think we should go with the trails?”
    “Well, first you have to consider how much land you have for trails. Beyond that, you need to consider how accessible the area is if you need to get up here. Between what you had before and what I’ve roughed out, we’ve got about forty miles of trail now. That’s more than enough. I followed your lead and made sure to loop the trails into each other, so you can access all of them within fifteen minutes by snowmobile if you need to. If you’re asking my opinion…”
    Gage interjected. “I definitely am.”
    “I’d stick with what we have now. Much more and it’s a lot more maintenance and then you have to worry about accessibility.”
    Gage nodded firmly. “Okay then. We’ll stop with what we have. We’ll come back up tomorrow with the snowmobile and get to work on dealing with the debris.”
    “Sounds like a plan.” Cam pulled his gloves back on. “You headed back down now?”
    “Yeah. I promised Marley I wouldn’t be gone too long. She’s due any day now,” Gage replied with a proud smile.
    Cam was still amazed at how easily Marley was getting around. If it hadn’t been so obvious she was pregnant, Cam would never have guessed. She stayed busy and was around and about the lodge every day. She wasn’t skiing, but that seemed to be the only limit she’d given herself. “Well, you’d best get back down there then.”
    Gage turned on his skis and adjusted his hold on his ski poles. “Speaking of that, I guess we haven’t really talked about me taking some time off after she has the baby. I don’t really have a plan. I figure I’ll play it by ear. Since I work right here, I’ll be around no matter what.”
    “Well, you might as well take all the time you want. Don and I can take care of everything outside.”
    Gage grinned. “I know. Another reason I’m glad you’re here.” He lifted a ski pole and pushed off. “Meet me and Marley for dinner if you