If a tree fell, it remained a habitat to house chipmunks, mice, snakes, and insects. Pine needles and leaves fell in the autumn and created nutrition for the undergrowth. Saplings sprang to life wherever their roots held them. Wolves, foxes, and deer were some of the more prominent mammals that called my land home.

  I preferred them to the two-legged kind.

  There were few people I trusted enough to allow them inside my bubble.

  As I peered down at Julia by my side and as we passed the locked door of another suite, I couldn’t come up with a reason why I’d chosen to trust her and invite her into a place where so few had been welcome. I didn’t know Julia McGrath and yet as we briefly touched only moments ago, it was as it had been upon seeing her car, as if a gravitational pull existed between the two of us, two masses in motion lured toward one another.

  My negative energy was attracted to Julia’s positive energy and—I believed—vice versa. In physics, our speed would increase, drawing us closer, faster and faster until neither of us could slow the progression. Ultimately, we’d collide, the cosmic blast decimating everything within its pull.

  Julia and I came to a stop at the final door as I turned the doorknob and pushed inward.

  A smile came to my face as I peered around. When this plan to keep Julia began to take shape in my thoughts, one of the calls I made was to Margaret, asking her to make a special trip to my home to freshen this room. She seemed so surprised that I might have a guest that she assured me she would get it done. I didn’t think about the fact that I was asking her to travel up my twisty lane following a snowstorm.

  Margaret didn’t complain.

  Now, seeing the glistening wood of the tables in the sitting room and the open curtains throughout the suite, I knew she’d done as she promised.

  “It’s beautiful,” Julia said.

  I walked to the window in the sitting room beyond the fireplace. Pushing the drapery to the side, I stared out at the frozen bay. “You can see the bay from here and from the balcony in the bedroom.”

  Julia ran her hand over the leather loveseat near the fireplace. “This looks new.”

  “Not new, just not used.”

  I followed a few steps behind as she went from room to room, stopping at the doorway to the bathroom as she examined the updated amenities, the marble tile and glistening chrome. I also stopped at the entry of the bedroom, watching as she roamed around, peering into the closet and out onto the balcony. “Have you changed your mind?” I asked, wanting her to say yes and saying a silent prayer to an unknown entity that she’d say no.

  Julia took a deep breath.

  As she did, the way her pert breasts pushed against her white blouse and the muscles in her neck strained, creating that sexy V near her collarbone, caught my attention. I scanned lower, to where her black slacks accentuated her trim waist.

  My thoughts went back to the night when I’d undressed her unconscious body.

  Today she was a strong and capable woman.

  That night, she’d been a fragile bird in need of care.

  That night, it took all my willpower to not peer beneath the bra and panties.

  In doing so, I’d shown Julia the restraint I’d lacked with others. This beautiful angel deserved better than a man like me. She’d said that she was twenty-four. That made me nearly two decades her senior, and yet, as that night progressed, the unthinkable occurred. Julia came back to life, a vibrant beacon calling to me and inviting me into her orbit. Now that I was here, I didn’t want to break free.

  Contemplating my question, Julia paced, stepping upon the floors and rugs in her high heels as if she were bred to move in a graceful manner. Given what I now know of her family, she had been.

  Julia McGrath had been placed on this earth to secure her, her family’s, and Wade’s future.

  Instead of doing that, she was here in my home with a man capable of destroying her and her family’s business.

  I heard the warning bells.

  Much like sirens from the lighthouses out upon the Apostle Islands, the ones in my mind were cautioning of the danger that lay ahead.

  The words were on the tip of my tongue. I would tell her that my offer of a job was rescinded. I would help her find her way back to Ashland and back to Chicago.

  Before I could voice my thoughts, Julia spoke, “I don’t want the guesthouse, Van.” Her smile lit up the bedroom. “I want time to think, but being alone in your guesthouse would be too lonely. This suite is beautiful. And,” she added, “I’ll have company.”

  “Maybe you should reconsider the entire offer.”

  “I have. I don’t know what brought me here, whether it was cosmic irony or what your grandmother called red sin, but I can’t deny that I too am interested in both you and this opportunity, too interested to walk away. I’ll contact my parents. After the first of the year, I’ll go back to Chicago and find out what’s happening with Wade Pharmaceutical. I think that after what I found out about Skylar, I want to stay far away from Chicago beyond the wedding date and let the dust settle.”

  Maybe Julia was right with what she said earlier.

  She was the fly and I was the spider.

  Or maybe I was right—Julia was the innocent doe, wide-eyed on unsteady knees and I was the wolf. Either way, she’d just been invited to my web or my den.

  Given her acceptance, with time she would come to regret her decision.

  Forty-one years had taught me one thing I couldn’t deny. I knew myself. I knew what I was capable of doing. I also knew that I hadn’t felt this way around a woman in a long time. Perhaps I was wrong about my doomsday outlook. Maybe time had tamed the beast within me. Over ten years had passed since I let the beast win.

  I had to believe that Julia was different and I could control the man I’d been.

  This agreement would end up either very good or very bad.

  Time held the answer.

  “I haven’t changed my mind. I’ll take the job,” she said with a smile.

  My cold heart didn’t know if it should leap with joy or sink with despair. It wasn’t easy to have hope when for so long it had been an elusive bitch. And yet staring down at Julia’s blue kaleidoscope within her expressive orbs, I told myself that this relationship would end differently.

  After all, it had begun differently.

  Life wasn’t a loop such as the movie Groundhog Day would suggest.

  This was a new chance.

  “Then it’s settled,” I said. “Welcome.”

  Julia

  I stepped into the lobby of the hotel in Ashland. The large hotel was constructed on the shore of the Chequamegon Bay in 1877, by the Wisconsin Central Railroad interests. The stately wooden pillars and trim created an atmosphere that gave one the feeling of stepping back in time. Its central location within Ashland was perfect for visitors. It had been perfect for me, allowing me to peer out my window at the frozen bay and walk a few blocks to shops and restaurants.

  With my mind on my decision to move in with Van, I wasn’t paying attention. I should have been looking around at my surroundings. I wasn’t.

  “Julia.”

  I sucked in a breath at the familiar voice.

  The counter ahead of me was empty. I turned toward the lobby, seeing the fireplace and furniture, and yet not one chair or sofa was occupied. I turned again in time to come face-to-face with Skylar Butler.

  I’d never denied he was handsome; neither had he.

  His dark blond hair was combed back. His khaki pants and brown loafers showed below the hem of his unbuttoned wool coat. The coat parted enough to see his patterned button-up shirt, undone at his neck. This was Skylar’s idea of casual.

  His blue eyes met mine. “Julia, we need to talk.”

  With my hands in the pockets of my coat, I stood taller. “Skylar, you didn’t need to make this trip.” My gaze narrowed. “How did you know where I was?”

  He took a step closer. “I know you rented a car. We can return it here in Ashland and drive back to Chicago together. That will give us time to talk.”

  “I don’t need time. I don’t need to talk.”

  He looked around the lobby. “This doesn’t need to be discussed in public.” He motioned toward the elevators. “We could go to your room.”

  “Again, how did you know that I am staying here?”

  “I don’t love Beth.”

  I took a step backward.

  I was currently within a scene from a bad movie. He was right, if we were to have this conversation, it shouldn’t be in public, but then again, I didn’t want the conversation to occur at all, and based on the emptiness of the large entry, there wasn’t anyone to overhear.

  I pointed toward the archway to the hotel’s bar. “We can go in the bar. I’ll give you five minutes. No more.”

  His hand came to the small of my back as we turned to enter the bar.

  I stepped away from his touch.

  Despite the tacky neon sign advertising a popular brand of beer on the deep red walls, the room was as lovely as the entry. The long bar was heavy wood with ornate carvings on the front and lined with a brass handrail. Behind the bar was more elaborate woodwork centered around a lighted large mirror with shelves and hundreds of bottles of liquors and wines.

  “I could buy you a drink,” Skylar offered. His tone had an unusual sound of trepidation. It seemed as though his usual cockiness had given way to this new subdued and unsure attitude.

  “I don’t want a drink,” I said, removing my coat and taking a seat at one of the tables.

  Skylar also removed his coat, folded it meticulously, and draped it over one of the chairs before taking a seat beside me.

  For a long moment, we simply stared at one another.

  There had been too much time spent with one another not to have those memories swirling through my thoughts. And yet they didn’t make my heart flutter or my mouth go dry as they did when I looked into Van’s green orbs.

  Skylar reached for my hand.

  I looked at our connection, feeling the coolness of his skin, and for the first time recognizing the absence of more.

  That too was because of Van.

  He’d explained his ongoing desire for more and better.

  Feeling the coolness of Skylar’s touch, I came to the same decision. I deserved more. Now that I’d had a taste of more, I wouldn’t settle for less.

  My gaze met his. “I’m not changing my mind.”

  Skylar inhaled. “It’s been four days. I thought if I let you burn off some steam, you’d come back. The wedding is only in a week and a half.”

  “There won’t be a wedding, not with us.” I feigned a smile as I looked at our hands and removed mine from his. “You said you don’t love Beth. Do you love me?”

  “Of course I do.”

  My nose scrunched. “Do you?”

  “Why would you even question that? I’ve loved you my whole life.”

  “Have you ever been in love with me?”

  He lowered his voice as the bartender came to the bar, peering our way. “Yes, Julia. I only want to spend forever with you.”

  “How many women have you slept with?”

  He sat taller. “Why would you ask?”

  “Because we never had sex. Don’t you think that’s odd?”

  “We were waiting. If you don’t think that I’ve thought about the gift you’ve saved for me, you’re wrong.”

  I swallowed. “Skylar, I don’t wish you unhappiness. I just don’t wish for my unhappiness by spending my eternity with you.”

  His head moved from side to side. “Where is this coming from?”

  A scoff escaped my throat. “You have a child coming.”

  “I don’t believe her. Hell, that kid could belong to any one of five guys.”

  “And you’re one of them.” It was my gut reaction. My second was to defend my friend. Beth wasn’t the slut Skylar was making her out to be. Nevertheless, I kept any defense suppressed. It wasn’t my role to fight for Beth’s relationship with my ex-fiancé.

  “Julia, you’re being ridiculous. You’ve known for years that I had a sex life. Once we’re married, it will be only you.”

  “When you and Beth touch, do you feel a sensation like lightning through your body? When you see her, does your heart race? When you kiss does the world around you disappear?”

  He shook his head. “No, you’re talking like some stupid movie on Lifetime. That shit isn’t real.”

  It was real.

  I never knew it before, but now I did.

  “Have you ever heard of red sin?”

  The bartender appeared at our table. “What can I get you two?”

  Before I could answer, Skylar spoke, “A glass of white moscato for the lady and two fingers of Angel’s Envy, neat, for me.”

  “I don’t—”

  Skylar nodded and the man walked away.

  Has Skylar always dismissed my choices and I never noticed?

  Instead of belaboring that thought, I asked again, “Red sin?”

  “No. I’ve never heard of it.” He lowered his voice. “Let me help you get your things. We’ll return the rental and if we get on the road, we can be back to Chicago by one.”

  “And you’ll return me to my parents like the good fiancé?” I recalled Van’s assessment of any man who would know me for my entire life and not want more.

  “Yes, and after our wedding, we’ll fly across the ocean and spend two weeks doing what I’ve dreamt about.”

  I smirked. “You’ve dreamt about making love to me? Was this before or after you fucked Beth and all the others?”

  “Julia, I screwed up. I admit it. I don’t love Beth. I’m not sure if the kid she’s carrying is even mine. If it is, I’ll do the right thing and pay for her abortion.”

  My eyes opened wide. “The right thing?”

  “I’m not sorry. The only children I want are ours.”

  Our drinks arrived.

  I closed my fingers around the stem of the glass, contemplating my next move. As I swirled the light-colored liquid, tossing the contents in Skylar’s face was moving higher on my list of possibilities.

  “Julia, I want you to know that I’m committed to making our marriage work.”

  Taking a deep breath, I leveraged the table’s edge as I pushed my chair back. “I’m not.”

  “You have cold feet. Ana said it’s normal. She said you’ll come around.”

  Ana was my mother. Her real name was Anastasia. She liked the longer version for business and social purposes. Being as Skylar had known her since he was born, to him, she was Ana.

  “My feet are fine. I hope you’ll reconsider the right thing when it comes to Beth. You’re also correct; you screwed up. Now it’s time to man up. I’m staying in Ashland. I’ve accepted a job.”

  Skylar stood.

  I lifted my chin, keeping our eye contact.

  Through the years, I’d seen most of my ex-fiancé’s moods. If I were to predict, his steady, reassuring, and slightly self-deprecating position was about to give way to a more forceful demand. Skylar was a lot of things, but violent wasn’t one of them. My reasoning for not inviting him to my hotel room wasn’t because I feared him or because I was concerned he’d make inappropriate moves; he’d had reason for the first over time and never gone that way. As for the second, he’d had ample opportunity and failed.

  My reasoning was simple.

  I was done with this relationship.

  “You can’t be serious,” he said. “You already have a job at Wade.”

  “I need time to let the dust settle. You do too. Take it. Our engagement is off. The wedding is canceled. I want you to leave.”

  He pulled a twenty and a ten from his money clip and laid them on the table. Lifting the glass with his whiskey, he downed the two fingers. “This could devastate Wade. Do you even care about your family business?”

  Skylar was prepared to give me every guilt trip possible. The problem was that I wasn’t guilty. He was. “Do I want my life to be a contract to keep control of my family’s dream?” As I spoke the question, I realized the answer applied to more than Skylar and me but also to Van’s proposal. “No. I do care. I just won’t live my life regretting that decision.”

  I lifted my coat and began to walk away but turned back. “Drive safely, Skylar. As far as I’m concerned, your employment at Wade is secure. I suppose that isn’t up to me right now, but I don’t wish you ill. I simply have never been in love with you and am relieved I learned that sooner rather than later.”

  He came closer, reaching for my arm and pulling me toward him. His arm surrounded my waist as his lips took mine.

  It took less than a second for the ice-cold connection to fuel my protest.

  Using both hands, I pushed against Skylar’s chest until he stepped back, tripping over one of the chairs. From the corner of my eye, I saw the bartender watching. No longer did I care what was overheard. “If you ever touch me like that again, I will personally see to it that you and your family are out of Wade. For the final time, we’re done. Goodbye, Skylar.”

  With that, I turned, keeping my head high as I went to the elevator and hit the up button. When the doors opened, I stepped inside. As the doors closed, I made no effort to look beyond my own space. I didn’t know if Skylar Butler had left the bar, was in the lobby, or had exited the hotel.

  I didn’t care.

  As I gathered my things in the room, I decided to call down to the bar.

  “Hello, this is Julia McGrath in room 426. Can you tell me if the man with whom I was sharing a drink has left?”

  “He’s gone. I asked him to leave.”

  I let out a long sigh. “Thank you.”

  “Lady, are you in for the night?”

  “I’m checking out.”

  “Before you head out to your car, stick your head in here and I’ll send one of the busboys out with you.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate your assistance.”

  Julia

  I took comfort in the darkening sky and even in the new covering of snow that melted against my windshield and accumulated on the twisty lane as I drove back toward Van’s home. After the run-in with Skylar, it truly felt liberating. This was a new world, and I had no doubt that I’d made the right decision.