Free Snowbound by MG Braden

flap of her robe from opening too wide. Lord, was she really going to go and appear in front of him in a bathing suit? She must be nuts!
    She could still hear Rick’s voice echoing in her mind, “Geez, Cass, you’ve put on the pounds, eh?” or “Maybe you should buy one of those suits with the skirts on the bottom.” He always said he was joking, but the words really hurt and she was self-conscious enough as it was. She always tried her best to keep in shape, but her body tended toward a fullness that she couldn’t seem to fight. Her doctor said she was fit, strong and healthy and that her body was at the size it was meant to be. Still, it certainly didn’t make being in a bathing suit any easier. Nope, I’m not doing this. She turned to go back inside the hotel.
    “Cassidy?”
    She turned back. “Daniel, hi.”
    “You looked like you were leaving? Didn’t you just get here?” His brow furrowed in puzzlement.
    “Oh...I...I thought I forgot my towel.”
    “You’re holding it.”
    “Yeah, I know. Silly, huh? Like when you’re wearing your glasses on your head and go looking for them.” She walked slowly over to the hot tub.
    “Come on in. I’ve poured us some nice sparkling water. Pellegrino. A very good year.” He laughed, then added, “Sorry, I couldn’t get a bottle of wine.”
    “That’s ok, I probably had enough at dinner, anyway.”
    She stood beside the hot tub with uncertainty. How could she enter gracefully? She had hoped that she would get here first so she could already be in the water when Daniel arrived. She liked herself a lot from the chest up. She hadn’t quite worked out how she was going to get out without him noticing, but she was sure she would have thought of something. Cassidy, just get in the water. You are a beautiful, strong woman. She gave her head a shake, threw back her shoulders, dropped the towel and robe on the bench and stepped down in to the water. She noticed that his smile never faltered and he held out his hand to help her down the last step before he passed her the cup of sparkling water.
    “Now,” he said, “if we arrange ourselves on this side we can look out over the valley and look at the view. I love the way snow looks in the starlight.”
    Cassidy was listening, but she wasn’t looking at the valley. She was noticing how muscular Daniel was. When he stood in the hot tub the water hit him just above his waist. Without a shirt on she was able to see the definition in his arms and chest. It wasn’t a body builder type of muscular, which would look odd with his slim build, but his arms were quite amazing to her. His hands were large, yet so gentle when he held her hand and led her to her seat. Looking into his eyes, she guessed she had been staring at him, so she quickly looked away and tried to pay attention to what he was telling her about the view. Her body, however, had other ideas and she tried to still the flutter in her stomach and hoped her peaked nipples were visible under the swirling water.
    Sitting beside him and listening to him talk felt so right. She stopped worrying about the way she looked and tried to enjoy the moment. It was very peaceful. Used to so much tension all the time, she wasn’t entirely sure how to deal with it, but she did know it was nice. Finally relaxing, she allowed her eyes to drift shut.
    “Earth to Cassidy.”
    “Hmm,” she said, opening her eyes to look at him.
    “Am I putting you to sleep?”
    “Oh no! I was just listening to you talk and sitting here quietly...I’m sorry. I guess that was rude.” she blushed.
    “Not rude exactly, but a guy never wants to think he is putting a pretty girl to sleep.” Daniel tilted his head and smiled.
    For a moment she couldn’t think what to say. Daniel had called her a pretty girl and here she was acting like an awkward teen. That was exactly how she felt. An awkward teen with no idea what to do or say. “I promise I wasn’t asleep. So, you really know an awful lot about