one moment, just to see what it felt like—and wished as fervently as she’d ever wished for anything, that this wasn’t pretend.
He broke away from her but stayed close enough for his hand to linger on the small of her back. Anna wanted to curl back into his arms, but not because it was a job. She needed to remember she was playing his fiancée and not lose herself in the role. “I’m good,” she said, as much to herself as to Gabe. “Let’s do this.”
5
Grandmother’s apartment—most of one floor of the big building they called the Elk Lodge—reminded Gabe of his childhood. It was only now that he’d been living in the desert of Vegas for so long that he could appreciate it for its simple, elegant beauty. There was something different about the quality of the light on Cardinal Mountain. The nights seemed to come earlier, making the glow of silver candlelight centerpieces warmer. She must have had the staff come in to help set the long table in her formal dining room, decorating the table runner with mistletoe. The family’s formal china gleamed the way it always had at Christmastime.
“Good to see you.” Jonas was first to greet them, sticking out his hand to shake like old business associates and not brothers. Gabe and Anna made the rounds to greet everyone in the room. His grandmother’s silver shawl and black outfit did the heavy work of hiding how thin she’d gotten, but Gabe knew the truth, having talked to her this afternoon. Chase and his beautiful new ski director-instructor girlfriend, Tana, and her daughter Lindsey, added gaiety to the scene, their laughter echoing around the room. But the sound did nothing to help him relax.
Gabe wanted to know what had made Anna so nervous earlier. It couldn’t have been the performance element of all this—she was too good at her job to let something like that shake her. The urge to take her into a secluded corner and lean in close to whisper questions in her ear got stronger every second.
Maybe telling her about how his previous girlfriends had all traditionally bombed this portion of the family schedule had put her on edge. They either refused to eat anything but undressed salad, used their phones under the table to fire off social media posts or send business emails, or excused themselves to make calls. Gabe had nothing against salad—that wasn’t it—just the tension it caused with everyone else. He did have a problem with the phones. But he’d always found himself squarely in the middle, which meant he pleased absolutely nobody.
The group sat down around the table, and his grandmother waved in uniformed waiters who came in with the soup course. Anna watched all of it with bright eyes and a big smile. “Jonas, tell me about running the resort,” she asked as one of the waiters ladled a delicate vegetable stew into their bowls. Anna made it a point to thank the wait staff as they stopped to take up her food or offer her a choice of fresh rolls and butter, taking the time to make eye contact.
Jonas paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “What do you want to know?” Mild shock registered on his face. Of all Gabe’s girlfriends, not one had ever cared to ask Jonas about running the place.
“Well, I’m a conference center liaison in my day job. Do you hold events like that here? Or is it mostly tourism-focused?”
“We—” His spoon went back into his bowl. “We have the capabilities for it, but I haven’t had much time to attract clients interested in larger-scale events.”
“Oh, that’s great. I mean, not that you haven’t had time to do it, just that you have the space for it.” Anna smiled. “I would love the chance to get in on the ground floor with conference events. It gives you a chance to set up great policies in advance instead of coming up with them as things happen.” She raised her hands in front of her. “I won’t bore everybody with the topic, but if you ever want to talk conferences, I’m your girl.”
For once, Jonas didn’t frown, didn’t hesitate. “I’ll take you up on that at some point, I’m sure.”
Gabe let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. So far, so good.
“I’m so glad.” She’d started with Jonas, and not five minutes into dinner, they already had plans to talk business.
“So, you’re a conference liaison? What does that entail?” Tana