Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,51

she grabbed her backpack and heaved a sigh. Her thick black hair could fall in shiny, glossy waves with the right care, but just now it seemed lank and sad. Her skin felt greasy after her long trip. She looked completely out of place among these other women and though she was only twenty-six, she suspected she had a couple more stress wrinkles than the rich forty-year-olds just now disembarking from the bus with their kids.

Lydia hitched her backpack up to her shoulder and her brain seemed to short out and go numb as she found her big ugly suitcase among the nicer, newer luggage and dragged it behind her, shivering from a chilling gust of wind as she followed the other guests into the lodge. The doorman grinned at them all and Lydia smiled tightly, feeling horribly out of place.

She stood in line behind everyone else in the lobby, ducking her head, half hoping she would somehow go unnoticed by the very man she had come to see. Her stomach was in knots and her hands felt clammy and then…

There he was.

Eric had always had startling blue eyes, but they seemed to blaze as the tall man in front of Lydia in the line stepped away and Eric appeared. He was clean shaven and that was new. He had always worn a little bit of stubble on his chin before. His chestnut brown hair was cut just a little long, just enough that a loose lock fell attractively over his forehead. His jawline was sharp as glass and when he smiled briefly at her she saw the neat rows of white teeth.

Eric had always had pretty teeth. He’d laughed when she told him that once.

“Lydia.” Eric said her name and she breathed in, her heart thumping in her chest. He looked older, but he looked good. He looked about a hundred times better than she did, she was sure.

“Hey,” Lydia said. “I didn’t know if you would be working the desk. I don’t know. I feel like you’d be doing something more important or-”

“I don’t always check people in,” he said quickly. “But I knew you were coming. I wanted to see you. Take you up to your room…”

This already feels awkward, Lydia thought. They should have been hugging and gleefully laughing about how they hadn’t seen each other in so long and oh, how time flies. There had been a time when Eric would tell Lydia his deepest most secret thoughts, often with his head in her lap. Now, they looked at each other as if they were strangers.

Everything felt stiff and wrong and she already had a lump in her throat, but she swallowed it down and forced an artificial smile on her face.

“Thank you so much for the suite,” Lydia said. Eric was glaring at his computer screen as other desk clerks helped the rest of the guests in line. “You really didn’t have to…”

“No, it’s fine,” Eric muttered, not so much as sparing her a glance. He waved two key cards. “Here we go. Follow me. Let me get your suitcase...”

Eric came around the desk and because he wasn’t watching her, Lydia treated herself to a long look. He was wearing a flawlessly fitted charcoal suit with a powder blue tie. When she visited five years ago, he’d worn sweaters and jeans, still figuring out his role of concierge of the Strauss brothers’ new business venture. Now he looked like a man in charge. He also looked…

Yummy, Lydia thought. Her mouth actually watered and she shook her head at herself.

She’d dated men here and there. There were a few flings. She was always determined to find someone who would fill that hole that Eric had made for her, through no fault of his own. But no one had stuck and nobody else had ever compared.

“I’m giving you the spa suite,” Eric said, as she followed him up the wide flight of stairs to the west wing of the lodge. “If you take the small staircase just to the left of it, it will take you right to the spa and then right beyond that is the shopping promenade. The suite also has a double jacuzzi which is practically a pool and a small private sauna.”

“Whoa.” Lydia managed a smile and glanced at Eric as they strode down the hall side by side. “You didn’t have to do all that. Thank you.”

She hadn’t counted on him spotting her the room to begin with. She’d been hoping