that with Dean.
I glance over at him and can’t help but deflate a bit because he is seriously attractive. His square bearded jaw and strong sculpted pecs beneath that shirt could be worth a little awkwardness. But this cannot happen. We’re business partners, and we have to get through a wedding in a couple of weeks. Sex would make everything more complicated.
Plus, I don’t think he’s serious. He’s never serious.
I look away from him and stare forward with my hands resting safely in my lap. “We can’t have sex. No way. We’re two friends helping each other out and nothing more. Don’t make this weird.”
He sighs heavily. “Whatever you say, boss.”
My anxious lip sweat has finally subsided by the time we pull up to a large brick-pillared private entrance a good thirty miles outside of Aspen. Dean said Max’s house was nice. However, he failed to mention it’s a freaking mansion that we have to drive over a stream to get to.
I’m speechless as we get out of the car, and I stare up at the giant home and its flagstone walkway flanked with aspens that lead to ornate double doors with carvings of lions on the front.
“Was that a bridge or a moat we drove over?” I ask Dean, and then suddenly, the front doors swing open, and Kate is standing there in all her wild, red-haired glory.
“Holy shit, Lynsey, he wasn’t lying!” she hollers as she stares at me with her jaw dropped.
Lynsey emerges in the doorway beside her with a drink and thrusts her free hand into the air. “You owe me twenty bucks.”
Kate shakes her head and marches out, stopping in front of me with narrowed eyes. “How much is he paying you for this?”
“Paying me for what?” I ask, genuinely confused.
“Paying you to be his fake date for the weekend?” Kate asks knowingly and turns to thrust her pointer finger in Dean’s face.
Flames. My entire body is engulfed in flames. The lip sweat has also returned, and I might have some ass sweat happening like a winner. My voice is a stammering mess when I reply, “I-I’m not his fake date. I’m his girlfriend.” I sound like a robot. Like a stupid, moronic, painfully sweaty robot. “I brought croinuts.”
I thrust them into Kate’s hands as Dean drops our bags and reaches around me from behind. His hands clasp around my waist in that delicious way that would normally make me feel small and feminine, but right now, it’s making me feel hot and sweaty. I probably stink.
“Kate, I promise you, no money was exchanged in this transaction.” He leans in and kisses the inside of my neck, and I want to barf because I feel a drizzle of sweat sliding downward.
“You two are really together?” Kate asks, shaking her head from side to side.
I shrug because actually saying the lie out loud feels worse than letting it be implied. Kate digs into her pocket and holds up a twenty-dollar bill.
Lynsey scurries over and takes the cash and the croinuts from her hands, smiling happily at Dean and me. “I could have called this over a year ago.”
I frown at that bizarre remark, but then Dean clears his throat. “Can one of you show me where we’re sleeping so I can dump our bags?”
“I can do that,” Lynsey peals.
“I’ll give Norah the tour since this is her first time here.” Kate wraps her arm around mine and waves Lynsey and Dean off with the bags. “People with this kind of money don’t do tours. But I’m a cheap ass and genuinely love gawking at other people’s worldly possessions.”
She remains holding on to my arm as she walks me inside and describes the property like a realtor. The interior has a rustic hunting lodge feel with natural stone walls throughout most of the space and exposed mahogany beams on the vaulted ceilings. It feels like the entire property was created inside a cave except for the giant windows offering sweeping views of the aspen-filled mountains.
We head outside next, and Kate informs me the estate is thirty acres of picturesque scenery in the valley of Snowmass Mountain. There’s a horse barn and equestrian pastures far off in the distance that Max rents out to locals. She points to the stream we came over (not a moat) and then ends the tour by the swimming pool and hot tub flanked with flagstones and pillars with fire shooting out the top of them.
“This looks more like a resort than a