Sisters in Love (Snow Sisters, Book One: Love in Bloom Series #1) by Melissa Foster Read Free Book Online Page A

him.
    Great, now you can add bitch to your
typically frigid self.

Chapter Eight
    The morning light peeked in through the
unfamiliar curtains. Blake slid off the bed and slithered into his
jeans as silent as a mouse, a skill he’d spent the last twenty
years refining. His head felt like a fog-filled balloon. He really
needed to cut back on the tequila chasers. He tightened his belt
around his slim waist and glanced in the mirror. He did a
once-over, checking for fingernail marks, hickeys, or any of the
other calling cards women left as their claim on him. No marks. A
relieved sigh escaped his lips. He leaned over the dresser, closer
to the mirror, and touched the peppery whiskers along his jaw.
Yesterday he would have thought, Damn. I’ve still got it .
Today, Blake saw an aging, selfish, lonely man. He’d spent the last
several hours trying to escape the reality of his best friend’s
death, but now it found him like a vulture on prey, settling heavy
and dark upon his shoulders.
    He pulled his light-blue Henley over his
thick, dark hair and smoothed it against the six-pack he worked so
hard to maintain. With one last glance at the buxom brunette’s
shapely, bare ass, he headed for the door. He hadn’t wanted to go
home alone last night, and she’d been just what he needed. After
that bitch Danica pegged him for just what he was, he’d needed a
release and returned to the bar. Get in, have fun, and get
out , he reminded himself. For all the years he could remember,
that had been his motto. Dave had coined him as the Lady Slayer.
Only, today, he wasn’t on the high that he usually felt after a
satisfying conquest. And Rozy, or Willow—he couldn’t remember
which—had definitely been satisfying. Today, he looked at her naked
body and felt nothing but loneliness. Sally and Rusty would wake up
soon and realize that Dave was really gone. Blake knew he couldn’t
run from the hurt that was clawing at his heart, but he could
ignore it.
    Blake pulled away from her apartment in his
Land Rover, thinking about Dave. The sadness hit him like a punch
to the gut. He’d hoped to run from the hole Dave had left in his
life and from the pain of thinking about it, but he’d woken up as
the exact same man he’d been the night before, only, if possible,
even lonelier. He had to go to work and face a business that would
only emphasize the loss of his friend. He wished he could go from
one bed to the next, occupying his mind on the plays he put on
women, pretending as if the real world didn’t exist. But even he
knew that one day that hurt would find him, and he’d drown in an
even deeper abyss of mourning chased by a helping of
self-loathing.
     
    Blake stood in front of the glass doors of
AcroSki, his feet rooted to the ground. Once he walked inside, he
knew real life would find him. He wasn’t ready to deal with it.
He’d pushed his feelings down to a manageable flicker, and he knew
that the moment he opened those doors and was welcomed by darkness
and silence, that flicker would burst into flames and burn right
through his coat of armor.
    The sign on the door said Closed, as it had
since they'd closed up and headed for the slopes the night of
Dave’s accident. The moments before they’d skied came rushing back
to him—Dave’s anger, Blake’s dismissal of that anger. Dave would
never walk through those doors again. Blake was surprised at
how his heart slammed within his chest, and his hands began to
tremble. He could not do it. He couldn’t face customers and pretend
everything was okay. He’d tried to pretend last night and this
morning, but it was right in front of him again. He had to take the
day off. He couldn’t work. He mentally ticked off what he’d have to
accomplish in order to make that happen. He’d lose income, but that
wasn’t a problem. He had plenty of money. He’d have to pay their
two part-time employees. It was only fair. Within minutes, he’d
made his decision. He would escape reality for one