Blazing Hot Christmas (Blaze Family Romance Collection)

Warning: Side effects may include spontaneous mistletoe purchases, lingering glances at carpenters and ski patrol members, and the sudden urge to get "accidentally" stranded during snowstorms. Author not responsible for heightened expectations of holiday romance or disappointment when your actual Christmas gathering doesn't include a rugged mountain man with a heart of gold. 🎄❄️☃️🧤🎁

Blazing Hot Santa
Chapter One

AMELIA

“What’s the point of coming back home for the month if you’re going to be working the whole time?” My bestie’s voice whines through my earbuds. “I miss you!”


I pull open the door and step back to let a customer inside before leaving the coffee shop to catch the gondola to the top of the mountain. “Come on, Jules. I promised my parents I’d help out. And besides, I won’t be working the whole time.”


“Really? And where are you right now, dare I ask?” She’s pouting.


I stop walking and take in my surroundings, a place could describe with my eyes closed. “Standing outside the coffee shop in East Village, if you must know.”


“Uhh-huh. And where exactly are you going?” She has her school teacher voice on as she pretends to be clueless and make me confess. I swear, some people are just built for teaching Kindergarten.


I sigh. She knows exactly how the days go here at my parents’ resort. She’s worked here on and off for years. “Heading to the gondola…” I try to sound like a brat, but I know she’s just playing.


“Oh yes! How could I forget? Gondola to the summit so you can do your rounds at the Alpine Haus and then a quick check at the Upper Lodge and then the gondola down to West Village for a round through those shops and bus back to base so you can do it all again. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.”


“Yup!” I smile at her verbal walk through making it sound like some tedious job. But she knows how much I love it. Ever since I was a little kid, my dream was to work and live here at Blaze Mountain Resort. One more semester and I’m done with my double major in Hospitality and Business Management.


I’m glad to be home, and happy to lend my parents a hand over the holiday break, but my return this time is because my plans have changed. I’ve got my eye on the old Vaughn ranch at the base of the back country peak. I want to turn it into a Bed & Breakfast and build something of my own.

A Christmas gift to myself.

I have told no one about my plans except my mom, and when she called me last month to share that the Vaughns were retiring at the end of the season and moving to Arizona full time, I knew it was time to act. We’re meeting the Vaughns this afternoon.


“You’re still coming tonight, right?” Jules’ voice brings me back.


“Hmm. What?” My mind floats over the mountain, visions of the Vaughn ranch dancing behind my eyes. It will be perfect once I get my hands on it.


“Earth to Amelia… Tonight? Melissa’s place? Hot guys? Hot tub? Everyone’s dying to see you.”


“Oh. Yeah. I’ll meet you there. Eight-ish?” My boots crunch in the snow as I make my way around the corner of the base lodge and step into the sun. 


“Yay! Smooches!” She squeals into the phone and then ends the call. 


It’s a short walk across the snowfield between the lodge and the gondola, and every inch glistens. From the happy faces on the skiers and snowboarders, to the festive holiday decorations everywhere, to the sound of sleigh bells as the stable guy hitches the team of two Clydesdales to the sleigh for the first tour of the day, everything shines.


Bells clang as the stable guy drops one of the horse's straps in the snow. I look over my shoulder and glimpse dark stubble and a square jaw as he fumbles to pick it up while Buster, the playful stallion my dad added to the stable years ago as a foal, bends down and nudges the guy off his feet. A perfect day in paradise. 


I step to the front of the line at the gondola and wave my staff pass at the attendant who ushers me inside the next car for the ride to the summit.