All the Romance You Need This Christmas: 5-Book Festive Collection. Romy Sommer

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СКАЧАТЬ out of the bar, trudging through the deep snow as I began the short journey back to the hotel.

      ‘Hang on, hey!’

      I swung round at the sound of a gorgeous Scottish accent behind me, and my heart almost missed a beat as I came face-to-face with the band’s lead singer, the man I’d seen not a few minutes earlier up on the stage. I didn’t know what to say, what to think, because he was here, he was right here in front of me now and it would be rude to just walk away, wouldn’t it?

      ‘You okay?’ he asked, a frown covering his oh-so-handsome face. Yeah. He really was kind of handsome. Oh, not in the same way Jase had been, but he was handsome. No doubt about that, with a rough, stubbled chin and beautiful green eyes that were looking into mine again, just as they had done from the stage not ten minutes ago. ‘Only, you seem a little – flustered.’

      ‘I’m… I’m fine,’ I stuttered, shoving my gloved hands into the pockets of my anorak. ‘I’m just… I’m in a bit of a hurry, that’s all.’

      He smiled again, but I couldn’t smile back. It would be wrong, wouldn’t it? To do that. ‘I saw you, just now. And even though it’s quite difficult to get a good look at anybody when we’re all dressed in this much padded gear, you stood out from the crowd – you really did. You… There was something about you, something that just – just stood out.’

      I looked at him, smiling a weak smile back and even that made me feel guilty. Like I was betraying Jase. I couldn’t shake that feeling. I couldn’t. ‘I really have to go,’ I said quietly.

      ‘Hey, look, before you rush off, don’t I even get to know your name? I’m Zac, by the way.’

      My hands still firmly nestled in my pockets. ‘Nice to meet you, Zac. I’m Jess.’ But I gave him no chance to strike up a conversation or take this meeting any further. Why waste his time? I could never let myself become involved with anyone when my heart still belonged to Jase. And the sooner people got used to that, the better.

      *

      ‘We’re not exactly in a metropolis of a resort here, are we? This place is tiny, so, if she’s here on holiday then she has to be staying in one of the hotels or a chalet somewhere around here, doesn’t she?’ Zac said, running his hands through his hair as he stared at his reflection in the mirror over the sideboard.

      ‘So, what exactly are you planning on doing then?’ Tyler asked, lounging back on the sofa and switching on the large TV on the wall opposite. ‘Are you going to trail round every single hotel and apartment complex looking for her?’

      Zac turned round, fixing Tyler with a look. ‘If I have to.’

      Tyler sat up, picking up a snowboarding magazine from the table beside him, flicking through it but not really taking any notice of anything. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Zac.’ He threw the magazine back down on the table and jumped up off the sofa. ‘Come on, man. Look, you’re real big on this “fate” thing, aren’t you?’

      Zac leant back against the sideboard, folding his arms. ‘I believe that if something’s meant to happen then it will happen. Regardless.’

      ‘Well then, there you go!’ Tyler smiled, walking past Zac into his bedroom, whipping off his t-shirt as he went, throwing it onto the bed.

      ‘What do you mean, “There you go”?’ Zac asked, following him into the bedroom. ‘Y’know, sometimes your whole Aussie way of thinking confuses the hell out of me.’

      ‘I just like to keep you on your toes, mate,’ Tyler grinned, grabbing a black shirt out of the wardrobe and pulling it on. ‘Look, what I’m trying to say is, if you truly believe in fate – if you really believe that if something is meant to happen then it will happen, you don’t need to go looking for this woman, do you? Because she’ll come to you, eventually. D’you see what I’m getting at here?’

      Zac sighed, leaning back against the wall. ‘Yeah. Unfortunately. I just think…’

      ‘Quit with the thinking, mate. Thinking’s overrated. Let’s go out and party. There’s a band on down at Marley’s tonight, I thought we could go check them out, and anything else that happens to be there. You with me? Or are you gonna hang around here all night stressing over something you have no control over?’

      Zac sighed again. Part of him knew that Tyler was right – he was a strong believer in fate, so maybe he should just leave things alone and see what happened. If he was meant to see her again, then surely he would. But there was another part of him that had a feeling that, this time around, fate might need a little bit of a shove in the right direction to get things moving. Would it really hurt to do a little bit of detective work himself?

      ‘Zac, mate – are you coming with me or not?’ Tyler’s voice broke into his thoughts and Zac gave one final, heavy sigh knowing that, for tonight at least, Tyler was right. He’d sleep on it and maybe tomorrow things might seem a whole lot clearer.

       Chapter Six

      Matt had tried, but ultimately failed for a second time, to entice me onto the ski slopes as another dusk-tinged day began in the Arctic Circle. My head was still all over the place as everything that had happened yesterday played heavily on my mind – meeting Mikku, our strange conversation; and then there was Zac. Why had he approached me, of all people? And why couldn’t I stop thinking about him?

      My day began with a breakfast of cereal, bread and a selection of some of the most delicious cold meats I’d ever tasted. It may only have been my second full day in Lapland but I’d already decided that breakfast was one of my favourite times of the day – it was when that rose-tinted daylight was at its strongest, and it truly felt as though a new day was beginning. I didn’t even mind the short trek from our rooms in a separate block to the main body of the hotel that meant you had to don full outdoor gear just to go to breakfast; that was half the fun for me. I was throwing myself into this new experience, and trying to embrace everything it had to offer. No matter how strange some of it seemed to be.

      The dining-room used for breakfast was like stepping into another little piece of traditional Lapland Christmas heaven, and I’d fallen in love with it immediately. With its wood-panelled walls and ceiling, short, red-and-white-checked curtains tied back on all the windows that were adorned with traditional Nordic straw decorations, candles and poinsettias dotted all around, not to mention two huge decorated spruce trees at each end, it was the most magical, warm and cosy place in which to enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I’d already found a favourite table by one of the windows that looked out onto the resort across the road, and that was where I’d sit and sip my tea, watching as everywhere sprung into life, people heading excitedly off to the slopes for a day of skiing or off into town to browse around the shops, enjoy lunch out or a hot chocolate in one of the bars or cafés. It was all here. Whatever you chose to do.

      And today I chose to head off to the slopes, but not to ski. It could do no harm to just hang around and watch, though. It was all I really wanted to do at the minute as my mind got used to this new and completely different Christmas I was experiencing here in Lapland. A Christmas where I was bound to miss Jase just that little bit more because of where I was – a place he’d always wanted to visit and that we’d never quite made it to.

      So, finishing my tea I took one more look out of the window, smiling as I watched a СКАЧАТЬ