Read Online Just Say Maybe: A Thistle Bend Novel by Tracy March - Free Book Online

convince him otherwise. After her second visit, he’d invited her to bunk down at his villa.
    During a year of consistent visits, he’d fallen good and hard for Whitney, even though she’d preferred lounging by the pool to active adventures. Satisfied by their after-hours exploits, Bryce had adapted to their differences, buying into the age-old adage that opposites attract. He’d planned to ask her to move to Costa Rica and live with him. But when the time had come for her next visit, he’d gotten a short text from her…
    Can’t make it this week.
    And that had been the end of it. For weeks, his calls and texts to her went unanswered. He had no clue what had happened until he drank too much one night, checked her Facebook page, and saw that her cover photo had been changed to a shot of her engagement announcement.
    Bryce shook off the memory, and lifted his glass to Holly, hoping like hell that he was finally moving on. “So I guess you’ll have to be the judge.”
    Holly gave him a demure look that would slay even the strongest-willed, red-blooded man. It got him right between the pecs and shot straight down, stirring up trouble.
    “Here’s to solving the suite mystery with people we can trust,” he said.
    She tapped her glass against his, took a long sip of wine, and savored it, her lips poised for kissing.
    Good God, how long can I resist?
    Bryce took a slug of his wine, the second best thing he could think of to do with his mouth right now. At least it was a pretty darn good Pinot.
    “I liked the walk-through,” she said. “You’ve got some great ideas for the place. It sounds as if you know a thing or two about the hospitality business.”
    He relaxed a little, since the suite subject was settled for now. “You could say that.”
    She looked up at him and grinned. “I just did.”
    Bryce nudged her shoulder and stayed close. “I’ve had a little practice. I own an adventure lodge in Costa Rica.” He could’ve sworn she tensed, but he couldn’t be certain.
    “Wow. Costa Rica?” She toyed with her long, chunky necklace, seeming lost in thought as she rolled one of the lavender stones between her fingers and stared at the view.
    “Yep. I didn’t know jack about running a lodge until I inherited Los Halcón and got tossed into some intense on-the-job training.”
    “You inherited it?”
    “From a friend I’d only known a few years.”
    “No way.” She sipped her wine. “How does something like that happen?”
    “Probably not the way you’d expect,” he said. “Four years ago I was on a search-and-rescue team working an avalanche on Mount McKinley—they call it Denali now.”
    “Whoa. Search and rescue. That’s intense work.” Holly gazed at him eagerly, seeming impressed, and genuinely interested to hear more.
    Bryce usually enjoyed talking about his search-and-rescue stories, but telling this one had always been difficult. He bolstered himself with another swallow of wine. “Four climbers were missing. The team and I hoped to find them alive, but the conditions were awful. High winds. Blowing snow. Severely limited visibility. All on a thirty-five-degree slope that dropped off into a hundred-foot crevasse.” He shook his head, remembering the scene vividly, almost able to feel it. “And cold as hell. About twenty-five below.”
    Next to him, Holly tucked her elbows in tight and pressed her knees together as if she were fighting a chill. “That’s extreme.”
    He clenched his jaw. “The worst combination of bad that I ever experienced in S and R. Still, we had a ten-person ground crew, and a rescue dog and its handler focusing on the avalanche debris. Despite the conditions, we managed to probe most of the huge snowfield…but there was no sign of the climbers.”
    Holly winced.
    Bryce’s chest tightened as he recalled the tense mission.
    The ticking clock.
    The blinding snow.
    The bone-chilling cold, searing his lungs with every breath.
    “So that left the crevasse,” he