One Perfect Night

out getting last-minute gifts for the women in their lives.
    But she liked the significance of the day for another reason, as well. This store was her gift to herself...and was proof positive that she didn’t need a man in her life to make her happy. She could make herself happy, damn it.
    Still, she’d had more super-sexy dreams during the past week than she’d had in her entire life. And Noah from Lake Tahoe had starred in every last one of them.
    She’d hoped her endless hours of working to get her store ready to open would help her forget him. But they hadn’t. If anything, she found him popping up in her thoughts all the time. Like how she’d forgotten to be afraid on the ski lift with him, and now, she refused to be afraid to go to the top of the Space Needle. When she’d unwrapped a box of gift books on angels, her heart had clenched at the memory of the snow angels they’d made together. And when she saw a couple holding hands as they walked down the sidewalk outside, she’d thought about the way he’d held her hand for a little while...and how right it had felt, snow gloves and all.
    When she sighed, Mia shot her a look. "Still thinking about the guy from the slopes, aren’t you?"
    There was no point in pretending otherwise, not when her friend had laser vision for things like this. After all, hadn’t Mia been the one to question Rob’s scum-like qualities long before Colbie had walked in on him cheating on her? Mia’s brother Rafe might be the P.I., but there was no question about her people-reading skills. It was what made her such a great Realtor; she had a knack for pairing up her clients with just the right properties, even when they swore they were looking for something else entirely.
    "I thought turning him down was the right thing to do," Colbie said. "And maybe it was. But I’ve said no to dating plenty of guys and never given it a second thought—until now."
    Yes, he’d certainly made an impression on her up on the snowy mountain, but how could she possibly have known just how big a deal meeting him really was? Especially when she’d still been so hurt by what Rob had done. Because hadn’t her ex seemed great on first meet, only to end up not being great at all?
    But as she’d awakened over and over again in the middle of the night from yet another sexy dream about Noah, her skin sensitive and overheated as her sheets brushed over it, she’d found herself wondering why she’d ever compared Rob to Noah.
    Sure, she hadn’t really known Noah apart from the warmth of his arms around her. And his strength and his ability to hold her steady even as she’d sent them tumbling together down the mountain. And his concern for a complete stranger when Colbie had bit the dust avoiding a small child in the snow. And his patience and encouragement in teaching her to ski.
    But hadn’t she known for far longer than she’d wanted to admit to herself that Rob wasn’t going to be her forever? And hadn’t she simply stayed with him out of the fear of being alone? Yes, it had hurt when she’d caught him cheating, but how much of it had been her heart that hurt...and how much of it had been the fact that he’d stung her pride with his callous behavior?
    Suddenly, she wished she could rewind to that day on the slopes. She wished she could have been brave enough to accept more than an offer to learn to ski from a sinfully gorgeous man, whose strong and steady heartbeat she could still feel against her cheek in her dreams.
    "Why didn’t I get his number, at least?"
    Mia carefully tucked the tissue-wrapped French lingerie into her purse. "You should call Rafe. I’ll bet he could help you find the guy."
    Colbie started laughing, then stopped when she realized her friend was serious. "You really think I should hire a private investigator to find a guy I spent a few hours with in Lake Tahoe?"
    "Look," Mia said, looking as serious as she ever got, "I heard all that stuff you said about not wanting to be distracted by a guy right now, but you and I both know that your store is going to do really well whether or not you’re dating someone. I think the real reason you blew off what sounded like a super-hot, super-great guy was because your ex made you lose faith in all men, rather than just him." Mia’s expression turned fierce. "Rob didn’t deserve you while you were dating, and he sure as heck doesn’t deserve to ruin your next relationship, too."
    Mia pulled her cell phone out of her purse,