“Even with people parking on it?” she asked, gathering up the few items Rick hadn’t already taken. A heavy knit blanket big enough for two people in lawn chairs to share if they sat close enough together. Enough paper plates and bowls to feed the mass of people out on the lake.

“That’s a bad idea.” Rick followed her line of sight. “The ice is thick enough to handle the weight, as long as they stay close to the shore. Kids get reckless sometimes. Don’t worry. We’ll make them move. Just stay away from the area past those orange cones. That’s where the ice gets thin.”

Lana threaded her arm through Rick’s as they headed across the ice. “I wasn’t worried at all. Not about your ability to handle an unruly teen. I should have brought something to eat though. It seems wrong to go to a potluck and not bring something in a pot.”

She’d been fretting about that all morning. She’d fretted her way through fifteen outfits, four different hats, and far too many websites about proper potluck offerings. The result had been cute jeans and a fluffy cream sweater, a lime-green naughty reindeer sock hat, and Rick promising her no one was going to care if all they brought were paper products. There would be chilis and cheese dips to spare.

“Next time, we’ll figure out what to bring,” Rick told her.

Next time. A flush of warmth filled her chest. He’d said it so easily, as if it was assumed there would be parties after this, and they’d be attending those parties together too. Her fingers gripped his arm tighter, because she knew it wasn’t that easy. A holiday fling was one thing. But at some point, Lana would have to go to her other jobs, attend to other accounts, and put out other fires.

Would it be enough, knowing she would be back eventually? Was it wrong to ask him to wait?

Long distance never lasted. Walking away from her family wasn’t even on the table and not because of the money. Montgomerys were loyal if nothing else, and loyal to a fault to their own. No. Leaving the company, her career, and everything she’d worked for wasn’t an option.

“You okay?” Kind hazel eyes gazed down at her. “No one will give you a hard time. I promise.”

The man was sweeter than he realized, and the way he was looking at her made Lana’s heart twist in her chest.

“I’m better than perfect.” Lana leaned her cheek into his shoulder. Rick flicked the fuzzy ball on the end of her hat.

He’d been in a great mood all day. Apparently, if everyone was out on the water, no one would be interested in playing a game of pool. Besides, the tournament had been a huge—and lucrative—success. By default, he was getting a day off. They’d spent a lovely morning together, in which Rick tried and failed to convince her that trout and toast was a terrible excuse for a breakfast. They’d taken snowmobiles—snow machines, if she wanted to be a local—out in a half-hearted attempt to locate the Santa Moose, but they’d spent more time making out and playing in the snow than actually trying to find the animal. Rosy cheeked from the cold and from sheer happiness, Lana succeeded in convincing him that sneaking into the dry sauna was a perfect way to hide from her growing email inbox.

She’d been tempted to steal Rick away for an entire day of only the two of them, but Lana wasn’t the type to admit defeat. Instead, she was soldiering on, hoping that a new day might bring new results.

Besides, it was hard to stay discouraged with her hand in Rick’s, especially when he kept catching her eye, shooting her smoldering looks. They were lucky the ice was thick on this lake. The growing heat between them was liable to leave them both sloshy messes as they melted right through the ice beneath their feet.

True to his promise, Rick and Ash forced those parking too far out on the ice to move their trucks back to the shore where she’d left her helicopter. When most people arrived in regular vehicles, Ash was going to fly.

Yep, Lana definitely wanted to grow up to be her.

There was something about knowing they were on a giant ice cube that made the party even more fun. She was still getting worried looks, but the hostility had gone down a few noticeable notches, especially when everyone was focused on enjoying themselves.

Zoey and Graham were in their own world…or at least they were attempting to be. Their newly elected mayor was trying very hard not to be in charge, despite constantly having people come up to him, asking for help or advice. In their moments left alone, the couple kept sharing inside jokes and little touches that meant nothing to the people next to them and everything to each other. Easton had settled off to the side, quietly chewing on a sandwich and participating in the activities only when forced. Jake had abandoned them all for Rick, draped in Rick’s arm and his tail thumping relentlessly against Rick’s shoulder.

“I think the dog in the fedora stole my date,” Lana told Ash, watching the pair playing together.

“I think your date doesn’t mind.” Ash’s gaze lingered on Lana, then flickered to Rick. “So you ignored me completely. How’s that working out for you?”

“So far, pretty well.”

Ash sighed. “You know, when these big lugs get their hearts broken, I always have to drag their drunk sorry asses into a snowbank to sober them up.”

“What if I end up the drunk one with the broken heart?” Lana asked wryly.

With a chuckle, Ash pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. “I suppose snowbanks work for all of us.” Catching the look Lana gave the cigarettes, Ash rolled her eyes. “I don’t need another person telling me what’s bad for me.”

“If I call you a hypocrite, you’ll probably beat me up, huh?”

This time, Ash laughed. “Touché. And I suppose there are worse things than a holiday fling,” Ash said.

“You should see him in a skintight Santa suit.”

Ash shuddered. “Rick’s like my brother. I really shouldn’t.” Her expression suddenly turned serious. “Lana? Is that—?”

Lana followed Ash’s gaze, then her heart dropped somewhere in the vicinity of her knees. “Get help,” she said.

Without thinking, Lana began to run.

* * *

Rick didn’t know what was happening—only that someone had started to shout, followed by people rushing past the bonfire.

“What’s going on?” he demanded of Zoey, the one person going the opposite direction.

“I’m calling for an ambulance,” she yelled back over her shoulder. “Someone fell through the ice.”

Meaning if they got them out in time, the swimmer would need to go immediately to the hospital. If. The water temperature was only slightly above freezing beneath the surface of the lake. Running fast on ice wasn’t easy, and people were slipping and falling as they converged toward the east side of the lake, the side everyone knew not to go onto.

The ice was too thin for everyone to go farther, leaving only a few of them reckless enough to head for the figures in the distance.

“Who is it?” he yelled to Easton, then Rick’s heart sank to his stomach as he saw a shock of multicolored hair and a figure kneeling where the ice had broken.

“Ash, get away from there!” Easton yelled. The ice creaked under Easton’s feet as he started to cross to his sister.

“Stay back,” Ash called back. “Graham, get my rope. They’re in the water!”

They.

They.

Rick’s heart knew it before his eyes found her in the broken circle where ice gave way to slushy water. That lime-green Christmas knit hat soaked and slipping sideways.

“Lana!” Before he knew what he was doing, Rick had cried out her name, ripping his arm free of whoever held him back.

Ash was dangerously close to tumbling in herself, stretching as far as she could to try to reach Lana’s hand. And within the water, fighting against the bobbing ice chucks, was the woman he loved. He didn’t know if she was a strong swimmer, but with one arm clinging to an ice chunk and another trying to hold a sobbing eight-year-old above the water, Lana wasn’t going to last long.

“Someone call Jonah,” Rick yelled to the crowd behind him. “It’s Daniel.”

Daniel was Jonah’s second-youngest son, and he must have snuck away from the watchful eyes of his mother. Jonah’s wife, Kelly, cried out in terror. She pushed her infant daughter into Frankie’s arms, darting out across the ice, but Diego caught her, pulling her back.

“Take him,” Lana said through chattering teeth, trying to push Daniel close enough for Ash to reach.

Lana was already turning blue, and the ice beneath Ash’s knees was pooling with water, about to break. The cracking of ice beneath them was a bad, bad sign. She shoved Daniel closer, just enough for Ash’s fingers to hook his jacket hood, then the ice beneath Ash gave way. Rick grabbed for Ash, and Easton grabbed for him, a human chain managing to pull the child out of the water and onto the dubious safety of the ice.

Pushing the duo into Easton’s hands, Rick abandoned them for the woman still in the water. Lana was holding onto an ice chunk, but her grip was slipping.

“Rick, don’t,” Easton snapped, but he wasn’t going to wait. Shrugging out of his jacket and kicking off his shoes, Rick dove into the water.

He’d only have a short chance to help her before the ice water stole his strength too. But he knew Graham was going for a rope, and Ash always kept one in her helicopter.

The water was like a punch to the stomach, so cold he cursed. Four seconds to swim to her, two to lock his arm around her, getting a hold on the slipped ice chunk and hauling them both higher out of the water.

“I’ve got you,” Rick promised.

“Who’s got you?” Lana asked, breathless and chattering.

“Easton has us both. Look at me, sweetheart. Don’t be scared.”

He was terrified, but when those liquid pools turned his way, Rick knew he would jump every single damn time. His arms shook as the cold stole his strength, along with his breath.

“Rick, grab the rope!”