The next time I had a meeting with my snowboarders I made sure that I was thirty minutes early. I couldn't afford to get snow tires put on my car, but I could make sure that I would have enough time to come up with a solution if I got stuck again. Thankfully that didn't happen this time and I made it to the parking lot without any issues or cursing.

As I was setting up my gear Shawna, the cut throat rep, appeared.

"Good morning," I greeted as I cleaned one of my lenses. My voice was light and kind, but I could feel the tension pulling at my shoulders.

"Morning. After last time I thought I would've scared you off for good," she mused. It was impossible to know if she was teasing me or not.

"Unfortunately I'm pretty driven," I said. I hated the way her little jab made me think, made my mind reel with all of her possible meanings. I shouldn't donate power so easily.

But she just took up more of my mental space when she continued on. "Yes, I could understand that after everything that happened between you and that hockey player. Any distraction and payment must be a blessing. But it must be crippling to go from almost being the wife of the NHL's golden boy to well...this."

My fingers stopped working for a fraction of a second as the shock slapped me across the face. But with a woman like Shawna I could never let her see how much she got to me. I let out a slow breath to calm down my heart rate that was suddenly thundering and allowed my cloth to swipe over my lens again.

"This happens to be what I want so I wouldn't really call it crippling," I managed, hoping I sounded stronger than I felt. I wondered if the frigid mountain wind would be enough to blow me away and call me out of my bluff of stability.

"Well, I'm glad that you are doing this for yourself because Tyson and Hudson can be a lot to handle and you wouldn't be the first photographer they've toyed with. They're both well-meaning guys they just haven't quite outgrown the mountain mentality and they would both prey on the fact that you have a history of dating your models. Graydon seems to be the only reasonable one on the whole team."

"I've handled whole teams of entitled, young guys who think that they are worthy of royal treatment. It's no secret that the guys can clean up nice, but designer suits won't cover up the fact that they are basically whiny seven year olds who can handle a puck well or take a hit," I defended, feeling my skin crawl at her continual stabbing.

Shawna smiled at that. At least, I think it was a smile. Maybe her mouth just twitched and I was desperate to perceive it as kindness or humor. Then her gaze moved beyond me and she adjusted her expensive jacket.

"It looks like your boys are finally here. I trust that you have everything under control. I look forward to seeing those pictures, when can you have some samples to me by?"

"I can get a few edited tonight and send them off if you'd like?"

"Perfect."

When Tyson showed up he seemed like he was in a good mood. he was laughing and joking with Graydon and Jackson. Keeping Shawna's warning in mind I brushed if off when he made a couple of lude comments about how nice my butt looked in my jeans. If this was the most this man could dish out then I could handle it. in fact, I had been up against much worse and when the time was right I would put Tyson in his place and make him regret saying anything about my ass ever. For now I just needed to secure enough income to get out of my apartment that my ex still had full access to.

The session went well. All of the guys were howling with laughter when Hudson took a fall as he couldn't land his trick properly. He took it good naturedly, smiling as he brushed the snow off of his jacket. When I thought of the furious and competitive nature that came with hockey it was vastly different from this tight knit comradery. Sure the hockey team was one unit, but it wasn't jovial and care free like this.

And here, on this mountain side there was no one pushing me to do something I didn't want to. Though Tyson was behaving inappropriately he wasn't trying to take advantage of me or force me into life changing decisions. True, his behavior wouldn't be tolerated for much longer, but it wasn't hurting me like Connor was.

I had to get my locks changed. Better yet, I had to find a new place to live. And I was getting closer to the end of my lease, but I was still just a little short to move out into a new place and put down a damage deposit.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you really quick," Hudson called, bending over to undo his bindings when we neared the end of our day.

"what's up?" I asked, flicking through some of my recent shots. Some of them were definitely worthy of Shawna and her calculating eyes.

"I'm going out to Fernie this weekend and I was hoping that you would come with me, accommodations paid for, of course." With his feet free he clomped on the snow towards me and slid his goggles onto his helmet.

I blinked, taken aback. This was certainly beyond the usual flirty request for dinner. And seeing his face instead of just his gear was also a shock, like I forgot that he could be handsome. Those kind brown eyes shone with anticipation.

"For work?" I confirmed, my mind ringing with Shawna's warning.

"Of course," he agreed, "Rush has already approved it. They want to see you film some stuff instead of just photography. Why? Did you think it was going to be a romantic getaway? Tyson is really getting to your head."

The teasing made my face flame and my eyes drop to the snow that glittered diamonds. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking. Of course it would be for work. But videos?"

"Yeah, viewers like them a lot more. It also helps show off the parts of tricks and technicalities that pictures miss."

"My gear isn't set up for videography. Sure, it's capable of basic videos, but-"

"They aren't expecting the world. I told them it would be more for fun, just to experiment."

"Filming all four of you is going to take a lot more time than just photos because I'm so new to it."

"It'll just be me, the rest of the guys are busy."

"For how long?"

"Three days which includes travel. Half day Friday and half day Sunday so you can get back to whatever it is you do on your normal work week."

I didn't tell him that I didn't exactly have a normal work week anymore. My empty days were spent sitting by the telephone and sifting through my emails, hoping that someone somewhere wanted me.

And going to Fernie with Hudson meant two nights in a hotel with hundreds of kilometers between Connor and I. Plus, the payment could be enough to get me into a new apartment.

"I'd love to go," I agreed.

***I hope you enjoyed the back to back chapters! I hate to end it, but it also means that The Princess and The Alpha is officially published! If you'd like a copy I have links to my website scattered through my conversations. Any support would mean the world to me.***