The Gingerbread Shred

By Nicki Greenwood

Entertainment blogger Maura Barnes is a go-getter determined to interview the ungettable: elusive Hollywood heartthrob Pax Campbell. Problem is, she’s no daredevil, and the only way to catch Pax is on the slopes.

Pax escapes to a Colorado resort intending to snowboard away his Christmas in solitude. Maura’s arrival throws an ice hazard into his anticipated smooth ride. She’s beautiful, too observant, and a complete noob on the powder. All good reasons why he shouldn’t teach her, but he can’t resist.

Maura’s as determined to get a story out of him as he is to avoid her looking too deeply at his secret heart. Will the sparks between them be the year’s biggest scoop, or will they lead to a disastrous wipeout?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicki Greenwood
• Release date: Oct 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781736251942

Nicki Greenwood

Nicki Greenwood graduated SUNY Morrisville with a degree in Natural Resources, which of course has nothing to do with writing novels. She has also worked in a bakery, an insurance agency, a flower shop, and a doctor's office, which have nothing to do with writing, either. She did spend an awesome two years as an assistant editor for a publisher, and now does freelance editing on the side. Nicki still holds down a day job, which manages to get her out of the house once in a while. She's been writing since 2010 and loving it.Nicki lives in upstate New York with her husband, son, and assorted pets. If you can't find her at her computer, you can always try the local Renaissance Faire.

Book preview

Contents

Also by Nicki Greenwood

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

About the Author

Thank You

Also by Nicki Greenwood

Ask for these titles at your favorite bookseller.

Earth

Water

Air

Fire

Freak Frat

The Serpent in the Stone

Flashpoint

The Fudge Ripple Effect

Suncatchers and Sherbet

The Peppermint Bark Proposal

Finding Home

Heavy Netting

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events or incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2023 Nicki Greenwood

Published in the United States of America by

North Star Press, LLC

Liverpool, New York

Cover design by Nicki Greenwood

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used, reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or information retrieval system, without written prior permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For information regarding permissions, contact the author at [e-mail].

First ebook edition: October 2023

ISBN 978-1-7362519-4-2

Summary: Entertainment blogger Maura Barnes is determined to interview the ungettable get: elusive Hollywood heartthrob Pax Campbell. When she catches him at a Colorado ski resort over the Christmas holiday, will the sparks between them be the year’s biggest scoop, or will they lead to a disastrous wipeout?

To Denise,

my partner in crime.

Chapter One

Maura Barnes stared down the snow-covered slope, propped in place by her ski poles and fairly convinced they were the only things holding her upright. Um. No. I’m going to go with no.

You’ve got this, the instructor urged. Just like we practiced. Push out with your heels when you want to slow down.

I won’t need to slow down if I just stay put, she said.

The instructor chuckled. Oh, sure. He could laugh. He’d probably been born on the slopes. Maura debated the possibility of jabbing his foot with the end of the ski pole.

Nope. She needed it for balance.

What are you waiting for? Just push off, called her not-much-older-but-somehow-a-natural-at-this sister, Becca. She stood at the bottom of the slope beside her boyfriend Jake, who was equally annoying in his talent for skiing considering they were all native Californians. They could have been on the intermediate hills, but they’d decided to stay with her, which made Maura feel like a third wheel.

Fifth wheel, really. She, Becca, and Jake had come to Elk Grove, Colorado to visit their cousins for the holidays and try the skiing. What did it hurt, Maura had decided, that she’d heard Pax Campbell would be in town as well?

He was probably skiing. And probably also better than she was at it. If she were to find him, she had to try this.

Maura glared through her rented goggles, wishing she’d stepped foot outside San Francisco more often. San Fran might have thought about snow once or twice, but if one wanted the real deal, it was several hours of travel from there to the Sierra Nevadas. Neither she nor Becca had ever bothered to make the trip, but Becca looked like an instant snow bunny instead of a woman with maybe a week total of ski time under her belt.

Such talent was clearly, and lamentably, not genetic.

Remember why you agreed to this, remember why you agreed to this, Maura muttered. Pax Campbell was somewhere on this mountain, and so help her, she would be the first person to get a word out of him that wasn’t filtered through his public relations representative.

Her cousin Susan whooshed by, waving, clad in hot pink like some ad for the resort. Another one who made skiing look like child’s play. Matter of fact, children half Maura’s height and a quarter her age shooshed past her like it was nothing.

Oh, don’t be such a coward, she scolded herself. You got yourself out from behind your computer. Now live a little.

She dug her ski poles in, then set her jaw and stared down the slope the instructor had called the beginner’s hill. It’s not so bad, she told herself. If I fall, it’s just a little hurt pride. Not like I’m taking on the Swiss Alps.

That’s the spirit, the instructor said. I’ll be right with you on the way down.

Maura dug the ski poles in and pushed. The skis jolted her forward, then she jerked awkwardly to a halt. Okay, so she needed more oomph. She dug in and tried again.

Maybe this wasn’t a good—

Auuuuugh! With a howl of dismay, Maura shot forward down the slope. The world whooshed past in a snowy white blur. She heard the ski instructor call after her, but his words drowned under the hammering of her heart.

Stop. Quit. Snowplow. Escape key! She shoved her heels outward—too much, too fast. Her skis veered out from under her, toes out, and she toppled forward.

Splat. Maura landed face first in the snow, regretting her life choices.

Maura, are you okay? Becca shooshed to a stop beside her then reached down a gloved hand.

Maura spat out a mouthful of snow then pushed up to a sitting position. And I was hoping my inexperience wouldn’t be so obvious. She reached up to take Becca’s hand then struggled upright to dust off her ski pants. How is it you’re my sister and I didn’t get the skiing gene? Was it, like, used up on you because you’re older, or what?

The instructor slid to a stop beside her, his face devoid of judgment, but Maura felt her ears burn under her fuzzy knitted ski hat. I think I’ll hang up my skis for today, she told him.

Are you sure? he asked. You still have ten minutes in your lesson.

Oh, I’m sure. I know a path of diminishing returns when I see it.

Becca reached for Maura’s hand. Why don’t we go to—

You and Jake should get back to the slopes, Maura said. I’m going to the lodge. Don’t worry. I have some blog posts to edit.

Maura.

Go, Maura insisted. She