I made a sound deep in my throat. “Don’t I know that.”
“I’m rooming with Kimmy,” I stated, glancing down at the room assignment along with the key I’d been given. I didn’t know Kimmy all that well but from our handful of interactions over the past fours years she seemed nice enough.
“Room 338. You’re one floor below me.”
Oddly, that brought me a modicum of relief. Why, I wasn’t quite sure, however.
“Did you bring your own skis or do you need to rent a pair?” Robert asked after we’d all settled into our rooms and then had a hearty lunch in the resort’s huge dining area.
I grunted. “I’m not skiing,” I insisted.
“How can you come on a ski trip and not ski?”
“You practically forced me into this trip.”
Robert gave me a look. “You and I both know I didn’tforceyou to do anything you didn’t want to do. If you didn’t want to be here you wouldn’t.”
I lifted my chin, folded my arms across my chest, and stated, “I would’ve felt bad for wasting your money.”
To my surprise, Robert bent over, laughing. The deep sound moved something in me and I found myself giggling as well.
“You don’t give a shit about wasting my money.”
I lowered my head, continuing to laugh. “Whatever. Yeah, so, I wanted to come. Happy now?”
“Not quite, but we’re getting there.”
I didn’t have time to ask him what he meant before he was dragging me out the door, and over to the cabin to rent a pair of skis for the week.
“I’ve never done this before,” I stated nervously, as he helped me into my skis.
“Really? I couldn’t tell,” he responded sarcastically.
“Asshole.”
He chuckled. “I’ve been called far worse, princess.”
“I’m sure you have.”
“We can do the bunny slopes a few times until you get used to the feel of these.”
“Isn’t skiing dangerous? Like, haven’t people been killed skiing into trees?” I glanced around at the steep mountains, biting my lower lip.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Robert said.
I was taken aback by the sharpness of his tone, and when I looked into his eyes I could tell that he meant it. And God only knows why, but I believed him. Like Robert Townsend could move a planted tree on sheer will and desire alone if he needed to, just to keep me safe.
I lowered my head, choosing to stare at the white snow as the sun shone off of it. The natural scenery around us, gorgeous as it was, actually felt less hypnotizing than the gleam in Robert’s eyes.
“Let’s get started,” he urged after a few heartbeats of silence.
And so began my first ski lesson.
Chapter Seven
Then
Robert
