I made a face.
“Jealous?” she asked, clearly pleased.
“Do you mind if I am?”
“No. It’s actually kind of cute. Although…” She looked away, toward the mountains. “This is just a fling, right?”
There it was. The line we’d drawn. The expiration I wasn’t sure I liked anymore so quickly into this situation.
“Right,” I added, even as my gut twisted.
I chased her down the mountain three more times, never quite passing her by, but I loved the sight of her in front of me. Better than boarding alone. On the fourth run, at the top, with a calm peak above us, the sun blazed. Lilah stopped just off the lift before going down.
“Beautiful day for this. I’m so glad you talked me into going out.” She unzipped her jacket, letting it hang at her waist. I did the same with mine, and was still plenty warm with a thermal layer underneath.
Honestly, I was impressed with her skills, but it stung a part of me that had hoped to show off for her a little today. And that’s about where my coherent thoughts ended as she pulled off her thermal layer, revealing the hot pink bikini top beneath, bare shoulders gleaming in the sun.
“You’ll burn,” I warned, gawking at her, glad I was the only man on the mountain today.
She laughed.
“You think it’s funny?” I stepped closer. That protective, possessive thread inside me tugged way too hard. “You'd better run.”
Her eyes lit up. “What do you mean?”
“Get down that slope,” I warned, low. “Because if I catch you, Lilah…”
“You haven’t caught me yet.” She tilted her head, pure tease.
I leaned in, close enough that my breath stirred her hair. “When I do, I’ll be very tempted to tear that top right off you, carry you to the nearest tree and warm your nipples with my mouth.”
“Well… we are alone up here. Maybe clothing should be optional for one day.” She winked.
Who replaced icy Chef Childs with this monster of fun? Oh, yeah, that’d be me, after what I did to her last night and this morning. This woman got the blood pumping to my cock again, but before my heart could remember how to function properly, she grabbed my thermal henley from the hem and yanked it up. I barely got my arms out in time before she tossed it over her shoulder.
“Hey—”
“Clothing optional for you as well,” she laughed as her hands slid over my chest. I caught her wrists, and went in for a hard, hot kiss that could have melted snow.
When she broke away, eyes bright, she ripped off her top, her nipples instantly perky. “Want me? Come get me.”
“Oh, you better run now, little bunny,” I called. “Run!”
I had exactly half a second more to admire the perfect flash of sun on her bare breasts before she took off, laughing and carving hard into the slope. She was a dare in pink and white, streaking across my mountain.
I went after her, heart pounding, grinning like a maniac.
Yes, I really liked the view of her snowboarding with me bare-breasted. But more than that, I loved the sound of her laughter echoing the whole way down. Something told me Frosty melted. I took full credit.
14
BEST FLING
HOLDEN
About an hour later,we burst into the lodge lobby from the tunnel, boards under our arms, still laughing about how it had taken me until the last run to officially beat her down the mountain.
“I let you win,” she insisted.
