Aspen’s hands were strong and sure on Eve’s waist as she angled her head invitingly. “So kiss me.”
Eve’s eyes fluttered shut as she nuzzled Aspen’s cheek, once, twice, three times, teasing them both with the promise of what was to come.
“Eve, please,” Aspen whimpered.
Eve moaned low in the back of her throat because fuck if that wasn’t the sexiest thing she’d ever heard. “God, Aspen.”
The hands on her hips tightened and tugged pleadingly as Aspen chased after her lips. “Please kiss me.”
Eve angled her head to finally, mercifully close the distance between them, but before she could complete that perfect, blissful connection, someone who had to’ve been moving at warp speed crashed into them. The next thing she knew, she was flat on her back on the snow with her skis tangled in Aspen’s snowboard.
“Holy shit, Jordy!” a panicked woman’s voice shouted.
Eve squeezed her eyes shut as Aspen buried her face in the crook of her neck with a grumbled, “Holy shit, indeed.”
Eve could only laugh. Ten seconds ago, she’d been on the precipice of what would have surely been an earth-shattering kiss, but instead of a kiss that made her knees weak, she’d had them forcefully taken out from under her. Granted, having Aspen on top of her was all kinds of amazing, but her ass was starting to throb from how she’d landed on it.
“Oh my god,” the same woman’s voice said, this time with less panic and a heavy dose apology. “I’m so sorry, you two.”
The weight on Eve’s legs lessened, and she groaned as she pried her eyes open.
Concern clouded Aspen’s expression as worried brown eyes danced over Eve’s face. “Are you hurt?”
Eve shook her head. “I’m fine.” She looked past Aspen to the young girl who’d crashed into them and the tall, athletically builtwoman beside her who Eve assumed was her mother. “Are you okay, kiddo?”
The girl nodded and averted her gaze in obvious embarrassment. “I’m really sorry.”
“Me too,” the girl’s mom said as they worked their way slowly to their feet.
Aspen didn’t look particularly impressed by the apology as she turned to look at the woman, but her expression shifted into one of awe as she exclaimed, “Holy shit. You’re Emma Beauchamp!”
The name meant nothing to Eve, but Aspen looked like she’d just met her hero.
It was adorable.
“Guilty as charged,” Emma confirmed with what could only be described as a gold-medal smile. She clapped a hand on the girl’s shoulder and said, “And this rampaging hooligan is my daughter, Jordan.”
“Mo-om,” Jordan whined, her cheeks flaming with embarrassment.
Aspen laughed. “I’m Aspen. And this is Eve.”
“Pleasure to meet you both,” Emma replied genially. She pursed her lips and glanced at her daughter before looking back at them with a wry smile. “I really am sorry about Jordy crashing into you. Looked like you were having a nice little moment before she did her best impression of a wrecking ball.”
Eve’s breath caught at the tender smile that pulled at Aspen’s lips when she glanced at her, and her pulse tripped over itself at the way Aspen held her gaze as she replied, “We’ll have other moments.”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt that,” Emma chuckled. “Well, my wife is waiting for us at the chalet with our youngest, so I’ll get this one down the mountain and out of your way. If you happen to catchus around later, please let us treat you to coffee as an apology. Okay? Hope you have a good rest of your day.”
Eve tore her gaze from Aspen’s to smile at Emma. “Appreciate that but really, there’s no harm done. You guys have a good day, too.”
Once Emma and Jordan had taken off down the path toward Copper, a fun little blue that Eve and Aspen had done a few times that day, Eve asked Aspen, “Who is Emma Beauchamp?”
Instead of answering, Aspen threw her a playful smile and asked, “Not a hockey girl, huh?”
“Not really,” Eve confessed.
“She’s basically American hockey royalty. Was on the national team for, like, forever, before she retired. And if she’s meeting her wife”—Aspen bounced a little in place as her gaze drifted toward the lodge at the base of the hill—“that means Campbell Jordan is around here, too! She was on the Canadian team,” Aspen explained excitedly. “The games where they faced off against each other werelegendary.”
Eve nodded, properly impressed. “She seemed cool.”
