“So, like, how did you guys meet?” Lydia asked as she dug into her hash.
Aspen pursed her lips and inclined her head as she deferred to Eve with a look that said she’d be fine with whatever Eve decided. “You want to tell them, or should I?”
Eve worried her lip for a moment before, with a small eye roll, she placed a hand on Aspen’s leg and opted for a streamlined version of the truth. “Aspen’s cousin Michael introduced us.”
“Wait, you know Michael?” Jack asked around a mouthful of pancakes. “I haven’t seen that bitch in forever!”
Aspen pulled a face. “Dude, don’t be gross. Finish chewing before you speak.”
Jack smirked and swallowed. And then made a point of opening his mouth to show Aspen it was empty before he turned his attention back to Eve. “Anyway, how do you know Michael?”
“We met at a mutual friend’s birthday party like…god, maybe five years ago?” Eve shrugged. “Anyway, he’s my best friend, and, yeah. He introduced us.”
“And how’d that go?” Lydia asked as their server returned to drop off a couple of menus for Aspen and Eve.
Kit snorted and bumped Lydia with her shoulder. “Did you not see them in the club last night grinding on each other? Clearly, it went well.”
“Tactful as ever, Hawthorne,” Aspen muttered as Eve picked up her menu to hide behind.
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Okay, yeah. That’s a fair point.”
“What are your plans today?” Aspen changed the subject as she pushed her menu away. At home, she was a Greek yogurtand coffee kind of girl when it came to breakfast, but today she needed carbs, and she already knew she’d be going for the Belgian waffle topped with a mountain whipped cream and heaping piles of strawberries.
“Dunno yet.” Kit shrugged. “Probably something hangover friendly. Like a nap. Or sweating it out in the sauna.”
“Or both,” Jack said.
Kit gave him a look that saidfuck yeah, we willas she asked, “What are guys up to?”
“Well, first we need to go back to Eve’s parents’ place to get our things. Then we’re heading back to my place,” Aspen shared. She laughed as Jack, who’d just popped another forkful of pancakes into his mouth, started humming theMission Impossibletheme. “But after, I dunno…” Aspen glanced at Eve. She’d thought of something the day before, but she wasn’t sure if it’d be something Eve would even be interested in. “I was thinking it might be fun to hit the trails on the snowmobile so Eve can get her art on.”
Eve hummed and arched a brow. “Really?”
“Only if you want, of course,” Aspen assured her. She didn’t know what to make of the way Eve was looking at her, so she explained, “I just noticed the way you were looking at the terrain and stuff on the lifts when we were skiing yesterday, and I thought it might be something you’d like. But if you’d rather just lay low, or do the sauna thing or something…” She let her voice trail off as Eve smiled at her like she’d just offered her the world.
“You’d really spend the day letting me take pictures?”
“Would I…?” Aspen tucked her hand under Eve’s chin and brushed her thumb over her lips. “Beautiful girl, I’d do anything to make you smile like this.”
“Damn, you’re a smooth fucker,” Kit whistled.
Aspen didn’t look away from the pure wonder that shone in Eve’s eyes as she flipped Kit off, and her heart squeezed whenEve blushed prettily and whispered, “I think I’d really like to try that.”
Eve couldn’t contain thewhoopof delight that escaped her as Aspen throttled their snowmobile out of a sweeping turn to take the oncoming uphill straightaway at speed. She tightened her grip on Aspen’s waist as the trees whipped by in her periphery and felt a thrill that had nothing to do with the ride when Aspen leaned back into her.
The view as they crested the incline was absolutely breathtaking, and she was about to tap Aspen’s leg to signal she’d like to stop when the sled slowed, and Aspen steered them to a controlled stop near the side of the trail.
She waited until Aspen killed the engine to climb off the back and trade her helmet for the beanie she’d tucked into her jacket pocket before stepping away to admire the view.
“Not bad, right?” Aspen asked.
Eve nodded slowly as her gaze drifted over the gray, angular rocks on the mountain beside them whose steep pitch left them exposed, and the curving swaths of evergreens that surrounded them that were split by chutes of unblemished snow. “No. Not at all.” She tore her gaze from the view to look back at Aspen as she pulled her camera bag off over her head. “Where are we?”
Aspen smiled and ruffled a hand through her hair in an entirely distracting way. “Near Maroon Bells.”
“Do you mind if we hang out here for a bit and I take somepictures?”
“Only if I can watch.”
