3
Noah dragged himself out of bed first thing in the morning and groaned. He needed to be on the mountain bright and early to prep for skiers and snowboarders to arrive. Staying up late for the new year wasn’t something he had cared to do the last few years, but his brothers had convinced him to come out. And he wasn’t entirely sure it was a good idea.
But he sawher. The girl from the lobby.
He tasted her lips. Thrill had shot through him—an excitement he hadn’t felt in a few years. Just as quickly as it had started, it ended. He had to escape before he fell for another tourist. So he forced himself to leave the party immediately.
Despite it all, he couldn’t regret the late night, even with how long his day would feel after the lack of sleep.
Being the head of the ski patrol at the Wintervale Resort put extra responsibility on him. He was in charge of training new hires and making sure everything ran smoothly. He enjoyed every second of it. There was nothing like being on the mountain with the crisp air to remind him how fortunate he was to live in a place like Wintervale.
Noah scrubbed his face and got in the shower before he could convince himself to stay in bed. Afterward, he grabbed his gear and headed to the resort. He got to the gondola just as the other employees arrived, and they all loaded in for the twenty-minute ride to the top of the mountain.
“How’d your night go?” Jeff, one of the ski patrollers, asked.
“It was good. I ended up at the resort party,” Noah said.
“I actually saw you. And I saw a little more, too.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you did.”
Wintervale was a small town and word got around quickly whenever something happened. Everyone knew he didn’t date much, not since his ex. So it felt like whenever he went out with someone, even if it was just a friend, it spread around town like wildfire.
“I didn’t recognize her. Tourist?”
“Yep.”
The few other employees in the gondola with them were carrying on their own conversation and not paying them any attention. At least, not that Noah could tell. Jeff leaned forward and lowered his voice regardless.
“Careful, man.”
Noah tipped his head in acknowledgment. He wasn’t the only one in town who had fallen for a tourist and ended up heartbroken in the end. It was the problem with living in a small town. Everyone knew each other, so the dating pool was tiny. That left tourists to be who most of the younger people dated. But then it left a choice in the end—do they stay in Wintervale, or do they leave?
The entire day, his mind wandered to the black-haired beauty from the night before. He tried to force himself to think about something else, but he thought every woman he saw on the mountain was her. Trying to recognize someone in full snow gear was damn near impossible, especially since he had no ideawhat her snow gear looked like… or if she even planned to take part in any snow sports.
By the time he was doing his last runs to clear the mountain, he was exhausted. The lack of sleep, mental fatigue from constantly looking for her, and the physical fatigue from skiing for several hours had him wanting the day to end.
Noah pushed off the ski lift and waved at the operator before going over to the blue intermediate run. He moved to a new slope with each run, keeping an eye out for anyone who might need help. In his experience, most of the help needed was with skiers who went down a slope that was far above their skill level. Most skiers could work their way down without too much trouble, but occasionally someone was too afraid to continue without a little extra encouragement.
He carved across the slope, going at a leisurely pace to keep an eye out for any stragglers. It had been a quiet day for the ski patrol, which he was thankful for as he never wanted anyone to get hurt, but it also meant he spent a lot of time skiing.
Just as Noah began going by a cat track that cut off from the slope, a flurry of purple came flying off it and straight into him. He wrapped his arms around the person as he was taken off his feet and hit the ground before they started rolling down the mountain. His and the other person’s skis instantly popped off, and he lost his poles in the process of attempting to stop their descent.
The woman squealed, and Noah dug his heels into the ground to slow them down.
“Press your feet into the ground,” Noah said.
Her knee connected with his groin, and he groaned as a zing shot through his body.
They slowed to a stop, and Noah released her before rolling onto his back and taking several deep breaths. She had barelytapped his nuts through all the padding of their snowsuits, but it was enough to render him breathless.
She scrambled up and looked down at him; her goggles pushed up and on the top of her helmet. Her dark brown eyes were edged with concern, and he immediately recognized her. “Oh, my gosh. Are you okay?”
He bit back a groan and swallowed the metallic taste in his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to throw up in front of the woman he had been thinking about the entire day. “I’m good.”
At that moment, recognition crossed her face, and a blush crept into her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I gained too much momentum and tried to slow down on the cat track.”
He took a minute of taking deep breaths until the zing subsided to a dull ache in his groin before pushing himself up. “Are you okay?”
