A solid, immovablemountain.
I squeeze Stone’s hand, and his thumb brushes over the back of mine.
“Gotta get her higher, Logan,” Stone says in the headset.
“Working on it. The updraft will stall my blades if I get her there too fast,” he replies.
I squeeze harder, wondering how many times each season Stone finds himself in these situations.
Suddenly, the helicopter drops, and I swear to God it falls a hundred feet before the rhythmic sound of the blades above us steadies out, and we’re banking hard to the left.
“Nicely done,” Stone says to Logan.
“I keep telling you I’m good with a stick,” Logan jokes, making me feel slightly better.
Easing up on the pressure I have on Stone’s hand, but not fully letting go, I finally open my eyes in time to see Logan making a hand-job motion in the air.
“After whatever the fuck that was, I’ll give you a handy just for getting us back safely,” I tease.
Stone groans into the microphone at his mouth. “God, Han, don’t encourage him.”
“Actually, yes,Han,do all the encouraging. I’d love to feel?—”
“Logan, I’ll push you out of this fucking bird and land it myself,” Stone barks, making Logan laugh.
The banter feels nice, like I’m part of the group.
But Stone holding my hand feels even better.
No. No, no, no. This. Can’t. Happen.
I can’t have a crush on Stone! Just because we’ve found neutral ground doesn’t mean anything’s changed. It certainly doesn’t meanhe’schanged. And even if he had, he’s mybrother.Step or not, we grew up together…atleast we did for eight years. I call his fatherDad. We will be in each other’s lives for the rest of them.
Carefully, I pull my hand out of his and give him a tight smile when he turns to see why I’m pulling away.
“I’m doing okay,” I lie.
I’m not okay with any of this. Truth be told, the prospect of going down in this helicopter is a helluva lot less terrifying than realizing I have acrushon Stone Addario.
Chapter 15
Stone
“Do you still eat green peppers and pepperoni on your pizza?” I call up to Hanlon from the living room. The showerfinallycut off after forty minutes, and I don’t feel like cooking tonight. It was a long day. The resort is in full swing and getting busier the closer we creep toward Christmas.
There were two distal radius fractures on the mountain today, and a collision that sent two skiers into concussion protocol.
Ever since the backcountry search and rescue, it’s felt like we’ve been going nonstop.
The bathroom fan turns off, and the door opens.
“What?” Hanlon yells down to me.
My attention is drawn to his voice, but I should never have looked up. My stepbrother is leaning over the edge of the railing, wearing nothing but a low-slung towel around his hips. His hair is still dripping water onto his chest, and I just set the world record for going from flaccid to fully erect.
It was so fast, it kind of hurt, and I instinctively drive the heel of my hand into my crotch.
“What did you say?” Hanlon repeats, bringing another towel up to his hair.Jesus.His biceps flex with the movement, and I’m having trouble swallowing.
