Slope of Love (Love in Bloom: The Remingtons) (3 page)

“That guy’s such an ass,” Teri added. “I have no idea why she’s with him.”

“She won’t be for long. She’s just waiting out the competition. She’s a better person than me. I’d have broken up with him right when I realized he was a jerk. But you know Jayla. Nothing comes between her and winning. Anyway, she’ll break up with him right after the race Saturday. That way she won’t be dealing with a jerk
and
a breakup.” Kia shook her head.

“You think?” Rush ran his hand through his hair, trying to ignore the urge to head straight down to Jayla’s cabin and wring Marcus’s neck.

“I know,” Kia said.

Good
. Maybe that’s what she was doing now. He pulled out his phone and texted Jayla—
Need me?—
as they headed into the lodge for the meeting with the coach and the Carters.

The conference room was lined with windows on two sides, with a spectacular view of the slopes. He and the others settled into the fancy leather chairs that surrounded a large glass table. With mahogany trim around the windows and doors and oak floors with mahogany inlaid in diamond design, the room reeked of class.

Patrick sat down beside him. “Dude, how about those cabins? Pretty nice, huh?” He was tall, muscular, and loved women too much. He was always getting into trouble by sleeping with some local guy’s girlfriend in the towns where they competed. Rush liked him despite his bed hopping ways—maybe even because of it. At least initially, until Rush realized his own views had changed. Patrick was a guy’s guy, a straight shooter, and the first to admit his weakness to women.

“Awesome,” Rush said.

“You see the babe at the front desk?” Patrick pulled off his knit cap, and his short black hair stood on end.

“Didn’t notice.” It was bullshit, but thinking of the receptionist brought his mind back to Jayla and the cry of pain he’d heard in the lobby. Now he wondered where the hell she was. She was usually early for meetings. Not that he should care. She was all wrapped up in Marcus. Let him worry about her.
Yeah, like that’s gonna happen
. He cared. He cared a whole hell of a lot. If that asshole hurt her…He had no idea how she could or would ever let that happen.
She wouldn’t
. He took momentary comfort in that fact, reminding himself again that Jayla wasn’t his. He had no business stepping into her relationship. She was a twenty-eight-year-old woman with more balls than most guys he knew. She could handle this.

Patrick whistled. “Damn. She was stacked.”

Rush caught sight of Jayla outside the door talking to Marcus in a harsh whisper. When Marcus’s hand reached for her, she flinched and took a step backward.

Well, fuck me
. Rush rose to his feet as Marcus stepped closer to Jayla. In the next breath, Jayla turned, her eyes locked on the floor as she came into the room with Coach Cunningham and Chad, the assistant coach, right behind her. Rush sent Marcus a threatening stare before sitting back down, as if every muscle in his body hadn’t been corded tight as a jaguar ready to attack.

Jayla sat across the table from Rush, between Kia and Teri. Kia and Teri leaned in close, whispering to Jayla, and goddamn if her eyes weren’t damp.

Not my problem
. He called bullshit on himself again. Jayla would always be his…
problem
. He pulled out his cell to make sure he hadn’t missed a message from Jayla.
Guess she didn’t need me after all
.

“Listen up.” Coach Sean Cunningham was the strictest, most cutthroat coach in competitive skiing. Even pushing sixty, he was six feet of barrel-chested bulk, with more brown than gray hair, a thick neck, and even thicker arms. Chad stood off to the side. He was short, stocky, and although he tried to keep a rigid exterior to match Coach Cunningham’s, his friendly brown eyes and boyish face betrayed his efforts.

Coach Cunningham took charge with a dead-serious, commanding tone. “You’ll be teaching by day, training in the evenings, and although there’s no curfew for this week of teaching”—he set his steady, slate-blue stare on Patrick, then moved it from one player to the next around the table—“you know the rules. You show up hungover, you can’t practice, or I see
one
deficit, we go to curfew. Got it?”

“Yes, Coach,” they answered in practiced unison.

He set his eyes on Jayla. Rush sat up straighter, his full attention on Jayla’s lack of eye contact. She knew better than not to meet the coach’s eyes, which could mean only one thing. Whatever was going on with Marcus had messed with her head too much for her to react. That was the danger zone. If Marcus messed with her head, he’d mess with her focus, and in turn, her ability to win her competition.

And that was why he couldn’t ignore whatever the hell was going on with her.

“One deficit, and all hell breaks loose.” The coach let the words hang in the air. All eyes slid to Jayla.

Deficit?
Rush knew she would do anything to continue competing. Including covering up lingering pain. Athletes lived in a state of denial when it came to injuries. Coaches, too. They’d rather pretend that the best couldn’t be stopped, and admitting otherwise weakened their faith in the team and their strength overall. Rush knew athletes were a strange breed—himself included. It wasn’t going to change anytime soon. And after the way the coach was staring at Jayla’s shoulder, he was sure she was covering up more than just a relationship gone sour.

After the tension in the room grew thick, which Rush was certain was Coach Cunningham’s intent, the coach continued. “You have free rein today and tomorrow; then you’re mine in the afternoons. Now, please give your full attention to Danica and Blake Carter. Danica coordinated these workshops. She runs No Limitz, the community center in Allure, the next town over, and Blake owns AcroSki, a local ski shop that’s sponsoring the classes.”

“Thanks so much, Coach Cunningham, and thanks to each of you for volunteering to teach,” Danica began. Dark corkscrew curls sprang wildly in every direction, giving her thick mass of hair a windblown look, but Rush knew that was how she always looked. He’d met her husband, Blake, a few years earlier, when he was in town for a competition. He’d gone into Blake’s ski shop and the two had talked for hours and had since become good friends, which was why when Blake told Rush about Danica’s ski clinic, Rush presented it to the team.

Danica continued. “We’ve put these classes together as a way to try to give kids—teenagers in particular—something more to focus on than trouble. Not that these kids are troublemakers, but I think it’s easier for teenagers to stay out of trouble if they have interests beyond the opposite sex.” She paused and flashed a friendly smile. “We’ve got three classes scheduled for each of you every day. You’ll be paired up. Two instructors per class, as I’m sure your coach has already mentioned, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate this. You’ll be teaching kids between the ages of six and fifteen. They’re beginners, and some of the teenagers are…well, teenagers.” She shrugged. “We’ve all been there.”

Blake was well over six feet tall with jet-black hair and friendly eyes. He picked up a piece of paper and added, “We’ve paired a male and female instructor for each course.”

Patrick elbowed Rush. “Sorry, dude, but I’d much rather teach with a chick than you anyway. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

Rush glanced at his female teammates. Kia and Teri would flirt with him the whole time, and that would drive him crazy, but if he worked with Jayla, he’d be sidetracked by his love for her and what a shit Marcus was to her, and that would drive him a different type of crazy.

“Rush, you’ll be teaching with Jayla. Patrick, you’re with Kia, and Cliff and Teri, you’ll be teaching together.” Blake gave them their schedules and thanked them again before ending the meeting.

Great
. He eyed Jayla, who still hadn’t lifted her eyes from her lap or texted him back. He had no idea how he’d navigate teaching with Jayla. There was no way he could keep his mouth shut about Marcus. It was hard enough to stop himself from climbing across the table and taking her into his arms.

Rush waited for the others to leave so he could talk to Blake and Danica alone.

“Rush, great to see you.” Blake opened his arms to Rush. Rush’s eldest brother, Jack, was engaged to Blake’s cousin, Savannah Braden. They’d soon be family.

“There’s nothing hotter than two burly men hugging it out.” Danica laughed as Rush disengaged from Blake and kissed her cheek.

“Look at you. You’re not even showing yet.”

“That’s one of the great things about being tall.” Danica patted her stomach. “Three months along isn’t that far anyway. Thanks for bringing your team into this, Rush. We really appreciate it.”

“Sure, no problem.” He ran his hand through his hair, a nervous habit he’d had for as long as he could remember. “Listen, is there any flexibility in the teaching roster?”

Blake and Danica exchanged a look.

Blake patted Rush’s shoulder. “Sorry, Rush. Your coach specifically asked that we put you with Jayla. I guess she’s got a boyfriend issue, and he wanted her looked after.”

“What the…? And that’s my problem…why exactly?” He crossed his arms, his biceps flexing as he pondered the situation. “Sorry. This isn’t your issue.”

“Do you have a problem with Jayla?” Danica asked.

Rush knew that prior to opening No Limitz, Danica had been a therapist, and he was in no mood to be evaluated. “No. It’s fine. Sorry I brought it up.”

“Are you sure?” Danica asked. “Because if there’s history between you two, we don’t want to put either of you in an uncomfortable position that might compromise the efficacy of the program for the kids.”

History?
Rush was hoping for a future.
Yeah there’s history, all right, but not the type you’re talking about. I’d never treat Jayla the way I used to treat women.
“No, it’s nothing like that. It’s fine. Really.” He wasn’t about to piss off the coach, and the more he thought about the coach’s decision, the more concerned he became about Jayla, Marcus, and her focus when training. The women’s coach wasn’t there this week, and Coach Cunningham had taken over training for both groups. With only six of them, it wasn’t a hardship, but their coach usually kept his nose out of their personal affairs—unless they impacted their performance in competitions. Rush knew that Jayla must have blown a practice or the coach saw something in her relationship with Marcus that he couldn’t ignore.

“Well, at least it says something about what the coach thinks of you,” Blake said. “But then again, we all know you’re the best skier out there. Even if I can kick your ass in acroskiing.”

“Yeah, well, some of us like to be fancy, and some of us just go for speed,” Rush teased.

“Okay, boys, let’s not beat our chests too loudly. Thanks again, Rush. So, we’ll see you at eight tomorrow morning?” Danica reached for Blake’s hand. “Honey, I’m just gonna run to the bathroom.”

After Danica left the room, Blake narrowed his eyes at Rush. “Is there something between you and Jayla? Should I go up against your coach to change the teaching schedules?”

“No, man. We’re cool. Thanks anyway.” The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn’t want Cliff or Patrick anywhere near Jayla. Even though he didn’t have any real concerns about Cliff, he knew Patrick would try to take advantage of her vulnerability. Even thinking about Jayla and vulnerable in the same sentence blew his mind. The Jayla he knew was anything but vulnerable. But after seeing her this afternoon—really seeing her—he wondered what else he’d missed.

NEED ME? WHAT does that even mean?
Jayla had read the text two ways. First with a hopeful heart, which wished for an innuendo for something more, and then with her painfully accurate best-friend eyes.
Do you need me to come kick the shit out of Marcus?
She didn’t need to be taken care of. Not by Rush. Especially not by Rush.

She paced the tile floor of the bright, well-appointed ladies’ room. It was the only place she could go to think where Marcus wouldn’t barge in. In just three weeks he’d snaked into every crevice of her life—and not in a good way. There was a time when she thought she wanted a guy who would fawn over her, but while Marcus started out as attentive, he quickly became controlling. And by the time she realized what had happened, she was knee deep in the last weeks of competition and couldn’t afford the distraction of a breakup. But seeing Rush in the lobby had jolted her out of the competition stupor she’d fallen into, and with only one competition left, it was time to finally break things off with Marcus. She was ashamed that she’d let competing come before breaking up with a guy who didn’t deserve one date with her, much less three weeks of them.

She’d tried to hold firm to her decision to end things with Marcus, and she’d broached the subject before the meeting, but he’d gone off on a tangent about her looking at Rush in the lobby, and she’d dropped it so she wouldn’t be late for the meeting. The last thing she needed was to piss off the coach, too.

Her muscles were so tight that her shoulder pulsed with a dull ache. She wondered if her life could get any more complicated. She’d have to be on top of her game while working with Rush. One flinch and he’d pick up on it. She could only hope that he’d be too wrapped up in his own training and the teaching to take notice.

She dug Tylenol and Motrin from her pocket and popped them in her mouth, then cupped her hands beneath the sink and swallowed them with a handful of water. She stared in the mirror. Where was the woman she’d worked so hard to become? The proud woman who paid her own way through ski camps and training, proving herself and securing enough sponsors to train at the level she needed in order to try out for the Olympic team. She had bags under her eyes. The emptiness she felt showed in her skin, and if she was honest with herself, she heard it in her voice, too.
Face of Dove? Not even close
. During training and competitions, she and Rush usually trained all day and hung together in the evenings at least a few times each week. But Rush was a bone of contention between her and Marcus. And Rush had kept his distance the last three weeks. She didn’t blame him, but she missed him to her core.