Authors: Chantilly White
“What? Oh, yeah, I just—”
“Is this bothering you?” he asked, kicking his legs out harder.
Swallowing a squeak, she nodded. “A little. Would you mind—”
“I bet you don’t want me to do this, huh?” Dane bounced and rocked side to side, chortling.
The seat shimmied and swayed, and all the blood seemed to drain out of her head.
“Please don’t do that,” she managed, her voice coming out high and thin.
Seeming to realize she was serious, Dane stopped the motion, patting her on the shoulder.
“Okay, okay, sorry,” he said, still grinning.
Was he really that much of a jerk, or had he only been playing around? She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, hoping he’d only been showing off. They rode in silence for a moment, Melinda trying desperately to come up with a new topic.
“So, Denmark,” she said finally. “Wow. What brought you out here?”
“Work,” he stated, as though that should be obvious.
He brought his hand from around her shoulder and skimmed it down her cheek, then snagged a lock of her hair and fanned the ends between his gloved fingers.
“Do you work here every year?” Melinda asked, trying to ignore his hand. “What do you do in the off-season?”
“I teach skiing all over the world, a different place every year,” he answered with a shrug. “Summers I teach surfing, same thing. Last year I was in Hawaii, next summer I’ve got a gig lined up in Australia.”
“That’s incredible,” Melinda said, impressed. “You must get to see some amazing places.”
“It doesn’t suck,” he said. “When the lesson season’s slow, I travel. Thailand, Peru, South Africa, Russia. All over.”
They reached the end of the lift and hopped off. The rest of the class had already gone down the slope, so they started off together. Dane kept the pace slow so they could talk.
“Have you been anywhere?” he asked.
“Some. Not like you, but I’ve been all over the States and into Canada. Mexico. I’m still in college, but when I graduate I want to go to Europe.”
He scoffed. “College. The best education’s getting out and seeing the world.”
Maybe, but she wanted her traditional education, too, and her home-sweet-home waiting for her at the end of the day. Or the vacation.
“Do you go by yourself?” she asked.
“Mostly,” he said with another shrug. “Sometimes I go with friends, or I hook up with people there. There’s always someone new and something different to see.”
Melinda considered him as they made their way down the slope. It sounded like an amazing lifestyle, and she definitely wanted to travel, but she wanted to share it with someone. One of her girlfriends, maybe. Or Jacob. He’d be great to travel with. He was fun, easy going, and he’d keep her safe at the same time that he’d push her to try new things she might otherwise miss. He wouldn’t go for the beaten path all the time.
“What’s been your favorite—”
“Watch out!” Dane shouted, and lunged at her, knocking her off her feet.
Melinda gasped as Dane’s body slammed her into the snow, jolting the air from her lungs. He might not be as tall as her cousins, but he was very muscular, and his body felt enormous. Powerful and heavy. He covered her from head to toe. She couldn’t draw a breath.
“Damn bombers!” Dane was yelling. “Take that shit to the other mountain, assholes!”
A whole bunch of what she assumed was Danish flew from his mouth after that. Squirming in panic to get free, Melinda elbowed him in the ribs to get him to move. She needed air!
“Hey, sorry,” he said, shifting off her and helping her back to her feet, brushing the snow from her legs and back. “Jerk-offs came flying down and almost hit you, acting all crazy. They know better than to do that over here. If I catch ’em, they’re getting the boot.”
“Thanks,” she said, still winded, and more than a little unnerved by how powerless she’d felt with him pinning her down that way.
She swiped the snow from her face, suddenly freezing. The other skiers were nowhere to be seen. They must have been seriously speeding to get to the bottom of the hill and out of sight so fast.
Both of their skis had popped off. Dane gave her a hand while she stepped back into her bindings, then he dropped into his. Melinda hoped he couldn’t feel her trembling.
“Damn, hang on,” he said just as they were about to continue down the slope.
Melinda watched quizzically as he shoved his goggles to his forehead and dug in his pockets, then dragged out a tissue.
“Here,” he said, moving closer and using it to dab beneath her nose and onto her top lip. It came away bloody.
“Oh, God,” she said, taking the tissue from him and holding it to her nose herself, embarrassed now. “Sorry. Thanks. My face is so cold, I didn’t even feel it.”
“Oh, yeah?” he said, staring fixedly at her lips and licking his own. His voice deepened. “I could fix that for you.”
“Ah,” she said. “Hmm.”
Melinda huffed out a small, awkward laugh, not sure what to say to that. She suddenly felt like a tiny minnow facing a very hungry shark.
He stared a moment longer, his green eyes uncomfortably intent. Then he smiled and swept his hand out before her with a flourish.
“Come on,” he said. “Let me at least buy you lunch for knocking you into the snow and giving you a bloody nose.”
“Oh, um. That’s nice of you, but it’s really not necessary.”
A second ago I thought you wanted me to be your lunch, so...
“You saved me from a hit, and the altitude probably caused the nosebleed.”
“I want to make it up to you.” He put on a pleading look.
“I’m supposed to meet my family—”
“Please?”
“I—” Oh, crap. He obviously felt badly, and she didn’t want to argue. “Okay. I’ll call them when we get to the bottom.”
“Great,” he said, smiling again, more warmly now. “Let’s go.”
Lunch turned out to be fun, even though he seemed oddly intense sometimes. Dane entertained her with stories of his travels and the people he’d met. The little frisson of unease she’d noticed earlier disappeared, and she found herself enjoying his company.
They sat by the fireplace after they ate and talked some more, and Dane waited patiently while she bought a postcard in the lodge’s gift shop to send to Zach in Japan, including the postage necessary to mail it.
She scrawled
I miss you, wish you were here! Love, Mel
across the card and deposited it in the little mailbox at the front desk, then she and Dane headed back out onto the slopes together.
Once or twice, he looked at her sort of oddly. Maybe it was a Danish thing. He definitely acted differently than the guys she was used to—more formal in some ways, a little pushy—but that was probably because he’d traveled so much and dealt with so many people from all walks of life.
He didn’t mess around with the lift chairs again, and he didn’t make any more weird comments about her lips, so by the time their afternoon class began, she was relaxed and ready to enjoy the afternoon.
The intermediate class was a lot more crowded. Dane kept busy handling the varying levels of competency and working through the skills everyone wanted to practice. Despite the nice lunch and afternoon, Melinda was glad for the reprieve.
After a few runs, a girl Melinda’s age, named Hannah, struck up a conversation in the lift line. She had light brown hair, pale gray eyes, and a sweet smile. The two of them shared the lift a few times and skied together down the slopes.
“Do you know that guy?” Hannah asked when Dane went by with another student and waved at Melinda. “The instructor?”
“Dane? Not really. We met this morning when I took his first class.”
“He’s pretty cute,” Hannah said, eyes twinkling. “I think he likes you.”
Melinda shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m only here for a week, and he’s sort of a nomad, so...”
“Star-crossed lovers,” Hannah said with a dramatic sigh, fluttering her fingers in front of her face—which, in the bulky ski gloves, looked more like wiggling a couple of dark blue sausages—making Melinda laugh. “How romantic.”
Dane was called away at the end of class after giving out another round of coupon cards to everyone. Melinda waved when he did, a little relieved he hadn’t asked for her phone number. She’d pretended not to notice that his number was on the back of the card he’d given her. Overall, he seemed harmless enough, but he was still a bit of a creep.
She said goodbye to Hannah, who was meeting the rest of her group in the lodge, and skied slowly toward the shuttle. It was near the end of the ski day by then, and her ankle had started throbbing about an hour before.
She was ready for a break.
Popping off her skis to wait for the bus, Melinda studied the mountains in the distance, wondering where her friends and family were. Now that her first day was over, at least she’d be on the same mountain tomorrow, with a chance to cross paths with them once in a while.
Maybe she could convince Jacob to spend some time with her on the intermediate slopes. The ski trip always brought home to her how much she hated spending the whole day without his company.
Luckily, during the rest of the year, she didn’t have to.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Melinda got back to the condo before anyone else and took advantage of the solitude by getting her shower out of the way. There would be more skiing later, but once she took her boots off, her foot hurt badly enough that she decided to call it quits for the evening.
Normally the resort only offered night skiing on the weekends. During the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, the lights stayed on until ten every evening except Sundays. She’d go back out with everyone tomorrow night instead.
Wrapping a towel around her wet hair, Melinda bundled into her warm, comfy pjs, her fluffy robe, and ancient slippers, and grabbed an apple from the kitchen.
She flopped on the family-room couch, munching the tart, juicy fruit, and turned on the TV for some white noise, then sat staring west out the windows toward the mountains.
The wind had started kicking up again just as she’d climbed off the shuttle, instantly lowering the temperature. Now the trees swayed heavily in the strengthening breeze. Snow blew off their branches in lacy wisps or fell in giant clumps, depending on the gust.
Maybe another storm was coming in.
Puffs of white blew off the tops of the mountain peaks, too, glowing orange with the last bit of light from the setting sun behind them. It looked mind-numbingly cold, almost arctic, but astoundingly beautiful.
She should grab her camera…
Eyes drifting shut, Melinda snuggled back into the sofa and dragged a blanket over herself. Her muscles ached pleasantly from the exertion of the day, though her foot still twinged. Fatigue dragged at her eyelids.
Where was everyone, though? She’d thought they’d be back by now. Patting the pockets of her robe, Melinda frowned. Damn, she’d left her phone in her ski jacket.
Unable to summon the energy to go check for a message, she squinted at the clock on the DVD player above the TV. Five-fifteen. She’d give them until five-thirty then go grab her phone.
Closing her eyes again, she was on the verge of dropping off to sleep when the door to the condo banged open.
A horde of ice-covered people spilled in from the covered walkway, along with a blast of frigid air, pulling off clothes and gear willy-nilly and talking at full volume about the killer slopes, the air they’d caught beneath their skis on the jumps, the way that one section had given way under Uncle Allan’s feet. On and on.
Melinda resisted clapping her hands over her ears, but it was a near thing.
“Hi, honey,” her dad said, waving his hand as he headed straight for the master bedroom and presumably the shower.
“Wendell, Christian, wipe up that water there, please,” Karen said, tossing them a towel. “Hi, sweetie,” she added to Melinda. “Did you have fun?”
“Kumquat!” Jacob yelled, and flopped next to her on the couch, still in his ski pants. “How goes it?”
“Get off, you’re all wet!” Melinda cried, whipping the edge of her blanket away from him.
“Jacob Robert Tanner!” Lois scolded, wagging her finger at her son. “Strip.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey,” he grunted when Melinda shoved at him, “nice to see you, too.”
Melinda flapped her hands, brushing him back. “Off, off, off.”
“Okay, okay, jeez,” he said, standing and working off his outerwear pants right there. “It’s just a little water.”
“Freezing water,” Melinda countered. “I’m all nice and dry.”
“Good, you can warm me up,” Jacob said, clapping his icy hands to her cheeks and laughing when she squealed and kicked him away.
“Jacob,” Lois said warningly from the kitchen. “Behave.”
With his back to his mother, Jacob looked at Melinda and rolled his eyes. She grinned saucily up at him, but he only said, “Yes, mother,” in a tone that had Lois blowing out an amused
tcha
of exasperation.
Melinda tried to ignore the way Jacob’s two thinner base layers highlighted the muscles of his thighs and calves as he finished stripping off his outerwear, and the way his thermal undershirt caressed his abs and the muscles in his arms.
She really did.
But they were
right there
in her face, for God’s sake. How could she not stare a little?
Jacob bounded down the short hallway and handed his ski pants to someone in the laundry room to toss in the dryer, then bounded back and onto the couch again.
“Better?” he asked.
“Better. So, how was it?”
Jacob casually pulled her legs across his lap and rubbed her ankles and feet as he launched into an enthusiastic account of the day, which had included some backcountry skiing, as well as the diamond runs.
His fingers were strong and gentle. Warmth spread up her calves, her thighs, and all the way into her belly. The soreness she’d experienced toward the last half of the day melted smoothly away as Jacob chattered about everything he and the rest of the group had seen and done.
The powder was awesome, the views were awesome, the wildlife they’d seen was awesome, the air they’d caught was awesome—
“So basically everything was awesome?” Melinda asked extra sweetly when he finally took a breath. She batted her lashes and gave him a big, innocent smile.
Jacob put his hand over her face and pushed. “Smart ass,” he said with a chuckle.
He snagged the half-eaten apple out of her hand and took a healthy bite before handing it back, continuing with his mouth full and juice dripping down his chin.
“Yeah, it was pretty great,” he said. “We’re going back out for a couple hours after dinner. Why are you ready for bed?”
“I’m beat. I want dinner and mindless TV and sleep, in that order.”
“Boring. Okay, well how was your day? How come you didn’t come over for lunch?”
Hoping he couldn’t see the blush climbing into her cheeks, Melinda strove for casual.
“I sort of hit it off with my ski instructor, so we went to lunch together. Didn’t Mom tell you? I called.”
“We didn’t see the rest of the group ’til later ’cuz they stayed on the main trails,” Jacob said. “So your ski instructor, huh? Is he hot?”
“How do you know it was a he?”
“I can see it on your face, you hussy. So, tell me all about him.”
Melinda crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “I don’t know, he’s just a guy. His name’s Dane, and he’s from Denmark—”
“
Dane
from Denmark? Seriously? Who does that to a kid? That’s like naming an American
American
.”
“We went to school with a guy named Dane,” Melinda reminded him, despite the fact that she’d teased Dane about the same thing.
“Yeah, but he wasn’t from Denmark,” Jacob said.