Four Nights to Forever (11 page)

“Okay. Okay good.” For the first time in the two days she’d known him, Doug looked nervous.

“Why?” Even in the dim light of the room, she could see more than nerves in his eyes. Something like shame.

“Because people sometimes think the real world doesn’t exist up here on the mountain. Like we’re Vegas and what happens here stays here. But the person you are here is the person you are down in the valley, just with more risk of sunburn.” He leaned his head forward and kissed the tip of her nose. “Don’t forget to put on your sunscreen, even if it’s snowing.” Then he kissed the edge of her jaw. His free hand slipped under the covers to dance up the side of her body, grazing her breast. Desire followed the line of his hand. “And always wear goggles.”

“You’re trying to distract me with helpful advice.”

“It’s not the advice that I want to be distracting.” His hand had stopped its absentminded trail on her hips and started an intentional route down the front of her body, brushing the inside of her thighs. She was drawing in heavy breaths, trying to keep her mind on their conversation, when one of his fingers slipped into her folds and his thumb circled her clitoris. “Is it working?”

“Yes,” she breathed, arching her back and writhing against his hand. For a fleeting moment she considered not letting herself enjoy it, and instead push him for whatever he had been thinking that had put the distance between them. But then he slid a finger inside her, and another.

This is just a fling
, the action said. Maybe it wasn’t even going beyond tonight, and it certainly wasn’t going beyond this week. If he had secrets . . . well, so did she. Instead of sharing hers, she gripped his wrist, guiding his hand where she wanted it go, determined to lose herself in him.

‡

D
oug woke up the next morning, still relaxed and loose-limbed from the amazing sex and spending the night in bed with a delectable woman. It wasn’t until he looked at his watch that he sat up in bed, swearing. If he didn’t hurry, he would be late starting their lesson. He could only be comfortable with this fling if he could keep Cassie, his student, separate from Cassie, the woman he’d had sex with. And kept to his responsibilities to Snowdance, which included being on time. As much as he might want to, he couldn’t stay in bed with her all day. He had a job to do. Sleeping with his student didn’t change that.

Cassie was on the other side of the bed, facing away from him and snoring softly.

He put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Cassie?”

She snorted.

“Cass, I need to drive down the mountain to my apartment and get fresh clothes for our lesson today.”
And
—he smacked his mouth, grateful she was still too asleep for a wake-up kiss—
a toothbrush
. “I’ll meet you on the plaza, okay?”

“Okay,” she murmured into her pillow.

He pulled his hand back and looked at her. Her face was relaxed in her drowsiness, and a wrinkle from the pillow case was etched into her cheek. She was a soft woman, even in sleep. He ran the back of his hand against her face. Her skin was smooth and her cheeks rounded. “Should I get a couple changes of clothes to, um, bring back here?”

She rolled onto her back and her eyes opened enough that he could see blue. “Yes.” She rubbed her eyes. “Do I have to be ready now?”

“No. We still have time before our lesson starts.”

“Okay,” she said again, and rolled back onto her side.

Her response was good enough that he was going to pack several changes of clothes for the whole week and see if his neighbor could feed his cat.

*

Doug couldn’t hide the fact that the bag he’d brought to work on Wednesday wasn’t his normal duffel. Neither could his coworkers resist noticing. “So, Doug finally uses his luck,” Mark, one of other ski instructors, said as Doug passed him on the way into the locker room.

“I,” he said, looking straight at Mark, “don’t kiss and tell.” He threw his bag onto the floor in front of his locker.

“You usually don’t even kiss,” Mark said with a knowing smile. Not that Doug thought Mark had many flings with students. The resort frowned on it, and while it still happened sometimes, it probably occurred a lot less frequently than either the employees or resort guests believed. As Doug knew from experience, the reality of a fling was often less exciting than the fantasy of it.

The fact that Cassie was
more
exciting only made the memories of last night play in his head. Even the sour memories of his previous student hadn’t been able to make the night feel illicit. He and Cassie were both adults and free to sleep with whomever they wanted, no remorse needed. No remorse didn’t mean
fling
wasn’t still an awful word, though. Maybe he should take her out, show her a nice time. Make sure she was treated with the respect she deserved.

He crouched and unzipped his duffel. It was supposed to be sunny this morning so he pulled a lightweight pair of gloves out of his bag, leaving the neck gator behind.

“Is that a toothbrush I see in there?” Bear, one of the ski patrolmen, asked.

“The ladies like hygiene,” Doug said, trying to make his voice airy but also firm enough that Bear wouldn’t ask any more questions.

He dug around for his badge. This couldn’t be more, he reminded himself. He couldn’t
want
it to be more. Shouldn’t want it to be more. It had been one night and would only last this one week, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

This relationship had a definite and clearly defined end.

So he would smile and rib the guys right back.

*

When he came out of the ski school office, Cassie was waiting for him on the plaza holding two steaming cups in her hand and worrying her lip, the gap in her teeth that made her so uniquely Cassie peeking out at him. “I didn’t know if you had coffee yet this morning, or even if you drink it. The other is hot chocolate. I’ll drink either.” Her goggles were perched on top of her helmet, so he could see the uncertainty in her eyes as she held both cups out to him.

He took the coffee. “More selfish sides to Cassie,” he teased with a smile, the gesture warming him before the coffee had a chance to warm his hand.

Her eyes brightened when she smiled at him. “I’m investing in a full-day’s lesson and a strong performance out of you tonight.” A lock of hair slipped out of her helmet and fell along the line of her chin when she cocked her head at him. She brushed the strands off her face, then ran her fingers across her lips. Lips he knew were even softer than they looked. “Do you need cream or sugar? I’ve got some in my pockets.”

“No, black is fine. And thank you for thinking of me.”

“You’re welcome. I like thinking of you.” She kept her eyes on his as she took a sip from her hot chocolate. “Where are we skiing today?”

There were so many places Doug wanted to take her. There was one run through a set of avalanche gates where you skied in and among the trees before bursting out, seemingly over a cliff, with a view down to the valley at the tips of your skis. And, if you were really lucky, there wouldn’t be smog in the valley and you’d be able to see as far as the Great Salt Lake before tipping your skis over the edge and down the gully.

But that run required more control than Cassie had right now. If she skied regularly next season, she would probably be skilled enough to handle it this time next year. Not—he had to correct his own wishful dreaming—that she would be coming back here next year. A desperate person could ski in the Northeast, so there was no guarantee she’d come back to Snowdance even if she did keep skiing. And if she came back to Snowdance, there was no guarantee she would come back to him. He wouldn’t even be teaching next season, he reminded himself. He was being ridiculous.

“Some nice easy runs down the blues to start,” he said, refocusing his attention. “You can work on your edging and keeping centered down the mountain. After lunch, back to something more challenging.”

“Good,” she said brightly. “I like challenging.”

Responses like that were what made her fun and easy to teach. She did more than just listen to and then ignore his suggestions. He could see her thinking mid-run and changing her movements. Yoga had probably taught her to be aware of and control her entire body, choosing where to put her energy.

After lunch, Doug stopped Cassie before she got in line for the tram. “We’re going up one of the lifts this time. I’m going to show you something new.”

“Ugh, not the steps.” Her shoulders slumped like an unhappy teenager and she said the words with an exaggerated whine, but her eyes sparkled and she was clearly trying not to smile and failing.

He laughed in response. “No steps to this lift. We’re going through the trees, to a run with jumps. Come on,” he said, gesturing toward the bridge.

She pursed her lips, her head pulled back with suspicion. “I never liked jumps.” Her nose wrinkled. “I was never good at them.”

“Do you trust me?”

He’d only meant the question to be about skiing and their lessons, but her “I guess” answer still smarted.

“You only guess?” His goggles were down over his eyes, making it easier for him to swallow his hurt. All he had to do was smile and let the dark lenses do the rest.

Cassie was too observant and caring not to notice, though, and her eyes softened with understanding. “No, I trust you.” She walked the couple of steps until she was alongside him. “Following your lead hasn’t led me astray yet.”

Maybe she was only talking about skiing and lessons, but her words immediately brought their shower to mind and how responsive she had been to him. Which led his mind to the curve of her back as she’d pressed against the shower wall and the way her hips had bucked against his fingers. He was roasting in his ski pants and shell before they even got on the slopes.

“Then put your goggles on and follow me.” After the trails through the trees, he was going to show her the places where making first tracks was always possible, even two mornings after a big storm.

Just in case she came back.

*

Cassie’s knees bent and straightened like a spring as her skis bounced over the small bumps along the path Doug had guided her to. The gaps between the trees were wide enough that she never felt like she was going to careen into a tree and break her neck if she fell, but she had to duck under pine boughs a couple of times.