One Perfect Night (2 page)

But even she didn’t have luck that bad. Or at least she didn’t think she did, until a few seconds later when she heard a deep, slightly rough voice say, "Are you okay?"

Chapter Two

She lifted her head up and to the side, trying to put a face to the sinfully sexy voice, but there were too many ice crystals on her eyelashes for her to see much more than a blurry face and dark hair.

And then he was saying, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you,” and his big, strong hands were coming around her waist, lifting her up out of the snow. She made the mistake of trying to help her rescuer, but all that ended up doing was to make him fall, too.

Together they rolled a few feet in the snow, their skis popping off, until they finally came to a stop.

Colbie’s back was to the snow and the stranger’s weight was heavy on top of her. But oddly, after she caught her breath, she realized she wasn’t the least bit uncomfortable. Her head was cradled by the stranger’s chest and he was holding her so tightly she could hear his heart beating through his partially open ski jacket. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and her legs were entwined with his.

Mmm
, she thought as a low moan slipped from her throat. She loved this feeling of being so close with a man, to hard muscles and heat that radiated all the way through her chilled body.

She looked practical on the surface, but at her core, Colbie was a true sensualist. She loved the finest silks and lace against her skin and happily spent way too much on the perfect, evocative scent. It had always been her dream to open a store that sold luxury products for women...but in the same way that she’d rarely been able to justify such luxuries for herself, she’d also never been able to justify giving up a good job to chase a dream. Not until last month, when in the wake of the disaster with her ex, she’d finally decided to take charge of her life and had signed the lease for her new store:
Indulgence.

As the warm arms around her quickly melted her chill away and she instinctively snuggled in closer, it occurred to Colbie that she hadn’t been this close to a man since the last time she and Rob had made l—

A sharp sting of pain at her ex’s betrayal had her stiffening beneath the man who had pulled her out of the snow.

Hadn’t she vowed to keep her distance from men until she was strong enough to tell a good one from a bad one next time? It was not only completely inappropriate to be lying in such an intimate position with a total stranger, but she definitely shouldn’t be pulling him closer.

One, she didn’t know this man’s name.

Two, she didn’t even know what he looked like.

Three, she’d sworn off men!

She needed to get up, say thank you, somehow ski down the impossibly high mountain she’d so foolishly climbed in the ski lift…and then drown her complete and total embarrassment in a glass—or three—of wine back at the resort’s bar.

Forcing herself to unwrap her arms from the man’s neck when he shifted above her, she moved into a sitting position as quickly as she could, given the fairly deep hole they’d made in the snow.

Using her snow-covered gloves to brush away the ice crystals all over her face was messy work, and when she started to say, "Thank you so much. I hope I didn’t hurt y—" she finally got a good look at her savior.

Oh. My. God.

She’d never seen a man this good looking before. Ever. Maybe in a movie or magazine, but never live and in person.

Mortification rode her even harder at the complete and utter fool she’d made of herself in front of him. Her luck really
was
that bad. Not only because she’d fallen face first into the snow, but also because she’d been unable to stop herself from rubbing all over him like a cat in heat.

She may even, she suddenly realized with a huge flash of dismay as she blinked at his perfect face, have moaned aloud at the sinfully delicious feel of his body pressing hers into the cold snow.

Amazingly, he wasn’t looking at her with disgust. Instead, there was a smile on his lips and a sparkle in his green eyes. "Rescuing you was my pleasure. And no, you definitely didn’t hurt me at all."

Despite the depths of her mortification, her own lips were on the verge of turning up at the corners. "I’m not a very good skier," she admitted, before adding, "But you probably already guessed that."

"You thought that little girl was in trouble, didn’t you?"

She had to laugh at herself. "She’s probably been skiing since she could walk, huh?"

He nodded. "I’m thinking we should keep an eye out for her in the Winter Olympics in another ten years or so."

Something like this would have had Rob laughing at her the rest of the day. But this man was simply laughing
with
her.

"I’m Noah."

"I’m Colbie."

"Colbie," he repeated in that low, rough voice that sent shivers running across her skin as they shook hands...or thick ski gloves, anyway. Shivers that had nothing to do with the icy mountain they were sitting on and everything to do with
him
. His green eyes darkened slightly as he said, "That’s a pretty name. Unique, too."

She’d never, ever had to forcibly restrain herself from launching herself at a man to steal a kiss. A kiss she knew with one hundred percent certainty would blow her mind. But he hadn’t saved her so that she could maul him.

He brushed a lump of snow off her forehead and when she shivered, he said, "You’re cold."

She couldn’t tell him she was shivering at his nearness and from naughty thoughts of the things she wanted to do to him. Not to mention all the things she wanted
him
to do to
her.

If she were Mia, she’d be wowing him by saying something sexy and witty about how he could keep her warm. Of course, since Colbie was feeling anything
but
sexy and witty right at that moment, all she could think to say was, "We should probably find our skis before they take anyone else down."

Without waiting for his agreement, she started to make her way back up the mountain, but they were close enough to the tree line that the snow was really soft and really deep, and a couple of steps were all it took for her to fall in again.

Noah reached for her. "Hold on to me."

Grateful—and more turned on than she could ever remember being with nothing more than a man’s arm wrapped around her waist—she moved back up the mountain with him until they found all four of their skis.

Ignoring his own, he picked up hers and said, "Sit, and I’ll put them on for you."

As the quiet one in school, she’d learned to excel in other ways. Everyone had always told her how capable she was and she’d done her best to live up to their expectations. When was the last time she hadn’t had to take care of everyone else? Even last night with her girlfriends, she’d tucked each of them into their beds, drunk and giggling, before cleaning up the cabin’s kitchen and living room and finally getting to bed herself. For once, it was a pleasure to let someone else take charge for a few minutes.

Watching Noah slide one of her skis into place on her ski boot, she said, "You look like you’ve done that before. Do you have kids?" Her unsaid question,
"Or a wife?"
hung between them.

"No wife. No kids." He attached her other ski. "But I used to be a ski instructor back in college."

She made a face. "I’m pretty sure the last instructor I took a class from quit."

He gave her that breath-stealing grin again. "I’ve always thrived on a challenge."

What was he saying? Was he offering to spend the day with her?

A fantasy of spending an entire day with Noah, his hot eyes caressing her, his hands on her as he picked her up when she fell, spun through her brain. If she could manage to redeem her earlier performance, would he reward her progress with a kiss? Or more?

Watching her carefully, he said, "All you need to do is listen to your body. It isn’t about the skis or poles or your feet or the mountain. It’s only about you. And how you feel." His seductive words wrapped around her. "I could show you how to do that, Colbie."

"You make it sound so easy," she said in a far less steady voice than she would have liked.

"Not necessarily easy," he countered, "but worth it."

She was tempted, so very tempted to take him up on his offer. But how could she forget what had happened at Christmas with Rob? He’d wanted to spend the weekend at a ritzy ski resort in Colorado and had promised her that it would be no big deal to teach her how to ski well. Of course, after only an hour on the mountain, he’d started cursing when she’d accidentally cut him off and he had to take a nosedive in the snow to avoid crashing into her.

Almost certain that any impromptu lesson with Noah was bound to end the same way, and not at all in the mood to look any more like a fool than she already did, she forced herself to turn him down.

"You came to have a good time today. Not to surmount the insurmountable challenge of teaching me to ski. Besides," she said, grasping for any reason she could find, "I’m here with some girlfriends for the weekend."

He made a show of looking all around her. "Your friends let you go skiing by yourself?"

"Not exactly," she admitted. "I didn’t want to hold them back, so I told them to go on without me to the harder runs."

"Sounds to me like you’ve got the whole day to yourself, Colbie." The way he said her name felt like a heated whisper across her skin. "Let me prove to you that I’m up to the challenge."

If he had said anything else, she might simply have thanked him for helping her get her skis, pushed off with her poles, and been down at the bottom of the hill within a matter of minutes, leaving him behind. But the word
challenge
got her. After all, it was why she’d gotten on the ski lift in the first place. It was also the reason she’d quit her job and signed a 12-month retail lease for
Indulgence
just a handful of weeks ago.

All her life she’d worked hard to please other people, but the way Rob had treated her had been the last straw. Finally, she’d decided to start pleasing herself.

Suddenly, she couldn’t think of anything that would please her more than spending a day with a gorgeous man on a snowy mountain in Lake Tahoe.

She looked up at Noah and smiled. "If you’re really up to playing teacher today, then I’ll try to be the best student you’ve ever had."

Chapter Three

Noah’s entire body reacted to the unintentional sensuality of Colbie’s words. He wanted to pull her against him again and find out if her mouth tasted as good as it looked. But he could sense how wary she was about spending a few hours with him, so he knew better than to push her too hard.

Later, after she felt more comfortable with him, he’d steal a kiss.

"Leave your poles in the snow for now," he told her. "I want you to hold on to my hands instead."

She hesitated for a moment. "Is this how you taught all of your students?"

He grinned at her. "Only the pretty ones."

Flushing, she put her hands in his. "Okay, now what?"

"Close your eyes." Her immediate frown was so cute, he had to laugh out loud. "Don’t worry, you’ll be keeping them open once we head down the hill."

She looked down toward the bottom and grimaced. "If only we could stay up here forever."

"Colbie." He waited until she looked back at him. "I’m not going to make you do anything you’re not ready for. Trust me."

He could see in her eyes that she understood he wasn’t just talking about skiing. He was talking about the two of them. After a long moment, she finally nodded, then closed her eyes as he’d asked her to.

"Adjust your weight so that you’re standing evenly on both skis." When she wobbled a little on her skis and stiffened, he said, "Don’t worry, I’ve got you and I’m not going to let you fall." Again, he let his promise settle into her before continuing. "I want you to get comfortable, to feel like you’re standing as normally as possible, even though you’re in boots and skis. That’s why I asked you to close your eyes, so that you’re not depending on anything but what you’re feeling."

As she adjusted her weight from one foot to the other with her eyes closed, he took the opportunity to stare at her. She had long, dark eyelashes and her features were beautifully defined, her cheekbones high, her mouth lush and kissable. Her eyes had been as blue as the lake and her long, dark hair fell in waves down her shoulders, falling to cover the swell of her breasts. If she was this beautiful in a ski jacket and pants, he couldn’t imagine how gorgeous she’d be with nothing on at all, her hair like silk over creamy skin, her big blue eyes blurry with desire as she looked up at him from his bed.

When she stopped gripping his hands so tightly, he asked, "Are you feeling steadier now?"

He could see the surprise on her face as she nodded and said, "Actually, I am."

"Good." After he talked her through what he called the lift-and-tilt technique and she picked it up just fine, he leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "You’re ready."

She shivered at his warm breath on her earlobe, before taking a deep breath and pushing back her shoulders. When she opened her eyes again, he thought he could already see that desire he’d been fantasizing about in them.

"Okay, hand me those poles," she said with a sudden grin, "and let’s do this thing."

One sassy little smile was all it took to stop Noah completely in his tracks. My God, he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

She simply lit up the entire mountain.

When he didn’t hand her the poles, she looked down at them and then back at him in confusion. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything’s great," he finally said. And it was.

Because he was with the most beautiful girl in the world.

Their progress down the mountain wasn’t fast, but it was steady. Noah skied backward so that he could watch her, and she shook her head at him. "Show-off."