The Life That Mattered (Life #1)(22)

“Oh god! Don’t say that.”

I hugged my best friend and kissed her cheek. Lila was my everything. Her happiness was my happiness. Our successes and failures in life were so tightly woven together that I swore we felt each other’s epic moments before actually sharing them.



“Hey, pretty girl!”

I glanced up after locking my Jeep. “Noah!”

He gave me a big hug. “I heard you’re making a few runs today.”

“Did you also hear I’m the world’s worst skier?” I grinned when he released me. “It’s been nice knowing ya. I’m sure we won’t see each other much after Ronin dumps me. And he will dump me because our incompatibility is about to be on full display. Tell Tami I’d love to still get together for wine even when Ronin and I are no longer together.”

Noah pulled off his beanie and scratched his full head of salt and pepper hair while giving me a booming belly laugh. “Oh, darling. I’ve seen you two together too many times. You can’t fool me. I’m waiting for the wedding invitation. Break up? Yeah, right.”

I blew out a long breath and slipped on my hot pink ski jacket over my white, gray, and hot pink snow pants. “Time will tell.”

Yes. Time would tell.

My stomach churned, toxic with nerves, already feeling the embarrassment. Ronin met me at the bottom of an “easy” slope, wearing a grin that set my whole body aflame.

Damn!

I gawked at my sexy man in his black and red gear, polarized glasses, and mussed black hair sticking out beneath his hat.

“Evelyn …” He strutted toward me in his ski boots, a stiff but no less confident gait. Before I could spew off my last-minute pleas to make my case for canceling our outing, he wrapped me in his arms, lifting me off the ground, and kissed me thoroughly.

One of his troller buddies whistled a catcall.

Ronin grinned, ending our kiss. “How was the dress fitting?” He set me on my feet in my clunky boots. I owned my gear because Graham bought it for me years ago before he gave up on teaching me to ski. I used it several times a year to appease Lila when she wanted to drag me up the slopes for “fun.”

“The fitting was fine. Do you ever have sex with me out of sympathy? Because you feel like you should maybe when I want it, but in truth you’re distracted and not really wanting it?”

His head drew backward. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Just a question.” I shrugged.

“Evie …” He angled his body away from onlookers and pressed my hand to his crotch. “I’m hard as fuck just from kissing you. So, no … I’ve never not wanted to have sex with you. Why would you ask me that?”

“No reason.” I kissed the angle of his jaw.

“There has to be a reason.” He leaned back, tipping my chin up with his gloved finger.

My nose wrinkled. “It’s something Lila said about Graham. I’ll tell you more later.”

Ronin screwed his lips to the side. “Okay. Later. Now we see just how horrible you are at this. Something tells me you’ve overplayed your lack of skiing skills.”

He locked into his skis and helped me into mine.

I started to fall to the side. When he caught me, I gave him a tight-lipped grin. “You’ve been warned. And I’m certain after you witness this catastrophe that is me, you will never get a hard-on for me again.”

“I’m going to stick my hard-on in your mouth later, if you don’t stop saying stupid shit like that.”

I liked Ronin’s dirty mouth. I knew I’d miss it when he broke up with me in approximately thirty minutes, but I didn’t say that. Instead, I shrugged a silent “we’ll see.” It was about fifteen yards to the lift, and I made three attempts to fall on the way. Each time Ronin hooked an arm around my waist and kept me upright. How did he balance himself and me? I usually took down anyone who tried to save me: Graham … Lila … a ski instructor they hired to teach me a few things several winters earlier.

A lost cause.

“Hey, Jim.” Ronin nodded at the liftie as the moving bench scooped us up.

“Have fun!” Jim replied.

“So far so good.” Ronin rested his hand on my leg and gave it a squeeze.

“You should radio ahead and tell them to be ready to stop the lift when I wipe out getting off it. Because I do … Every. Single. Time.”

“Not on my watch.” Another leg squeeze. He was so damn sure of himself.

I feared I would emotionally break him that day—when Superman discovered tragedies were beyond his control. And I would be one of those as soon as we reached the top.

Only … I was wrong.

At the top, he hooked my waist, literally carrying me off the lift, down the tiny slope to a small flat area before the run. A green one. Green was easy. For some people. Not for me. Ronin slid one of his skis between mine, bringing us chest to chest.

“Ready?” He kissed me, palming my ass to keep me steady.

Would it be the last time he kissed me like that? I dropped my poles and wrapped my arms around his neck.

He chuckled. “Baby, hold on to your poles. Okay?” He slid my goggles down over my eyes, and then he retrieved my poles for me.

“Duck walk like this.” He pointed his tips into a V to show me, coaching me over to the start of the run.