One Perfect Night (The Sullivans #8.5)(4)

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."