“Sounds good.”
Walking to the door, I watched Delaney climb the stairs, glad for the roofer. I needed a distraction from the fact that she would be, in a few minutes, up there taking off her clothes.
Never stay the night.
We’d debated our “bachelor pact” rules for days, eventually coming up with that one, agreeing that an overnighter brought things to another level. Mason might have been right to caution me. There was something about her that told me this particular overnighter would do just that.
I wanted her.
Craved another kiss.
Craved having her in my arms. In my bed.
More importantly, though, I liked her. A lot.
You took that pact for a reason.
And that was the scariest thought of them all.
19
DELANEY
I suspected he was going to kiss me on the way out of the house when we all but bumped into each other. And then again, in the car on the short ride to the slopes. Parker looked over at me so intently as he pulled into the parking spot, I was certain of it.
Instead, he got out and proceeded to put on his ski boots.
I hadn’t skied in years, and actually never had my own equipment, so after tickets and rentals, we headed to the slopes.
“I don’t mind if you want to hit the bigger hills. It’s all green for me,” I said as we made our way to the lift.
Parker fit in perfectly here. By the way he moved, it was clear he was a good skier. Probably a natural athlete, one of those guys who was good at everything.
“No way,” he said. “I’m with you.”
It sounded so… comforting… the way he said it. Like the warm blanket he’d laid over me last night. I’d nearly melted when I realized what he’d done.
Never mind that I woke up in the middle of the night to an empty room, the guy I thought maybe, possibly, I’d end up with nowhere to be seen. But instead of being embarrassed this morning that I’d conked out, Parker made me feel immediately at home.
Like now.
“I guess it’s like a bicycle,” I said, skiing toward the lift. “I haven’t done this in years.”
“Once a skier, always a skier,” he said as we waited in line. Since it was Monday, and with the storm, the place was all but abandoned. It was a short line with only four people ahead of us. We boarded quickly and headed up the mountain.
“Sorry for falling asleep on you last night,” I said as we made our way up. The flurries were getting heavier, making the ski resort look like a postcard.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. We put in a shift and a half of drinking.”
“And didn’t even use the Baileys for hot tub cocoa.”
“There’s always tonight.”
We were close enough that our legs were touching, not that I could feel anything with our ski pants between us. I turned to him, thinking about drinking spiked hot chocolate in the hot tub later. “That sounds good,” I said, having given this whole situation a lot of thought this morning.
I could either live in the past and worry about the future or embrace the present. Take things as they come and try not to get inside my head too much. Carpe diem and all that. Which is exactly what I planned to do.
“Sounds better than good to me.”
