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“Yeah.” He nods. “I don’t stay for long, usually just a weekend.”
“Do you have any siblings?” I ask as we take a right onto our parents’ street.
“Nope. Only child.” He shakes his head. “What about you?”
“I have a sister. Willow. She lives in Chicago. She’s a lawyer and so freaking busy it’s not even funny. I’ve barely even spoken to her since I got here, and frankly, I probably wouldn’t have at all if it weren’t for all the intrigue and puppy love with the old people.”
“I guess that’s why you’re the one who’s here helping your mom and she isn’t?”
“Pretty much.” I nod. “She’s a total control freak, so it’s not a relief to her that she can’t be the one here making sure Stella is on her best behavior, but she’s in the middle of a big case right now and couldn’t leave.”
“But you could?”
“It’s currently the off-season in Vail, so it wasn’t that hard for me to get away. Plus, Brody is a godsend who can run shit better than I can.”
Ryan quirks a brow. “Brody?”
“He’s my store manager. Truthfully, he’s the one who keeps the lights on. I know how to ski and how to teach people to ski. The rest of it makes me feel tired.”
He smiles at me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t say that surprises me.”
I snort. “No offense taken. I’m impulsive as hell and the opposite of a type A personality. I know my limits, and I possess the ability to delegate. I don’t need credit for being the one to keep my store afloat. As long as she doesn’t sink, and I don’t have to go back to Corporate America, I’m a happy little ski bunny.”
“Corporate America?” he questions, his eyebrows eating up the space of his forehead with astonishment. “You, Carly Page, worked in an office building?”
I laugh, stick out my tongue, and shake my head side to side. “Yeah, I know. Crazy, right? But yes, I did. I went to Georgia Tech for my computer engineering degree and worked at a huge company in California for a couple years after graduation. It wasn’t for me.”
He smiles. “No, I’d imagine not. Vail ski instructor suits you, though,” he says, his voice soft. “I’m having a hard time picturing you any other way.”
But could you picture me naked and riding your—? My mind starts to go rogue, but I cut it off before it dives straight into the dirty deep end by stating the obvious.
“Well, it appears we made it back safe and sound,” I say once I spot my mom’s place a few houses up. Though, that realization is immediately followed by disappointment settling inside my stomach like a rock. It’s like I have the sudden urge not to let this night end.
“It appears so,” he comments, and I can’t help but search his face, taking inventory of his blue eyes and strong jaw and the way his dark hair looks perfect for my fingers to run through.
There’s just something about Ryan Miller that has me so damn curious to find out more about him. To witness more of his reactions and hear more of his thoughts. I don’t know what it is about him, but I can’t shake it.
Yeah. I definitely don’t want this night to end yet…
“Hey, do you want to go for a drive to the beach?” I ask. “I mean, I’m calm, but I think I could use a little more walking time so that I’m completely calm, you know?”
His response is a soft smile followed by, “Sure. Let’s do it.”
Ryan
At dusk, the beach is tinted almost sepia, the sand is more orange and the water a deep navy blue. All is calm around us besides the crashing of the waves against the shore. And when I look to my left, where Carly walks barefoot beside me, I don’t miss the way the moonlight bounces off her soft skin.
“It’s kind of sad how long it’s been since I’ve been to the beach,” she says, grinning over at me. “I’m talking years. And my mom lives in Florida.”
“You don’t come to the beach when you visit her?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “And being here makes me realize I have to strongly reconsider changing my year’s itinerary. I mean, look at this place!” she exclaims, her voice exuberant in the warm breeze coming off the water. “It’s all the things, Ryan! Beautiful. Peaceful. Freaking amazing. Even the sky looks like a work of art.”
I glance up and note the sky is completely clear. Not a single cloud in sight. So clear, in fact, the stars look infinite. They light the darkness like little glittering snowflakes in a blanket of snow during a night ski, and the perfectness of the analogy my mind has concocted—given the woman I’m sharing the view with—makes me smile. I stare, waiting for one to rocket across the sky in a streak, but it never happens. They’re so still, like they’re not actually real, but instead, tiny, bright flash glares from an old photograph.
