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“Excited and nervous?” His lips turned up in another beguiling grin. “To be with me?”
“No. To ski!” As soon as she said it, he looked chagrined. “I mean …” She was excited and nervous to be with him as well, but she’d gotten invested and had been much too open too fast yesterday. She had to rein in her naturally impulsiveness or she’d never be able to leave him. With his kind nature, ability to tease and laugh, obviously successful ski resort owner, not to mention his soulful eyes, friendly smile, handsome face, and irresistibly lean body, what woman could walk away from Jace?
She had to, so it wasn’t worth stewing about.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
“Sure.”
He held the door for her and they headed out into the crisp, cold morning. The snow had piled up last night, probably a foot’s worth.
“It’s so fresh and perfect,” she cried out. She rushed to the snow, bent and scooped some up. It was icy against her fingers and surprised her. “Cold!”
Jace laughed. “Do you need those gloves already?”
She tossed the snow at him. It hit him in the arm, and he called out, “Hey!”
He scooped up huge amounts of snow in each hand and started pressing them together and forming them into a ball. Her eyes widened. If he tossed that thing at her … “Apologies,” she cried out. “I won’t throw one at you again.”
He tossed the snowball casually at a tree, landing it dead center of the trunk, and gave her an easy smile. “We’ll see. You can start a snowball fight on the mountain and I’ll finish it.”
“I don’t know if I dare.” But she liked the idea. She loved teasing with him. It came so natural, but was more fun and exciting than anything in her life.
They walked to the car and rode up to his ski resort parking lot. He told her about his brothers, Ammon who was two years younger and a crazy, friendly, fun guy who took little but skiing and their business serious, and Bentley who was four years younger, had social and mental difficulties because he’d been born with the cord wrapped around his neck and had been depleted of oxygen for too long. Everybody loved Bentley and he brought such happiness to them.
They chatted through fitting her with skis and getting dressed in their snow gear. Again, she was amazed that he’d not only brought her gear, but it fit. It didn’t match, actually looked horrific. She wouldn’t be anywhere close to the cutest snow bunny on the hill, but Jace’s gaze on her seemed to show he thought she was. All that should matter was she was comfortable and would be warm. Still, she was a girl and worked hard to be fashionable on a very limited budget. Sticking out in these awfully colored and patterned ski clothes and because she had no clue what she was doing made her palms sweat in her gloves and her stomach churn.
Jace carried both sets of skis and his poles and explained he’d get her some poles after lunch if she wanted them. She awkwardly walked from the ski rental shop in the basement of the lodge toward the closest ski lift. Walking in these boots was crazy. Heel to toe seemed to work best but it would take a while to figure it out. Jace would probably be helping her walk, if he wasn’t loaded down like a mule with the skis and poles.
“Jace!” a female voice squealed. A small woman came flying down the slope toward the lodge, skiing like she’d been born on the hill. She jumped to a stop, spraying Ayla with snow, popped out of her skis, dug the tips of her poles into the snow, and wrapped herself around Jace. She was exquisitely gorgeous with long, dark, shiny hair. An exotic-looking beauty with creamy brown skin, full lips, and big, deep brown eyes.
Ayla felt an instant jab of jealousy that she didn’t like. At all. She didn’t know Jace or have any claim on him. Did this woman, or was she a girl? She looked awfully young, wearing a tube top that exposed her taut abdomen with an unzipped, pale pink ski coat. She had on skin-tight black and white checked ski pants with thin gloves and a cute white ear warmer. Was she not freezing? Didn’t she have to wear a hood sock and helmet like Ayla? How was her stomach not frostbitten?
“Hi, Abigail.” Jace tried to step back. At least Ayla hoped he did. He didn’t appear to be enjoying the woman all wrapped around him while he still held a set of skis on each shoulder and his poles on the right side as well. “This is my friend Ayla.”
“Hi.” Abigail smiled at her. She was either super friendly or maybe super confident. She didn’t appear to consider Ayla any kind of threat. She did look over her outfit and her eyes widened briefly.
Ayla supposed with her hood sock and helmet on, her mismatched clothes with both the pants and coat making her look thicker than she ever had, she probably didn’t look like much of a competition for Jace’s attention.
“Nice to meet you,” Ayla said.
“You too!” Abigail blinked long-lashed eyes up at Jace.
He backed up very obviously this time and the girl simply stepped with him.
“Jace, you hot man you, when are you going to take me skiing again? Last week was the best time of my life.” She winked. “I still owe you dinner for the …” She licked her lips. “Amazing times.”
“Abigail.” Jace’s voice was stern, which Ayla liked, but she didn’t know if it was for her benefit or not. Abigail’s words made her sick to her stomach. “You paid for a lesson and you don’t owe me anything.” He stepped back again, and she finally released him. “Excuse us. We’re going skiing.”
Abigail’s lips went out in a pout. She harrumphed and whirled away, her long, dark hair flipping over her shoulder. “Don’t try to hide how much you want me now that she’s here.” She winked at Ayla as if they were sharing a joke, then purred at Jace, “You’ll come for me soon. Bye, Ayla,” she said in a sweet voice. “Good luck with your lesson.”
She popped back into her skis, grabbed her poles, and pushed off like she was designed to be a ski bunny. It was like watching a model glide across the packed snow. Ayla could probably take a picture of that girl with the lodge, mountains, valley, and trees in the background and sell it for a lot of money. She was gorgeous and so was the natural scenery.
To Jace’s credit, he didn’t watch Abigail go. When Ayla looked at him, he gave her a grimace of a smile. “Sorry. Abigail is my friend Melene’s little sister, and she can’t seem to get it through her head that I’m a dozen years older than her and not interested.”
“That’s tough,” she said, though she had her doubts. ‘Don’t try to hide how much you want me now that she’s here’ and ‘You’ll come for me soon’ were both ringing through her head. What man would turn down a woman that gorgeous? Could Jace be lying to Ayla or was Abigail a horrific flirt?
“It is.” He shook his head. “I hate to hurt her feelings, but I’m not sure how else to get through to her.”
