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“That was a shit thing to say,” Jax said.
Lucas ignored his attempt at an apology. “That’s up to you guys.” He stood. “Take this as my notice. I’ll finish the rest of the season and then I’m out.”
Chapter Nine
Take Life by the Balls
Do something that scares you.
This was a disaster.
Realizing that she wasn’t cut out for balancing two different boards that always seemed to go in opposite directions, Milly had decided a single surface was safer. Which was how she found herself with a snowboard attached to her left foot, her right foot quaking in her boot.
She was dressed in another one of Zoe’s fashion-forward pink snowsuits with a fluffy white scarf and matching earmuffs. It wasn’t cold enough for earmuffs, in fact the sun was shining bright enough to make the snowcapped peaks look like they were covered in diamonds, but when she’d looked up Ski-Bunny Barbie online, the ensemble included white earmuffs. So she’d stopped by the lodge’s boutique and bought the fluffiest white earmuffs she could find.
What she didn’t find was Jax, who hadn’t returned a single one of her texts since the weekend. She’d apologized so many times she had carpal tunnel, leading her to believe she was the villain of this short-lived romance. She only compounded the problem by lying to her parents—and she still hadn’t come clean.
She’d stayed in Sierra Vista to Marie Kondo the house and wound up making a mess of everything. It was time to make a change. Take responsibility for her life. Which was how she found herself standing in line for the ski lift, ready to take life by the balls.
Only she was pretty sure this adventure would cost her her life. The closer she got to the front of the line, the more convinced she became that she was going to die. If not from the contraption itself, then certainly from a coronary.
“Miss,” someone said.
Milly looked up to realize that no one was in front of her any longer. It was just her. She’d been so distracted thinking about how to resolve this problem with Jax that she didn’t even notice how fast the line was moving. Now she was looking up at a hundred-and-eighty-degree view of the Sierra Nevada mountains looming in front of her in all their snow-blanketed imposing beauty, and the awaiting bench, shifting in the breeze. All she had to do was climb on.
Held together by nothing more than a chain, a pole, and a prayer, the red metal ski lift was big enough for three. But unlike the people who had been in front of her, Milly was a party of one. No ski buddy to tell her it was okay. No one to hold her hand. No one to plummet to her death with.
Milly found happiness in safe, manageable doses, whereas Zoe found happiness in over-the-top adventures—like scaling North Face or setting up a tent on the side of a cliff to capture a photo of an American bald eagle—that defied the odds,. But in the end, she lost. Milly’s entire family had. But today would be an all-around win—Milly would make certain.
“You got this,” she whispered to herself. She bent to take a step forward and instead found herself stepping off to the side, dragging her snowboard with her, before smacking right into a hard wall.
“Whoa.” Steady hands gripped her hips right before she would have tumbled ass over teakettle into the snow. Correction, they didn’t grip, they possessed, with a familiarity of someone who had seen said ass and teakettle sans the snowsuit.
She looked up into the greenest eyes ever, but instead of warm they were—well, she wasn’t sure, but she missed the way he’d looked at her the other morning. Even so she was rendered momentarily speechless by the magnitude of swagger and testosterone. He was, hands down, the sexiest man she’d ever kissed. And he was all man. Six feet plus of hard muscle and intoxicating confidence, with this graceful athleticism that turned her tongue to dust.
“Jax,” she breathed.
“Was there a question mark on the end of that?”
She grimaced. “That’s fair. But for the record, you didn’t tell me your name.”
“You never asked.”
“Because I thought you were Lucas! You were in slacks and loafers and had this whole Boardroom Babe thing going on.”
“Dress shoes. Only a stuffed suit would wear loafers and, angel, I am no loafer. I think I proved that the other night.”
He’d proved it over and over. Milly’s thighs quivered at the memory.
“Then what was with playing dress-up?”
“I had just taken Peggy to dinner for her birthday, and I know how she loves it when I wear a suit. Then Nolan called, and I said I’d meet him for a drink. Then you blindfolded me.”
His answers made sense. And now that she thought about it, how had she ever confused the two? Yes, they looked identical, although Jax was bigger and broader, but their personalities were polar opposite. Lucas would have never been as spontaneous as to play a silly bar game and Lucas would have never gone home with her—because it would be highly unprofessional.
Zoe, what have you gotten me into?
“So, you didn’t try to trick me?” She had no idea how much that thought had been bothering her until she voiced it.
