Mills and Boon Christmas Joy Collection. Liz Fielding

That was real.

      * * *

      THE CLASS BROKE UP and all the kids were reconnected with their parents. Jackson waved happily at Carter. Lindsey shook her head. Was there anyone who Carter couldn’t relate to?

      She sat and took off her skis, and then stood there for a minute. Her first run in the better part of a year. It was a big deal and she didn’t downplay it. She’d been scared, but as usual letting Carter see any vulnerability had pushed her to just do it. And now she had. She was tempted to take another run. Down the little slope again? Or maybe something more moderate. Maybe one of the bunny slopes.

      “Great class,” Carter said, coming up to her.

      “Yeah? Well, you were certainly a big hit. What are you even doing here?” she asked. “Ski lessons? Just doesn’t seem to be your style.”

      “When are you going to learn that I don’t fit the little mold you keep trying to shove me into?” he asked. “I’m here because if I’m going to lead a team with skiers on it, I have to at least be able to participate in a few of their events.”

      “Crap. Do you think I’ll have to snowboard?” she asked. She didn’t even want to begin to think about that. Not now. “I might give it a go on one of those indoor places. It’s all virtual.”

      “I’ve seen them. In fact, I have one that is branded in my name,” he said.

      She laughed. Of course he did. That was really a Carter sort of thing. From the beginning he’d took to the press and to advertising as though born to it. He was photogenic, that went without saying, but he also really liked the spotlight. Almost as much as he liked snowboarding—or at least that was the impression she’d always had.

      “Well, then, I guess you know what I’m talking about.”

      “I do,” he said. “The kids in your class were great, by the way.”

      “You caught a good class. Some of them aren’t so great. Jackson sure took to you.” Lindsey looked up at him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you were really encouraging.”

      “Shocked you, didn’t it?” he asked with a rueful grin. “Don’t let the word get out or all my rivalries will look like shams.”

      “As one of your biggest adversaries, I’d never let the cat out of the bag.” She studied him for a long moment. “Have you ever thought about coaching?”

      “It’s really not my thing. I mean, helping Jackson over a learning curve is one thing, but day in, day out, keeping up that kind of energy... I’m not sure I could do it.”

      That was too bad. He’d sounded as though he really got the difficulties that came along with participating in a sport. Well, duh. She shook her head.

      “I saw that look on your face after the run. You liked it, didn’t you?” he asked.

      “Sort of. When I got to the bottom, I was elated that I’d done it. But if you and the class hadn’t been at the bottom, I might have walked away.”

      “I don’t think so. You’ve turned a corner, Linds. You’re not walking away from anything anymore.”

      He was right—she wasn’t. She didn’t know how she was going to take a big run, but from now on she wasn’t going to let her fear dominate her. She’d sort of turned a corner, and she knew exactly who to thank for it.

      The only problem she could see was that she’d sort of tried shoving him out of her life, but here he was again. He was one determined fellow, as her granny would say.

      “Why do you keep showing up?”

      “Why do you keep pushing me away?” he countered. “That’s the real question. What is it about me that makes you do that?”

      She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. “I just need to sort through my stuff. And this job... I have to make some decisions, and I’ve always believed the best time to get involved with a man—”

      “Wait. Are you actually contemplating getting involved with me? I thought I was your dirty secret. Your booty call.”

      She shook her head in exasperation. “I don’t know why I try to talk to you. You look like a normal human being but inside you’re just one big ass.”

      “I am. I really am,” he said. “But let’s both agree that you have been treating me as though I have the plague.”

      “You like to exaggerate, don’t you?”

      “Just a tad.” A wicked gleam flared in his eyes. “Seriously, you are thinking of a relationship?”

      “I don’t know. Not now,” she said, but that was her own pride talking. She knew that she was infatuated with him. She’d typed his name into internet search engines, read every article on him and spent hours looking at pictures of him. Especially the one of him for the famous underwear designer. It’d be dumb to pretend she wasn’t already attached to him in some way.

      “I can be too much,” he admitted. “But it’s only when I’m nervous. When I was a kid, before I found snowboarding, I used to drive my nanny crazy. Sometimes she’d have to take a day off just to keep me in line.”

      That was interesting. “How’d that work?”

      “I wanted her to come back. She was my companion whenever we travelled and I was homeschooled for a while so I missed her.”

      “Why were you homeschooled?”

      “I was a late reader,” he said. “Isn’t it funny how there is a PC term for anything that’s wrong with you?”

      “I bet you were too physical to actually sit still and read,” she said. “Nothing wrong with that. And I’ll take PC over Ice Queen any day. I can’t believe Bradley called me that.”

      “Well, it is sort of what the media calls you. But if you want me to defend your honor, I’ll challenge him on the slopes and humiliate him for you,” Carter said, reaching out and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Just say the word.”

      “I think we’re good,” she said with an uneasy laugh. She noticed that it was starting to get a little dark and she knew it was time to go, but she didn’t want to leave Carter. Not in the punch-drunk-love way but more in a tired-of-spending-all-her-nights-alone way.

      * * *

      CHASING HER WASN’T working exactly the way he’d planned, but Carter wasn’t going to argue with the results. Who knew that skiing would be the thing to bring them closer? In a way, that made perfect sense to him because it was the sport that had always been between them and it still was.

      She’d been so focused on her skiing when they’d first met and now that she couldn’t ski anymore... Well, that hadn’t brought them any closer together.

      “A group of people from Thunderbolt are in town and hitting a few of the bars tonight. Want to come?” he asked.

      She gave him a long, level look. “Dang it. That’s on my resolutions list. I guess I’m going to have to.”

      He knew she hadn’t put bar crawl on her list. It was the exact opposite of everything he knew to be true about Lindsey, but he also guessed she was tired of the space between them. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part. He wanted her to need him.

      Almost as much as he wanted her in his bed.

      “I’ll pick you up at eight,” he said. He knew he should go, but instead he reached for her skis and put them over his shoulder with his own. “I have to return these...unless you want to take another run.”

      “I was actually thinking about it. But I have to do it on my own.”

      “I get it,” he said. “Let me trade these skis for my board and I’ll catch a ride up with you and then meet you at the bottom?”