Mills and Boon Christmas Joy Collection. Liz Fielding

crashed and burned playing by the rules and following her plan. She’d suffered a humiliating fall in a practice run in Sochi that had ended her career and changed her life. Instead of attacking the changes with her customary gusto, she’d settled into a sort of limbo here in Park City, Utah, at the Lars Usten lodge.

      It had been so easy to do. The resort was cushy; her students at the lodge were cute and undemanding. The past six months or so had given her the chance to take it easy and slowly recover from more than knee surgery.

      But this year... Well, this year all bets were off. Starting right here right now. The band was playing Van Morrison’s signature hit, and she shot Carter a brazen look. “This is my song.”

      “Your song?”

      She pointed to her eyes. Oh, God, was she really doing this? “‘Brown Eyed Girl.’”

      Yes, it seemed she was.

      “Then let’s dance,” he said, grabbing her wrist and leading her onto the dance floor. He swung her around to face him, and she let go and pretended she didn’t know all the things she knew about Carter.

      That he played fast and loose with life and women. That he was a rebel risk taker who had caused more than one accident on the slopes. That he liked to put his hand on her hip and hold her close while they danced.

      And he smelled good. A clean, crisp scent that reminded her of being outside and on the slopes.

      She turned away from him.

      She wasn’t herself tonight. She should dance off the dance floor and out the door. Go home and forget about trying to be something and someone she wasn’t.

      Except she was lost.

      Really lost...and she needed something to make her feel alive again. Something that going sixty miles per hour down the side of a mountain used to do but couldn’t anymore.

      “Gorgeous? You okay?”

      No. Definitely not okay, but confessing that to Carter wasn’t something she was going to do.

      “Just thirsty.”

      “Let me get you a drink. Grab us some seats and we can chat.”

      “What would we possibly have to chat about?” she asked. “The charity event to get kids skiing that we’re both working on. I know that’s not until next November, but we are both playing a key role in it.” His eyes gleamed with mischief. “Or the fact that, come midnight, I’m going to kiss you. I’ll let you pick.”

      Suddenly tongue-tied, she watched him turn away and slowly weave his way through the crowd. He was popular, and everyone stopped him to chat or snap a quick selfie. And he smiled and acted as though he enjoyed it.

      Heck, he probably did. She’d heard her coach say he loved the spotlight and the spotlight loved him. And she’d never seen any evidence to the contrary. How did he do it?

      She wished there was some way she could claim his confidence for herself. To make herself into the invincible badass that Carter was. But the truth was she wasn’t that type of girl, and no matter how much she tried, she wasn’t going to change overnight.

      Part of the problem was that she’d just come from an incredibly romantic winter wedding that seemed to emphasize that she was alone. Added to that, the bride’s maid of honor, Penny, had recently hooked up with Will, her handsome vacation fling, which was quickly turning into something that was bound to last a lot longer.

      And she was alone.

      Lonely.

      Desperate...

      No. Not desperate. Though it did feel that way until Carter came back with a lemon-drop martini for her and some kind of mixed drink for himself. He slid in next to her at the high table instead of across from her and draped his arm along the back of the seat.

      He canted his body toward hers and she thought, What the hell. She wasn’t going to start another year the way she had all the rest. This year was going to be different, and Carter Shaw would be hers tonight.

      * * *

      CARTER HAD WANTED Lindsey since the first time he’d seen her. They’d both been two hotshot seventeen-year-olds being interviewed on ESPN, and when she’d looked straight at him with her pretty chocolate-brown eyes, he’d felt that spark shoot through his body.

      But she’d always been the ultimate ice queen. Too cool for someone as wild and risky as he’d always been. But he’d gotten to know her better now. More than ten years later, he still wanted her, but he saw her through the eyes of a man and not a lusty boy.

      Though, in all honesty, gazing at her now, looking like a gorgeous goddess, she still made him horny as hell.

      And it was New Year’s Eve. He’d spent more of them than he wanted to admit higher than the Rocky Mountains and with people whose names he couldn’t recall.

      He knew he’d changed over the course of the past year. The winter games had given him a check in the last box of his goals list. And it had been a sobering wake-up call when he’d witnessed Lindsey crash and realized his Nordic angel had feet of clay. Seeing her career end so quickly and unexpectedly had made him understand that he needed to look at his own life. He wasn’t going to be able to snowboard forever at the top level of his event.

      So he’d come here to Park City... Okay, in part to be closer to her. To see if maybe she’d be interested in him now that she wasn’t so focused on training 24/7. But she still looked straight through him, as if he was just another man in the room. He wanted to be the only man in the room she saw.

      Especially tonight.

      “So, gorgeous, have you been thinking about that kiss?” he asked smoothly.

      He sure had. It was hard to think of anything else when he was standing so close to her. Tonight she had her long, pale hair pulled back into an elegant updo. Tendrils framed her heart-shaped face and accentuated her long neck. Her mouth was full and sensuous, and she’d coated it with a sparkly lip gloss, which made it so hard for him to tear his gaze away. He leaned in closer. Almost kissed her before he pulled back.

      He was waiting for midnight.

      Besides, he had more control than that. He didn’t give in to his baser instincts. Not anymore.

      “I can tell it’s been on your mind,” she purred, lifting her hand and running her finger over his lower lip, back and forth, before spreading her fingers out and rubbing them over the stubble on his jaw.

      She closed her eyes as she touched him for just a second, nibbling at her bottom lip before her hand dropped away.

      “I have. You know I’ve been interested in you forever.”

      “Forever?” she said. “That’s a bit of an exaggeration.”

      Not really. But admitting to her that she’d been his obsession for the better part of ten years wasn’t something he planned to do tonight.

      The band had switched to contemporary dance hits, and the loud, infectious beat pumped through the room. Lindsey swayed to it as she took a sip of her lemon-drop martini. It was sad that he knew what she liked to drink. But in a way she’d always been his safe fantasy. The one thing in his life, however distant, that was good and always just out of reach.

      Until now.

      He wrapped a wispy tendril of straight blond hair that was hanging along the nape of her neck around his finger. Her locks were exquisitely soft. Her skin, showed off by the stunning emerald-green dress she wore, so pale and creamy.

      “Not an exaggeration. When we met at ESPN, I knew I wanted to kiss you.”

      She pursed her lips and tipped her head subtly away from him. “You were a player even then. And we both know you were attempting to throw me off my game. I almost let you.”

      “Why didn’t you?”