said with a laugh. “You can tell me anything anywhere. Don’t be coy. Especially after the instructor hit on you.”
“He did not hit on me.”
“He totally checked out your ass, and he was hitting on you.” Coop pointed a finger at me. “You miss that shit. We don’t. Hence why Jake and Archie wanted you practicing with them.”
“Uh huh.”
“What?”
“Nothing,” I told him over my shoulder. “You guys are adorable.”
His snort just made me grin harder. “You didn’t used to think it was so adorable.”
The grumpy grumble didn’t help his case.
“Well, before, I couldn’t get a date ’cause you wouldn’t let other guys near me.”
“Yeah, well, it worked out for me,” Coop said, a little cockier again.
“Worked out better for me,” I teased, and his eyes flared.
“What did you decide you wanted?” He circled us right back to where we’d started.
“You remember what we discussed on your birthday?” I didn’t look at him. “All the things you wanted?”
The half-strangled, “Yes,” did a lot for my confidence.
“I think I want to test one of those out.”
I wasn’t really certain what happened, but we went from cutting back and forth neatly to Coop crashing into me, or maybe I crashed into him. We went down flailing, and one of my skis snapped right off the way it was supposed to, and we lay there in a lump of limbs, staring at each other.
Breathless, I burst out laughing, and he followed. There were shouts from ahead, and when we tried to get up, my other ski got caught under his and we both pitched into the snow. I lay there for a sec, laughing too damn hard to get up, and Coop was no help. It was like some damn sitcom.
Only better.
Jake got to us first, but Ian and Archie were right behind him. They were all carrying their skis because they’d jogged back up in the snow. Or whatever.
I flat out giggled when Jake popped the lock on my ski and picked me up first, and then they got Coop up.
When they asked what happened? We busted out laughing all over again. Thankfully, neither of us were hurt, and we got our skis back on and resumed our leisurely pace with all three babysitters in attendance.
The rest of the day went like that—easy with the laughter. I was almost an expert on taking the lift up. We’d returned to the top three more times before we took a break for lunch. The lodge food wasn’t anything special, but it was filling and I was starving. I was also ready to strip out of my coat and just ski with the long sleeve shirt on because I kept getting hot.
Both Archie and Jake nixed that, but conceded I could probably unzip and take the neoprene off.
Score.
After lunch, we hit a different set of greens. The resort had quite a few. We’d do them once or twice, then switch to another. The views were always spectacular. The last one we hit also had what they called a black-rated run as well as a blue that forked off from it, and yeah, that looked like I’d be falling off the cliff. Jake and Archie kept looking at the blue, and I said, “You guys should do it. You know what you’re doing, and Coop can keep me company.”
Coop slung an arm around me.
“I can hang out, too,” Ian said when Archie and Jake still hesitated, but I poked him.
“I saw you look at that run just like they did. Go, we’ll be fine.”
“And if we’re not, that’s what ski patrol is for,” Coop offered up cheerfully, earning three death glares from the others.
“Go,” I ordered them. “I’m getting tired anyway.” That was the truth. “So maybe we’ll go grab hot cocoa or coffee or something if we beat you to the bottom.”
We were so not beating them to the bottom.
Archie pulled out his phone and sent a message before stowing it away and pulling his gloves on. “The car will be waiting for us when we get down there. Back to the lodge where we can soak those tired muscles in the hot tub and have dinner?”
Yes, please.
Coop and I waited for them to set off. The minute the guys started moving down the blue, I read the envy and the longing on Coop’s face.
“Do you want to try it?”
“Nope,” he lied through his teeth. “Because you don’t want to, and I’d rather hang out with you anyway. There will be other opportunities. Archie made more