I’d meet her at the bottom because I wanted to do one last run down the doubles. She insisted on coming with me. I didn’t fight her on it hard enough, so she came. Halfway down, she hit an ice patch landing a mogul and went off course.” I took a deep breath and swallowed. “She hit a tree. Broke her neck. She died instantly.”
“Oh my God, Milo.” Maddie reached out and pulled me into a hug. She held me tight. “I’m so sorry.”
I nodded. “Thank you.” After a few minutes, she loosened her grip, and I finished my story. “Anyway, yesterday was the first time I’d skied since that day. And I decided to go into teaching to stay within music, which I loved. But I couldn’t bring myself to sing without Zoe after that.”
“Wow. I can certainly understand why. But, Jesus, Milo. Why didn’t you tell me how monumental a day yesterday was?”
I didn’t know the answer to that question. “I guess I needed it to not be a big deal for me. Making it about you helped me keep my mind off of the reason I’d stopped skiing.”
“And here I am telling you all my problems. What I went through isn’t half as traumatic.”
“We both suffered a loss of someone we loved. Just in different ways.”
Maddie slipped off her glove, then reached over and gave one of my gloves a tug. Once our hands were free, she laced her fingers with mine and squeezed. “I think we were supposed to meet, Milo Hooker. Life brought us together for a reason.” She rested her head against my shoulder and let out a big sigh. “We’re here to help each other find our new paths.”
I nodded. “I think you might be right, sis. I think you really might be right.”
• • •
After we finished riding, we found a little hotel off of Main Street in downtown Steamboat Springs to stay for the night. Again, we got adjacent rooms.
“I’m starving,” Maddie said as we stood in front of our respective doors and swiped the keys to unlock them. “When we drove through town, I saw a cute place where I’d like to eat.”
“Oh sure. What place?”
She smiled. “It’s a surprise.”
I smiled back. “Okay. How long do you need to get ready?”
“Forty minutes?”
“Sounds good. Knock on my door when you’re done.”
I took a shower and got dressed, then kicked my feet up on the bed to rest my eyes for a few minutes. A knock at the door woke me sometime after.
I opened the door, still in a sleepy fog, and found Maddie all dressed up in a slinky silver slip dress with spaghetti straps. Her red hair was blown out into soft waves, and she had on more makeup than I’d ever seen her wear. I had to blink a few times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
“Wow. You look great. I guess I need to change.”
She took a step back and looked herself up and down. “Is this too much for downtown? I brought so many nice clothes. I’m not sure where I planned on going all dressed up since I came by myself, but I figured, why not use them? Though look at the back of this. Is it too much? Obviously I need to grab my coat before we go outside.”
She turned and showed me the low-cut back of her dress, which showcased creamy white skin and dipped to just above her ass. I salivated at the sight of the silky material hugging her perfectly round cheeks.
I cleared my throat. “Ummm… It’s definitely not your typical snow gear, but damn, you look sexy as hell. I don’t think we should tell people we’re brother and sister tonight, because they might think it’s fucked up when I drool looking at you.”
She blushed. “You’re sweet. But should I change?”
“Absolutely fucking not.” I nodded toward my room. “But come inside so I can at least put a collared shirt on.”
It had seemed like a perfectly innocent request when I made it, but the moment the door clanked closed behind her, that all changed. Maybe it was her being inside a room that was pretty much all bed, coupled with the way she looked in that dress, but suddenly I really wanted to see her gorgeous red hair fanned out all over my pillow.
Needing a distraction from that thought, I went to my suitcase and dug around while Maddie took a seat on the edge of the bed. She crossed one