Jill Shalvis - Instant Attraction

“Well, that’s good then.”

“How exactly is that good, him keeping in his feelings?”

Annie looked taken aback. “Keeping in his feelings? What does that have to do with anything? If he did fine, he’s over it.”

Katie was beginning to understand not just where Cam had gotten some of his reticence from, but also what Nick was dealing with. “It helps to talk out stuff, Annie. He might have gotten ‘over it’ a lot sooner than a whole year if he had.”

Annie shook her head. “You weren’t here, so let me tell you how bad it was. Three surgeries. After the first one he got an infection that nearly took his leg. The doctor told him to get used to a wheelchair. Cam proved him wrong, but it was a month, one long month before he could walk, and then when he could, he still had to give up his entire life.”

“I understand. It was awful, tragic. But, Annie, why was boarding his entire life?”

“I-” Annie stopped. Blinked. “You know, I never saw a problem with that until just now.” She sank to a chair and stared out the window. “All this time I thought I was doing him a favor, babying him, letting him not get back out there. Letting him not talk about it…I thought it was for the best, not forcing him into anything.” Her eyes were shiny when they met Katie’s. “Damn.”

“Well, he got out there yesterday. And looked like he was born to it, I might say. He was amazing.”

Annie smiled. “He was born to it. Growing up, if he wasn’t being worked into the ground by his father, he was on the slopes. Once I got him, he lived on that mountain.”

“He was lucky to have you.”

“Hell yeah, he was. Did you ski his namesake, Wilder Way?”

Katie let out a little laugh. “Uh, hello, remember me, the woman who stopped the lift? We stayed on the bunny slopes.”

Annie choked on that. “The bunny slopes?”

“He said that it was good practice for him.”

“Honey, that boy used to heli-ski into places that would make your hiney twitch, where even the photogs wouldn’t go to catch him on film, and then he’d huck himself off cliffs. For fun.” She shook her head. “Practice. Good Lord, he must have it bad.” She slid her gaze over Katie. “And so do you. Jesus.”

“You think he and I would be a mistake?”

“Are you still leaving?”

“Yes.”

“Then, yes, it would be a mistake. For both of you.”

Stone and Cam didn’t get home that night either. The storm caught a group of skiers off guard near Mt. Bliss, and the guys joined the Search and Rescue team to help locate two missing skiers.

Katie slept in her warm bed and thought about Cam out there on the mountain, out in the elements. Not only surviving but trying to help others do the same.

And she’d been so proud of herself, being so “risky” here at Wilder. She didn’t have a clue. She fell asleep determined to reach even deeper for more.

Balls out.

The next morning, she went to the lodge, grabbed some food, then went upstairs to her desk, pulling out a napkin-wrapped piece of bacon from her pocket. She flipped on all the lights, got down on her hands and knees, and searched under each desk. “Here, kitty, kitty…”

But there was no sight of the scrawny cat masquerading as an ostrich baby, so she sat at her desk and got to work, only to nearly fall over a few minutes later at the rustling beneath her. Slowly, she bent low and found two huge green eyes staring at her. “Chuck,” she breathed, “you came.” She unrolled her napkin, holding out the bacon.

His little nose wriggled as if he couldn’t quite believe it. His fur was rumpled and clumpy, and there was a bald patch behind an ear. His tail was permanently bent to the right. Clearly, he’d been through hell, and he absolutely broke her heart. “Come on, sweet thing. You know you want it…”

Gun-shy, he continued to sniff at the bacon but wouldn’t take it out of her hand. Caving, she set it at his feet. “There-”

It vanished so fast she got dizzy. Smiling, she leaned in to pet him, but he let out a low sound from deep in his throat and dashed out from beneath the desk, disappearing as fast as the bacon had.

“Watch your fingers with that one,” Stone said as he came up the stairs, looking as big and bad as his brother always did. Bigger, actually, and just as tough and impenetrable. He was the sort of guy who could be dropped anywhere on the planet and manage to survive.

And yet he didn’t make her knees knock together like Cam did.

“You good?” he asked.

“That should be my question to you. You find the lost boarders?”

“Cam did, actually. Apparently, wayward boarders think alike.” He flipped through the mail, then looked at her. “And before you die of curiosity, he’s still in town, talking to the police for the report.”

“Is everyone all right?”

“Uh-huh, he’s all in one piece and fine. Since that’s what you were really asking.” Looking amused, he tossed the mail back down. “So I hear you got him out on the mountain.”

She sighed. “You talked to Annie.”

“Yeah, but I already knew. Small town,” he said with a shrug. “I call it Mayberry with Attitude. Everyone knows everyone’s business and are all up in it.”

“Are you going to warn me off him too?”

“Nah, he’d try to kick my ass, and then I’d have to kick his, and then Annie would want in on it. It’d be a whole ass-kicking thing…” He set an envelope on her desk.

“What’s this?”

“We had a group come in late last night. Five brothers. I’m taking them up Sky Peak today and tomorrow. They want to hike up, then ski down the backside. That’s their deposit.”

She looked inside and saw all the zeros on the check. “Nice.”

“The roads are rough. If you go to the bank today, you’ll need the snowmobile to get there.”

She stared down at the envelope. Bad roads. Snowmobile. On the one hand, it sounded like a great adventure. On the other, it sounded like an unusual obituary. But she was going deeper…so she stuck the check in the bank bag and pulled on all her snow gear. She went outside and stared at the snow-mobile sitting so innocuously out front.

The key was in the ignition, the helmet on top of the seat. She pulled it on and straddled the beast, as she’d seen Cam do a bunch of times. “No problem.” Yeah, saying it out loud really helped. She turned the key and the engine jumped to life, along with her heart rate. Instinctively, she grabbed the handlebars and squeezed, and that’s when the beast betrayed her, leaping forward like a kicked bronco.

With a small, strangled scream, Katie let go of the handlebars. The snowmobile went one way and she went the other, flying through the air.

She landed facedown in the soft, newly fallen powder, which gave way beneath her, so that she sank in like a post. She was stuck so good that moving was all but impossible. She tried to keep it together, but it was dark inside the snow berm and she couldn’t get free, and the old panic gripped her. She gasped for air and inhaled snow. Not trapped in your car, she tried to tell herself. No flames licking at you…It didn’t work. Choking, coughing, she struggled, feeling like she was suffocating-

A set of hands gripped her hips and hauled her up to her knees, tugging off her helmet so she could see.

And what she saw was Cam, eyes and mouth grim as he hunkered down before her, peering into her face.

“You’re back,” she gasped, swiping at the snow in her eyes.

“Are you okay?” he demanded.

“I don’t know.” Heart pounding, knees wobbling, she sank to her butt in the snow. “I couldn’t breathe, I-”

He ran his hands down her limbs, then rescued her glasses from the snow and handed them to her. “What the hell were you doing?”

“I…” She shook her head. “Need another second.”

He blew out a breath, then craned his head to take in the snowmobile, which had hit a tree.

She put on her glasses and gasped. “Oh, God.” Nope, she wasn’t okay. Spots swam in front of her eyes, as did memories of what her car had looked like after her crash, and the next thing she knew, Cam had pushed her head between her knees and was saying, “Deep breaths, that’s it. Come on, keep at it.”

“Crap.”

“Does that mean you’re back with me?”

“I did not faint.” She lifted her head and forced herself to look at the snowmobile. “Oh, God. I did, I really killed it.”

“Yeah, well, better it than you. So let’s get to the part where you tell me what you were doing.”

“Attempting to get to the bank. Stone said I could. Hi, by the way.”

“Hi. And Stone’s an idiot. Did it ever occur to you to ask for help?”

“Sure. But I didn’t want to look like the stupid city girl.”

He stroked her damp hair from her face. “You’re that most disconcerting shade of green again.”

“Yeah, I’m sort of having a bad moment.”

“I can see that.” His calm voice was going a long way toward making her calm. Or at least calmer. “Flashback?”

“My car-” She took a quick peek at the snowmobile on its side near the tree. “It looked like a toy afterward.”

“Ah, hell,” With a rough sound of regret, he pulled her in close. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m okay,” she said softly.

“So am I. Let’s just be okay together a minute.”

She burrowed in, pressing her cold nose to his throat. “I’m sorry I killed your snowmobile. I’ll pay for the damages.”

“No, you won’t. Trust me, we’ve put it through far worse.” He slanted her a look. “On purpose.”

“Because you’re all tough badass Wilders, and when you ride crazy and crash into things, it’s on purpose, right?”

“Not every time.”

She closed her eyes, then opened them and cupped his face, feeling the stubble beneath her fingers. “Why didn’t you tell me you hadn’t been on the mountain since your accident?”