Chocolate Kisses and Love Filled Wishes: Kissing Bridge Mountain - Book 3 (4 page)

Chapter 9

            
 
U
p on the slopes, Kacey felt free. All her thoughts and worries disappeared somewhere into the cold air, as she switch nollied and busted a method air off a cornice.

How could she
not
snowboard? Sure, she understood that the doctors and coaches had to give her advice and were looking out for her, but she told herself they were being over-cautious to cover themselves. The last thing they wanted was a high-profile lawsuit from an Olympic athlete.

They didn’t understand, though.

Sitting indoors, watching the snow fall and not getting a chance to feel it under the smooth board, to get the rush of hurtling down the mountain? No chance. It would feel like death itself.

She
had
to get the Olympics. If no one else was going to help her, she’d have to help herself. Though she felt little strains and twinges in her back, where her disc had herniated, she convinced herself they were just psychological. She was just psyching herself out, and had to push through the twinges until she came out the other side. Her body wasn’t used to her old level of training.

So she twisted, turned and nose grabbed.  She twisted down the slope until she reached the bottom. There was no feeling so glorious in the whole world as busting some crazy tricks, then sliding down to the flat as if nothing had happened at all, with a nonchalant smile on her face—though her heart leapt inside.

But all that cool nonchalance was swept away as she caught sight of Tanner a little way off, watching her.

He had his legs parted wide in the snow, his hands on his hips, and a huge smile on his face.

“Wow,” he said, walking over to her. “Now that was really something. You gunning for the Gold in South Korea?”

She fumbled with her bindings to unclip her feet. “Yep.” She was surprised by how assured, how definite her voice sounded.

“Even with your injury?”

She blinked, then remembered it was all over the commentary. The fame was still hard to get used to.

“Yes. People say I shouldn’t, but I know my body better than anyone else.”

He nodded.

“The hard truth is that no one remembers a loser. You need to follow your heart, I say. If your heart says ‘Olympics,’ then don’t ever let anyone stop you.”

              She had been so used to hearing people telling her to stop training, that his advice was like one huge gust of fresh air. If she hadn’t found her heart almost palpitating around him, she might have reached out and given him a huge hug; that’s what she normally would have done. But as soon as Tanner Williams stepped in, normality let itself out the back door, like they couldn’t even exist in the same space. A shy, “Thanks,” was all she could manage.

A buzzing in her puffy snowboarding jacket startled her.

“Oh, just one second.”

“No problem,” he said, stepping a little way back to give her some privacy and gaze up at the mountain.             

Even as she got her cell out of her jacket pocket, pulling open the zip, she gazed at him. The wonder in his face as he stared up at the peak was almost mesmerizing.

She looked down at the screen.
Brody.
A feeling tugged at her heart, somewhere halfway between affection and guilt. Was it guilt for snowboarding, when she told him she wouldn’t… or… something else?

“Hey, Babe,” she said, kicking the snowboard up into her hand and walking away from Tanner.

“Hey, Babe,” he said back. “Just calling to tell you I just got into Park City and the… Snow. Is. Epic.”

She tried to find some enthusiasm. “That’s great!”

The sound of girls giggling in the background made a lump rise in her throat.

“I hope you’re having a good time.”

              “Sure I am,” he said. She expected something else to come, like ‘
but it would be so much better with you here.’
Instead he asked, “What are you doing right now?”

“Oh… er… I’m just taking a walk around the bottom of the mountain,” she lied—while the guilt multiplied and swelled in her chest.

“As long as you’re not snowboarding. Take care of yourself, Kacey.”

“I will.”

A silence grew between them, and was filled with more feminine giggling.

“Well…” he said, and the discomfort in his voice made her feel awful. “I’ve gotta go.”

“Okay.”

And, despite everything, she waited, just as she did at the end of every call. Maybe this would be the time he would say those three small words that her heart craved.

              “Well, bye, Babe.”

              Or not.

              It looked like she’d be on her own again, the only one to go out on a limb and declare her feelings. “I love you,” she said, in little more than a whisper.

A tiny silence, and then a series of three beeps that let her know he’d hung up. Had he heard her and hung up?

Or taken the phone away from his ear before that?

What did it matter anyway? He’d probably take up with some beautiful snowboarder—maybe even Brittany—and forget all about Kacey.

Blinking tears back, she headed over to tell Tanner she was going back up.

She needed another run down the mountain to get all the worry out of her mind.

But before she could speak, he did.

“Hey, you know it sure would be nice if you let me buy you dinner tonight.”

“I’m in a relationship,” she said quickly, though her pulse raced out of control.

He laughed a little, but gently.

“I just meant as friends.”

              Her mind grasped for excuses but found nothing.

“Oh… well, sure. Of course, friends, I don’t even know what I was thinking. Friends. Dinner. Sure.”

Chapter 10

            
 
A
side from Eagle’s Peak Lodge, the
Old Cabin Café
was the place to eat in town. Since she’d been eating Earl’s food morning, noon and night, she fancied a change. Somehow Tanner had read her mind and suggested it.

              They sat at a table tucked into the corner. The dim flicker of the candle in the center of the table played over his face, making his eyes look more intense and magical than ever. Kacey felt uncomfortable.

             
Was she cheating?

She asked herself that throughout the night, and whenever she did, a twinge of guilt twisted in her gut.

          She had felt guilty, as she’d stood in front of her wardrobe, way too long deciding what to wear. She had felt guilty when she’d spent ages fussing with her hair, straightening and curling and straightening it again, trying to work out what looked the best. She had felt guilty as he’d complimented her on how beautiful she looked and her stomach had fluttered with a thousand butterflies.

             
Friends,
she reminded herself. He said “just friends.”

              “You seem really motivated by snowboarding,” he said, leaning over the table toward her.

She noticed his eyelashes curled widely, softening his chiseled looks into something ever more gorgeous. She looked out of the window over at the streets of Kissing Bridge, flooded with golden lamplight.

“I just adore it,” she said. “It makes me feel like there are no problems in the whole world.”

“Wow.” Tanner leaned back in his chair and looked at his hands. “I wish I had something like that, something that made me forget.”

              Her heart ached for him. She had heard that he had been orphaned early she could only imagine the pain he kept locked away. He looked so crestfallen. She couldn’t help but reach out and touch his hand in kindness.

“But at least you make a difference in the world. You don’t run away, you face the problems head on.”

He blew out a puff of air with a modest shrug. “I guess.”

“You guess?” she said, laughing a little.

“You’re one of the most inspirational people I know. You helped get so many people aware and interested in saving the earth. That’s no small feat!”

He smiled then, staring at the wood grain of the table, though he was clearly trying not to. He looked up at her with troubled eyes and squeezed her hand tightly.

          “Have you decided what you’re having, Beautiful?”

              Kacey studied his handsome face; so strong, so mature, so determined. The more time they spent together, the more she liked him. Not only was he achingly handsome, he was talented, passionate, and
modest,
too? So different from Brody with all his showboating.

“What are you having?” she asked.