Four Nights to Forever (7 page)

He tipped his head back and laughed hard enough for the people in the valley to hear the echo. Then he took off after her, weaving his way through the crowds until he caught up with her.

“Hotshot!” he called out, enjoying her pursed lips and frustrated shake of her head as he passed her.

He was careful not to ski so far ahead that she couldn’t follow him to the correct run, and he stopped at the edge of the cat track, ready to point her down the line he wanted her to take.

But Cassie had a mind of her own. She growled at him one more time and popped past him and down the run. Again, he was left to play catch-up with his student.

And he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun.

*

Doug was exhausted by the time they finished their last run and joined the throngs of other skiers taking off their gear and looking for friends for après-ski. Before she picked up her skis, Cassie lifted her goggles to the top of her helmet and granted him the full force of her baby-blue eyes. “I, um . . . well, my dinner companion has flown back home,” she said, flicking a glance at him. “Karen and I bought all this food, and if I don’t finish it by the end of the week it will be such a waste.” She shrugged, the movement barely visible under her heavy ski clothing. “You know, if you want to come over for dinner. Maybe a drink in the hot tub.”

When she finished her invitation, Cassie bit her lip and gave him a nervous smile, but she was looking him straight in the eyes now, and her gaze pulled at his groin. And his heart.

He should turn her down. To say the one affair he’d had with a student turned out poorly was an understatement. He had a
policy
, and that policy had served him well for the past four years.

But he was divorced, he only saw his kids two weekends a month, and the only living thing expecting him to come home tonight was a cat that would as soon claw his eyes out as curl up on his lap—though the beast loved his six-year-old daughter and seemed not to notice the tail-pulling and other indignities Mia imposed on him. Socks had plenty of food and wouldn’t miss him for a night.

Pure justification for the fact that Doug wanted to bury his policy so deep in the snow it wouldn’t be found until July. He’d been trying all afternoon
not
to think about what it would be like to follow Cassie back to her condo and see what her lush body looked like under those layers.

“I don’t have a swimsuit with me,” he said.

“Oh.”

She started to turn away from him, her rosy cheeks bright red with embarrassment, so he finished his thought quickly. “If you can pass on the hot tub for the night, I’d be happy to. I have a change of clothes in my locker and can come by after I shower.”

“You can shower at the condo if you want.” Her face was still flushed but her eyes were hot as she looked at him dead-on.

He may have a rule against sex with anyone related to the resort, but rules were meant to be broken. Especially with invitations like that one, from a fun, interesting, once-in-a-lifetime woman. The fact that she wasn’t the type to invite a stranger back to her room on a whim kept his uncomfortable memories a bay. Plus she’d be leaving in a few days, and they’d never see each other again. And, technically, she had only asked him for a meal and a glass of wine.

“Okay.” His imagination raced with possibilities, and he tried to keep his face blank as he slowed down his mind. “That’s sounds . . . It sounds great,” he finished, clearly out of practice.

If she noticed his lame response, she didn’t give any indication. Her answering smile was slow, but the gap in her teeth eventually appeared. A chance to see her satisfied smile was worth tossing his rules aside.

Her nod was quick and decisive enough that her hair bounced at her shoulders. “I’ll wait here for you to get your stuff.”

“Be right back,” he said, then grabbed his skis and hurried off.

Cassie had moved and was sitting at a table when he returned, but she was waiting for him as promised.

Following Cassie across the plaza and staring at her ass in those ski pants made concentrating on her invitation difficult.
Just dinner
, he reminded himself as they crossed the parking lot to the path leading to the condo buildings. If he imagined her attacking him with the same vigor she’d started to attack the mountain, only naked and straddling him, that was his problem, not hers. Wondering if she would be silly in bed with those little growls of hers was also his problem.

They didn’t say anything as they walked to her condo building. He didn’t know what to talk about. He’d only made this walk with a student once before, and that time he’d had nothing but bad reasons. He’d made that terrible choice because he’d felt trapped in a marriage, stuck in a job he both loved and hated, and overwhelmed by the bad decisions of his life. He certainly hadn’t been walking the path because he was interested in the woman who had been leading the way.

This time was completely different. His single, terrible one-night stand had been the catalyst for a series of painful actions that had ultimately left him in a better place. Next year he’d still be working for Snowdance, but he’d be managing activities for the many different conferences that came to the resort rather than being a professional ski bum.

Most importantly, he was following Cassie back to her condo because he wanted
her
, not because he was trying to escape his own life. It was the difference between a dream and a nightmare.

*

Where Cassie had gotten the gumption to go from mildly suggestive comments to asking Doug back to her room was a mystery. She must have pulled the how-to memory out from her college years somewhere, from before she’d met Tom and gone from girlfriend to wife to mother in the blink of an eye. Back to her freshman year, when she’d gone to parties and taken guys back to her dorm room, not like this past year when she’d only said yes to men who didn’t scare her.

Just like riding a bike.

Whoever had come up with that cliché clearly hadn’t gotten back on a bicycle after a decade of not riding and felt the moment of fear before their balance kicked in.
If
their balance kicked in.

The March sun set early, and a chill settled over them on the short walk from the plaza to the condo building. She shivered once, hard. Was it from the chill or the anticipation? More likely the disbelief that she had invited a virtual stranger back to her room. Though, for being a stranger, she felt she knew him well enough. He was funny, nice, and she sensed a depth to his soul buried under that curly hair and ski-bum tan.

They walked into the heated lobby of the building and her shoulders relaxed. His tightened up noticeably. Embarrassed to be walking past the front desk and be seen going into a guest’s room, maybe? Embarrassed to be going into
her
room?

Cassie dismissed both those thoughts before they could plant a pole in her mind. Yesterday, he’d been pretty upfront about his ability to politely turn students down; an excuse not to come over for dinner would have been easy. He wanted to be here with her, and she wanted him here. She was going to take advantage of the quiet condo, a little alcohol, and her hot ski instructor.

The doors to the elevator shut behind them, and they stood, staring at their reflections, her skis in his hand and her poles in hers, a unique caricature of
American Gothic
. They both looked so serious.

“How old are you?” Despite her determination to please herself, even if only for this week, she wasn’t sure she could take off her clothes not knowing. Hell, she still wasn’t sure she’d be able to take her clothes off, period.

The elevator beeped, and the doors opened on her floor. The elevator lobbies were windowless, dark and oppressive, matching Doug’s tone as he answered her. “Does it matter?”

“I guess not. If it did, I could have asked before inviting you for dinner.” Though the courage she would have mustered to ask that question would probably have pushed the courage required to ask him back to the condo right out the window.

He had to cock his head to look at her past the skis he was holding. Whatever expression was on her face must have convinced him she was sincere because he nodded and said, “Thirty-two.”

She shouldn’t have said anything, because when he asked, “How old are you?” panic flurried in her breast before she answered honestly. “Thirty-nine.” It was true for one more day.

Her panic was quashed when he stopped in front of her condo door and looked at her with wide, honest surprise. “I had you pegged as thirty-five.”

“Well, thank you, but no. Definitely thirty-nine . . . with a twenty-year-old daughter.” The last part wasn’t anything Doug needed to know, but her nerves had started to dance on the silent walk from the plaza. She was lucky her worry didn’t push her entire life history out of her lips and onto the floor in front of them.

She went to open the door, but the lock stuck and she had to jimmy the handle to get the door open. Inside, she set her poles against the wall and moved aside so he could rest her skies next to them. She took off her boots, and he hung his coat next to hers on a peg, sticking his gloves, hat, and goggles into the cubby like he belonged here. Maybe he visited the condos of his students more than he let on, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. Cassie decided to let it remain an unknown thing.

She was tugging off her damp socks when his hand rested on her shoulder and she looked up.

“Your daughter has a beautiful mother,” he said, running a finger along the side of her face. She steeled herself before realizing it and leaned into his palm. “I’ll be real quick in the shower, and then I can help you with dinner.”

Cassie touched her hand to her cheek and watched him disappear into the bathroom.

‡

I
n the small galley kitchen, Cassie opened a bottle of red wine without bothering to read the label and poured herself a glass. The sound of the shower running on the other side of the wall was making her antsy. The first small sip stilled her
he’s thirty-two
worries without disturbing the buzz of her anticipation. At the very least, she wasn’t running to the closet to hide.

She leaned against the counter, thinking. Doug wouldn’t be the first man she’d had sex with since her separation, but he’d be the first one that made her nervous and excited at the same time. And that was much scarier than meeting a friend of a friend for dinner and then going to his place afterward.

She should have let him shower in the locker room so he would have come up to her condo fully dressed and ready for dinner. Knowing he was naked in her bathroom was just too much. Though she’d probably be standing in the kitchen wondering how to make a move, regardless.

She’d done the inviting. Did she have to make the first move, too? Maybe she could stand here until he got out, when he could literally sweep her off her feet and to the bed. Then she would be too distracted to think about how she wouldn’t see him again when the week ended. Even if that was the point of a fling,
never again
was new and a little scary.

Another sip of wine was all the continued musing she allowed herself before she put the glass down and started getting ready to cook. She took out some almonds, crackers, cheese, and grapes for them to snack on. Then she laid out the pasta, tomatoes, and spices and got to work. While chopping garlic for the pasta, she got a look at herself in the reflection from the microwave and nearly sliced off a finger in shock. Looking like a bedraggled mess when they
both
looked like bedraggled messes wasn’t a concern, but Doug was going to come out of the shower all clean and perfect, and her sweaty hair would still be matted down on her head.