Sexy Summers (Sexy Series) (17 page)

"Really? Oh god, I hope so, I feel like I've ingested something poisonous," she murmurs, her eyes still closed.

"That'll be the alcohol, darling."

She grimaces and raises one hand to cover her ear, "Oh dear god, shh... don't... too much Champ... oh god, I can't say the word..."

I laugh again, this is so unlike her. "Go to bed, sleep it off, you'll be okay later."

"Yes..." she says, sliding off her stool and dropping straight to her hands and knees, crawling out of the kitchen, "night night..."

~~~~~~~

When I finish, we make our way up the stairs to change. Half way up, we're greeted by Clare, fast asleep, sprawled up the second flight. We both stop and look down at her, amused, before Luke picks her up effortlessly and carries her. We part ways as I enter my room and he takes Clare to hers, agreeing to meet downstairs in half an hour to head out.

After my amazingly hot shower, I dry myself off and as I walk over to the wardrobe to get my ski clothes, I catch a glimpse of my naked body in the full length mirror on the way.
Holy fuckaroony.
How the hell has that happened? My bump has suddenly sprouted - it's a proper-proper bump-bump.

Blimey, there's no way I can hide
that
! I read that this can happen, that you can suddenly pop out in front like you've swallowed a melon. I'm not
massive
, but I am very clearly impregnated, and I am going to have to tell Luke about this very, very soon, because he will notice this, for sure.

I stand still, gazing at my body's fresh little development. I hold the bump, turn to see it from all angles, wondering how much it has changed since the fifteen week stage just a few days ago. In a couple of days, I'll be able to check to see what happens at sixteen weeks. Wow, and just four weeks until I'm half way there. I feel another pang of guilt. How can I keep this from him? I love him, he wants to give up everything his life is about, to be
my
boyfriend, how can I be so dishonest?
Because you're a selfish bitch, Tilly.

I realise I've been standing, staring at myself for far too long and need to be downstairs, sharpish. I throw on my underwear and ski stuff, noting how tight my ski trousers seem since I last wore them, the day before yesterday! My tight black polo neck jumper really clings. Oh this is going to be hard work. I put on some
light make-up, my jacket, and tie my hair in a ponytail, covering my ears stylishly with a chunky, knitted headband, my fringe neatly escaping from the front. 

Downstairs, Luke greets me with the usual compliments and one of his dramatic embraces, throwing me backwards across his knee and kissing me passionately, making us both laugh, as always. The others - minus Clare - are all still in the lounge, pretty much the same as they were before, only Bea's hand is no longer pressed up against Daniel's nose, instead they are tangled together, faces touching, affectionately.

Once we're ski-suited and snow-booted, we leave the house, Luke collecting his board from the verandah en-route to the car. God, he looks so damned sexy like this, I'm pretty sure that once I see him attached to the board - goggles down, I'm going to want him to do it to me, just like that, somewhere deserted.
Ooh... kinky... leg restraints...

"It'll probably take about ten minutes to get there, you set?" he asks as he climbs into the car next to me, having put his board in the boot.

"Yep, so tell me where we're going."

"We're headed to Aspen Highlands, where Matt, Queenie and I will do Highland Bowl. Are you sure you're okay with staying at the restaurant on your own?"

"Yes, please don't worry about me. I can't wait to see you snowboarding! So, what happens at Highland Bowl?"

The huge smile on his face speaks volumes, he is so excited about this. "Well, it's an off-piste adventure and it demands serious physical fitness, because you've got to hike to the top before you can come down. There's an epic energy up there, when you reach the top it can get quite emotional, I've done it many times, but it still knocks my socks off when I get up there, the three-sixty views are unbelievable. It's for extreme skiers and snowboarders, not for the faint hearted; it can be quite hairy. I wish I could take you to experience it."

I love how passionate he is about these things, he goes so much deeper than you could ever expect when you first meet him. He is a great big onion, with hundreds of amazing layers... I especially like the cowboy layer, too. "That sounds amazing! How long does the hike take?"

"Don't worry, I won't leave you too long, I think we'll cheat and use the snowcat today, to save time, it takes us about a third of the way up, to the first access gate, and then we'll hike the rest. The hike should take about a half hour. The ride down is the best fun, I can't come to Aspen and not come here a couple times - it's super-steep and as the traffic is low up there, the freshies last.'

"Freshies?"

"Yeah, like soft, new powder, it's freakin' fantastic."

"Sounds it, I'm excited for you."

He glances at me briefly with a beautiful smile, before turning his eyes back to the road. "Thank you, baby. It is fantastic fun, but I'm going to look forward to getting back down to the restaurant to see my girl. You better have a hot kiss waiting for me."

"Of course I will, I'd have more hot stuff waiting for you - if I could."

He turns to smile again, and winks at me before continuing with details of the day. "So we'll park up and head up on the Deep Temerity lift to meet Matt and Queenie, drop you at Merry-Go-Round, which is midway between the base area and the Bowl. You should like it, it has fantastic food and a bar."

"Great, I might sit outside, so I can see you coming."

"You don't have to be sitting outside for that, hot-lips..." he says cheekily, making me giggle, and we continue the short journey comfortably.

We park up at the base of the mountain and head over to the ski lift. The mountain in front of me looks absolutely beautiful, like most of the mountains here. Aspen is simply a stunning place to visit. Luke clips one of his feet onto his board and pushes himself to the lift with one leg. He looks like such a pro, and it's hot. We sit on the three-seater lift, and pull the bar down to secure ourselves.

Luke holds my hand in his as I take a long, appreciative look around me; it's so picturesque, and so quiet - only the smooth slush of skiers below us, gliding elegantly down the slope. I wish I was skiing with them.

"You love it out on the slopes, don't you?" he asks.

I nod, still captivated by the perfect, white brilliance of it all.

"I don't understand, if you like it so much - why don't you come out with me and take it slowly? I don't want to push you, Princess - and I wouldn't, but I can see how much you love this environment, I can see how much you want to join everyone. I'll take care of you, make sure you're okay."

I could just die. I love him so much, he's so unbelievably kind and thoughtful. I get the sudden urge to tell him right now; he needs to know! "Luke, I really... I'm... the thing is..." I pull my hand out of my thick ski glove and rest it on his handsome face as I stare into his perfect, bright blue eyes... and he interrupts.

"It's okay, Til, I know, you don't have to explain. But, one day - I hope you'll let me bring you out here again and get you back in the swing of things. I want to share this place with you so much."

Damn it. Although, in hindsight - that was probably a good thing - nobody wants to freak out on a chair lift. And how bloody sweet of him, I hope he'll
want
to bring me back again, one day. "I'd like that." I respond, gazing at his face.

He leans towards me and kisses me slowly, "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever known - I love every little bit of you," he whispers, and kisses me again. My heart pounds in my chest as his lips touch mine,
my eyes remain wide open, staring at his face... he didn't mean that in
that
way, did he? Just hearing the words 'I love' come out of his mouth turns me into a giddy mess, even if that's not how he meant it. So I make light of it, as we do.

"See - I told you you're totally in love with me," I say against his mouth with a cheeky grin, and he pauses, staring at me, into my eyes - my soul.

"I am, Princess," he says, quietly, looking my face up and down, taking in my every feature, "I totally am in love with you."

Oh my god! Oh my god! Holy crap-nuggets, oh my...
"Uh... you... uh..." I stutter, totally thrown and utterly overwhelmed.

He chuckles and holds my face in his big gloved hands, "Yes, I, uh, I, uh..." he says laughing, "I love you, like, really,
really
love you."

My mouth drops open and a smile forces its way through, "I... wow, I wasn't expecting... wow."

He simply shrugs his shoulders, almost apologetically and tilts his head to the side, "That okay?"

I laugh, still shocked, "Of course that's okay. I... well, I... I love you, too," I say timidly, a bit apprehensive about admitting it finally, I've been holding it in long enough.

"I had hoped you might. Well, would ya look at this, the fuck buddies have only been an item a couple hours and they love each other already. We better get your finger sized up..." he says with a grin and I smile at his joke. I wonder how this changes things - maybe he really won't want to leave, when I tell him.
Oh, but what if he does?
Now that I know he loves me... I'd be even more broken.

"You really love me?" he asks, vulnerability pouring through his expression by the bucket load.

I smile and stroke his precious face again, skimming over his dimples. "Yes, I love you. I have done for a while, but was trying to ignore it and get over you."

"Well you don't have to anymore. I fell in love with you way back, I think I really knew about it when you were leaving LA - when we went for brunch with Bea and Danny. I saw you feeling their heartbreak, looking at them with such sadness and compassion, I wanted you to feel that way about us."

"I was. I just hid it well. I didn't want to admit my feelings to anyone, not even to myself, and especially not to you."

"Hold up - you told me you hadn't fallen in love with me, the other day, when you were explaining why it all got 'weird'."

"I know. I wasn't about to tell you then either. Luke, you have to understand, I know you, I know your life, it's hard to believe that you could give up what you know to be a boyfriend..."
...and a Dad, but we'll get to that later.

"I understand that, but I want nothing more than to give all of that up, for you. I need you to be confident about us, and not worry that I'm going to be bad when you're not around. I'll be bad
with
you, but that's where it stops."

"Okay. I'll probably have a few worries when you're working with your women though - knowing what you used to do with them, I suppose I'll have to try and get used to it."

"I don't have to do that anymore, baby. I did it because I enjoyed that life. I've got you now, I don't want it. I'll stop with the trainer thing."

He'll do something else? Just like that?
"You can't just change careers because you got a girlfriend
today
, what will you do for money?"

He smiles, knowingly as we reach the top of the lift and raise the bar, stepping off the seat before it swings around to descend again. "We'll talk about it later, sugar-lips, that's not something you should be worrying about." He unclips his foot from the board and picks it up, taking my hand, walking towards the restaurant. It's a large, one story building in the shape of a wide, isosceles triangle, with a glass frontage.

"Where would you like to sit?" he asks as he wedges his board in the snow, leaning it against the rack, "Inside or out?"

"I'll sit inside for now, I'm a bit cold. Maybe I can get a place by the window..."

He strides inside, confidently, finding me a table by the window immediately. "This okay?"

I smile, "Perfect, thank you. Go and enjoy your adventure, I'll see you later."

"I'm not done yet, sit and I'll be back," he says before walking away from the table.

I frown, but settle myself, taking my jacket off and staring out into the pure white morning.
He's in love with me
. He has just told me that he loves me, on a ski lift, totally out of the blue. I'm struggling to believe it to be honest - we're just fuck buddies... Well, I suppose we're not anymore, he's my boyfriend and I'm his girlfriend and we actually love each other. Oh my god, this is fucking crazy! Neither of us were looking for
this
!

"Hey, Princess, here you go," Luke says, surprising me, as he places a steamy cup of hot chocolate in front of me.

I look down at the drink and back up at his face, his expression totally casual.

"Thank you, darling, I could have got this myself."

"Pah," he says, waving his hand, "what are boyfriends for, huh? You want a snack, too?" He bends down, resting one hand on the table and the other on the back of my chair.

"No, thank you. This is great."