Page 103 of Crashing into Love

“Hey, can I–” Drew looked around, and Selma didn’t know what she was about to ask. “Kiss? For good luck?”

“Yeah? Out here?”

“If you’re okay with it, I am. I don’t care if anyone knows.”

Selma nodded and leaned in, giving Drew a quick kiss on the lips.

“You’ve got this,” Drew told her before she kissed her once more. “I’ll see you down there.”

“Okay.”

She watched Drew walk off then and let out a deep breath.

“So… That’s going well, huh?”

Selma turned to see Andy standing there.

“Uh…”

“She told me. I’m happy for you two. For what it’s worth, you have nothing to worry about with me, Selma. I don’t want Drew like that anymore. I’m hoping we can be friends, but I have no desire to sleep with her again. No offense.”

“No offense?”

“Just that you, apparently, do have the desire to sleep with her. Anyway, I have a girlfriend that I’m crazy about, so not at all interested in going back in time to when I had a thing for Drew Oakes.”

“Well, that’s good to know, I guess.”

“Do me a favor, though.”

“Okay?”

“Don’t hurt her. She’s a good person.”

“I don’t want to hurt her.”

“We never want to, do we?” Andy shrugged a shoulder. “Time to race down a mountain at a million miles an hour and hope we don’t die. You ready?”

Selma had to laugh at that, and as they headed to the starting gates, she thought about what Andy had just said: she had no desire to sleep with Drew again. That made no sense to Selma. How could someone who had been with Drew like that not want to be with her in that way again? She couldn’t understand that. They’d made love for half the night and then had a quickie in the shower that morning, and Selma wanted her again right now. She was in too deep, but right now, she really needed to pay attention to her stance in the gate to get her ass down this hill and back in Drew’s arms; preferably, in first place.

Selma held her position and took her breaths, thinking about the course and how best to attack it as she saw her breath in the cold air. It had gotten colder overnight, and that would make the course harder and faster. While Selma preferred a faster course, it meant that how she’d taken it in the semifinal wouldn’t work as well today. She’d held back a little yesterday and had to come from behind to advance. Today, she’d try to get out ahead of everyone to have full control over her turns and have no one in front of her to worry about having to turn or jump behind.

At the sound, Selma took off, plunging herself into the first berm, hitting it the right way, moving down it, and repeating it with the next. She was neck and neck, it appeared, with three other boarders, so she needed to start getting some space now as quickly as possible. She lowered herself down the short downhill and lifted her board with every single muscle in her body, putting herself lower than everyone else when she hit the next berm, and then, the real downhill into the first turn. She had a little space now, but Andy was on her tail, and she could easily take Selma.

Selma got to the inside faster and made the left turn that led to the first jump. It was a small jump, and she held her own, still out ahead of everyone else into the first right turn, for which she had to move over to get inside. Andy was there, though, taking that spot before Selma could get to it. The two of them were even now, so Selma was a little upset that she hadn’t made it over fast enough, but remembering the sequence of the middle of the course, she knew what to do. She eased off the turn and hit the next jump in the middle of the course, making her way into the left turn on the inside, which Andy had either forgotten about or hadn’t thought of because now, she was behind Selma.

The next section was the fastest part of the course, and Selma held on for dear life to that lead, trying to get as much separation as she could going into the final big air jump, which, if she didn’t land perfectly, Andy might, and she’d end up with the win. Selma hit the jump right where she should have, and after getting good air, she landed upright and raised her arms the instant she crossed the line in first place.

“Hell, yeah! Selma!”

That was Drew’s voice. Selma’s coach found her first and gave her a hug, but Selma kept it short. Then, she unclipped and headed over to Drew, pulling the woman into a long kiss before she hugged her.

“Well, I guess we’re really out now.” Drew laughed. “You did it, babe. Congratulations!”

“I wish you were racing with me,” Selma replied before she pulled out of the hug and removed her goggles.

“Me too. But this way, I get to watch the whole thing from down here and see you kick Andy’s ass.”

“Hey,” Andy said with a laugh. “Nice race, Selma.” She held out her hand.

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