Page 55 of Gracefully Yours

The moment our lips touched, a surge of rightness settled through my body. Kissing her had always felt soright,and I couldn’t believe we hadn’t been doing this for the last decade.

I knew more than ever that I needed to do whatever I could to keep her, to get her to fall in love with me, because I didn’t want to kiss anyone else ever again.

The thought of Charlotte moving on, finding it with someone else… I didn’t like it. Couldn’t imagine it.

So I was going to get my fake fiancée to be my real one.

* * *

We wantedto make the most of the daylight, so we headed to the mountain after settling into the house. Charlotte and I were the only ones left after the other couples had all gone their separate ways, as she was the only one who hadn’t skied before.

“How do they feel?” I asked, checking Charlotte’s ski boots, making sure I hadn’t clasped them too tight. She made a face, clearly moving her foot inside the boot, and then swayed a little, so I caught her arm to keep her upright.

We’d rented our gear for the long weekend, but somehow she’d still ended up with a pink set. I liked that. Her snow pants were black, but even the ski coat she’d brought along was a bright shade of bubblegum pink, lighting up her face.

“Good. I think.” Her cheeks were pink, but I wasn’t sure if it was from the frosty weather or a blush. Either way, I liked it.

I grabbed her skis from where I’d propped them up, setting them onto the packed snow so she could snap her boots in.

“Shall we?” I asked, and she gave a slight nod.

I guided Charlotte’s boots into the skis, showed her how to fasten them, checked that they were secure, and then put on my own skis.

“We’re just going to start small, and I’ll teach you the basics, alright?”

I started going through all the motions, and Charlotte was a quick learner. Maybe it was because of dance, but she had no problem picking up on what to do with her feet, and she was quickly mastering the little learner’s hill.

“What do you think?” I asked as her face lit up with an exhilarating smile as she came down the hill another time. We’d been at it for a few hours, and she wasn’t wobbly on her feet. “Time for the bunny hill?”

“Are you sure?” Her eyes grew wide.

“Yeah.” I grinned. “I think you’re ready.”

She balanced on her ski poles, looking at me. “You’ll catch me if I fall, right?”

“Of course, darling. I’ll always be there to catch you.” And I meant it.

She swatted at my chest. “I’m serious.”

“I am too.”

“You don’t have to play pretend right now, Daniel. It’s just us.”

“Maybe I’m not playing pretend.”

She looked away, her eyes connecting with the chairlift.

I resisted the temptation to pull her close and reveal my true feelings about our act, and watched Charlotte, who was still gazing into the distance.

“Why’d you never ski when you were younger?” I wanted to distract her by changing the subject. California had plenty of ski resorts as well, so it surprised me she’d never gone on vacation to one. “Or when we were in college?” We’d been within two hours of Mount Hood from Portland, so it wouldn’t have been hard.

“I don’t know.” Charlotte shook her head, the motion freeing some of her blonde hair that was tucked inside her puffy jacket. “I was always so focused on dance, and we just… never went. And during college, well… you were there.” She turned to look at me. “We went tubing almost every year. That was good enough for me.”

Huh. It was funny to think that my girl, the one who wanted to have a winter wedding, had barely spent any time in the snow. Though this weekend would change all of that, I supposed.

“Still.” I frowned. “I could have taught you before. If I’d… realized.”

God, how much did I not know about my best friend? Maybe I knew the big stuff, but there was still so much I didn’t know about her. And I wanted to know everything.

---