Page 1 of A Bear Ski Instructor Christmas

Prologue

Two Days Ago

“Ma’am?” A hand tapped her shoulder. “Excuse me, ma’am.”

The voice burrowed into the depths of Rachel Reeves’ unconsciousness, dragging her out of a dream in which she was lying, sharing a sundae with Brad Pitt. She opened her eyes and blinked, taking in her surroundings. Rows of seats registered in her line of sight. An aisle. She had a few windows out of which she could see nothing but a cerulean sky. She’d apparently fallen asleep slumped in her seat. How that had happened, she had no idea.

“Uh…” she murmured dumbly.

“Sorry to disturb you, ma’am,” said the dark-skinned flight attendant standing next to her in the aisle. “I need you to fasten your seatbelt, please. We might be experiencing some turbulence soon.”

“Huh?”

As if to confirm the woman’s statement, a light shudder traveled through the plane, sending a rattle through Rachel’s bones. Jerked fully to alertness now, she gripped the edges of her armrest, sucking in a breath. The flight attendant braced herself against the seat, holding on until the vibrations ceased.

“Sorry,” Rachel told her, buckling up. “Thanks.”

The flight attendant flashed her a smile and headed down the aisle, her braids swinging behind her head as she moved. Rachel glanced around at the other passengers in the cabin, properly taking stock of her surroundings this time. Men in corporate clothing and a couple of families filled the seats. A few women sat by themselves, either listening to music or buried in a book.

This was business class. Flight 18, Daystar Airlines.

She remembered boarding the flight. She’d dozed off shortly after the plane took off. How long ago had that been? Rachel lowered her gaze to the watch strapped loosely on her thin wrist. It was 2:37 p.m. She’d settled in a little over an hour earlier, but it felt like much longer. Time could be confusing, especially where sleep was involved.

Hopefully, they would be touching down soon. The flight was only supposed to take a couple of hours.

“How much longer, Mom?” said a child’s voice, echoing her thoughts.

“Not much, Billy,” a woman replied. “The pilot says we’re flying above Nebraska now.”

“I wanna watchPaw Patrol!”

“Not now, Billy.”

Rachel glanced past a tired-looking mother and her son, who couldn’t have been more than six or seven years old, at the window. She couldn’t make out much besides the sky and some cloud formations, but she didn’t need more than that to know that they were thousands of feet in the air. What had the woman said? Nebraska? It could be a while before they touched down in Chicago.

A shiver of excitement raced through Rachel’s bones. It wasn’t every day that someone managed to get a job as a runway model for Gucci. How she’d managed to fall asleep was beyond her, but the closer the plane brought her to her destination, the more difficult it became to contain her anticipation.

You haven’t gotten the job yet, Rachel,she reminded herself.It’s just a casting call.

One that could change her life forever. Rachel already made a pretty decent income modeling; not nearly enough to pay off her student loans without breaking a sweat, but enough to rent a studio apartment in Vegas with her best friend, Sam, enough to make sure she never went hungry. But Rachel was seldom one to settle for mere comfort. There was so much more to be gained. If she landed this job, she’d be opening herself to a host of opportunities.

Besides the fact that the mere prospect of that was enough to make anyone drool, it felt good to get out of Vegas for a while. Rachel’s therapist, Diane, had been right, after all. A change of scenery was in order.

For a second, Rachel felt a twinge of guilt. As happy as Sam had been to learn that Rachel had qualified for the casting call, she’d been a bit bummed to see her leave.

“I’ll miss you,” she’d said when Rachel told her she would be leaving for Chicago.

“It’s only for a couple of weeks,” Rachel assured her.

“You promise?”

“I’ll be back before you even know it. And if—I meanwhen—I get the job, I’ll try to work out a way to stay in Vegas.”

Sam’s round face brightened at that, but she frowned almost immediately.

“You’re going to miss Thanksgiving,” she said. “Will you be around for Christmas? You know my parents would love it if you came.”

Rachel had grinned. “Of course I will. Wouldn’t miss that for the world.”

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