Page 19 of A Bear Ski Instructor Christmas

“You laughed,” he said, pointing. “Clearly, you find me hilarious. Now, about the other two qualities…”

“Oh, please.” She gave a dismissive wave. “Do you live alone in Vegas, or do you have family here?”

“My parents died a few years ago.” His voice turned almost solemn. “Car accident.”

“I’m so sorry,” she offered. Then, after a moment, she added, “I lost mine two years ago. It was a burglary gone wrong. I got home and…well, let’s save the gory details for some other time, why don’t we?”

A twinkle appeared in his grey eyes. “Oh? Does that mean I’m getting a second date?”

Rachel stifled a laugh. “Are you serious right now?”

“Of course. I want another date. We could go skiing together at Lee Canyon. I’ll teach you.”

She pretended to think. “I’ll consider your offer.”

“Please, do. I’d like to try out a bunch of stuff. Like skiing in a Santa suit.”

“Santa on skis? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He frowned. “Maybe that’ll be next year. Still, I’m taking you to Lee Canyon next week. I’m hoping that’s where we share our first kiss.”

This time, she did laugh again. “Don’t get too ahead of yourself, buster.”

But even as she spoke, she knew that, with Michael, a second date was inevitable.

***

She rose from the depths of sleep into darkness momentarily before her eyes flickered open. She lay on her side on a tiny, threadbare bed in the corner of a room lit only by a fireplace and the rays of sunlight streaking in through cracks in the walls. Her eyes roamed about her surroundings for the next few seconds, then settled on the floor before her. It was daytime.

The cabin seemed empty except for her. Its main resident, Maria, who’d offered to let her sleep in here, was rarely around. The woman mostly shared a cabin with one of her close friends in a nearby street.

Rachel pulled herself to her feet, stretching. The details of her dream slowly trickled into her memory. She and Michael had gone on that date four winters ago, but it might as well have been last week. For Michael, it had never happened at least for now.

It would be quite some time before his memory came back. It could take weeks, months—hell, maybe even years. But Rachel wasn’t going to stop trying. She wanted Michael back—herMichael, not just the Michael she bumped into these days. This guy wasn’t much different, except for the very painful fact that he had none of the memories that truly mattered.

It felt like some cruel trick of fate, some sick game the universe was playing on her. And for what? What had she done to deserve this? She’d lost Michael three years ago to Frost Mountain, believed him dead or worse, abducted, only for her to get sucked into the same crappy dimension and bump into her long-lost lover. The plot twist? He didn’t even remember her.

He'd lost his memory when he hit his head on a rock when landing on Frost Mountain. Rachel wondered if whacking Michael over the head with one of his skis would speed up his recovery process. She nursed the thought for a moment before deciding it was too extreme.

With a yawn, she stepped out of the cabin into the snowy street, greeting some of the passersby as she rounded the corners. It was a calm, beautiful morning. Maybe today, she would take another tour of the village. Despite how long she’d been here, she hadn’t really gotten to visit all the interesting parts of Mel—

A bloodcurdling scream broke through her thoughts. Rachel spun around just in time to see two young girls dart past her, giggling excitedly. Each clutched a ski under her arm like a snowboard. They rushed toward the low village fence. It wasn’t too hard to put two and two together, and Rachel knew that something terrible was about to happen, even moments before a red-faced woman came bursting into her field of vision, pointing at the running children and crying:

“Sadie! Katie! Someone, stop them before they hurt themselves!”

Chapter Eight

A Kiss in the Dark

Michael heard the scream moments before he spotted the children. He’d been heading toward the village’s entrance with his skis tucked under one arm, wondering if he should spend some more time in the workshop after his skiing exercise, when the sound pierced the air and nearly caused him to drop his equipment. A few seconds later, two children burst into view, giggling as they rushed toward the village’s entrance.

“Katie!” he exclaimed. “Sadie!”

The children did not indicate that they’d heard him. They rushed past the low fence, hopped on the skis like snowboards, and shot down the hill.

“No!”

Michael burst into a sprint, his heart in his throat. They must have nicked the skis from the workshop while no one was looking. Katie and Sadie had never been skiing before. If they got hurt…

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