Page 80 of Just Let Go

She eyed him for a second but eventually accepted it. Were professional athletes as used to trash talk as they were to the endless gaping? And why was Grady suddenly able to brush it off?

“Besides,” he said, “those guys are just jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Because I get to spend the day with the prettiest girl here.”

She could feel her surprise register on her face. Was he talking abouther? He didn’t even like her. And she was probably blushing over the compliment too.Shoot!

He was just trying to get on her good side. She reminded herself he needed her to speak with the judge if he had any hope of getting what he really wanted—a quick ticket out of Harbor Pointe.

And yet, as she stood at the top of the hill, ready to ski down again, her knees turned to Jell-O and she became hopelessly aware of the attention of the man at her side.

CHAPTER

19

GRADY SPENT THE BETTER PART OF HIS DAYgiving advice to Jaden and Quinn, and while he was happy to do it, being on the slopes—but not really—was hard for him. He hadn’t trained in a week, and as someone who was used to being out there every day, he missed it.

Still, Quinn’s comment about keeping the idea of coaching in his back pocket suddenly felt less like an insult to his abilities and more like a viable option. Down the road, after he won gold at the Winter Games.

He never would’ve considered it if she hadn’t made it sound so... admirable.

He shoved the thought aside now as he skied slowly alongside her, marveling at the fact that she’d smiled more this morning than she had the entire time he’d known her—which, admittedly wasn’t very long. Had he really only been in Harbor Pointe for a week?

When Quinn decided she’d had enough, she told Grady to go find Jaden. “I’ll head back to the lodge and turn in my skis.”

“You sure?”

She smiled again. “I’m sure. I should probably quit while I’m ahead. There’s still the danger of me breaking something if I get too cocky.”

He lingered—probably for too long—then headed toward the lift. While he was with Quinn, Jaden had come around more than once, updating him on his progress. Hinting that he wanted him to come back to slopes that weren’t made for children. Grady had a suspicion Quinn was feeling bad for monopolizing him when her nephew’s happiness was so important to her.

He liked the way she looked out for the kid.

A few hours later, after several trips down the most challenging slope Avalanche Mountain had to offer, Jaden and Grady walked toward the lodge. Jaden was replaying their entire day, as if it were a distant memory he wanted to relive over and over again.

They spotted Carly and Quinn at a table in the Avalanche Café. Quinn had surprised him, the way she’d eventually let herself enjoy her trips down the hill.

“It’s like second nature to you—and the way you move, ” Jaden was saying when they came up on the table, “it’s not like anyone else. I can’t believe your coaches tried to get you to change your form.”

Grady met Quinn’s eyes. He should probably give Jaden some sort of safe advice about listening to his coaches, but he didn’t regret his choice to buck the system, and he wouldn’t tell the kid otherwise.

“And then the way you smoked those idiots up there.” Jaden’s voice grew louder, his eyes wider, replaying the incident. The same kids he and Quinn had seen on the chair lift seemed intent on provoking him, but it only took one run to shut them up. “You guys should’ve seen it—these guys were giving Grady a hard time, saying he didn’t have a shot at the Olympics this year, and Grady was awesome. They looked so stupid, like kids on the bunny hill trying to keep up with him. No offense, Aunt Quinn.”

She was looking at Grady incredulously, the slightest trace of a smirk on her face.

“Hey, at least I didn’t punch the guy,” Grady said.

“Yeah, at least there’s that, or you’d never get out of Harbor Pointe.” Quinn shook her head. “What happened to not having to prove yourself to guys like that?”

Grady shrugged. She may never understand it, but he knew as soon as that guy mouthed off to him again, he wasn’t going to be able to let it go. But yeah, up here he could put him in his place without putting him on the ground. It was a good trade-off, he thought, though Quinn seemed unimpressed by the whole thing.

“Can we get dinner?” Jaden asked. “I’m starving.”

“Did you stop for food at all today?” Carly asked.

Jaden shook his head.

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