Page 26 of Privileged (Adrenalin)

“It is.” I squeeze his hand. “But that’s not why I brought you here.”

He looks up at me with curious yet patient eyes.

“Finn wants to develop this part of the mountain. It’s more extreme than the terrain I had in mind, but one lift could service the whole area instead of the three or four I’d need for a bunch of blue and green runs.”

“Okay.” He nods but stays otherwise silent, so I continue.

“Adding lifts here might make us more of a destination for intermediate athletes instead of beginners. Finn thinks that’ll increase revenue in the area without inundating the town with visitors.”

“Wouldn’t any increase in visitors have the potential to inundate the town?” He looks up at me.

“Possibly, but in the sense this area isn’t as large or accessible as the other area I was looking at, it could be a natural barrier to large crowds.”

“Makes sense. Is that what you wanted to hear?” He rubs his thumb over mine, a reassuring gesture.

“Actually, I wanted to hear your thoughts about skiing this area. Is it too extreme, or do you think people would travel here just for this?”

“Why would you want my opinion?” That sweet blush is back.

Sloan doesn’t strike me as the type of man who’s insecure or uncertain of his worth, but there are times, like now, when he seems to question why I’d value his input. To me it’s simple, he jumped to my defense at the wedding despite barely knowing me, which to my way of thinking means he’s not the type of person to jump to conclusions. He takes the time to weigh his words before he says them. I value thattype of integrity both professionally and personally, so he’s the perfect choice of person to bounce ideas off of. His skiing background doesn’t hurt either, and since he seems skeptical of my motives for bringing him up here, I use that to justify asking his opinion.

“You grew up skiing,” I answer him. “I’m willing to bet that means you know the best destinations in North America, and I want to know if you think this could be one of them.”

Sloan moves his head back and forth, assessing the land in front of him. It’s not for the faint of heart. In addition to being fairly steep, sections are peppered with trees, and there are giant rocks protruding from the hillside. It’s the kind of run guys like me travel the country to find, but as a former pro I’m not the typical skier.

Of course, you don’t have to be a former pro to appreciate a run like this, but you do have to be an advanced rider. I’m gambling that Sloan fits into the advanced category, and that his response to this idea will help me decide if it’s worth pursuing.

“It’s hard to say without any snow here. I’ve never seen it in the winter since you have to hike to get here, and I don’t usually have enough time to do that between shifts at the spa and Murphy’s.”

Though I have no reason to feel proud about his answer, I do. It’s hard to envision whether this spot would be appealing when there’s no snow, and the fact that he knows the fifteen-minute hike we took to get here would be closer to forty-five in several feet of snow means he understands the value in having a lift to do most of the work.

“Assume you had all the time in the world to make your way back here to this run. Would you choose to do that or stay on the other trails?”

“Does your scenario assume this run has several feet of fresh powder?” He shifts to face me, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of his lip.

“It does.”

His eyes flash with the familiar excitement of a man about to take an epic run. “Then I’d come back here.”

“Thank you.” I lean forward and brush my lips delicately over his.

“What for?”

“Your honesty.”

“I didn’t confirm this was a good idea though.” He traps his lips between his teeth and shakes his head.

“That’s why I wanted your opinion. It’syours, not mine or Finn’s or anyone else’s. And it’s based on your experience as a rider, not a bunch of environmental reports or spreadsheets. You got excited about the idea of skiing this run, and I’m thinking if your eyes light up imagining that then this is a viable option for the resort.”

He makes several false starts before ultimately saying nothing and nodding his head.Adorable.

“Time to head back.” I give his hand a gentle tug and turn to go, loving how he so easily matches my stride, almost as if we’re walking as one.

“Why skiing?” He asks as we retrace our steps back to the truck.

The question catches me off guard since we’ve had this conversation. “I told you, it’s one of the only sports my parents would support.”

“I mean why did you pursue it the way you did? Going pro takes a lot of dedication, and I know it took you away from your family for months at a time. Why go through that?”

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