Page 54 of Ski You Later
“Good girl,” he whispers. His rich voice penetrates my last barrier of brain cells, and try not to let those words melt away all my common sense. A slow nod is all I’m capable of giving him and he smiles like a cat at my flustered face.
He then gives a couple of open-handed pats to my hip, slides past me and hops onto the pavement. Turning around as he lands, his hand extends out to me as the other prepares to grab my waist.
With a sigh, I take his hand because this trailer needs to be unpacked, and I’m only slowing down the process at this point. His other hand grabs my waist immediately, and I’m weightless for a moment as I’m lowered to the ground.
“You seem to be touching me an awful lot, Huxley,” I say as my feet touch the ground. Thinking about what he said in the van, I tip my head up and look directly at him after telling him my thoughts.
“Then tell me to stop, Langley,” he counters as the smile on his face only grows.
There is not a single part of me that wants him to stop this recent shift in behaviour. The small touches, the tantalizing words, and the acts of kindness have all inched their way into my heart. Burrowing there and creating a space where I feel comfortable putting my trust in him. I would be thrilled if not for the fact that this whole thing is just an arrangement.
I know in my head he’s acting like this because I asked him to, and he’s doing his best to help me out. Even though every single thing he says to me makes my heart melt into goo, I need to remember it’s all for show in front of the team.
He must see my face change from these thoughts, as that light-hearted look sputters out from behind his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
‘Oh, nothing,” I deflect as I put a normal smile back on my face. “Just tired, you know. I’m going to go unpack the tuning room.” Pointing back to the house, I turn and make my way over to the garage.
A hand quickly encases my wrist, and I turn back to see Roman looking at me with concern. “I’ll see you inside, Langley,” he says with a reassuring smile and then lets go of my wrist, albeit reluctantly.
As if in a daze, I walk towards the garage and see Landon helping set up the ski tuning tables all aroundthe space. He chuckles as he sees my face, puts down his socket wrench, and walks up to me.
“You good, Rhodes?” He asks half-heartedly, as his attention stays focused on everyone moving things around.
Ignoring my inner turmoil, I put on a forced smile and try and joke around with him. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Your brother is a confusing grump, but what else is new,” I say jokingly.
“Oh, I can only imagine it’s just beginning,” he says distractedly. His eyes stayed fixed on everyone’s movements around the room.
His words pull me out of my own head, and I turn to him in confusion. “What does that mean?”
Landon does a double-take as he seems to tune into the conversation, and his eyes widen comedically as the past minute registers. “What? What does what mean?”
“The thing you just said,” I say as I narrow my eyes at him.
He looks at me with a blank stare, and with a move that’s more startling than anything else, he turns and walks away.
“Landon! You can’t just leave!” I yell and chase him into the house.
People and luggage are moving everywhere, and I mentally high-five myself when he gets stuck behind a line of athletes at the bottom of the basement stairs. Grabbing his bicep, I drag him into one of the storage rooms nearby.
“Help me! A crazy woman’s grabbing me,” he yells to the team as he successfully catches everyone’s attention.
I slam the door before he can draw more of a crowd and pin him with my deadliest stare. “What’s going on, Landon?”
“Nothing. I swear!” He surrenders one of his hands as he puts it in the air, but I can plainly see the other one tucked away. The fact that he feels the need to cross his fingers behind his back only solidifies my suspicion.
“Landon! Tell me right now,” I yell, pointing an accusing finger at him.
His fake distress that he’s been milking this entire time turns to mischief right in front of my eyes. A feline smile takes over his face, and even though he’s adopted, he looks exactly like Xander in this moment. “I just think certain aspects will change when it comes to your little arrangement, Rhodes.” Before I can inquirefurther, we hear Grayson calling his name from the hallway.
I can only imagine that it has to do with the organization of the tuning room and Landon comes to the same conclusion.
With a few patronizing pats on the head, Landon darts out the door and leaves me alone in this storage room. Leaning back against the wall, put my hand over my mouth in thought.
The Huxley boys are up to something, and I’m going to find out what.
CHAPTER 20
The coaches are about as organized as Xander.
