Page 77 of Fall for You
“Eh…” She pretended to think it over. “Hard pass.”
“Fair enough. And probably for the best.” As he spoke, the sign for the lodge came into view. “Since we’re here.”
It didn’t take long for them to unload their gear and get suited up. Ronnie went through the motions like a pro.
“Because I am a pro,” she was quick to point out with a laugh when he commented on it.
Soon enough, they were off to the slopes.
He breathed in the fresh, cold air as they rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain. “Man. I don’t know why I don’t do this more often. I love it up here.”
“Mmm.” Her agreement was oddly ambiguous. But when he looked over, he saw that she was smiling and taking deepbreaths as she looked around at the spectacular view. “I missed this place.”
“Is this where you learned to snowboard?”
She nodded. “We couldn’t afford the big ski places in Bozeman or Big Sky, so for a long time, this is all I knew.”
He turned to face her. “And now that you’ve skied all the biggest and best slopes around the world?”
Her smile faltered a bit, but her eyes were still bright with excitement. “I’m still happy to be back here. Really happy. Thanks for coming with me.”
He nodded, suddenly caught off guard by the simple sincerity of the moment. “Of course.”
And then they were at the top, and she was darting off before he’d even finished fastening his second strap. “Hey, wait up!”
Her laughter reached him on the wind. “Catch me if you can, Cowboy!”
He grumbled about the nickname as he got off to a slow start. But he was grinning broadly as he picked up his pace, the movements coming back like they always did at the start of a new season.
Like riding a bike.
But so much more fun.
And the next few hours were a blur of zigzagging races down the hill, and then mogul jumps, and black diamonds. Despite his earlier claim that he wouldn’t try to compete—he couldn’t help himself.
And she so clearly thrived on it.
Between the adrenaline rush and the excitement of sparring with her…and laughing with her…and just talking to her on their rides up the ski lift…
This was turning out to be one of the best days Dallas could remember.
Until their last run of the morning.
Ronnie was ahead of him, and Dallas didn’t know what happened, but one minute she was cruising with her usual charisma, and the next she was hitting the snow with a hardthwack, then sliding on her back toward a clump of trees.
“Ronnie!” Dallas winced, watching her body jolt to a brutal stop at the edge of the tree line.
They’d both had their fair share of spills on the slopes, but this…
This time she didn’t get up right away, and Dallas picked up his pace, worry coursing through him as he caught up with her.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Willow woke with a groan.
There was a jackhammer going wild in her head, her mouth tasted like a sewer, and she felt like a sponge that had been wrung out and left to get moldy.
She twisted in bed, her eyes still closed.
