Page 81 of Count Your Lucky Stars
Oh,shit. In her panic, Margot brought her skis closer together, but not only at the front, causing her to pick up even more speed.
Luke swore under his breath. “Pizza, not fries! Pizza, not fries!”
“What?” Margot shouted.
“Did I forget to mention that analogy?” Luke gripped the back of his neck. “Shit.”
Shitwas right. Margot was rapidly approaching the bottom of the slope, with no sign of slowing down.
Olivia cupped her hands around her mouth. “Wedge, Margot! Wedge!”
Margot bent her knees, the front of her skis coming together,her speed slowing as she skidded to the bottom of the slope and kept on sliding, beyond where Luke and Olivia stood, heading straight for the neon-orange plastic mesh barrier.
Olivia’s heart stuttered then seemed to stall out completely as Margot skied straight into the snow net, coming to an abrupt stop before toppling backward. Powdery snow flew up around her, raining down softly.
Luke started to shuffle forward on his skis, but Olivia wasn’t willing to waste that much time. She crouched down and pressed on the heel levers at the backs of her bindings, stepping free from her skis. Leaving her poles and skis in the snow, Olivia sprinted across the clearing to where Margot lay, staring up at the sky with a dazed expression.
“Mar?” Olivia fell to her knees beside Margot, hands trembling as she patted Margot’s snow-streaked face. “Are you okay? Say something.”
Margot’s face scrunched and a terrible whimper escaped her lips, the sound piercing Olivia’s heart and putting a lump in her throat.
“Mar?” she repeated, this time softer, more desperate, her voice cracking as a flurry of the worst what-ifs flashed through her brain. She cradled Margot’s face in her hands. “Please say something.”
“Ow.” Margot coughed, lashes fluttering as she cracked open first one eye, then both, blinking dazedly up at Olivia.
Olivia’s throat seized. She had to swallow twice before she could get another word out. “What hurts? Your back? Is it your back? Don’t move. I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to move.”
She’d read that somewhere. Heard it? You weren’t supposed to disturb someone after a bad accident, falls and collisions and—Olivia gulped in a breath, needing air.
Margot groaned, then made the sweetest sound Olivia had ever heard in her entire life. She laughed, albeit slightly pained-sounding, her lips twisting in a grimace as she huffed softly. “My pride.”
“Yourwhat?” Olivia swept her thumbs along Margot’s cheekbones, fingers trembling softly.
Margot shifted, lifting up onto her elbows with a slight wince. Olivia let her hands fall to Margot’s shoulders.
“My pride,” Margot repeated, face turning scarlet, and that was what Olivia had thought she said. Margot’s lower lips jutted out. “And my ass.” Her eyes swept down her body, lower lip jutting out in a pout as she stared at her feet. “And my pinky toe.”
Driven by a soul-deep sense of relief, Olivia clutched at the collar of Margot’s hideous green ski jacket and hauled her closer, sealing her mouth over Margot’s, swallowing the tiny gasp of surprise Margot made.
One of Margot’s hands rose, cradling the back of Olivia’s head, fingers threading through her hair. Her hand trembled, or maybe it was Olivia that was trembling. It was hard to tell, pressed so close, Olivia’s knuckles aching from the ferocity with which she clutched at Margot’s jacket, keeping her from going far. Keeping her from going anywhere.
A throat cleared from somewhere behind her, and with great reluctance, Olivia loosened her stranglehold on Margot’s coat. She lifted her head and froze.
Luke smiled, albeit awkwardly. “Looks like you fell pretty hard there.”
Olivia’s heart stuttered over one beat then sped, crashing against the wall of her chest as she met Margot’s eyes.
Yeah. She had.
Chapter Eighteen
Margot glared at the purple bruise mottling the side of her left foot. Her pinky toe was swollen, double the size it was supposed to be. It throbbed in time with her pulse, an annoyance more than anything, though when she put pressure on it, pain licked at the top of her foot, radiating all the way to her ankle.
A knock sounded against the door. Not the one that led out into the hotel hall, but the door adjoining her room to Olivia’s.
Margot tried to swallow, her mouth suddenly dry. She stole a stuttered breath in, air whistling between her lips. “Come in.”
Olivia poked her head into the room. In the time since they’d returned to the hotel, she’d changed into a pair of leggings and an oversized hoodie. The arms were too long, slipping past her wrists and over the back of her hands, hiding all but the tips of her fingers. She shoved her sleeves up to her elbows and shut the door, leaning against it, leaving the entire room between them. The space felt larger than it really was. “Hey. How are you doing?”
