Page 35 of Faux Beau

He looked at her hand still squeezing his bicep. “You really are a terrible liar. Now, you want to tell me why you’re afraid of heights?”

“Do you promise you won’t judge me?”

“I’d never judge you,” he said quietly, genuinely, and without a trace of humor.

“Believe it or not, I used to ski with my family. But one time, when I was five, my dad and I were partnered up. We got to the lift and the tip of his ski caught in the snow and he pitched forward, hard. My mom and Zoe stepped aside to help him. I was so scared that my dad was hurt it took me a moment to realize I was on the lift by myself. I don’t know why but, midway up, the lift just stopped.”

“Someone must have been moving too much. If there’s too much movement the safety switch is activated, and the lift will stop.”

“We stayed stopped for what felt like an eternity. I remember being too terrified to even cry. I sat there stone-still, strangling the pole.” The panic she had felt when she looked down at the treetops beneath her and realized just how far up she was, was still fresh in her mind. “By the time I made it to the top I was too worked up to even budge a muscle, so they had to stop the lift and help me off. The operator was kind and held my hand while I waited from someone to come and get me. By the time my mom arrived I was hysterical. I couldn’t even ski down, so I scooted on my butt the whole way back to the lodge. Thankfully we were on a green run, but it still felt like I was standing at the top of the Sierras.”

“I’m sorry you went through that,” he said, and she felt his warm body press up against hers. His arm slid around her, carefully tugging her closer into his strength. His breathing was slow and steady and, suddenly, her heart started to match his pace. “Why did you decide to do this alone then?”

“I’m trying to face something that I’m afraid of. And that includes dressing up like Ski-Bunny Barbie and hitting the slopes. Or at least trying to. Today is Ski-Bunny Barbie 2.0.”

“Ski-Bunny Barbie, huh?”

She met his gaze, which was twinkling with amusement. “It was all Zoe’s idea. She was the one who was supposed to be up here living her best life, but her time ran out, so now I’m going to do it for her.”

“Take life by the balls?” he guessed.

“Yeah. According to my sister, taking life by the balls includes dressing up like—” She accidently looked down and gulped.

“I got you.” He gave her a reassuring squeeze.

She buried her face into his neck and breathed him in. She’d always thought Lucas was the steady rock, but it turned out Jax had this bold confidence about him that made her feel safe. Even when she was twenty feet up without a net. But everything about this was complicated.

She’d had a crush on Lucas, slept with Jax, and now her parents thought they were dating.

“That’s the sweet spot, right there,” Jax said.

Having helped her off the ski lift, he now stood directly behind Milly, his hands cupping her hips, his nose itching to nuzzle the sweet curve of her neck—which, because her hair was tucked up under that hat, was completely exposed. Just begging to be nipped.

Unable to help himself, he moved in until his mouth was nearly pressed against her skin—close, but not touching. “Now, relax,” he whispered, his breath causing bumps to appear on her flesh.

Sweet spot indeed.

“It’s hard to relax when I’m staring down inevitable death,” she said with a shiver—that wasn’t a result of the cold temperatures. She was thinking about the other night. Had been since the second they’d locked gazes.

That made two of them. Crazy as it made him, even when he was mad at her he wanted to be around her. It was the only reason that accounted for this impromptu little game of teacher and student.

“Don’t look down just yet.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Just close your eyes and listen to the sound of my voice while you get used to the feel of the board beneath your feet.”

She looked at him over her shoulder, her beautiful brown eyes so wide with mistrust it nearly leveled him. “Is this like one of those ‘trust me’ and then you get tossed into the pool games? Only the pool in this case is a forty-five-degree slope?”

“More like six degrees. And I would never do that to you, angle.”

He wasn’t sure what kind of assholes she’d been hanging around, but she clearly didn’t trust easily. Not that he was any better with trust. Besides Lucas and the Carmichaels, Jax didn’t let people get close enough to hurt him. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t be there for her when she needed someone to have her back.

His finger gently traced the line of her cheekbone and jaw. “You and I are going to make it down this mountain together. Got me?”

“Like holding hands?” she asked, and back was that shyness in her voice that stoked him.

When he’d seen her standing in line at the ski lift, his first thought was to ignore her. Just walk right on past. Jax didn’t do drama, which was why he had a hard-and-fast one-night-only policy—one that didn’t include showering or breakfast. And it sure as shit didn’t include the parents. Or made-up conversations where they talked out their feelings. Wasn’t that the point of no strings?

Feelings weren’t a part of the equation. For some reason, this crazy cutie had him feeling all kinds of complicated emotions. Frustration being at the top of that mountain.

Childhood crush aside, Grown-up Milly wasn’t his type and he sure as shit wasn’t hers. They had nothing in common and their timing couldn’t have been more off. But, man, how he couldn’t stop thinking about that night. Stop thinking about what would have happened if her parents hadn’t crashed the party.

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