Slow Heat

The wonder in her gaze mesmerized him. A little surprised at himself, he turned to take in the view with her, trying to see it through her eyes. The towering peaks had a way of putting things into perspective and reminding you that you weren’t the biggest and baddest. A blanket of fresh snow stretched as far as the eye could see, glistening wherever the sun hit it like it’d been dusted with diamonds.

She was right when she said it was mind-boggling. He tried to never take this place for granted, but the truth was that he did. Interesting that it’d taken a pretty stranger to shake him out of his routine and make him notice his surroundings. He turned his head and met her gaze. Yeah. He was definitely noticing his surroundings.

She smiled into his eyes. “I figured after I got my fill of the view, I’d just head back to the ski lift and ask if I could ride it down. No harm, no foul, right? But then came problem number two.”

“Which is…?” he asked when she didn’t continue.

“I broke my binding, and while I’ve got lots of stuff in all these pockets, I’m not packing any tools. I think I just need a screwdriver or something. I thought I’d locate a ski patroller.”

“I am ski patrol,” he said.

Looking surprised, she ran her gaze up and down the length of him. Usually when a woman did such a thing it was with a light of lust in her eyes, but she didn’t seem overly impressed.

He looked down at himself. “I’m not in my patrol jacket,” he said. “I was hot from putting up the fencing…” Why the hell was he defending himself? Shaking his head, he removed his skis and walked to hers. He laid out the one she pointed to and took a look. Yep, she’d broken a binding. “The hinge failed,” he said.

She crouched next to him and the scent of her soap or perfume came to him, a light, sexy scent that made him turn his head and look at her.

But what held his interest were those baby blues. They were wide and fathomless, and he found himself utterly unable to look away.

As if maybe she was every bit as transfixed as he, she blinked slowly. “Can we fix it?”

We? “I could rig it enough to get you down the mountain if I had a piece of wire.” He pulled out his radio. “I’ll just call for—”

“Oh, I’ve got it.” She rose and pulled a small notebook from one of her pockets. Attached to it was a paper clip. She pulled it loose and waved it proudly. “I’ve a piece of wire right here, see?”

“Nice.” He took the paperclip, straightened it, then used it to thread through the binding and twisted it in place. During the entire two minutes this took, she remained hunkered at his side, leaning over his arm, her soft, warm breath against his neck, taking in everything he did.

She sucked in a breath. “You’re…”

When she didn’t finish the sentence, he turned his head and watched her gaze drop to his mouth, which was only a few inches from hers.

“Handy,” she finished softly.

“And you’re…”

She smiled. “Stubborn? Annoying?”

“Set to go,” he said.

She laughed and he smiled. “I’ll help you back to the lift,” he said.

“Oh, I’m good now, thanks to you.” Rising, she nudged her ski into place so that she could secure her boot into it. She struggled with that for a minute, unable to snap her ski in, the effort causing her arms to tremble a little bit.

Hud started forward but she stopped him with a raised hand and he checked himself.

Ski number two took her longer because she had a balance problem. He lasted until she started to fall over and then all bets were off. Again he moved toward her but at the last second she managed to catch herself on her pole. When she finally clicked that second ski in, she lifted her head and flashed him a triumphant smile, like she’d just climbed a mountain.

“Got it!” she said, beaming, swiping at her brow like maybe she was sweating now. “See? I’m good.”

“You were right about the stubborn,” he said. “But not the annoying.”

“Well, you haven’t given me enough time.” And with another flashing smile, she pushed off on her poles.

In the wrong direction.

Hud caught her by the back of her jacket. Even with all those layers, she was surprisingly light. Light enough that he could easily spin her around and face her in the right direction, which was a hundred and eighty degrees from where she’d started.

She laughed and damn, she really did have a great laugh, one that invited a man right in to laugh along with her. “Right,” she said, patting him on the chest. “Thanks. Now I’m good.”

At his hip, his radio was buzzing. His guys were checking in, getting ready for their high-and low-angle rope rescue drills. Hud was supposed to run the exercise, but he wanted to make sure the woman got safely on the lift first.

“Sounds like you have to go,” she said.

“I do.” But when he didn’t move, her brows went up. “You’re cute,” she said. “But you do know that even an intelligent person can screw up reading a map, right? That despite whatever it looks like, I really don’t need a keeper.”

Wait a minute. Did she just call him cute? He’d never once in his life been called cute.

Taking in his expression she laughed, like he was funny. “It was a compliment,” she said.

Not in his book. His radio crackled again. Dispatch this time, making sure he’d located the “troubled” skier. “I’ve got her,” he confirmed, eyes narrowed in on the skier in question. “It’s handled.”

The dispatcher went on to fill him in on two other incidents. Hud told her how to deal with them both and then replaced the radio on his hip.

“Okay,” his wayward skier said. “I stand corrected. You’re not cute. You’re kinda badass with all that bossy ’tude. Happy now?”

Happy? More like dizzy. “Let’s just get you to the lift,” he said. Calm. Authoritative. The same tone that people usually listened and responded to.

Usually…

“I’m good now,” she said, and with a wave pushed off on her poles, thankfully heading directly toward the ski lift.

Not surprisingly, she wasn’t all that steady. This was because she kept her knees locked instead of bending them, incorrectly putting her weight on the backs of her skis. Whoever had given her those lessons at Breckenridge should be fired.

But she hadn’t asked him for tips. And he no longer worked at the ski school.

She’d be fun to teach, though. The thought came unbidden and he shrugged it off. All he cared about was that she was on the right path now, leaving him free to take Devil’s Face hard and fast the way he’d wanted.

Except… Her helmet lay in the snow at his feet, forgotten. He had no idea how anyone could forget the eye-popping cherry-red thing against the white snow, but she had.

And so had he, when he rarely forgot anything. It was those pretty eyes, that sweet yet mischievous laugh, both distracting as hell. “Hey,” he called after her. “Your helmet.”

But she must have put her earbuds back in because she didn’t stop or turn back.

Hud scooped up the helmet and, giving Devil’s Face one last longing look, headed toward the lift as well, catching up with her halfway there.