Drive Me Wilde (Breathless 6)

Colorado welcomes the hordes of tourists that flock in during the ski season to explore the cold weather and wild winds. Miami this time of year was bearable, but the snow in Colorado came down so hard it's like a thick blanket draped all around, making it hard to see anything out of our cabin window but mountains of snow. If not for the dark trees poking out from the ice sickles, all I would see is snow. Matt had kissed my cold cheek before he left out to go to the sports shop, and that warmed me up a little. He had asked that I be ready to hit the slopes when he and Cody returned to the cabin, so I was sitting on the sofa in the living room area when he walked back in.

"Why am I in Colorado in the middle of winter in a cold-as-ice cabin?" I asked, as he walked over to me. I inhaled his scent and smiled.

“Tasha, if you’re complaining about how cool it is in here, just wait until you go outside. It's friggin’ below zero out there. This city is a lot of things, but it’s not warm like Miami.” Matt’s words were not reassuring. I rubbed my arms through the sweater and thermal underwear I had on.

“No wonder I stay in the south,” I replied, shooting him a sharp glance. “Do we really have to go outside today?” I pouted my lips into a mope, hoping that by giving him that look he would surely agree to stay indoors, where it was a hell of a lot warmer.

Matt wasn’t having any of that, and he explained why he wanted us to go out. “Tasha, baby, I’m going to have so much fun watching you freeze your butt off on the slopes. But not to worry, I will surely warm you up tonight,” he whispered in my ear.

"No Matt." My teeth chattered about the same time I said that. “How about we skip the freezing and just stay warm together?”

"I'll be there to keep you warm every step of the way, but we’re skiing. Cody will kill me if he finds out that I brought him up here ju

st to keep him cooped up in this cabin."

“Well, alright, I could never let Cody down?” I said, and two hours later, I found myself trekking through the snow in knee-high snow boots. This was bound to be a mess, I just knew it was, but Matt gave me a sexy grin and I tried to not think of all the negative things that could happen—like me falling down and disappearing under feet of snow, freezing to a painful death, only to be found when spring comes and melts the snow.

“What are you smiling about?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckled. “You are a cute little snow bunny.” He touched my nose and I rolled my eyes, but found it endearing all the same.

“Yeah, Tasha, you’re a cute little snow bunny,” repeated Cody. That caused Matt and me both to laugh as we turned to Cody. He smirked, and I moved closer to him.

“I’m gonna get you.” I touched his hips, tickling him and he burst into giggles. I was unable to hold that posture with my snow boots, so I wound up falling with Cody into a pile of snow. I instantly shivered, but then laughed loudly, because I was having an amazing time.

I glanced at Matt and he was busting up laughing at the two of us lying in the snow. “You think this is funny?” I asked? When he laughed again, I reached up and grabbed his hand, then pulled him down on top of me and more importantly into the bone-chilling snow.

He laughed and looked down at me. His eyes shone with happiness. He looked at Cody who was lying in the snow making a snow angel and turned back to me. Matt leaned into me, giving me a soft peck that lived up to his promise to keep me warm. He then stood to his feet and grabbed my hand, pulling me up after him.

I fell into him, which caused us to laugh again. Then, I looked down at Cody and he proudly was looking at his snow angel. I never felt so attached to two people in my adult life, at least not two people that weren’t my blood family. Dare I call this feeling…love?

“Are you ready to head to the slopes?” Matt asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

I frowned, turning to him. “Seriously? And lose this magical moment?” I teased.

He laughed. “Well, there’s magic on the slopes too.” He winked at me and took my hand in his. “We could go to the bunny slopes,” he said.

I had read the material in our cabin about the different slopes and knew choosing the bunny slopes would mean they would tease me about needing the beginner’s course, but I had broad shoulders to take on their teasing. My first priority was staying alive and going high on a mountain to freefall to my death on skis and ice didn’t seem to fit that objective.

“Actually, the bunny slope would be great, because I think Cody should have someone to ski with him, right buddy?” I asked, and Cody laughed.

“Um…Tasha…I was planning on going on the medium slopes.” He smirked. “But if you don’t want to ski alone, then I suppose I can go on the bunny slopes with you for the first time.”

Sheeze, I tried my best not to show it on my face, but on the inside, I was so nervous. Still, if Cody could handle it, then so could I. I wasn’t going to wimp out and let a ten-year-old be tougher than me. “Please…I was born on the slopes,” I said and almost believed it.

Matt laughed. He’d been doing a lot of that lately, a sharp contrast from the man who fired me on my first day working for him. “Tasha, you don’t have to say that. We don’t want to rush you into something you’re not comfortable doing. You can take things slow, and we won’t mind one bit.” He winked at Cody. “Will we?”

Cody shook his head. “Not at all. We’ll understand,” he said and winked back at Matt.

Cody was talking to me like he was the grownup and I was the kid. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him back to me. “Just try to get me off those slopes,” I said challenging him.

We went towards the medium slopes and I saw several people there and most seemed like old pros. I didn’t let that worry me, but I was a little intimidated by them. We had to rent some skis and Matt showed me how to put them on. I was a fish out of water that was jumping into a frozen pond, but I was usually very strong, and I wasn’t going to let this get to me.

I let out a slow breath as I stood up. I was a little wobbly and nearly toppled to the ground, but Matt caught my arm. He looked at me, giving me a worried look that silently told me he would understand if I backed out.

“I’ve got this,” I said. I couldn’t be shy in Cody’s eyes, because I was always telling him to be strong and fight. This was my battle to win.

“Okay…” Matt mumbled.