keeping her head turned toward him, then covered her mouth with his, no warning, no prep, just bam.
His lips felt like they were charged with electricity, little tingles running in chaotic bursts over her own. He exhaled, and his body softened behind her, molding to her every curve. But his arm tightened, and his mouth opened, and his tongue plunged inside with a kind of hunger that told her he’d been suffering the withdrawal too.
He was hot and sensual and tasted so damn good. A sound rolled from her throat—completely against her will. But Noah took it as a green light. He slanted his head, deepened the kiss, stroking her tongue with deliberate and erotic moves that made her think about him fucking her, long and deep and slow.
He pulled back to reposition, lick her lips, suckle her tongue, never giving Julia the chance to speak. And without being able to hear her own denials or think quick enough to spark practical thoughts again, she was sliding toward it would feel so good…
A chime drifted through the house, pulling Julia from her inner battle. It was familiar, incessant, and bristled annoyance up Julia’s spine, something she didn’t understand. All she understood now was Noah’s mouth on hers.
Only he tore his mouth away and looked up the stairs toward his bedroom. “Dammit.” Then he bent to unfasten the bindings on the board and lifted Julia out of the boots, all before she could think straight again. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to get that, but I’ll make it short. I’ll be right down.”
And he was gone, moving up the stairs with a fluidity Julia should be proud of. But now, with a clear head, she recognized the chime—someone was Skyping him on his laptop in his bedroom. And Julia had heard him talking with the girl often enough to know her name was Mandy or Missy or Miranda…or something.
A burst of hurt slammed her gut before anger fired up.
“Hey, sugar.” His voice floated from his bedroom, light and bright. “How’s your day?”
A female voice drifted from the computer. Julia couldn’t hear the words, only the happy, upbeat voice as she started rambling to Noah. Something the woman said made him laugh, and the rich sound she’d come to love floated down the stairs.
She huffed a laugh, half self-deprecation, half disgust, and pressed her fingers to her lips still tingling with Noah’s kiss. “I’m such an idiot.”
She’d been damn close to falling right into Noah’s bed again. And for what? A few hours of bliss? All when he already had another chick on the hook, just waiting for Julia to disappear from his life so he could shift back into most-eligible-bachelor mode.
Christ, how many times did she need to make the same mistakes before she saw them as mistakes before she made them?
“Fucking idiot.” Julia exhaled and bent to pick up the board and set it on the breakfast bar, pulling her walls back up while pretending to check out the wheelbase as Noah’s footsteps came down the stairs.
“What are you doing?” he asked, coming over and standing too close, sliding his hand across her shoulders and raising gooseflesh beneath her T-shirt.
“Just refocusing.” She turned to face him, hiding her disappointment as best she could. “That kiss shouldn’t have happened. But it was just one of those little slips. No need to make it an issue.”
“Julia—”
“I’ve got some great ideas for how to use this toy of yours in the workouts.” She gave him a small smile, one that hurt to force. “Let’s get therapy started.”
Julia sipped hot chocolate from a mug, curled into the corner of an overstuffed sofa inside the Squaw Valley Lodge closest to the only chair lift she allowed Noah to take. It led to two short runs Julia could see, one beginner and one intermediate. Now, she tracked his blue-and-white jacket and red beanie as he drifted farther and farther up the mountain.
This is good. Time apart. We need this.
She kept repeating the idea over and over, hoping it would catch and dull this weird flare of anxiety. Over three weeks of constant contact, and she and Noah continued to get closer. Continued to laugh and learn together. Continued to entertain friends as one big happy freaking family. But as the countdown to Snowmass kicked in, so did Julia’s realization that she had to leave all the happiness and comfort they’d created behind soon.
Someone stopped beside the sofa, but Julia never lost sight of Noah.
“You said you were putting him on the open slopes”—Drake’s deep voice slid into her thoughts—“but I couldn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.”
“I’m not thrilled with how hard his coach is pushing him. But we don’t have much time, and after watching what he does on that superpipe Rafe’s got carved out of his property, not to mention the crazy shit he pulls on that boarding trampoline in his gym, I figured he couldn’t do much worse out here.” She shook her head as the unease returned. “But it’s a real risk. He’s a damn airdog, and with the height and speed he gets in that ice bowl, one slight mistake would be all it takes…”
Julia envisioned his board hitting an edge of the icy bowl where he practiced, could picture the board going one way, Noah going the other, his feet strapped in and caught in the middle…
Her throat grew thick with fear.
“If he catches that board wrong at this stage of healing… I don’t know. I really can’t say what would happen or how bad it would be. And, yes, it freaks me the hell out.” She exhaled and shrugged. “But he’s been so stoked since he’s gotten back on the powder, if I vetoed this, I was pretty sure I’d catch him sneaking out in the middle of the night to hit it in the dark.”
“Look at you,” Drake said with laughter in his voice.
She pulled her gaze from Noah. “What?”
“When you came three weeks ago, you didn’t even know what a superpipe was, bitching about ‘snowboarder talk.’ Now you’re all ‘stoked’ and ‘airdog’ and ‘hit it’. Before you know it, you’re going to turn into a Betty.”