Did I sound as stupid in real life as I felt in my head? I had to.
Thankfully, Rocco didn’t laugh at me. He met my gaze with a serious nod. “Message received, but I already knew that, Parker. You two are clearly into each other.”
I blew out a relieved breath and felt my face heat from embarrassment. “It’s complicated.”
Now he laughed, loudly enough for both BJ and Jules to turn around to see what we were doing. “Having fun back there without us?” BJ called.
Before I could respond, Rocco beat me to it. “Parker was telling me about the time he stuck his tongue on a metal pole because of a dare.”
Julian’s smile appeared with the memory. While he hadn’t been the one who’d dared me—that had been Hazel—he had been the one who’d reveled in being able to say, “I told you so,” over and over until I wanted to punch him in the face.
I turned to Rocco. “How the hell did you know about that?”
Rocco’s face crinkled with a smile. “I didn’t. But you seem like the type.”
When the lift dumped us out at the terminal, I followed Jules down a short slope to the top of Sky Shadow. It was a nice, wide run, which meant plenty of room to film in the sun.
BJ eyed me while Rocco began unpacking some equipment. “Why don’t you have ski poles?”
“I figured I’d want my hands free to hold stuff,” I explained, moving over to adjust Julian’s helmet strap. “This thing is no good if it’s loose. You know that,” I murmured as I moved the webbing through the fitting.
His body tensed. “I…” His voice trailed off as I deliberately brushed my nose against his and gave a tug to the chin strap.
“Better,” I said softly.
“Mm,” he breathed.
I stepped back as if nothing had happened. “Besides, I don’t use poles when I’m teaching, so I’m used to skiing without them.”
After Rocco set me up with a lavalier mic and a video camera, he clipped a GoPro to his helmet and attached a second one to a harness on his chest. He was very familiar with the equipment and gave me a quick rundown on what to do.
“Most of the class is shown from my POV so the student is in my shoes, right? But if I can cut in some distance shots of me on the slopes, it helps place the student in the environment and gives them that destination feel. They want to see the vistas and know what it would look like if they were actually the person skiing down the mountain.”
“You have a calm, deep voice,” I said. “I can see why your videos would be popular.”
BJ chuckled. “That and he’s hot as fuck.”
I nodded and grinned. “Good looks certainly don’t hurt.”
Julian seemed to bristle. But then again, I’d been getting awkward vibes from him all morning. I tried to brush it off and do the best I could for Rocco.
“So I’ll go down first and ski backward. I’ll get as much distant footage as I can on this run while you do your thing. On the next run, you can tell me what to correct. Sound good?”
“This first pass will be just for the distance shots and whatever I can capture with these while I figure out how I want to structure the run for the narrated version.”
“How can I help?” Julian asked.
Rocco nodded. “Yeah, so I was hoping you could keep an eye on BJ. He’s going to get some distance shots, too, but he’s not a very experienced skier.” He handed Julian his cell phone. “Also, if you want to take video or stills with this, I can always use more footage.”
It took a few more minutes to get situated. BJ asked me to adjust his helmet strap the way I’d done Julian’s, and then he’d asked me to check to see if his boots were adjusted properly. I shoved the camera into my pocket before crouching down to help him with his boots.
As soon as he put his hands on my shoulders to brace himself, he hummed. “My, my, you have big strong shoulders. How does a ski instructor wind up with such big, broad shoulders?”
“Oh, ah… I swim? My gym has a great indoor pool, which is my excuse for going there. The real reason, though, is the sauna so I can get warm in the winter.” I noticed that his boots were already adjusted perfectly and gave him an encouraging smile. “You’re all set.”
I moved away and pulled the camera back out, making sure it was ready to go. When I looked up to check on Jules, he was glaring at BJ. I looked back and forth between them to determine what I’d missed. Before I could figure it out, Rocco was ready.