Page 9 of Bronx

"Don't blame me. You're the one who brought up butter."

Kaos and Mixx met us in the hallway. "This guy had to floss his teeth." Kaos tossed his thumb Mixx's direction.

Mixx shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt you to practice a little more dental care. The women love a white smile." He flashed his pearly whites.

"The women?" King asked. "Thought you and Sophia were heading to the altar soon."

Kaos looked pointedly at Mixx, who seemed to avoid making eye contact or answering the question.

"He dumped her, or maybe she dumped him," Kaos blurted. "Can't get the whole story out of him."

King laughed. "And the revolving door of Mixx's love life keeps on revolving."

I patted Mixx's shoulder. "Don't worry. You'll be engaged again by the end of the weekend."

All of us had been waiting for a good snow to fulfill our dreams of a snowboarding weekend. Most of us had been working on equipment maintenance, physical training and all the other dull activities that came with winter's reprieve from fire season. I'd spent a good five weeks of the off season working the horses for Vick. Layla's wise words that morning at the lake had proved prophetic. Vick recovered from his surgeries and went right into chemotherapy. Once the chemo had ended, he bounced into a nice period of remission. There was little or no sign of the disease in his body, and while he'd lost a significant amount of weight, he was, mentally, at least his jolly, enjoyable self. After the long bleak period of recovery, my mom was treasuring every lighthearted day she had with him. But running a horse ranch, even with a few hired hands, was becoming too much for Vick. Physically, he was just a shadow of the hulking man we used to see strutting around the pastures with his cowboy boots and hat. Neither of them had said it out loud yet, but I knew the idea of selling the ranch was constantly on their minds. I wasn't ready to accept the grim reality either. I'd spent my early and late teens on the ranch. Next to jumping into fires, mucking stables and breaking colts were the best years of my life.

We stepped into the elevator. "Did everyone else get here?" I asked.

"I heard Topper drove in with Bulldozer and Helix," Mixx said. "The wives came too. Guess there was some indecision on that. Apparently, Penelope wasn't sure she could get off work and then she told Helix there was no way he was going without her. She didn't trust him on the slopes with all the hot snowboarders." Mixx was the guy who always knew all the ins and outs of relationships. While his own relationship status was always a three-ring circus, he managed to keep track of what was going on in everyone else's lives. The only thing that interested me in his latest round of gossip was the mention that Bulldozer was bringing Layla. I hadn't seen her since Angus's birthday bash, and I looked forward to talking to her. Hell, who was I kidding? I looked forward to just standing in the same room and skiing on the same mountain as her.

We reached the lobby. "Hey, there's Mystic with her boyfriend of the month," Mixx said with a laugh.

I turned to look at him. "That's hilarious coming from you."

"Hey, guys," Mystic called across the vast lobby. It was one of those typical ski resort lobbies with the massive stone fireplace and sitting area on one side and the check-in desk on the other. A kiosk was set up in the middle serving hot drinks.

Kat Coltrane, or Mystic as we called her because of her habit of meditating on the way to the site, was the only woman on the jump team. She'd been a track star in high school. Her older brothers were both part of the Midwest smokejumpers and her dad was an operations manager for the whole western network. Today, she had a bright pink beanie pulled down over her spiky white blonde hair. The guy she was with appeared to be a good deal older and not really her type. Not that I knew what her type was, but the guy with the plain gray sweater and brand new ski pants just wasn't it. Mystic, like most of us, had found it hard to have a long term relationship with anyone. It was hard to tell if the stress of the job had something to do with our lack of commitment or if it was just that hard to find the right soul mate. I'd dated a few women since Carly and I had broken up, but real sparks had been few and far between. And as I thought about the lack of sparks, the woman who set off full-fledged fireworks stepped out of the elevator.

Everything else, even the giant man behind her, her husband, faded into oblivion, and all I could see was Layla. Instantly, I memorized the bright blue band holding back her dark gold hair, the pink parka hiding the amazing curves beneath and the smile, always the smile. Which she favored me with for a fleeting second before anyone could notice the interaction. But I noticed. I noticed fucking big time. Nothing about the rest of the morning would be the same after that secret smile.

Bulldozer was immediately engaged in a conversation with a few of the other snowboarders, women, of course. Helix led Penelope, his second wife, to the equipment rental room. Layla headed my direction sending my pulse ahead of its usual beat.

"Ready to go, Bronx?" King asked. "Don't want to keep the snow bunnies waiting."

"Go ahead. You so much as told me you were going to ditch me for a hot girl, so you might as well start the ditching now."

King looked past me and nodded. "Right. I see you have more important things to tend to."

"I'll see you on the slopes," I said curtly.

"Yep or you'll see my backside cuz I'll be carving it up." He slapped his ass and headed out the door.

Layla's gloved fingers wrapped around my arm. I was suddenly wishing we were in the dead of summer where gloves were not necessary. I turned to her. Gold stars glittered in her cocoa brown gaze. "How is Vick? I've been meaning to shoot you an email, but we've been so busy at the hospital. The flu season is bad this year."

I covered her hand on my arm. "I'll bet. Vick is doing great. He signed up for that clinical trial, the one in Seattle. He's on a waiting list, but just signing up improved his mood. Thanks for the link."

"I hope he gets in. That one has been showing a lot of promise." She glanced around at the cavernous lobby. "This place is packed. I can only assume there will be hundreds of people on the slopes. Almost makes me want to grab a hot coffee and sit in front of that fire instead."

As badly as I'd been wanting to go snowboarding this winter, the coffee idea sounded way better. Especially if it was with Layla.

"Come on, Tiger, we're going to hit the slopes." Bulldozer's gaze coldly dropped to our hands, still layered on my arm. He shot me a glare that could not have been misinterpreted if I tried. And I did try.

Layla cast her smile my direction again. "Are you and King coming with us?"

"Bronx and King are doing their own thing," Bulldozer said sharply.

Layla innocently looked my direction to see if that was true.

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