Page 54 of Fresh Tracks
“You know you didn’t sneak up on me, right? I heard you walking down the path. You’re losing your touch,” he groans, running his fingers through his hair and looking over his shoulder. “Take it you found my note.”
I step toward him and set my bag down on a nearby patio chair. Standing over him, I look down to see him smiling back up at me, his piercing, deep blue eyes meeting mine.
Now that’s a view I like.
“Hi.” My voice comes out as a high pitched, mousy squeak. Really, Grace? Now’s when you lose your confidence? You’ve been thinking about seeing this man all day and ‘hi’is all you come up with?
He snorts a laugh and I know I would blush now if my cheeks weren’t already red from the frosty air. “Hop in. The water’s great,” he says, tipping his beer to me.
“That’s why I came over here, dumb dumb. My legs are spent after skiing with Josie. I’ve thought about this all day.” I’ve thought about him all day too, but that’s not exactly new.
I brace myself with one hand on the back of the patio chair, kicking off my shoes and shuffling out of my socks.
He gives me a quizzical look. “Oh. Did you change in your van already? I didn’t see you go in the guesthouse.”
I reach down, pulling my hoodie up and over my head, revealing my sports bra.
His eyes flare while he watches me undress. “No, wait,”he says, raising his hand to object, “that’s not what I meant.” I loop my fingers into the waistband of my sweats and drop them to the ground, leaving me in just my tight boy shorts.
I step right over him, plucking his beer out of his hand, and lowering myself into the steaming water, sitting right next to him. We’re shoulder to shoulder and our thighs press against each other under the water.
“I hope you have more of these,” I say, taking a pull from his beer.
He rolls his eyes and his low laugh makes his shoulders shake. “I don’t know why I’m ever surprised by you. You know you could have thrown a swimsuit on first? It’s not like I was going to leave before you came back.”
“What? Are you complaining about what I’m wearing?” I relax into the water, desperate to soothe my aching muscles and joints. I arch my back and roll my shoulders, trying to stretch out. The motion pops my breasts out of the water and I notice the way his eyes drift down. “I can still go in and change. Or maybe I could just take this off.”
I run a finger under the strap of my bra, inching it down my shoulder. His eyes track the movement and I see his pupils darken. “It’s not like you haven’t seen me topless before.”
I watch as he looks up with lust in his eyes as a crimson flush creeps across his cheeks. He shakes his head slowly.
“I couldn’t care less what you’re wearing. I just want you around me, all the time,” he says, blunt and matter of factly. The way his eyes comb over me only heats my body more, even in the hot water. He turns, reaching toward a small metal bucket on the edge of the hot tub. The motion shows off the toned muscles of his back, his wet hair clinging to the nape of his neck. Somehow he looks even better like this than in the gym, satisfying my goldilocks needs: not too muscular, not too lean, just right. He pulls another beer from the ice bucket andtwists off the top, tipping it at me. “And we have plenty of beer.”
He takes a long swig from the bottle before setting it on the edge of the patio and hot tub. I look around us, noticing the snowflakes melting as soon as they hit the steaming stones. “Heated concrete? Nice touch.”
He shrugs. “It’s not a long walk from the house to here, but it’s nice not having to clear it all the time. Paying your brother to plow my driveway is one thing, but I don’t want him out here with a snowblower or shovel all the time. So, how was your day skiing?”
I raise a brow, clasping my beer in both hands in front of me just above the bubbling water lapping at my chest. “I know you said we could talk, but you really want to know how my day was?”
He leans toward me and I see that look of conviction in his eyes. His gaze makes my pulse quicken and my hands fidget with the peeling label of the beer bottle.
“I want to learn every little thing about you.” His voice is low and commanding, leaving no doubt that he intends to do just that.
I take a sip of my beer, drumming my fingertips along the neck of the bottle. “Well, you know I have no problem oversharing.”
I stretch out more, pressing my thigh against his. He sucks in a breath through his teeth and looks down into the water where our legs are touching. I reach out, running my fingertips over his shoulder to play with the strands of hair hanging over his ear and I can feel his pulse pounding in his neck.
His eyes flick back to mine. “Grace, I need to know you want this. I need to know?—”
I lower my hand, pressing it to his chest. “Stop. I already told you, I can handle myself. I know what I want and I know mylimits. Don’t give me those weak ‘I’m your boss’or ‘I’m friends with your brothers’or ‘you’re too young’excuses.”
He swallows and nods slowly. “If you’re sure?—”
I cut him off again. “I’m not the one you need to be worried about. It’s you I’m worried about. I need to know you’resurebecause I’m not going to waste time on a boy who can’t make up his mind. I am interested in a man that knows what he wants.”
His nostrils flare and he grins at me. “So I guess there’s no one back home in Park City then, is there?”
“Nope, hopelessly single,” I say, watching his grin grow wider. “What about you? No girlfriend at any of your houses all over the country?”
