Sleigh Bells in the Snow(94)
“I’m fine, but I think my skis might have landed in Canada.” Her mouth was inches from his, and she was shocked by how badly she wanted to kiss him.
His eyes were intense blue, shadowed by lack of sleep and she knew hers were the same.
It had been the most incredible night of her life.
She rolled away from him and tried to get up. “Why did my skis come off?”
“I adjusted the bindings so that they’d come off if you fell. I didn’t want you to break an ankle.”
“Did I hear talk of broken ankles?” A man skied to a stop right next to them, showering them both with snow. “That’s my specialty.”
Jackson swore softly and brushed the snow off his jacket. “You pick your moments to show up.” He stood up and rescued both pairs of skis while Kayla stared at the man in disbelief. Apart from the fact he was clean-shaven, she was looking at another version of Jackson.
Jackson dug the skis into the deep snow next to the restaurant. “Kayla, meet my brother Sean.”
“Twins,” she murmured. “Identical twins. You said you were the eldest.”
“I’m the eldest by five minutes.”
“We are most certainly not identical.” Sean snapped his feet out of his skis. “My taste in wine is much better than his, and he might help you break your ankle but there’s no way he’d be able to fix it. Our taste in women, however, occasionally coincides.” His smile was as sexy as his brother’s. “You must be Kayla. Good to meet you.”
* * *
“YOU WANT TO offer up a piece of me as part of your PR campaign?” Tyler sprawled in his chair on the terrace of the mountain restaurant, nursing a beer while Jess sat close to him, soaking up each word he spoke.
Kayla poked the creamy froth on her cappuccino with a spoon. “Your skills and reputation add something to Snow Crystal. It’s something other resorts can’t match.”
Tyler winked at his brother. “Are you listening?”
Jackson rolled his eyes. This wasn’t the way he’d planned it. It was supposed to be a low-key friendly lunch with Jess and Tyler. He hadn’t banked on Sean arriving.
Fortunately Kayla didn’t seem overwhelmed.
Instead she seemed fascinated as she listened to Tyler and Sean talking about the performance of a U.S. skier.
“He got sucked low on the top section. The snow was soft.”
“DNF’d twice at Val-d’Isère. Hooked a tip halfway down.”
Tyler stretched out his legs. “We all have a bad run sometimes. The important thing is to get back out there and race again.”
Jess looked as if she was memorizing every word, while Kayla just looked confused.
“DNF?”
“Did not finish.” Jackson reached across and knocked a lump of snow off her hat. “Unlike you, who finished in style.”
“Flat on my face you mean. I have a feeling DNF could be my specialty. So I know there are two types of ski racing—the one that goes straight down and the one that’s curvy.”
“Slalom.” Tyler looked pained. “It’s called slalom.”
“Slalom. The one when you turn all the time—” she drew the pattern in the air “—a bit like I was doing just now when I came down the slope.”
Tyler lifted an eyebrow in incredulous disbelief. “Honey, you were about as close to slalom as I am to Mars.”
“I was just illustrating a point.”
“Slalom is one of two technical disciplines, the other being giant slalom. Do you know anything about World Cup alpine ski racing?”
“Not a thing,” Kayla said happily, “except that you all wear supertight spandex like Superman. Fortunately skiers seem to have muscles in all the right places, which is a relief because if you put that outfit on the average London commuter it would not be a good look.”
“The outfit is designed to minimize drag.” Tyler scowled at Sean, who wasn’t bothering to hide his laughter. “You got something to say?” Without waiting for him to respond, he turned back to Kayla, determined to educate her. “As well as technical, you have speed disciplines. Downhill is the Formula 1 of ski racing. I presume you’ve heard of Formula 1?”
“Formula? Isn’t that what they feed babies?” Kayla grinned. “Just kidding. So it’s fast.”
“You ski a course like the Lauberhorn in Switzerland, one of the longest and toughest on the World Cup circuit, and you’re hitting speeds of around 90 miles an hour, and you’re not wearing a seat belt. And when you’re up there waiting to start there’s nothing but you and the slope. Think about it.”