Free Fall Read online

  Sans Lily.

  9

  LILY GLANCED AT HER WATCH—7:30 a.m.—and tried not to imagine what she could be doing right this minute if an hour ago she hadn’t looked into Logan’s eyes and panicked.

  God, it had felt good lying in bed with him wrapped around her like a pretzel, all sleek skin and hard sinew and easy sexiness. But she’d gotten up. Leaped up and out the door was more like it, mostly because she hadn’t wanted to. She was going to have enough trouble not getting too attached for the next three nights, she didn’t need to lounge around and relive the mind-blowing night.

  And it had been mind-blowing, she’d give him that. She’d always equated sex with the subtle quenching of a thirst. A nice little treat, a release of the need, the end. At least until the next time she got thirsty.

  Nothing about last night had been a nice little treat, an easy release of need. In fact, she felt more needy now than she had before, even though they’d hardly slept, unable to keep their hands—or mouths—off each other. Just thinking about it made her body hum.

  What she needed now was to clear her head, and there was only one way to do that. On the slopes. She’d spent a few moments at her desk. She’d checked on the cafeteria. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. The bar was dark, and so was the shop, which wouldn’t open for another hour. No one would be in their offices yet, and with no emergencies lurking, she went to her ski locker. She’d catch a ride up on a snowcat with her patrollers, who’d be out checking on the mountain and the conditions.

  Then she’d take a run, get some very cold air burning through her lungs, and she would not, would absolutely not, daydream or fantasize about one incredibly sexy Logan White.

  “Going to take in a few runs?”

  She jerked in surprise and found the incredibly sexy Logan White standing there in the flesh. His hair was wet, as if he’d rushed out of the shower, and if she wasn’t mistaken, he smelled like her mango-melon shampoo and matching soap. He wore his ski pants, but in concession to what looked to be a warmer, sunnier day than yesterday, wore a SAR T-shirt layered over a long sleeved T-shirt, no jacket.

  When she just stared at him, he smiled a bit grimly and stepped closer, lifting a finger to her chin, which alerted her to the fact her mouth had fallen open.

  Then he kissed her right on that mouth. “I thought about you in your shower. When I went back to my room for fresh clothes. When I breathe. How about some company?”

  She opened her eyes and cleared her throat. It’d been just a little kiss, insignificant when compared to what they’d already shared, and yet it jump-started her heart the way the steepest hill on the mountain would have. Or maybe it was the fact that he’d searched her out. “Okay.”

  He cocked his head. “You look surprised. You didn’t think I’d want to spend some time with you?”

  “You just spent some time with me.” Naked. In bed. Driving me out of my mind with your fingers, your tongue, your teeth— She had to lock her wobbly knees and ignore the heat building between her thighs. “I guess I thought you’d be done.”

  He just looked at her for a long moment. “Maybe I’m different, Lily.”

  “Are you?”

  “Does that scare you?”

  “I’ve told you. Nothing scares me.”

  “You’re such a liar.” He cupped his palm around the nape of her neck, nudged her into him so that he could kiss her again. His mouth was warm, familiar now, and this time when he lifted his head, her body was throbbing, her thoughts were spinning, her world, completely off its axis and…and he laughed.

  “You’re looking at me like maybe you’d rather go back to bed than ski,” he murmured, just a little too sure of himself.

  “Don’t flatter yourself, ace. I’d rather ski any day.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Hell, no. “Very.” She grabbed her skis this time and slammed her locker, walking out, not looking back to see if he followed.

  Her nipples were hard, damn him, and between her thighs, she was damp, proving her one big, fancy liar.

  THEY HITCHED A RIDE UP THE mountain with her grooming crew on a large snowcat, then made their way to the east-facing slopes, chasing the early sun down long, long trails that ran the gamut of terrain, some narrow with lots of trees, some wide and clear. For two hours Logan skied and watched Lily do the same, exhilaration flowing through his veins.

  When she finally stopped, shaking herself free of some loose snowy powder, she laughed. Her eyes were lit, her cheeks were rosy, and as she glanced over at him, her hair whipping out of her helmet, her smile stretching from ear to ear, his heart tipped on its side. “You look pretty satisfied.”

  “Being out here like this should be a requirement for relieving stress.”

  So should what they’d shared last night. His own stress relief was usually done in a gym with a punching bag, or on the streets with his running shoes.

  But skiing his brains out worked, too.

  “The wind’s kicked up,” she said and got on her walkie-talkie. She consulted with base, then clipped it back on her belt. “We’ll have to watch the upper lifts, might have to close them.”

  Either way, she’d have her hands full soon enough. Her day would get crazy, as he suspected it always did. But for now she stood there on top of her mountain, her world, stripping out of her fleece, tying it around her waist, leaving just the snug red turtleneck. Bending over, she ran her gloved hands down the top of her legs. “My thighs are burning.”

  He had burning parts, too, but not his thighs. Between them. “Come here.”

  Her eyes locked with his and she licked her lips, a telling little gesture he’d noticed she used when nervous. “Every time you say that, you end up kissing me stupid. I lost a lot of brain cells last night, and can’t really afford to lose any more—”

  He simply hooked an elbow around her neck and tugged her close, swallowing her words with his mouth.

  A soft murmur of acquiescence escaped her and she slid her fingers into his hair, holding him to her.

  As if he intended to let go. Nope, no way. “Tonight,” he whispered, nipping his way along her throat beneath her helmet strap. “I want to see you tonight.”

  She opened her eyes and searched his while all around them the wind whipped up, harder and faster. “Do you?”

  “Oh, yeah. And for every night I have left.” He ran his thumb over her full lower lip. “If you end up working late again, you know where my room is. Don’t be shy.”

  She dragged her teeth over that lower lip now, torturing it in a way he wanted to do himself. Her hair, hanging out from below her helmet, blew across her face. He stroked it away, then leaned in and kissed her again, deeper this time. She opened to him, and the heat and voracious need for her slammed right back, as if they’d not assuaged that need all night long. He had no idea how he could want her this way, again, still, but it was there shimmering between them, through them—

  Her walkie-talkie chirped, and Lily jumped back as if she’d been jolted by a live wire. She stared at him, eyes unreadable, mouth still wet as she lifted the radio and checked in.

  She looked like a woman good and shocked over what should have been a damn simple kiss. He knew the feeling, because nothing had been simple about any of this, not since the moment he’d first laid eyes on her.

  “I have to go,” she said, making him realize she’d put her radio back on her belt.

  “The lifts are going to close already.”

  “The upper ones, yes, after only letting a few people on. But that’s not it.”

  “You have a rescue.”

  “There’s a crew there already, but they can’t get a helicopter out in this wind so he has to be skied down. And…they sorta need me there.”

  “Want some help?”

  She looked at him for one heartbeat. Two. “Yes,” she finally said. “Sure.”

  They traversed the mountain in the increasingly fierce wind, heading over to the west side. Their mo