If he had said anything else, she might simply have thanked him for helping her get her skis, pushed off with her poles, and been down at the bottom of the hill within a matter of minutes, leaving him behind. But the word challenge got her. After all, it was why she’d gotten on the ski lift in the first place. It was also the reason she’d quit her job and signed a 12-month retail lease for Indulgence just a handful of weeks ago.

All her life she’d worked hard to please other people, but the way Rob had treated her had been the last straw. Finally, she’d decided to start pleasing herself.

Suddenly, she couldn’t think of anything that would please her more than spending a day with a gorgeous man on a snowy mountain in Lake Tahoe.

She looked up at Noah and smiled. "If you’re really up to playing teacher today, then I’ll try to be the best student you’ve ever had."

Chapter Three

Noah’s entire body reacted to the unintentional sensuality of Colbie’s words. He wanted to pull her against him again and find out if her mouth tasted as good as it looked. But he could sense how wary she was about spending a few hours with him, so he knew better than to push her too hard.

Later, after she felt more comfortable with him, he’d steal a kiss.

"Leave your poles in the snow for now," he told her. "I want you to hold on to my hands instead."

She hesitated for a moment. "Is this how you taught all of your students?"

He grinned at her. "Only the pretty ones."

Flushing, she put her hands in his. "Okay, now what?"

"Close your eyes." Her immediate frown was so cute, he had to laugh out loud. "Don’t worry, you’ll be keeping them open once we head down the hill."

She looked down toward the bottom and grimaced. "If only we could stay up here forever."

"Colbie." He waited until she looked back at him. "I’m not going to make you do anything you’re not ready for. Trust me."

He could see in her eyes that she understood he wasn’t just talking about skiing. He was talking about the two of them. After a long moment, she finally nodded, then closed her eyes as he’d asked her to.

"Adjust your weight so that you’re standing evenly on both skis." When she wobbled a little on her skis and stiffened, he said, "Don’t worry, I’ve got you and I’m not going to let you fall." Again, he let his promise settle into her before continuing. "I want you to get comfortable, to feel like you’re standing as normally as possible, even though you’re in boots and skis. That’s why I asked you to close your eyes, so that you’re not depending on anything but what you’re feeling."

As she adjusted her weight from one foot to the other with her eyes closed, he took the opportunity to stare at her. She had long, dark eyelashes and her features were beautifully defined, her cheekbones high, her mouth lush and kissable. Her eyes had been as blue as the lake and her long, dark hair fell in waves down her shoulders, falling to cover the swell of her br**sts. If she was this beautiful in a ski jacket and pants, he couldn’t imagine how gorgeous she’d be with nothing on at all, her hair like silk over creamy skin, her big blue eyes blurry with desire as she looked up at him from his bed.

When she stopped gripping his hands so tightly, he asked, "Are you feeling steadier now?"

He could see the surprise on her face as she nodded and said, "Actually, I am."

"Good." After he talked her through what he called the lift-and-tilt technique and she picked it up just fine, he leaned in close and whispered in her ear, "You’re ready."

She shivered at his warm breath on her earlobe, before taking a deep breath and pushing back her shoulders. When she opened her eyes again, he thought he could already see that desire he’d been fantasizing about in them.

"Okay, hand me those poles," she said with a sudden grin, "and let’s do this thing."

One sassy little smile was all it took to stop Noah completely in his tracks. My God, he’d never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

She simply lit up the entire mountain.

When he didn’t hand her the poles, she looked down at them and then back at him in confusion. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything’s great," he finally said. And it was.

Because he was with the most beautiful girl in the world.

Their progress down the mountain wasn’t fast, but it was steady. Noah skied backward so that he could watch her, and she shook her head at him. "Show-off."

When he grinned and replied, "I’m a man of many skills," she got so flustered that she toppled over again. Of course, he didn’t mind one bit having to pull her into his arms so that he could help her up out of the snow. She was much faster to get going again this time, and he realized that the only problem with teaching her to ski better was that he would spend more time next to her on his skis, and less time holding her in his arms in the snow.

But it was all worth it to see how triumphant she looked when they got to the bottom.

"I did it!"

He would have kissed her then if he didn’t think it would undo all the progress he’d just made in getting her to trust him. "Nice work. Ready to do it again?"

She slid her gaze over to the chair lift and paused for a long moment before saying, "Okay."

It wasn’t the most enthusiastic answer in the world, but he’d take what he could get at this point. As they waited in line, she said, "I’ve never seen anyone ski backward before. When did you learn to ski?"

"I was probably the same age as that little girl you were trying to save earlier. My family used to rent the same cottage every winter." They slid onto the lift as it came around for them and he looked around at the mountains, the trees, the sparkling blue lake. "I’ve always loved it out here. What about you?"

"As you can probably guess, my family wasn’t much for skiing. I’m much better at snowball fights," she said with another one of those cute grins that rocked his world. "Once a year, my friends and I meet up for a vacation together, and this year the slopes won out over sand and sun." She shrugged. "I’ve been skiing a few other times as an adult, but I sort of have a thing about heights, too, so these lifts aren’t exactly fun for me."

He looked down at the ground a hundred feet below them, then back up at her. "But you’re doing great up here."