Love on the Lifts Read online

  We weren’t just traveling through the forest. We were exploring, and I was looking at things in a new way. Looking at Joe differently as well. The way he was always there for me. The way that I wanted to be there for him.

  I came to a stop at the edge of an ice-covered lake. I turned off the engine and listened for that awesome quiet that Aunt Sue had talked about that night we got pizza.

  Imagine a place where there are no engines, no motors. You don’t hear the sounds of any gears turning or people talking. All you can hear is the thump of your own heartbeat. The release of your own breath. You’re intensely aware of everything surrounding you, especially the guy who has his arms around you.

  Joe kissed my neck and I was amazed that once again he’d somehow managed to find a tiny spot of bare skin. Then he kissed my chin, my cheek. He moved his hands to my hips and squeezed gently.

  “Turn around, Kate,” he ordered quietly.

  The moment of truth had arrived.

  I had to stand up and turn around and sit back down in order to face him. I wasn’t exactly pleased with the results. Joe had long legs, his injured leg outstretched, so I couldn’t get very close to him.

  As though reading my thoughts, he grinned, put his hands beneath my knees, and pulled me toward him until my legs were resting on top of his. I was now close enough to drape my arms over his shoulders.

  I couldn’t figure out why, that first afternoon when the guys had arrived, that I hadn’t taken one look at Joe and completely forgotten about my interest in Brad. Because Joe was definitely better-looking.

  And nicer.

  And sexier.

  Even out here in the great outdoors, with an injured leg, there was an intriguing quality to the way he studied me. He wasn’t an invalid. He wasn’t weak. He didn’t need a nurse.

  And maybe that was the reason he’d gotten frustrated with me.

  Because he wanted me to be with him, not because I had to be. But because I wanted to be. And I definitely wanted to be. Which he must have surely realized now, because like he and Aunt Sue had both told me—I was no good at hiding what I was feeling.

  I wasn’t sure when he’d removed his glove, but he trailed his bare finger around my face, where cap met skin. And there was the tingling—all over—so different from when Brad had touched me.

  “I’m trying to figure out how much I need to deposit into the Kate-have-a-good-time fund,” he said.

  “It’s pretty empty. You might have to make a substantial deposit.” I couldn’t believe how breathless I sounded, like I’d been running beside a snowmobile instead of riding on it.

  His grin grew. “I’m still strapped for cash.”

  “You’re torturing me, you know that? Did you take lessons from Sam?”

  “I’m torturing you? Geez, you’ve been torturing me since the day we got here.”

  “Because I was interested in Brad?” I asked quietly, apologetically.

  “Because you weren’t interested in me.”

  “That’s not completely true. I was interested, I was just…confused for a while.”

  “And now?”

  “I’m not confused anymore. I know what I want.”

  “Me, too. What I’ve always wanted since I first saw you.”

  “Why didn’t you kiss me again after that first time, that night on the deck?”

  “You didn’t give me any hints that you wanted another one.”

  I wiggled up a little closer to him and looped my fingers behind his neck. “What would a hint entail?”

  He held my gaze. “Exactly what you’re doing.”

  “Then why aren’t you kissing me?”

  He touched his nose to mine. “It’s cold out here. What if our lips freeze together?”

  “I’ll chance it.”

  He kissed one corner of my mouth, then the other. I slid my eyes closed, waiting, waiting…

  “Kate?”

  I opened my eyes.

  “You have the prettiest eyes. That was the first thing I noticed about you the first time I saw you.”

  “Where exactly was that?”

  “In the hallway outside Sam’s room.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Joe. I don’t remember.”

  “No reason you should. There was a group of us coming back from supper. That’s when I spotted you. You were laughing. You looked so happy.” He touched his thumb to my cheek. “So pretty.”

  He put his hands on my waist, brought me a little nearer, then he kissed me, and I was happy again, happier than I’d been in a long time. Because he knew my name, remembered me, was interested in me, thought I was pretty.

  A girl likes to know that a guy thinks she’s pretty.

  I tightened my hold on him. He drew back.

  “Is the fund full yet?” he asked.

  I grinned. “Not even close. But when it is full, then we’ll go to work on filling up the Joe-have-a-good-time fund.”

  “I’m already having a good time. A great time actually.”

  Then we were kissing again.

  That night Joe and I went to the Avalanche with Sam and Allie. While Sam and Allie danced, we guarded the table.

  “Hey, guys,” Leah said, as she and Ian joined us.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “So I heard this rumor that Brad and Cynthia broke up,” Leah said.

  “Apparently.”

  She studied me, dropped her gaze to the table where Joe was holding my hand. She raised her eyebrows. “Something else happen today that I need to know about?”

  “Nothing I can think of,” I said. I looked at Joe. “Can you think of anything?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  “We did go snowmobiling,” I said.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah. We saw lots of wildlife.”

  Leah grinned. “And were you wild?”

  “What happens in the forest, stays in the forest,” I said.

  Leah laughed.

  Sam and Allie came back to the table and sat down.

  “Did you see who’s here?” Allie asked, pointing over her shoulder.

  There, at a far off table was Brad…with Paige. Talking, laughing.

  “That’s an odd match,” I said, smiling. “A bookseller with a guy who thinks reading is a four-letter word.”

  “Think he’ll be packing up and moving in with her?” Allie asked.

  I shrugged. “It’s not really any of our business, is it?”

  And the truth was, I really didn’t care one way or the other.

  “So, mates, anyone up for a game of darts in the back room?” Ian asked.

  And the conversation drifted away from Brad and Paige. And actually everyone else drifted away to the back room for that game of darts.

  Leaving me and Joe to once again guard the table.

  “If you want to go play darts, I can hobble back there and watch,” Joe said.

  “I like being right where I am,” I said.

  “It doesn’t bother you seeing Brad—”

  I pressed my fingers against his mouth. “I’m totally over Brad.”

  I moved my hand away and shook my head. “That’s not entirely accurate, because there was really nothing to get over. I thought he was cute. I wanted him to notice me. But it wasn’t like I had any sort of real emotional attachment to him. So read my lips. He is so not on my radar anymore.”

  “Think I’d rather kiss those lips.”

  And he did just that.

  Chapter 24

  Girls Night Out.

  It was Leah’s idea, because quite frankly, we’d come here together for winter break and we really weren’t seeing much of each other. And there was a football game tonight so we wouldn’t have the guys’ attention anyway.

  And of course, where better to have a girls’ night out than at Aunt Sue’s.

  We were all sitting cross-legged on a large mat on the floor. Aunt Sue had decided to go international on us, cooking us a traditional Ethiopian dinner, which mean