One Perfect Night

As the chair lift climbed higher and higher, Colbie Michaels' heart beat faster and faster in her chest with every foot the lift cleared. She worked to distract herself by thinking about what a great weekend it had been with the girls. The first weekend of February for the past five years, Colbie and her four closest friends met somewhere in the US. This year they'd rented a house in Lake Tahoe, California.

Even before the small jet had touched down two days ago, Colbie's first sight of the partially frozen lake took her breath away. Not only did she love nature, but there was nothing better than spending time with people who knew her almost better than she knew herself.

Yesterday they'd gone out snow-shoeing during the day and then spent the night drinking too much and laughing more than she'd laughed since their vacation last year. Janet and Ellen both wore new engagement rings and if Colbie had been anything but happy for her friends, she refused to admit it to herself. Just because she'd caught her last boyfriend locked into the missionary position with the woman he'd sworn was “just a good friend from work” just before Christmas, didn't give her license to spill sour milk all over her friends' happiness.

What was she doing thinking about him, anyway, when she was in one of the most beautiful places in the world? Intent on relaxing her too-tight stomach muscles, she took a deep breath and worked harder to appreciate the truly spectacular view from her seat high above Lake Tahoe.

It really was a winter wonderland. The sky was blue, the air smelled crisp and clean, the snow from the night before was soft and fluffy on the branches of trees.

Between the gorgeous view and a few deep belly-breaths, she finally started to relax. But as the chair moved closer to the lift's exit, she knew she didn't have a prayer of relaxing all the way.

Because she was mere minutes away from having to ski down the hill.

In other sports like tennis and swimming, she was perfectly coordinated, but as soon as she stuck skis to her feet they went haywire.

Knowing Colbie was a truly terrible skier, her friends had offered to hang back with her, but she couldn't stand the thought of getting in the way of their fun. They all worked hard. They deserved the best possible vacation. Last year they'd agreed to meet in San Diego due to her love of sand and sun, something she didn't get nearly enough of in Seattle. This year she'd been perfectly happy to let the skiing-fanatics decide the location. Heck, she could suck it up for a few hours. Besides, the snow was soft. How much damage could she do to herself on one little mountain?

She held her breath as the chair scooted closer to the landing at the top of the hill. Forcing her hands to unclench from the pole she'd been holding on to for dear life, she hopped off and everything was going okay...until a small child suddenly came careening toward her.
Assuming the little girl with the flying pigtails was as out-of-control as Colbie was about to be when she headed down the hill, she had to at least try to save the child.

Wobbling on her skis, the chair lift skimmed Colbie's butt as she reached out for the girl and tried to catch her. Seeing this, the little girl simply laughed and scooted effortlessly out of her reach. At which point Colbie wibble-wobbled all the way over on her skis.

And landed flat on her face with a muffled splat.

Lying there, face down in the snow, Colbie noted that the fresh snow was shockingly cold on her cheeks and chin and forehead. Scratch that, it was freezing every inch of her face that wasn't covered, including her earlobes and the spot on her neck where her scarf must have gaped open when she fell.

Knowing she needed to get up and out of the way of the next skier, she tried to get up on her hands and knees, but the snow was too soft and her skis kept getting in the way, twisting her ankles something fierce.

Yup, no question about it. She was stuck.

This day was going awesome so far.

A fleeting thought passed through Colbie's mind that the only thing that would make the situation better was some hot, single guy that she could have had a soul-deep love affair with in another reality found her with her butt up in the air and snow plastered to her face.

But even she didn't have luck that bad.

“I've got you.”

The deep, slightly rough voice warmed her head to toe. She lifted her head up and to the side, trying to put a face to the sinful voice, but there were too many little ice crystals on her eyelashes for her to see much more than a blurry face and dark hair.

And then big, strong hands were coming around her waist, lifting her up out of the snow.

She made the mistake of trying to help her rescuer, but all that ended up doing was making him fall too.

Together they rolled a few feet in the show, both of their skis popping off, until they finally came to a stop.

Colbie's back was to the snow, the stranger's weight heavy on top of her. Strangely, she wasn't the least bit uncomfortable. Her head was cradled on the stranger's chest and he was holding her so tightly she could hear his heart beating through his partially open ski jacket. Her arms were wrapped around his broad chest and her legs were entwined with his.

Mmm, she thought as a low moan slipped from her throat. She loved this feeling of being so close with a man, to hard muscles and heat that radiated all the way through her chilled body. She looked practical on the surface, the perfect project manager for the gaming company she worked for in the Pacific Northwest, but at her core Colbie was a true sensualist. She loved the finest silks and lace against her skin. She would happily spend way too much on the perfect, evocative scent.

And she simply adored making love with a man who knew how to touch a woman in all the right places.