Sometime later, Colby asked her quietly if they should continue their little interlude in her room or his. Mia suddenly thought first about Rob, and then about Colby, and shocked, wondered how she could react to two different men in such a wanton manner. They must think I’m a slut, she thought as she remembered how her responsive body had reacted to both men.
At least I had some background on Rob, the assurances of Ava and Noah, and several months of getting to know him time with Rob, she thought. With Colby, I only met him today, and I know nothing about him, except that he likes to ski, loves a rare steak, with mushrooms, shish kebabs and Caesar salad, red wine, and is on the Patrol, and he can make me come so fast I shocked myself.
Mia pulled back slightly, and told Colby “That might be fun, but I think we should turn in separately, so we can get an early start on the powder snow in the morning.” If Colby was disappointed, he said nothing to that effect. They went into their respective dressing rooms, dressed quickly and left the pool area.
Chapter Seventeen
Next morning, Mia and Colby had arranged to be on the first gondola up to the top, and since he was actually patrolling today, Mia was on her own. She met up with some of the patrollers and their wives and girlfriends, and skied hard till lunch. She’d already made nine runs and had skied out the trail all the way to the bottom, to take the gondola back up, by the time she met Colby for an early lunch.
It was one of those perfect days that skiers dream about. Not too cold, not too many people, and with enough powder snow from the night before, that the moguls were soft and easy to navigate. The sun was so bright it made your eyes hurt, and the glare off the snow made goggles a necessity to avoid snow blindness. Mia had been snow blind once, with her eyes swollen shut, and feeling like she had ground glass in them. She didn’t care to repeat that experience.
Colby had a couple of skiers with leg breaks and sprains and had spent some time in the Patrol hut up top, waiting with the radio to see if he was needed to bring a toboggan down for an injury.
Mia unwrapped sandwiches in the Patrol Hut as Colby began to tell her a hilarious tale about one snow boarder who motioned for Colby to follow him behind the Patrol shack, but wouldn’t tell Colby what was wrong. Once behind the shack, the guy lowered his ski pants, and presented a naked bum to Colby. The boarder had skidded into some gravel at the bottom of the run, and Colby spent the next half hour picking gravel out of the boarder’s butt with a pair of tweezers! Mia and Colby roared with laughter, and figured that story would keep Colby in free beer for the next few weekends. Mia skied a more leisurely afternoon, and left the hill without seeing Colby again that day.
Her work week was hectic as always, and it was Thursday a couple of weeks later, before she realized she needed to make her reservation at the cabin so she’d have a bed for the weekend—her first weekend as a full-fledged Patroller!
She stopped by the grocery store on her way home, stocking up on cold cuts, buns, cheese and sparkling wine, as well as two cases of beer, as her contribution to the communal kitchen at the cabin. Once home, she hastily packed her knapsack, loaded her ski equipment into the trunk of the car, had a TV dinner and flopped into bed.
Mia awoke to the phone, about ten p.m. A slow drawl of, “Hello, there, Darlin’.” clued her in to the fact Colby had a drink or two, but he was calling to find out if she would be up to skiing on Saturday. When she told him she had already signed up to Patrol on Saturday with a Sunday option if they were short patrollers, he invited her to a party on Saturday night, and said he’d see her on the hill.
* * * *
All day Friday, Mia was on a dead tear, and it was getting dark by the time she was on the road to the mountains. She thought about Colby and what she imagined or hoped might happen between them after their steamy start last weekend. Thinking about sex with Colby inevitably brought her thoughts around to Rob.
With Colby, she was pretty sure it would be only sex. She had no illusions about the professional Patroller. He was up at the hill all week long, and Mia was pretty sure he could qualify as the poster boy for Ski Bum of the Month. Professional Patrollers worked the hills all week long, and usually didn’t have to patrol on weekends, because that was when volunteer patrollers like Mia were there in abundance, and able to take over the first aid on the hills.
Mia vowed she’d at least find out a bit about the sexy Patroller before she made a decision to sleep with him. She was still embarrassed she had reacted so hungrily to his probing hands that weekend in the hot pool, and she wondered what he thought of her reaction to him.
Mia had told Ava about Colby, and Ava had told her she and Noah wanted to meet him before she picked him instead of Rob. Mia told Ava once again there was no chance of her choosing Rob, because there was no Rob in her life to choose.
Ava said Noah and Rob corresponded regularly by email, and Rob always asked about Mia. He had skied at Cortina twice, Grenoble, Gstaad and even a new ski area close to Moscow that was drawing lots of skiers.
According to Noah, via Ava, Rob always gave Noah his itinerary for skiing, and asked Noah and Ava each time to offer Mia a free plane ticket and free skiing if she would join him.
Mia couldn’t say she wasn’t tempted, after seeing all those hills during the Olympics, and hearing about various ski trips to the same areas with the Ski Club. She had never been to Europe, and always planned to go.
Of course, there was the lure of being in Rob’s arms again. Had she been too harsh with him? She had second guessed herself several times a week since he left, but she had her pride to consider. Her mother had always said, “Pride goes before a fall.” However, Mia wasn’t ready to admit her mother might be right…at least not yet.
Mia was skiing and patrolling every weekend, and sometimes she had caught a glimpse of Colby on the hill, but it seemed he was busy, and so was she, so there weren’t many chances to get together on the hill. Mia hadn’t been to the local patrol watering hole for the past two weekends, and there hadn’t been any Ski Club parties set up yet either. Mia didn’t have Colby’s cell phone number, and she wondered briefly how he had found her number to call on Thursday night inviting her to the Saturday party.
She supposed he could have found her number by going through any of their mutual skiing friends. She wanted to see him again, but she was still worried what he thought of her behavior that time in the pool, and all that she had allowed him to do to her body that night. After all, he was basically a stranger.
After a hard day’s skiing, Mia was struggling to place her skis on the trunk rack of her little red convertible, in the midst of a white out, and not having an easy time of the task. Suddenly she felt the skis lifted out of her hands and placed effortlessly on the rack, and just as quickly, she was turned around and hugged soundly to a solid chest.
“You sure don’t make it easy for me to find you, Little Patroller. I’ve been following about a half a lift ride behind you all day,” he growled in her ear. “You must be exhausted with about thirty runs behind you today.”
“Come on, let’s get inside the car and warm up before we turn into snowmen,” he coaxed. They piled into the car, which was overcoming the cold, but only barely. Once inside, out of the wind, Colby grabbed Mia’s head with both gloved hands and kissed her cold, but rapidly warming lips soundly.
Mia was in the driver’s seat, with Colby as passenger. The gear shift made it hard to do anything but kiss, and soon the windows were completely fogged with their warming bodies and passion.
Mia broke away, breathless. “Wow—what a way to warm a girl up! We hardly even need the car heater!” she gasped. Colby laughed and held her closer again.
“How about a drink, dinner, and a warm bed—in that order?” he teased.
Mia allowed as how the drink and dinner sounded fine, but she’d reserve judgment on the warm bed till some time later. Colby said he’d arrive
d at the hill on the bus, and had left his skis in his locker, so he wanted to hitch a ride back to the bar with Mia.
Chapter Eighteen
Mia was a little on edge all the way through dinner, wondering if she and Colby would indeed end up in his bed. Somehow there was a feeling of wanting to sleep with Colby, and yet at the same time, an idea that she was somehow betraying Rob. After all, she had loved Rob, hadn’t she? If she had, would she have gotten over him so quickly she would be now contemplating sleeping with another man?
Don’t be an idiot, Mia, she scolded herself. Here’s a hot guy, who wants your body, and the one you loved is seven thousand miles away. At least this one has never led you to think he loves you.
Colby was watching her inner struggle, and he knew something was bothering her, but till she trusted him enough to tell him, he would have to let her figure out what she wanted, all by herself. He kept the conversation light, with no more reference to a warm bed, and they talked about their work, families, background, ski hills they had known and the people they knew in common.
To Mia’s surprise, Colby wasn’t a typical broke ski bum with no thought but for the next big fall of powder snow and how to save just enough money to get to the southern hemisphere for what the other ski bums called “endless winter.” It turned out Colby had decided to take a two year hiatus from work and ski his way around the world, after he graduated from college. He was nearly at the end of his sabbatical years, and lamented to Mia he would soon have to don the corporate uniform and go to work in his father’s construction firm, where he would be a vice president in charge of sales.
Colby’s dad had been waiting patiently for Colby to grow up, get this skiing nonsense out of his system, and take his place in the firm, and Colby knew this was his last chance to be footloose and fancy free. After his two years were up, he’d be back to volunteer patrolling, like Mia, and the occasional ski holiday. He was already chafing at the thought.
Dinner was a pleasant affair, with lively conversation. Colby was widely traveled, compared to Mia, and he had stories about all the ski hills he had known over his life on the slopes. He asked Mia about her work, and was fascinated to hear some of her more gruesome stories, as well as the just plain interesting ones. She was careful never to breach confidentiality, but she could regale him with the stories anonymously, and she did just that. He had been raised in a life of privilege, as had Mia, and like her, was horrified to hear some of the stories about her clients.
After dinner, they shared a sinful chocolate dessert, and a brandy. They made an appearance at the party that Colby had mentioned, but once the group started smoking pot, Mia became agitated. She told Colby if they were ever raided, and she was caught in a situation that could lead to a felony charge, she would never be able to work as a social worker again. Colby didn’t seem too interested in the pot either, so they bundled up against the cold and headed out. They had walked from Mia’s cabin to the restaurant, and then to the party, and as they strolled down the street, Colby steered her to a section of town she hadn’t seen before.
Mia had a pretty good idea they were headed to Colby’s place. She knew she had to make her decision now, and after a brief struggle with herself, allowed herself to be led up the stairs. He lived in a furnished walk up apartment, and it was clear he traveled light. There was little in the way of personal effects in the one bedroom apartment, and ski posters adorned most walls.
Colby started trailing little butterfly kisses from Mia’s temples to her ears, and then down her throat to the pulse points. When he finally reached her mouth, she was quivering, and she didn’t know if it was from desire, fear, anticipation or a combination of all three.
Colby sucked lightly on Mia’s lower lip, and ran his tongue around the inside of her lips, between the cheeks and teeth, and even under her tongue. She moaned in pleasure and Colby took that as a sign to continue. They stood just inside the doorway, in the dark, kissing, nibbling, licking, sucking and saying incomprehensible words that encouraged each other to explore more, lower, more, here, now there, now everywhere at once. His kisses seemed to leave a trail of heat wherever they went. He wiggled his cold hands down inside the back of her jeans, and warmed them on her hot little bottom, holding her close to his erection. She could feel that monster through all her clothes!
Once his hands were warm enough, Colby started shedding his outer clothing, dropping everything behind them as he guided Mia toward the bedroom. Her clothes joined the trail of his, as they both strained to get skin-to-skin. Soon Colby’s hands were touching Mia everywhere at once, and the kisses became more and more urgent. Heat had pooled in her breasts and lower body and Colby’s words were delicious against her ear,
“I want you, Mia.”
“Feel how much I need you, Mia.”
“Touch me, Mia.”
“So warm, so wet, so delicious, Mia.”
Mia was overwhelmed by his heat and words. In no time, he slid into her body with her legs hooked around his waist to give him all the access he needed.
He moved slowly at first, and never let up on the kisses and nibbles and love bites he rained down her face, hairline, ears, breasts and the hollows of her shoulders and neck. Mia knew his bites and sucks would leave her with hickies all over her breasts and stomach, but she didn’t care, because the feeling was so delicious. She had lots of turtleneck sweaters to wear for a few days.
He was a skilled and generous lover, and Mia climaxed twice before he allowed himself to release inside her tight channel. He collapsed on her, and their sweat and body fluids fused them together. After smooth breathing had restored to both of them, he rolled away, but continued to hold her and pet her. He disposed of the condom he had used, while Mia wondered when he had put it on, because truly, she had been so excited, she hadn’t noticed, but she was grateful he had done so.
They showered and came back to bed, only for a few minutes sleep, and then his arousal brought her again to a gasping peak. Toward morning, they both fell into a deep sleep. Mia’s last thought before drifting off was to wonder how many other women Colby had slept with and how many hearts he had broken along the way.
Her dreams were not of Colby. Her dream was of Rob out on a sandy dessert, being chased by burnoose wearing horsemen. She was restless, urging Rob to hurry and get away. Now where had that come from?
Chapter Nineteen
They awoke late, too late to make it to the hill till half day tickets went on sale, so Colby made a quick run to the world famous bakery all the skiers favored, and came back with lattes and fat cinnamon buns. They ate in bed, made slow love again, and then dressed for skiing.
As they rode the lift to the top, Colby amazed Mia by stating simply they would be married and then head off to his parents’ and start house hunting. His dad had an executive office waiting for him to get finished with this ski bum business, and Mia would enjoy their club and his mother’s pet projects, and his parents were expecting grandchildren soon.
Mia was totally taken aback by this pronouncement, but before she could voice her concerns—she didn’t love him, he didn’t love her, she had a job here, didn’t want to move, didn’t like to have decisions made for her without Colby even consulting her. Colby skied away, called by radio for an emergency lift evacuation on another run. Mia was left stunned by Colby’s calm announcement. It seemed like he had just been interviewing for the perfect corporate wife, and after sleeping with her, had decided they were compatible in that area too.
“My God, he’s worse than Rob—telling me what he’s decided and expecting me to meekly go along with it. At least Rob was in love with me, and I loved him. This is just too much. I won’t be pushed into anything. He’s going to have to get to know me better, and find out he can’t order me around. Country Club indeed!” she muttered as she made her way down the hill, “and I want him to meet my family and friends, and then I’ll think about mar
rying him. I’ll show him what a strong-willed independent woman is really like, and he’d better change his high-handed ways mighty damn quick, or I’ll be out of here!”
Colby seemed to be saying he had found the perfect corporate wife, with a good education, ability to get a good job in the city where his dad’s business was, good family—it was almost as if he was filling out a list of qualities that were needed in his future corporate life. He never once talked about loving her.
The longer she skied, the more upset she became. Mia was so thunderstruck by Colby’s bland announcement of their future life together, that she felt like she was in a fog. For the rest of the day, she was uncharacteristically silent, but Colby was so energized, he didn’t even notice.
“What about my job, my family and my friends? This will turn their lives upside down as well as mine, if I was to accept Colby’s marriage proposal. Besides that wasn’t even a proposal. It was a goddamned order.” She knew they were compatible in lots of ways, even in bed, but she also knew being a mere adjunct of a husband, was not in her nature.
She also resented the high handed way that Colby just assumed they would be married. He hadn’t even asked her! He hadn’t mentioned anything about love. They had never talked about a future together and every time Mia tried to interject her opinion on his plans, Colby just laughed and told her “Darlin’, when the right person came along, it would be foolish to let details get in the way.”
As Colby made plans over the next few days to return to his family as a married man, Mia was so scared she didn’t even tell her best friend or her parents about him. She knew she was attracted to him, and she had to admit the fact he seemed to be wealthy was a factor when she decided to bide her time for a bit and see how things went. Maybe Colby really did love her and just didn’t know how to express love openly. He didn’t seem to worry that she never said she loved him either. Maybe the whole idea was just too new, and they would learn to love each other. At least that was what Mia hoped. After all, she thought, we do seem to want some of the same things—a home, children, the white picket fence in fiction if not in fact.
Mia's Blind Date Page 10
