All For You: Halfway ThereBuckhorn Ever AfterThe One You WantOne Perfect Night

by Susan Mallery

  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 a hint of that desire he’d been fantasizing about.

  “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 chairlift 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 up behind 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.”

  “I guess...” she said slowly, as if she was as surprised as him, “I forgot to be afraid.”

  He didn’t think this time, just reached for her hand. “I’m glad.”

  * * *

  BY THE TIME Colbie fell for what had to be the twentieth time, she didn’t even have the strength to laugh at herself anymore. Noah plopped down into the snow at the top of their last hill and lay back beside her. When he turned to smile at her, her stomach did flip-flops.

  “Let’s make snow angels.”

  She’d seen people do it in movies but had never done it herself. Noah went first, popping off his skis and heading off to the side where there was fresh unpacked snow. He moved his arms and legs up and down, back and forth, until she couldn’t resist following to do the same. A private plane flew overhead; when the pilot saw what they were doing, he tipped his wings at them.

  Noah stood up, then pulled her to her feet so that they could admire their snow angels. “They’re beautiful,” she whispered.

  It had been an unexpectedly perfect day. Better than any she’d had in a very long time. And she had Noah to thank for it.

  “You did great today, Colbie.”

  She was never going to be a pro, but he had been patient and encouraging...and she’d had fun. She’d even managed to stay calm and unafraid of heights on the chairlift with him. He was funny and charming and sweet. He loved to ski—not to show off his moves or the latest gear, but because he found the snowy mountains beautiful and feeling the wind on his face as the trees whizzed by incredibly exhilarating.

  “What do you say we go find a fire and a vat of hot chocolate?” he suggested.

  She could so easily see them cuddling together in front of a fire under a thick blanket, her hands in his, her head on his shoulder as they watched the flames dance. A perfect day, followed by what would likely be a perfect night.

  Colbie teetered on the edge of saying yes. But even with the word right there on her tongue, and despite the fact that she’d had a fantastic day with him, she knew that nothing else about her situation had changed.

  One perfect day with Noah didn’t mean she was ready for a new relationship. And she certainly wasn’t ready for a one-night stand. Especially not with a man who out-talled, out-darked and out-handsomed every guy she’d ever met by miles.

  Sure, sex with Noah would probably be great. Mind-blowing, even. And if she cuddled up with him by a fire, she was 110 percent sure that she wouldn’t be able to resist getting even closer for a kiss that would surely lead to more.

  But, as she knew from painful experience, after the pleasure faded, the broken heart lingered.

  For way too long.

  She’d braved the challenge of spending a day with Noah and letting him teach her to ski. And she was glad that she had. But there was a difference between bravery and stupidity.

  She couldn’t risk getting hurt again so soon. Not when the pain was still resonating from the mistakes she’d made in her last relationship.

  She picked up her skis and slid them back into place on her boots. When she reached for her poles, Noah grabbed her hands instead. Even touching him through their thick gloves sent a shock of awareness through her.

  “Colbie, what’s wrong?”

  Maybe if she had met him a few weeks from now when she didn’t feel quite so raw, so vulnerable, she could have taken the risk. But with her heart in this condition, one day on skis was the most she could handle.

  She didn’t want to hurt him, didn’t want to do anything to ruin the gift of this day he’d given her, so she quickly said, “My friends are probably wondering where I am.”

  “Call them.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Tell them you’re with me. Give them my name and phone number so they’ll be able to track both of us down if they need to.”

  Again, she was tempted. So very tempted. But more than that, she was afraid of what she was feeling for Noah after meeting him only hours ago.

  It was too much, too fast. Way too much.

  “Thank you again, Noah. I had a really good time with you today. Better than you know.” She risked one more look into his green eyes. “But I’ve got to go now.”

  Digging her poles into the soft snow, she pushed away from him and went flying down the hill faster than she ever had before. And wouldn’t you know it, the miracle of all miracles happened—she made it down to the bottom in one piece.

  See, that’s proof, she told herself. You did the right thing by turning down a night with the hottest guy on the planet.

  Only, even after she was finally safely inside her cabin with the door locked behind her, her ski clothes in a h
eap on the floor, fresh from a scalding hot shower, with her plans for her new store spread out all around her as she waited for her friends to return from their day on the slopes, she still wasn’t sure she believed it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Seattle, Washington

  One week later...

  NOAH BRYANT THREW the basketball toward the hoop. When it barely caught the rim, he turned to his friend and said, “I met a woman in Lake Tahoe last weekend and I can’t get her out of my head.”

  Rafe Sullivan caught the basketball as it fell. “Is that what you’re blaming for your performance today?”

  It wasn’t like Noah to let a woman who captured his interest go without getting her number—or, at the very least, her last name so that he could look her up. But the beautiful woman on the ski slopes had rattled his brain. And not just because they’d gone tumbling down the hill in each other’s arms and then spent several great hours together while he taught her to ski.

  No, his brain had stopped functioning right from that first moment he’d put his hands on her and had breathed in her soft floral scent. And then she’d pressed herself against him and he’d lost his balance—him, an ex–ski instructor who suddenly couldn’t keep his skis in line for the life of him.

  But falling had been worth it. More than worth it. Because it had meant he’d been able to hold her. Talk to her. Laugh with her. And drink in her incredible beauty. Unfortunately, hours later she’d left him all alone at the top of the mountain. He’d wanted to kiss her, to find out everything about her, to laugh with her both in and out of bed—but he knew it could never become a reality.

  Because he didn’t have the first clue how to find her.

  He’d been useless at work today, so he thought he’d clear his head with a game of pickup basketball with his friend Rafe. Turned out he was useless at basketball, too.

  Noah and Rafe had gone to college together at the University of Washington and had remained friends ever since. Rafe was now the best private investigator in Seattle, and over the past few years, the Maverick Group, the company Noah worked for as VP of legal affairs, had hired Rafe several times. He’d come through for them in spades whenever they’d needed his services.

  Why hadn’t Noah thought of this earlier? “I need you to find her.”

  Rafe’s eyebrows went up. “You don’t have the girl’s number?”

  “Actually,” Noah admitted, “I don’t know her full name, either.”

  He couldn’t blame his buddy for laughing at him as he asked, “How long was this meeting you had with her, exactly?”

  Noah gave his friend the quick nuts and bolts of pulling her up out of the snow and tumbling partway down the mountain with her in his arms before teaching her to ski. “All I know is that her name is Colbie and she was at Heavenly Ski Resort last weekend.”

  Rafe gave him a strange look. “Wait a minute—what did you say her name was?”

  “Colbie.”

  His friend looked as if he was thinking about something. “Helps that it’s a pretty rare name. Can’t be a lot of Colbies out there. I take it you’ve already called the ski resort to see if they could give you any information about her?”

  “I did. They told me they couldn’t give out the name of one of their guests. Then again,” Noah added, “I probably didn’t ask the right questions of the right people.” He paused. “I need you to do this for me, Rafe. I need you to find her.”

  But instead of agreeing readily, Rafe said, “I can’t help thinking, what if this were my sister some guy was trying to find? And what if she didn’t want to be found?”

  “Then I’ll leave her alone,” Noah promised. “But there was something there, damn it, and I need at least one more chance to prove it to her.”

  “Okay.” Rafe pulled his phone out of his gym bag to take some notes. “Tell me what she looks like and the exact date and time that you ran into her, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  Meanwhile, across town...

  MIA SULLIVAN OPENED UP one of the last remaining boxes of Colbie’s initial stock, and when she unwrapped a gorgeous set of French lace and silk panties, she made a purely female sound of pleasure that Colbie knew most guys would give their left arm to hear her friend make for them.

  “These are going to fly off the shelves,” Mia said as she lovingly caressed the supersoft silk. “I’m going to have to hide a pair so I can buy them for myself.”

  “Take them home with you tonight,” Colbie said as she perched atop a stepladder to finish hanging the curtain in front of her dressing room. “Consider them a small thank-you for all you’ve done to help me get the store ready.”

  She was amazed by how quickly everything was coming together. Then again, Colbie had been dreaming about opening Indulgence for so long that she’d known exactly what she’d wanted to sell and how the interior should look before she’d even signed the papers. She was on the verge of opening her doors tomorrow, which happened to be Valentine’s Day. She hoped that it would be just in time for all the men in Seattle to buy her out getting last-minute gifts for the women in their lives.

  But she liked the significance of the day for another reason, as well. This store was her gift to herself—proof positive that she didn’t need a man in her life to make her happy. She could make herself happy, damn it.

  Still, she’d had more supersexy dreams during the past week than she’d had in her entire life. And Noah from Lake Tahoe had starred in every last one of them.

  She’d hoped the endless hours of work required to get her open would help her forget him. But they hadn’t. She found him popping up in her thoughts all the time. Everything seemed to remind her of Noah. Like how she’d forgotten to be afraid on the ski lift with him, and now, she refused to be afraid to go to the top of the Space Needle. When she’d unwrapped a box of gift books on angels, her heart had clenched at the memory of the snow angels they’d made together. And when she saw a couple holding hands as they walked down the sidewalk outside, she’d thought about the way he’d held her hand for a little while...and how right it had felt, snow gloves and all.

  When she sighed, Mia shot her a look. “Still thinking about the guy from the slopes, aren’t you?”

  There was no point in pretending otherwise, not when her friend had laser vision for things like this. After all, hadn’t Mia been the one to question Rob’s scumlike qualities long before Colbie had walked in on him cheating on her? Mia’s brother Rafe might be the P.I., but there was no question about her people-reading skills. It was what made her such a great Realtor; she had a knack for pairing up her clients with just the right properties, even when they swore they were looking for something else entirely.

  “I thought turning him down was the right thing to do,” Colbie said. “And maybe it was. But I’ve said no to dating plenty of guys and never given it a second thought—until now.”

  Yes, he’d certainly made an impression on her up on the snowy mountain, but how could she possibly know whether he was all that he’d seemed that day? Especially when she was still so hurt by what Rob had done. Because hadn’t her ex seemed great when they’d first met, only to end up not being great at all?

  But as she’d awakened over and over again in the middle of the night from yet another sexy dream about Noah, her skin sensitive and overheated as her sheets brushed over her, she’d found herself wondering why she’d ever compared him with Rob.

  Sure, she hadn’t really known Noah apart from the warmth of his arms around her. And his concern for a complete stranger when Colbie had bit the dust avoiding the small child in the snow. And his strength and his ability to hold her steady even as she’d sent them tumbling together down the mountain. And his patience and encouragement in teaching her to ski.

  But hadn’t she known for far longer than she’d wanted to admit to herself that Rob wasn’t going to be her fo
rever? And hadn’t she simply stayed with him out of the fear of being alone? Yes, it had hurt when she’d caught him cheating, but how much of the pain had been in her heart...and how much of it had been the fact that he’d stung her pride with his callous behavior?

  Suddenly, she wished she could rewind to that day on the slopes. She wished she could have been brave enough to accept more than an offer to learn to ski from the sinfully gorgeous man whose strong and steady heartbeat she could still feel against her cheek in her dreams.

  “Why didn’t I get his number, at least?”

  Mia carefully tucked the now tissue-wrapped French lingerie into her purse. “You should call Rafe. I’ll bet he could help you find the guy.”

  Colbie started laughing—then stopped when she realized her friend wasn’t kidding. “You really think I should hire a private investigator to find a guy I spent a few hours with in Lake Tahoe? Isn’t that...I don’t know...weird?”

  “Look,” Mia said, looking as serious as she ever got. “I understand all that stuff you said about not wanting to be distracted by a guy right now, but you and I both know that your store is going to do really well whether or not you’re dating someone. I think the real reason you blew off what sounded like a superhot, supergreat guy was because your ex made you lose faith in all men, rather than just him.” Mia’s expression turned fierce. “Rob didn’t deserve you while you were dating, and he sure as heck doesn’t deserve to ruin your next relationship, too.”

  Mia pulled her cell phone out of her purse, scrolled through the numbers in her contacts and put it to her ear. Before Colbie could tackle her and make her drop the phone, she was saying, “Hey, Rafe. Colbie needs to talk to you about something really important.”

  She had no choice but to take the phone Mia shoved into her hand. “Hi, Rafe.”