Not only loved but truly cherished.
“Why me?”
“You’re asking a question which can’t be explained with words. There’s no logic or tidy answer, but there is a simple one.” He pauses.
“Which is?”
“Because I have to have you. Because everything about me wants everything about you. Something, everything, inside me tells me you’re the one and I go with my gut. We as people can dress up in fancy clothes and play our elaborate games but deep down we’re still animals and nothing reminds me of that more than you.”
“I remind you that you’re an animal?”
“That my mission on earth is to find the absolute perfect mate for me. It’s something I never thought about but when you came in through that door it suddenly was all I could think about. Everything made sense. Anything I’d done up to this point was just a big rehearsal for this moment.”
“What if I told you I have a job and I have to go back to it in a week’s time?”
“I’d tell you you don’t. You can stay here with me permanently.”
“What if I don’t want to?”
“Would you have put on that beautiful dress and those fancy shoes to come down to the lobby to possibly bump into a man you didn’t want to spend more time with? To have a second chance encounter with one you weren’t curious about? One you didn’t think there was a chance of something serious with?”
He leans in slightly. “I know you’re a busy young woman, a no nonsense kind of person. Well, neither am I. And just that fact alone right there and that we’re both here right now says a lot.”
He’s right. He’s reading me like an open book. Maybe I’m too close to the situation to see it for myself, but the only person closer is him. But the way he just cuts through it all and gets right down to it is still impressive.
“Do you like fresh fish?”
“I’m not a huge fish person, but freshly caught fish could be interesting.”
“Anything on the menu. Just pick.”
“I thought you had something prepared?” Why am I nitpicking, looking for an inconsistency?
“I do. All of it.”
“All of it?”
“I asked the chefs to expect anything to be ordered, and to make sure we had it fresh.”
I feel bad. His generosity is unparalleled, at least in my life, and here I am questioning it all and there he is across the table offering anything and everything under the sun.
“Thank you,” I say. I really need to loosen up a bit. I can’t blame my job for being so high strung, even though I was working up and through yesterday evening. But I need to take a deep breath and remember that I’m human. That life isn’t just about climbing the corporate ladder. That there is someone out there who will love me.
And as crazy as it sounds I just met him and I’m quickly realizing I’m just that same someone who could love him right back.
CHAPTER 7
Camila
“How does that feel?”
“Tight,” I say.
“Good. That’s how it should feel. It makes it easier to maneuver. As long as it doesn’t hurt and is not pinching you or anything like that.”
“No,” I say looking down at my snowboarding boots which look more like the moon boots Neil Armstrong had on when he landed for the first time on the moon.
But right now it’s my head that’s up in the clouds and I’m the one who’s over the moon. I’m in the midst of a private snowboarding lesson under the stars.
I’m surprised how alert and nimble I feel after our meal. Then again I guess that’s the difference between eating filet mignon, I passed on the fish, paired with a glass of Merlot versus stuffing my face with cheap carbohydrates at my desk as I try to get ahead in the corporate world which leads me to often work well into the night.
But tonight is different. Tonight is special.
Apparently Cameron’s been snowboarding every day possible this season and is getting pretty good. At least that’s what the waiter told me when Cameron excused himself to use the toilet after dinner.
But how does everyone know him here? Is there more to him than he’s told me?
And he’s already told me a lot. Our dinner conversation was incredible like a rapid fire back and forth tennis match.
And after the excitement of a great conversation with a real man that really got my brain moving, now I’m ready to get the blood moving in the rest of my body with a little bit of exercise that will feel a lot more like fun than exercise.
“Okay. Ready?”
“Ready,” I say.
He pops up off the ground at the top of the ski run as if it’s nothing and offers me a hand. I reach for it wondering how in the heck I’m going to maneuver myself into some sort of position where I can get off my backside. Maybe I’ll resort to putting my head down and doing some sort of turtle roll.
But just as I’m wondering how this whole standing up on the snow with a board underneath me is going to be possible my hand touches his, or more accurately is engulfed in his, and he swiftly lifts me to my feet.
“Whoa!” I say as my knees wobble and I reach both hands for him finding his waist as I pull myself in for balance.
“I’ve got you,” he says. “You’ll never have to worry with me by your side.”
And to tell you the truth I was worried, because if I were to start sliding sideways about ten feet I can see that the angle of descent starts to pick up a bit and I’d be well on my way down that patch of snow and most likely into the hospital with a bunch of broken bones and bruises.
But with him here I don’t feel the need to worry. I just feel like this is so much fun.
And he’s having fun too judging by the size of the hard rod I feel pressing against me through his thick snowboarding pants and mine. Good grief! How thick is that thing he’s got between his legs?
I look up at him and see he was already looking down at me.
From my angle his face is surrounded by the dark of night and then what seems like a thousand stars. It’s like he’s a dream or something.
My dream.
And my snowboarding lesson, just the two of us.
A moment passes and I feel like I want to rise up on my tiptoes and make myself more easily kissable, but I don’t have the balance to hold my position let alone try and make myself taller and get closer to his lips which are behind that thick beard somewhere.
Suddenly I feel something on my nose and I look at him and notice a few snowflakes on his beard, and then a few more.
“It’s snowing,” I say.
“Romantic, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I say. “Yeah it is.” I smile and nod slightly.
Suddenly we both go completely quiet, allowing our eyes to do all the talking as I stare into his and he gazes into mine.
What if he’s right? What if I am his? What if there is no controlling this?
“Okay,” he says with conviction as if to break up the silent pause. “I’m going to turn you around and put my hands on your hips. Ready?”
“What? Wait a second,” I say, but it’s too late.
He does some sort of spin thing and suddenly he’s behind me and I feel my feet moving, no make that sliding completely out of my own control, and a breeze in my face as we begin moving down the hill.
“Oh my gosh. Don’t crash, Camila. Don’t crash.” I say.
“You’re not going to crash. I promise. I got you. Just relax, enjoy and I’ll do all the work.”
Wouldn’t that be nice if I had a guy who said that more often? Scratch that…ever.
Hearing his words makes me realize no guy has ever said that to me, and it also makes me realize how much I like hearing it.
I think I’ve kept everything bottled up my entire life, just trying to do everything myself and I’ve never really stopped and just put my feet up and let someone else in my life do something nice for me.
But then again there’s never really been someone else in my life
. I even kept my friends at a bit of a distance, preferring not to get too close to them. I wanted to be more of a good acquaintance than a friend.
And maybe that explains why I chose to come to Canada for my getaway. I picked a place that is known for its vast landscapes, remoteness, and lack of people in parts of the country. I mean the entire population of Canada doesn’t even quite match the state of California.
But I’m not thinking about states and geography or anything like that right now. And it’s because I’m in a state of bliss as I feel my body moving safely down the hill.
And the feeling of his hands on my hips make me feel more like we’re dancing than snowboarding.
“Okay, ready to do something cool?”
“Oh no. Slow and steady wins the race,” I say bending my knees a bit trying to lower my center of gravity as I have no idea what he’s got planned.
“We’ll go slow and steady. I promise. Just put your arms out straight.”
“My arms out straight?”
“Yeah, you trust me right?”
“Yeah, I always trust complete strangers in foreign countries that I’ve known for all off a few hours.”
“At dinner you said this was your first foreign travel.”
“It is.”
“Then let’s make another first. Trust me right now and I’ll give you something you’ll never forget.”
“Something I’ll never forget, eh?”
“Yeah…eh,” he says.
I laugh realizing Canadians are famous for putting ‘eh’ at the end of sentences sometimes but I was the one that did it first.
“See, you’re already more Canadian than me.”
“So we’re going moose hunting later?”
“Only after we trap beavers,” he says. “By the way…are you making fun of me and my country?”
“Noooo,” I say, and I’m definitely not.
“Well, we’re also famous for ice hockey and ice skating so it’s time to show you just how we Canadians do it when it comes to winter fun.”
“No!” I say when I feel one of his hands come off my hips and I instinctively raise both my hands in front of me to try and keep my balance. He tricked me into doing just what he wanted! Booger.
He always keeps one hand on my hip and before I know what’s happening he’s somehow on the other side of me facing me.
“Don’t look down. Look at me,” he says, his hand still on my hip.
I raise my eyes from the snow which is moving in front of me faster than I care to admit, albeit still not so fast, and I look at his boots…then his knees…his waist, where I swear I can still see that bulge…and then to his torso and across his broad shoulders as I steady myself before I finally lock eyes with him.
I sure hope we don’t crash, especially if I cause it and it somehow breaks that rod in his pants in half before I get to see it…or more.
“Just keep looking at me,” he says as I feel his free hand take my outstretched hand and then his other hand comes off my hip and take my other hand.
I feel safer already.
“Care to dance?” he asks.
“No. No. No!” I say, but it’s too late as he does some sort of spin and he’s behind me and then in front of me and then back into the position where he started. His hands came off me as he maneuvered, but he always keeps one hand on me, which does a lot for my sense of safety.
“You had to take a plane to get here, right?” he asks as he holds both my tiny hands in his.
“Uh huh,” I say trying not to look down.
“Good, so you’re not afraid of flying.”
“Flying. Noooo!” but again I’m too late as his knees bend and he moves in closer to me taking me by the hips despite my attempts to not let go of him and suddenly I feel my board lose contact with the ground and I’m rising!
Oh. My. God.
I’m up in the air and he’s got me over his head like I’m a barbell as we’re gliding down the mountain.
I am scared shitless.
“Don’t be scared,” he yells. It’s like he’s reading my mind, not that that’s much of a challenge right now. “Hold on!”
“To what?” I ask.
“Life. Your youth. The memory we’re about to make.”
“We already made a memory! Snowboard dancing.”
“That’s just the start. Here we go,” he says and suddenly my body is spinning as we pick up speed.
I have no idea why, and definitely no idea how, but suddenly I just give up and give in.
If I’m going to die right now I might as well enjoy it. But how in the world will this man allow any harm to come my way? His first act was standing up for me and here he is standing up with me.
I think back to what Theresa said all those years ago. “You have to let yourself go sometimes and just trust people.”
“Okay, Theresa. This is for you,” I say softly and I close my eyes and take a deep breath before blowing it out slowly and opening my eyes again.
And that’s when I feel the goose bumps as the light snowflakes find my face paired with the cool breeze and the feeling of the man below me holding me over seven, and probably approaching eight, feet in the air.
And is the feeling ever incredible.
I do look down and see the way he carves through the snow like a pro, and my body feels so supported and balanced that I know he’s got this covered.
The run is straight down and he’s moving side to side as we go, keeping the speed down and the enjoyment level rising.
Then he spins around in a few circles and I see downhill and then up and then the trees to either side.
“Woo-hoo!” I yell, just relaxing every part of me and finally enjoying this gift he’s giving me.
“Are we having fun up there?”
“Yeah!” I yell, making sure to project my voice over the sound of his board cutting through the snow and the breeze.
“Me too. Thanks to you,” he says.
Thanks to me? What in the heck did I do to make this fun for him?
And then I remember something else Theresa said. “You deserve to be happy, and you don’t need a reason why.”
“She’s right,” I say softly. “She’s right.”
I see the lodge up ahead realizing we’ve only got another minute or so of this adventure left. We. It’s a small thing but my mind catches it. I didn’t say me or I when I spoke silently to myself, I said we as in us…as in me and him.
I look down and swear I see a smile somewhere underneath that big ol‘ beard.
“We make a pretty good team,” I say.
“Not pretty good. The best team,” he says as we approach a small patch of snow up ahead.
“A bump! Bump up ahead!” I yell.
“I know. Hold on,” he says and it takes everything in me to stay relaxed as we approach the bump, but we’re moving so fast I barely have time to process it until the sound of his board on the snow disappears only to be replaced by the whooshing sound of the air above us, to the side of us, and now underneath us.
And just as quickly as it started it disappears as I hear his board smoothly make contact with the snow.
“Whoa. You’re good,” I say.
“The perfect team. What else is there to say,” he says as we slow as we near the lodge.
“Say we can do this again.”
“We can. How about right now?” he says as he starts to lower me from above his head.
“Yes. Right now,” I say as he rotates my body in his hands and now I’m back in his arms.
“Okay, maybe not right now, but really, really soon,” he says.
“Why not right now?” I ask as I look up at him as we’re just barely moving right now.
“Because right now I need to kiss you,” he says and he lifts me slightly as his head moves forward and his lips come crashing down on mine.
CHAPTER 8
Cameron
Damn it feels good to be her hero.
At least that’s what she call
ed me after about ten of those “Superwoman Slides” as she calls them. And that’s what I’m going to call them too. That’s going to be our name for when I hold her over my head like Superwoman as we slide down the hill…together.
Possessive Canadian: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 72) Page 3
