“Come on then, let’s get out of here. Now take it slow and steady, as it’s hard to see those bumps in the low light.” The snow clouds have now completely obliterated the last rays of sun, and the dips and humps in the snow that are clearly visible normally are now just a sheet of white, and you only know they are there when you hit them.
“At least I’ve got plenty of space on the slopes for my turns now,” she tells me cheerily, and I’m staggered that she can remain so positive. Most of the women I’ve dated would, at this point, be crying their eyes out and refusing to move without the assistance of the ski patrol.
There is no doubt in my mind that Madison’s a glass-half-full kind of girl, while for me, the glass is nearly always fucking half-empty.
“You go first. I’ll be right behind you. Okay?” She nods, an ice encrusted brown curl bobbing up and down.
I can’t resist dipping my head to drop a quick kiss on her blue-tinged lips, hoping to bring some pink back to them but also needing a taste of her. I can’t see her eyes, but I imagine from the way her mouth is gaping, they are wide.
“What was that for?” she asks with her head tilted to the side and now a slight smile on those same lips.
“For good luck on the ride down … and I’m hoping to give you another one when you reach the bottom.”
“Oh, you’ve changed your mind now,” she accuses, one gloved hand on her hip. I can’t believe we are finally having this conversation here.
“Madison, the only reason I stopped last night was because we had both had too much to drink … when I take you to my bed, I want us both to remember it.”
She smiles broadly, the first true smile she’s given me today. “Wow, so cocky … I guess we better get off this mountain then,” she says as I release her hands and she begins to slide slowly down, traversing across the slope. I watch her make the first wide arcing turn, then another, before pushing off to follow in her tracks.
It’s almost impossible to see more than a few feet in front of me, so I keep close to Madison. She is doing amazingly well, slowly making her turns in the difficult conditions. She has an innate sense of balance on the board, which is totally surprising, given she’s a little clumsy in her normal day-to-day activities.
We near the bottom, and it’s almost a whiteout with the wind whipping up flurries of snow across the slopes. I watch her make a last careful turn before stopping and falling back onto her butt in what looks like exhausted relief.
I quickly kick off my board beside hers, then unclip her bindings. I prop our boards together in the racks before striding back to where she is still sitting. Her shoulders heave with exertion, and I reach down to lift her up to standing. I need to get her into the warmth of the bar. But before we go, I can’t help giving her a hug and another quick kiss.
“Madison, you did great. That was a rough run. Now come on. Let’s go get warm.”
Supporting her with my arm around her waist, I half walk, half carry her into the bar. When she has recovered enough to stand on her own feet, she removes her helmet, goggles, and gloves. I’m finally able to look into her beautiful eyes, and as I’d suspected earlier, they are still filled with unshed tears.
“Are you okay?” I ask, and she nods. At this moment, she looks so fragile and vulnerable. I need to kiss her again, properly this time, without the hindrance of helmets and goggles. She accepts my kiss, parting her lips beneath mine so our tongues can meet for a brief, tantalizing moment. The vibration of a phone in a pocket of Madison’s jacket breaks us apart.
She smiles up at me, saying, “I bet that’s Cassie wondering where we are.”
I take her still freezing hand in mine. “Text her back, and then I need to find you something warm to drink. Your hands are frozen.”
I lead her around the groups of people and in the direction of where I left the others earlier. Snow from our boots trails behind us as we cross the floor. I drop her hand as I see our friends through the crowd. I can’t believe that the bar is even busier than before. Everyone has come in to escape the freezing winds.
Madison says something, but it’s impossible to hear with the excited chatter of the people and the competing number of mounted TVs on the walls around the bar, all showing extreme skiing footage to the sounds of loud, fast music.
I drop my arm over her shoulder and bend lower to hear as I indicate I missed her words. “I said we should head straight to the bar.” Madison shouts, trying to be heard above the noise.
I nod and change direction, keeping Madison close under my arm so she isn’t jostled by the crowds. When we’ve fought our way through to the bar, I lean down again to ask her what she wants.
“A hot chocolate, please,” she tells me, and I notice she’s still shivering. She is looking a little pale, even with the red, raw strip of skin running across her cheeks and nose where the icy winds attacked her soft skin.
Turning to face her, I unzip my jacket, then do the same with hers before pulling her into the warmth of my body and wrapping my arms around her. While I’m trying to warm her up with my body heat, I have to admit, selfishly, that it feels good to hold her close to me.
“Does that feel better? I know that was really challenging, but you handled it like a champion.”
She drops her head to my chest, and I squeeze her a little tighter as I feel her take a deep breath in and then release it through her mouth. The warm exhaled air penetrates through my layers of clothing and warms that patch of skin on my chest. I suspect she didn’t want to face our friends till she’d gotten herself under control a bit.
Madison looks up at me. “I’m okay, really. I think it’s a bit of excess adrenaline … that was kind of scary. I was so worried I was going to fall.” Relieved, I smile at her and drop a kiss to her forehead. This woman is truly exceptional. The only other female I know who has this kind of strength and fortitude is Jasmine. It’s something I’ve always admired in her, and now in Madison, it’s affecting me in a very different way.
“Would it help to add a little whiskey to your hot chocolate?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Tempting, but without for me. It’s been a challenging day, and alcohol of any kind at this point will have me snoring through dinnertime. Maybe extra marshmallows will give me the sugar hit my body needs.”
“A hot chocolate with extra marshmallows coming up,” I confirm, continuing to keep her close to my chest as I signal to the bartender and place our orders. It’s a whiskey for me, to warm me up and possibly quell the desire pumping through my veins due to the sexy woman currently snuggling into my chest.
