But, as she knew from painful experience, after the orgasms faded, the broken heart lingered.
For way too long.
She’d braved the challenge of spending a day with Noah and letting him try to 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 where her heart was right now, one day on skis was all 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 dark 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. 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 heap 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 and 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, lushly rounded woman on the ski slopes had rattled his brain. And not just because they’d gone tumbling down the hill together 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, an ex–ski instructor who 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. Wanting to kiss her, and laugh with her both in and out of bed, and find out everything about her, but knowing it couldn’t ever 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 play a game of pick-up 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 over the past few years, Maverick International, the company Noah worked for as VP of Legal Affairs, had hired Rafe several times. Rafe was the best private investigator in Seattle, and had come through for them in spades each time they’d needed his services.
Why hadn’t he 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 like 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."