I looked back over at Glen, and he looked at me confused, walking over and putting his hand on my shoulder. He looked down at the girls as they dragged themselves off the bottom of the slopes and to the sidelines. He turned back to me and cleared his throat.
“You all right, buddy?”
“That was her,” I said, shocked. “That was the girl from the courtyard yesterday.”
“The ones stuffed like sausages?”
“Yeah.” I chuckled.
Glen laughed and moved down the line, double checking everyone’s skis and poles. One by one, the rest of the class went down the mountain without one incident of failure. My mind, though, was somewhere else at that point, and I was anxious to get down to the bottom myself and find this girl. By the time the last of the skiers had reached the bottom, Bea and Hailey were gone. I pulled my goggles down and clipped into my skis, taking off down the slope before Glen could stop me. I was going to find this girl.
Chapter 10
Bea
We scooted off the end of the slope, laughter filling our stomachs. We grabbed each other’s hands and pulled ourselves to our feet. I glanced back up the hill, looking at the tall, muscular guy that I had seen just the day before, standing outside of the elevator. It was Mr. Tattoo, and his name happened to be Cameron, my ski instructor. I looked back at Hailey, who was waiting for me, and smiled, making my way over to the bench and letting the concierge service take my skis. I actually really like skiing, but I knew that if I wanted to really enjoy it, I would have to lose some of the layers. I was barely able to control my movements and just kind of floated down to the end and fell over. I had to admit, though, it was fun, and I hadn’t laughed that much in years. I really loved having Hailey around to lift my spirits.
We walked back up to the resort and inside, taking off our jackets and the rest of our layers and giving them to the concierge to send up to our rooms. We then headed over to the bar and sat down at the end, ordering Irish Coffees to warm ourselves up and relax. My cheeks, since they were pretty much the only things showing outside, were red and tingly as the heat from the building washed over me. I was glad I hadn’t brought all my layers into the bar, or I would be sweating li
ke an animal.
“So, what did you think?” Hailey asked.
“I actually think that I may really like skiing,” I said with surprise. “Though next time, I am going to do my snow pants, an under shirt, a sweater, and one of the lighter jackets. I was like the damn Stay Puff Marshmallow Man coming down the bunny slope. It was a good thing that there were no kids there this morning.”
“Yeah, we would have either scared them half to death, or they would have chased after us, thinking Frosty had finally come back to life,” she said, laughing. “All in all, though, I could totally see me and you hitting the slopes back home on the weekends. Maybe we’ll even meet us a couple of handsome men to take out with us.”
“You are always thinking about men.” I laughed. “I will be perfectly happy taking myself to the slopes and enjoying the day whizzing down the mountain. Thank God for ski lifts, though. I couldn’t imagine going up and down that mountain without it. Then I might not think that skiing was that fun after all.”
“Yeah,” she scoffed. “I could totally see us making it halfway back up and just collapsing, deciding it was better to freeze to death than keep going up the mountain. I am glad we decided to buy gear, though. We may actually get some use out of it back at home. It makes going back to the grind seem a bit more exciting than before.”
“You act like our vacation is over.” I laughed. “It’s totally only day two. We have lots of skiing time left.”
“Yes, we do,” she said, clinking her coffee mug against mine.
“So, the instructor, Cameron, I saw him yesterday when I was getting in the elevator to go up and get ready for shopping,” I said nonchalantly.
“He was nice, and I loved his tattoos,” Hailey said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’d have to say that he is probably one of the hottest men I have ever met up close. If you thought he was hot in his ski gear, you should have seen him in jeans and a Henley. His muscles filled out, like, the entire thing.”
“Uh oh, sounds like someone has a crush.” Hailey snickered.
“No.” I blushed. “Can’t I just think a guy is, like, super hot? Besides, I don’t have a chance in the world. Have you seen the kind of girls that are floating around this place? They are like supermodels.”
“Girl, you are freaking gorgeous,” Hailey said. “And on top of it, you are smart, hardworking, and you have an actual personality. Those hookers have daddy’s money and really good plastic surgeons.”
“Still, they are much hotter than me,” I said. “And I am terrible when it comes to talking to guys. I get all kinds of out of sorts, and can barely put a sentence together. I have never been the girl that could pick up men.”
“You picked up Grant,” Hailey pointed out.
“No, he picked me up.” I laughed. “I just talked about random nonsense the whole time, and luckily, or not depending on how you look at it, he found me charming.”
“You are charming,” she said, smiling. “And it looks like you are going to have your chance to talk to Cameron, after all.”
We looked up at the entrance to the bar and watched as Cameron walked inside, ruffling his black hair with his hands and pushing up the sleeves of his sweater. He was so handsome, with his snow pants lingering on the edge of his hips and his smile the perfect Colgate-commercial white. The suspenders to his pants were off his body and laying to the side, giving him the appeal of a hot fireman. Immediately, I could feel the heat push into my cheeks, and I fanned myself, trying to slow down my heart rate. Hailey looked over and pushed my mouth closed, a giggle coming from her chest. Cameron walked over to the bar and nodded at the bartender, reaching across and taking the bottle of beer from his hand. He took a sip and set it down, turning and looking around the room. Finally, his eyes landed on me and Hailey, and my heart skipped a beat.
Our eyes locked, and I gasped slightly, trying to find my footing as his mouth curled up into a smile. I grinned back and then looked down, grabbing my napkin and fiddling with it as he pulled himself away from the bar. Hailey looked at me confused.