Until My Last Breath

by Tiffany Patterson

  Jack’s brown eyes widened in fear. “Sorry, man, but this is important.”

  I scowled at him. “What is important?”

  Jack’s stare shifted from me to Deborah, his eyes narrowing.

  “Look at me,” I stated, my voice low. “What is important?”

  “Oh, uh, the ski trip. The one for spring break. We need your money to register.”

  My frown deepened as I dug into my bag, searching for my wallet. Between classwork, family bullshit, and my growing preoccupation with the woman beside me, I’d forgotten all about giving my money for the annual ski trip.

  “Here,” I stated, practically throwing the money at Jack.

  “Thanks, man, this trip is going to be epic.”

  As I started to turn away from Jack, I noticed Deborah beginning to pack up her books.

  “Jack hang on. Princess, are you going on the ski trip?”

  She looked at me, stunned. “What?”

  “The trip? Have you signed up for it?”

  “No.”

  “Why not? It’s your last chance to go.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t it’s—”

  “It’s on a week where there are no classes, so you won’t have to study. Can’t use that as an excuse.” I turned to Jack, pulling more money out of my wallet. “Here. Sign her up, too. Make sure she’s registered. Deborah Tate.”

  Jack paused, staring at me as if he didn’t understand what the hell I was saying.

  “Is there a problem?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’ll get it done.”

  I nodded and watched as he gave one final look between Deborah and I and left.

  “Why did you do that?” Deborah questioned as soon as Jack shut the door.

  “Because I wanted to.”

  “And you think you can just do whatever you want?”

  “Think? I know.”

  She rolled her eyes, sighing as she slammed her bag closed, standing to leave.

  As she brushed past me, I grabbed her arm—not tightly, but enough to stop her from exiting. “I’ll see you on the slopes.”

  “I might have to work.”

  “Take the week off. You have a month before the trip, that’s more than enough time to find someone to cover you, or just speak with your manager.”

  She sighed. “It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Make it work like that.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Is that how you live? Just bend the world to your will as you see fit?”

  I looked her directly in the eye. “Yes. Especially when it’s this important.”

  “It’s a spring break trip. What’s so important about it?”

  “It’s not the damn trip.” Walking forward, until our bodies nearly touched, I moved the hand that had been holding her arm up her body to cup the left side of her cheek. And without so much as a final thought, I lowered my lips to hers, completing what we’d started before Jack interrupted.

  Our lips melded together and Deborah’s lips opened up, welcoming me as I knew they would. The connection sucked me in completely. The more we kissed the more I wanted to kiss, something that’d never happened to me before. With every other woman I’d been with, this part had been just a prelude to the next step. With Deborah, I could keep kissing her until both of our lips were swollen, mouths dry, and lungs bursting from deprivation of oxygen. And even then I didn’t believe it would be enough. Especially, if she was going to keep moaning the way she was.

  Just when it began to feel like the earth shifted beneath my feet, Deborah pulled back.

  “I have to go.” Her voice was just above a whisper and it sounded like the very last thing she wanted to do was leave. “To work … I have to go to work.”

  Nodding, I stepped back, releasing her. I watched as she turned, and with a shaky hand reached for the doorknob. I quickly reached around her, pulled the door, and held it open for her. She gave me a small smile over her shoulder before exiting.

  I watched her walk away, the tightness in my chest growing with each step she took.

  ****

  Deborah

  What am I doing here? I questioned as I exited one of the buses that carried more than fifty of us seniors from Palo Alto to Yosemite National Park.

  As I stepped down from the bus, I began looking around at the snow-capped mountains.

  “Oh shi—”

  “Careful,” a deep voice rang out from beside me.

  A strong hand caught my arm, preventing me from falling on the icy snow. I didn’t need to look up to know who the voice belonged to. Even if my ears hadn’t given it away, the shiver that ran through my body when he made contact already told me who it was beside me.

  “I knew you’d come.” He was so damn cocksure I almost wanted to turn right around, get back on the bus, and return to Palo Alto just to prove him wrong.

  “That bus isn’t leaving until we do, princess,” he stated as if reading my mind.

  I finally looked up into Robert’s smirking eyes. “You don’t know what I’m thinking.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you don’t have a problem letting me know what you’re thinking. How was the drive over?”

  Robert hadn’t been on the same bus as me. He and a few of his friends, including Jackass, or Jack, as was his real name, had come over a day earlier.

  “It was fine. I mostly read.”

  He nodded. “Good. So you got all your studying out of the way. The next week you won’t be thinking about anything school related.”

  I frowned. “You can’t tell me what to do.” I knew I sounded ridiculous but I felt like I needed to prove he wasn’t the one in charge here.

  Robert just laughed.

  “Hey, Rick,” he called to someone behind me. “Make sure you get all of the stuff and bring it up to the rooms. Let’s get inside. Are you hungry?”

  I glanced over my shoulder to see a couple of guys unloading the equipment we’d brought.

  “Are they your servants? They just do whatever you tell them to?”

  Robert didn’t even seem perturbed by the question. He shrugged. “Not quite, but they’re freshman. Only allowed on this trip with us because they’ll be doing the grunt work while he have fun.”

  “That’s not right,” I stated, still looking back at the guys while being led into the large registration cabin by Robert.

  “Life’s not fair, princess.”

  I made a sound deep in my throat. “Don’t I know that.”

  “I’m rooming with Kimmy,” I stated, glancing down at the room assignment along with the key I’d been given. I didn’t know Kimmy all that well but from our handful of interactions over the past fours years she seemed nice enough.

  “Room 338. You’re one floor below me.”

  Oddly, that brought me a modicum of relief. Why, I wasn’t quite sure, however.

  “Did you bring your own skis or do you need to rent a pair?” Robert asked after we’d all settled into our rooms and then had a hearty lunch in the resort’s huge dining area.

  I grunted. “I’m not skiing,” I insisted.

  “How can you come on a ski trip and not ski?”

  “You practically forced me into this trip.”

  Robert gave me a look. “You and I both know I didn’t force you to do anything you didn’t want to do. If you didn’t want to be here you wouldn’t.”

  I lifted my chin, folded my arms across my chest, and stated, “I would’ve felt bad for wasting your money.”

  To my surprise, Robert bent over, laughing. The deep sound moved something in me and I found myself giggling as well.

  “You don’t give a shit about wasting my money.”

  I lowered my head, continuing to laugh. “Whatever. Yeah, so, I wanted to come. Happy now?”

  “Not quite, but we’re getting there.”

  I didn’t have time to ask him what he meant before he was dragging me out the door, and over to the cabin to rent a pair of skis for the week.

  “I’ve never
done this before,” I stated nervously, as he helped me into my skis.

  “Really? I couldn’t tell,” he responded sarcastically.

  “Asshole.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve been called far worse, princess.”

  “I’m sure you have.”

  “We can do the bunny slopes a few times until you get used to the feel of these.”

  “Isn’t skiing dangerous? Like, haven’t people been killed skiing into trees?” I glanced around at the steep mountains, biting my lower lip.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you,” Robert said.

  I was taken aback by the sharpness of his tone, and when I looked into his eyes I could tell that he meant it. And God only knows why, but I believed him. Like Robert Townsend could move a planted tree on sheer will and desire alone if he needed to, just to keep me safe.

  I lowered my head, choosing to stare at the white snow as the sun shone off of it. The natural scenery around us, gorgeous as it was, actually felt less hypnotizing than the gleam in Robert’s eyes.

  “Let’s get started,” he urged after a few heartbeats of silence.

  And so began my first ski lesson.

  Chapter Seven

  Then

  Robert

  “What the hell happened?” I growled at the two idiots who’d rushed into the resort’s dining room to inform me Deborah had had an accident. The one fucking time I let her out of my sight in the five days we’d been there something goes wrong. I knew I shouldn’t have let her ski with Kimmy and the other girls.

  “We don’t know.”

  “What the hell do you mean you don’t know?” I raged, running ahead of the two numbskulls, heading in the direction of the resort’s emergency services cabin. “She better not be seriously injured, or I swear to God—”

  I stopped short as we reached the door of the emergency services cabin. Yanking it open, I brushed past the person who’d been trying to exit and urgently looked around. I sighed, somewhat feeling relieved when I saw Deborah sitting up, talking with one of the workers of the resort.

  I walked around the chairs that were lined up around the waiting area, to get to the cot where she was sitting.

  “What happened?” I demanded as soon as I reached them.

  “Robert,” Deborah called, surprised.

  I moved to her side, kneeling down. “What happened?”

  She gave me an embarrassed smile.

  “Deborah tried to bite off more than she could chew.”

  I looked to the far side of the cot to see a smiling Kimmy. Her blonde locks were pulled back in a long braid, and her black and blue ski outfit held splotches of dampness from melted snow.

  “She tried to take on the bigger slopes.”

  I frowned, pinning Kimmy with my gaze. “You were supposed to be watching her.” I’d given Kimmy specific instructions not to let Deborah get in over her head.

  “Watching me? I’m not a child. We were having fun,” Deborah insisted.

  I returned my gaze to her but didn’t respond. Instead, I let my eyes scan the entirety of Deborah’s body. That was when I saw her injury. Propped up on a few pillows was her right leg, ice packs covering her ankle.

  “It’s just a sprain, looks like,” the resort worker stated.

  “Are you certified?” I questioned, glaring at him.

  His eyes widened as if he was actually shocked that I’d ask his qualifications.

  “Robert,” Deborah called, tugging at my arm. “Let him do his job. John, has been very nice to me and my ankle isn’t throbbing in pain any longer so he must be doing something right.”

  Reluctantly, I turned back to look at Deborah. “I knew I shouldn’t have left you.”

  She tilted her head.

  “Now that you’re here, I’m going to head to the cabin to get something to eat. Deb, do you want anything?” Kimmy asked, standing.

  Deborah shook her head. “I’m fine. John says I’ll be here another hour or so and then I get go back to the room.”

  “I’ll take her back,” I insisted, cutting off whatever Kimmy had been about to say.

  Kimmy headed off.

  “You were mean to her.”

  “She shouldn’t have let you get on slopes you weren’t ready for.”

  “She’s not my babysitter, and like I said, we were having fun. I’m just upset I ruined it,” she pouted.

  “You didn’t ruin anything,” I reassured.

  “The good news is I’ll only have to be laid up for day and a half seeing as how we leave the day after tomorrow.”

  “You won’t be by yourself.”

  “I can’t ask you to stay inside with me. This is your last spring break of college. You should enjoy it.”

  “I am enjoying it.” The only reason I’d had any fun on this trip at all was because I’d spent most of my time with Deborah, teaching her how to ski. I was way more advanced than she was and I loved skiing, and anything outdoors really, but seeing her eyes light up when she conquered a new slope had been the highlight of the entire trip. I didn’t need much else, right then.

  ****

  “You didn’t have to stay with me this whole time. I bet you missed hitting the slopes one final time.”

  “Not even a little bit,” I responded, sincerely, staring into Deborah’s blue eyes. The blue in her eyes was illuminated even more due to the roaring fire behind us. We were sitting in the cozy lounge area of the cabin. Most of the others that’d come on this trip were on the slopes for one last time but I couldn’t be bothered. Not when Deborah was here. The snow-covered mountains couldn’t compare to this view.

  “You say that as if you mean it.” Her voice was softer than usual, almost unsure. She didn’t usually display her vulnerability, which was probably why when she did it yanked at every nerve ending inside of my chest.

  I inched closer to her, throwing my arm over the back of the love seat we sat on, facing one another.

  “I do mean it.”

  Frowning, she dropped her gaze down toward the floor before peering up at me, out of the corner of her eye. “Don’t try to woo me. I’m not Tracey or one of the other legions of women you’ve slept with.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “Legions? My reputation precedes me, huh?”

  Her gaze shifted back to me.

  “Listen princess, I don’t need to woo anyone. I damn sure don’t need to buy a woman’s interest by bringing her on a ski trip and ignoring all of my so-called friends. And I sure as hell don’t need to be scared shitless when I hear that woman has been injured while skiing just to get in her pants.” I moved closer, taking her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “So, you can drop the attitude, admit you like me as much as I like you, and we can get past all the pretense.”

  Her pink lips parted on a tiny gasp and I seized the moment.

  Inching forward, I trapped her lips in a kiss that cemented my words. I felt the shiver that ran through Deborah’s body and my cock instantly grew hard. I’d meant it when I said I didn’t need to work hard to get a woman, but I’ve also never felt this intensely about any woman. Especially one I hadn’t taken to bed yet.

  Deborah’s soft lips opened, on a sigh, surrendering to the kiss, to me. That awareness made me hotter than I’d ever been. I moved closer, trying to remind myself that, despite the fact we were alone, we were still in a public space. I couldn’t take her right then and there. But dammit I wanted to.

  I pulled back to tell her just that when I heard, “Isn’t this quite cozy?”

  My eyes instantly narrowed as I twisted around to see Jack Lassiter staring down on us. He was accompanied by a few of our other friends who’d gone out on the slopes with him. However, he was the only one who felt it necessary to interrupt an obviously private moment.

  “Can I fucking help you?” I growled.

  “Me?” he questioned, pressing a hand to his chest. “The guys and I were just wondering where you’ve been, and then we come in here and low and behold.”

  H
is tone immediately pissed me off. I stood up, getting closer, in his face. “Low and fucking behold,” I repeated, my voice low, fists at my side, clenching. I knew Jack to be a pompous son of a bitch. Hell, we all were, but something about the way he looked at Deborah, the tone of his voice and that stupid fucking smirk he wore as if he had a secret only he knew. All of it made me want to put my fist through his face, but I restrained myself.

  “Hey, man,” he stated, stepping back and holding his hands up. He still wore that smirk, however. “I was just asking. You’ve been MIA most of this week. Then we come in here and find you lip locked with her.” He gestured to Deborah.

  “With her?” I repeated, again not liking his tone.

  “Yeah, a fucking stripper no less.”

  The final word was barely out of his mouth before he was stumbling backward from a right hook I sent to his jaw. And just as I’d always suspected, Jack was a bigger pussy than most. He crumpled to the floor faster than a house of cards.

  “What the hell?” he yelped, holding his jaw.

  “Watch your fucking mouth,” I growled.

  “Robert!” I heard Deborah yell from behind me but I kept my gaze trained on Jack.

  “Man, what the fuck is your problem?” Jack implored, stumbling as he rose from the floor. “She’s—”

  “You don’t know when to fucking quit!” I grabbed Jack by the thick parka he had on and pushed him through the back door of the cabin until we were both out in the night air.

  “What’s your problem?” he shouted, stumbling in the snow.

  “You. You’re my fucking problem right now!” I growled.

  “No, she’s your problem!” He pointed inside. “She’s not one of us, man! She’s white trash!” he yelled, and ducked as I took another swing at him.

  I missed his jaw that time because he covered his face, but the blow still sent him stumbling to the ground.

  “Stay the fuck down!” I growled, lifting my booted foot to press against his chest, trapping him to the ground. “You talk too fucking much.” Pressing my foot down harder, I leaned in closer. “I’ve threatened my own flesh and blood over that woman. Don’t think I’ll have any hesitation breaking everything you love over her, either.”