Up in the Air

by Rebecca Sharp

  He carefully disentangled us, righting my pants as my feet returned to the ground. I sighed, falling against his chest. The way his arms instinctively wrapped around me and held me to him made my heart pound.

  “We should get you up to Breakers.” I barely nodded. Honestly, I didn’t want to go anywhere; I was right where I needed to be. “How do you feel?”

  I pulled back slightly, looking up at him as his hands traced lazy circles on my back. “Thoroughly frothed.”

  If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Or something like that.

  We both laughed and, all of a sudden, the nickname grew on me. Still hugging him to me, I could feel how hard he was, but we both knew I didn’t have time or I’d be late for work.

  “I hate leaving you like this,” I murmured as we walked out of the lesson building, hand in hand.

  “I’ll let you take care of me later.” He winked.

  “Yeah?” I turned with a devious smile. “Like when you stay over?”

  “Channing, you know I—“

  I turned in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “I do know. Which is why I’m still inviting you over. Ally is staying over Tammy’s tonight with Jessa; it’s their monthly girl’s night out – which is why I told her I wouldn’t be able to make it since you and I had plans.”

  He eyed my skeptically. “What about your brother?”

  I hated lying to him; each time it felt like I was adding another brick to a wall that I was solely responsible for building between us. “He’s… uhh… going to stay at Nick’s and help him with a project.”

  I crossed my fingers, hoping that was enough. “Alright.”

  I squealed, jumping and throwing my arms around his neck. It was ridiculous how the thought of sleeping with him in an actual bed – in my bed – could make me so ecstatically happy.

  I also loved how he held me for just a split second longer than the embrace was supposed to last.

  “C’mon, gorgeous. I need to feed you and get you to work,” he said as he tapped my ass before pulling me against his side as we walked into the lodge.

  He’d staked his claim to me and I was as happy as a snow bunny. Of course though, tonight of all nights, my eyes caught sight of Emmett and Nick sitting in the corner of the main dining room. Emmett’s eyes immediately locked on me; Nick continued to talk for a few seconds until he realized that Emmett wasn’t paying attention. As soon as he saw Wyatt and me, a smile broke on his face – the knowing kind – and he nodded to us.

  Well, at least I hadn’t lost both friends. I waved back at Nick.

  Wyatt and I ordered our food – I, of course, choosing the classic chicken fingers and fries; my handsome date choosing a much healthier-looking chicken sandwich.

  “You want to go sit with them?” he asked as we waited to pay.

  I chewed on my lip. I did and I didn’t. Mostly, I didn’t know what was going to come out of Emmett’s mouth and I didn’t want to take the chance that it would ruin our night.

  “C’mon, let’s go sit with your friends.” I sent up a silent prayer for fortitude.

  Nick gave us a warm greeting – and in his own way, so did Emmett. And by that I mean he wasn’t rude or obnoxious. He acknowledged us with a nod and a ‘what’s up?’

  A quick glance told me that they were done eating which hopefully meant they wouldn’t hang around too long.

  “How’s the triple coming, Lil?” Nick asked, taking one of my fries.

  “Alright.” I hadn’t landed it yet, but Wyatt made sure that I didn’t give up. His hoarsely caring and encouraging voice resounding in my mind, ‘You have to get up every time you fall, sweetheart.’ His faith in me brought me to my knees.

  “More than alright,” my tempting teacher added on my behalf. “She’ll have it by the end of next week.” I swallowed painfully. If I did, that would be just in time for the competition that I was no longer going to be participating in.

  As soon as I found a minute to let the committee know that ‘Chance’ was dropping out.

  I swore I wasn’t dragging my feet but I hardly got a minute to myself – up early to train, lunch with Wyatt, lessons, dinner with Wyatt, Breakers, and then bed. And any spare second in the day was wholly consumed with my gorgeous boyfriend.

  Boyfriend.

  I’d thought of him like that for days, but we hadn’t explicitly said the words yet.

  “Nice job, Lil.” I raised my eyes in shock at Emmett’s compliment; maybe his cooling off period had finally ended. “Chance would be proud.”

  Oh no.

  “He is,” I answered quickly, darting my eyes to Wyatt. “He’s already seen me do it though, so he knew I was capable.” Pleasedon’tbecurious. Pleasedon’tbeconfused. I stuck a fry in my mouth and then thanked God that Nick let up with a smirk, asking, “You guys are coming out tomorrow, right?”

  Tomorrow…

  “Your end of school celebration?” Wyatt jogged my memory; I’d completely forgotten about his invitation last week. Crap.

  “Yup! Got one more final project that I have to finish tonight and then I’m home free for winter break!”

  “Sounds like fun to me.” I felt his hand on my lower back, tracing delicious circles again. “As long as my girlfriend can take a break from Breakers?” His gaze swung to me, knowing exactly what he’d said.

  Of course. Of course he would make my eat my thoughts and would call me his girlfriend now. In front of my friends. In the exact moment I was trying to find an excuse for us not to go. And work would have been an excellent one.

  “Can you get off of work, gorgeous?” Wyatt asked me quietly, but not quietly enough to prevent my friends from hearing and Emmett from snorting in disgust.

  “Y-yeah. I should be able to.” I was in so much trouble. “I’ll ask tonight.”

  “Awesome! Big Louie’s. Remind Ally.” My sister’s singing skills were infamous. I watched Emmett’s face darken at the mention of her – and them.

  I nodded just as Wyatt grabbed my hand underneath the table. “We should get going. I don’t want you to be late.”

  “Yeah.” We both stood, grabbing our empty trays. “Guess we’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

  As soon as we were out of the dining room, he tugged my hand. “You don’t seem like you want to go.” I shouldn’t have been surprised that he noticed.

  “No—“ I assured him. “—I do. I just forgot about it. There’s just a lot going on in my mind.” My mumbling quieted to nothing as we entered the building that Breakers was in.

  “I see that. Care to share?” His thumb rubbed over the back of my hand.

  “You called me your girlfriend.” It wasn’t that I didn’t want to – or couldn’t – tell him at least some of the things on my mind, but this was at the forefront, probably because of the way it tugged at my heart.

  “I did.” He smiled. “I thought that’s what all this meant.” Then his face turned serious. “Did you think I wanted something else from you? That this is just some fling for me?” The way he asked – and looked as he did it – told me that he would throttle anyone who suggested it – possibly including myself.

  “N-no.” I shook my head. I actually didn’t think that. “No. I just… I was just surprised, that’s all.”

  “Do you not want to be my girlfriend?”

  I sucked in a breath, trying to hold in a smile as I answered, “I don’t know – you snowboarders are all so cocky and demanding.” The smile broke free. “I’m a pretty independent person, I don’t know that I need—“

  He growled and pushed me up against the side of the elevator as we climbed the eight floors to the bar.

  “I haven’t heard you complaining about my cock…iness all week, Miss Ryder.” His mouth was hardly an inch from mine and I couldn’t stop myself from trying to bite his lip. His knee wedged between my thighs. “So, tell me, Channing, what do you need, then?”

  I tried to kiss him, but every time he pulled back. Finally, I groaned in defeat; my little tease ba
ckfiring. “You.”

  His lips landed hard on mine. “What else? What do you need me for?” He demanded.

  “To be my boyfriend.” The doors opened before he could kiss me again. My body sagged as he stepped back from me.

  “Good,” he rasped, leading me off of the elevator and wrapping his arms around me when he saw no one was around. “I’m warning you right now, gorgeous, this ‘cocky and demanding snowboarder’ is going to be demanding a whole lot more than that. I hope you’re up for the challenge.”

  I was always up for the challenge. But, was my heart?

  “Go big or go home,” I murmured, losing myself in his eyes. He kissed me tenderly before I walked into work, my internal timer beginning to count down the minutes until it was time to spend the rest of the night with my boyfriend.

  Wyatt

  I was so far gone and I didn’t care who knew it.

  I’d been ensnared by one feisty and fearless Ryder.

  The way that her friends looked at me – especially Emmett – they thought this was just a game for me, just like the X Games next weekend; he thought she was just entertainment, maybe to throw off her brother or even not... I couldn’t blame him for being protective, but I needed them – and her – to know just how serious I was about us.

  I wasn’t going to be obtuse about it; from the second I’d met her, I knew that she hadn’t just crashed into my snowboards, but that she’d crashed into my life – into me. From the second I’d kissed her, I knew that she was there to stay. And from the second I’d held her underneath the stars, I knew that I’d fallen in love with her. And fuck if I didn’t want to tell her that over and over again, but there was still something standing between us. And that something felt a whole lot like her brother.

  She continued to hold back from me – not physically – God, not physically… But I needed more and I wasn’t going to give up until I not only won these damn Games, but until I won her heart. And I needed to figure out how to get her to trust me completely before I could share with her the plans that were almost solidified; every time I saw her, it burned on the tip of my tongue to tell her that I’d be staying in Hope’s Creek after the competition was over – that I’d be staying to be with her. There was even more than that, but it wasn’t finalized and wouldn’t be until my parents got here this weekend with the paperwork. I didn’t want to jinx anything about the fucking incredible future that I was building for myself – and hopefully, for us. I didn’t know what was keeping her from me, but I didn’t want to risk moving too fast on her and making it worse.

  Tonight, she was going to get a little nudge. I was going to ask her to come to dinner with my parents and me on Saturday after they arrived. Not only was it what I’d wanted, but my mom was driving me crazy to meet the girl who’d changed my life.

  I stood up off the wall that I’d been leaning against, quietly watching my gorgeous girl run her hand through her disheveled hair when she finished closing down the bar for the night. I saw the moment she looked around, wondering where I was; it was terrible of me to savor it – her worried expression, wondering why I wasn’t there already – but I needed to savor it because it gave me hope that she wanted me like I wanted her.

  “Ready?” Her head jerked towards my voice, a smile blooming over her face.

  “And waiting,” she tossed back at me.

  “Sorry, I was just out in the hall.” I held the door open for her to walk ahead of me.

  “Doing what?”

  I grinned. “Watching you.” I bent and claimed a quick kiss, enjoying the soft blush that rose to her cheeks.

  “Oh, yeah?” As soon as the doors shut she pressed up against me.

  “How was work?” I didn’t want to lose it now; I wanted to talk to her about dinner with my parents. And then I wanted to finish what we’d started earlier in the equipment room.

  “Good. Pretty busy. I think more tourists are finally making their way out of the snow from earlier in the week.” We both zipped our jackets as we walked outside into the cold. “What’s on your mind? Why were you watching me?”

  “Can’t a man just want to enjoy the sight of his beautiful girlfriend?” I grabbed her hand, taking her fingers in mine, and pulling it up to my lips so I could kiss the soft skin on the back of her hand.

  We broke apart to climb into her car. “That’s the second time you’ve called me your girlfriend tonight,” she said as she turned on the Jeep.

  “Do you want me to stop?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “No. I want you to say it again.”

  Chapter 23

  Wyatt

  My entire body hardened at her husky whisper. My jaw flexed as I looked over to her as she remained focused on the road, but barely.

  We didn’t say anything else for the remainder of the drive, our desire screaming through the silence.

  I shut her front door, locking it behind me. When I turned, she stood frozen in the hallway, staring at me. The moment felt like forever and an instant – a beautifully brilliant contradiction. Just like the mountain. Just like her.

  I stepped towards her just as she rushed towards me. And then just like the damn bird scene from the movie – only better – she jumped into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist as my arms locked on her back, our lips coming home.

  And then the scene quickly veered from that in the movie – still, I couldn’t complain; the force with which she jumped into me knocked us both back against the door, my head knocking against the wood.

  “Oh my God! Wyatt!” She exclaimed grasping my head as a groan escaped me. “Are you ok? I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do it that hard.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that broke out, laughter rising in spite of the momentary pain. “I’m fine.” She still looked concerned so I kissed her again.

  “Are you sure? Do you want me to rub it?” She whispered against me. “I know how hard of a head you have and all… but that was really loud.”

  “Oh, I’m the one with a hard head?” Mocked astonishment escaping me. She swatted the side of my shoulder even as she laughed. When her eyes found mine, I let her know just how sure I was. “I’m fine, gorgeous. Trust me, my head is not the ache that I’m worried about at the moment.” I rocked my hips into hers, letting her feel another very hard part of me.

  “Do you want me to rub it?” God, I loved it when she tried to be naughty – and when she bit that damn lip of hers. “Put me down and we can go upstairs and I’ll take care of you.”

  “Oh, we’re going to do those last two things, but there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that I’m putting you down right now.” I kissed her again, my arms tightening as I began to walk us down the hall towards the stairwell. I carefully carried us up the stairs, trying not to lose myself in the hot honey of her mouth.

  “Down the hall…” she moaned. I followed the directions to her bedroom, kicking open the door to see a room white as snow. The lights were dim as I carried her over to her bed, depositing us both on top of the white comforter.

  “Finally, a real bed.” My body cradled between her thighs. I felt better sinking against her knowing that she wasn’t being pressed into the floor or a wall or the snow-covered ground. Her mouth parted as I kissed her chin.

  “Were you planning something special for the occasion?” She laughed breathlessly as I kissed my way along my favorite trail – the one that led from her lips onto the soft skin of her neck.

  “I was thinking—” I nipped her skin. “—of making slow, sweet love—“ My tongue soothed where I’d marked her. “—to my girlfriend.”

  She rubbed her hips up against mine. “Say it again.”

  “Girlfriend.” My breathing became ragged as she ground against my arousal again. “I’ll say it a million times, Channing, but if you keep that up, you’re going to ruin all my plans.”

  She sighed deeply as I pushed myself up, tugging my shirt over my head. Her blue eyes clouded over with desire as she stared at my chest. I’d always been grat
eful for my appearance, but when she looked at me like that, she made me feel like a fucking God.

  My hands found the edge of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head before I moved to her pants and discarded them just as quickly.

  A growl erupted from my chest. “How many damn matching sets of underwear do you have?” I stared down at the lace purple bra and matching thong that my girl had on, my erection butting against my pants.

  “Do you really want to know?”

  My lip twitched, seeing her nipples perk up against the lace. “For some reason, I think I’d prefer to be tortured finding out.” I bent down, grabbing one of the peaks between my teeth and pulling it, along with the lace into my mouth, sucking her through the fabric.

  Her chest pushed up against me, my hand kneading her other breast. This lacey enticement, luckily for me, closed in the front. My fingers quickly unclasped the bra, releasing her perfect breasts to me. One after another, I worshipped her sweetly soft flesh, drowning out the rest of her body and mine as they begged for more. All I knew was what was under my tongue, the supple bud firming as goosebumps spread over the surrounding skin; the way she tasted just as pure as snow.

  “Wyatt.” My name brought me back, the throbbing of my cock hitting me like a freight train.

  My hands grabbed ahold of her panties, sliding them down the toned muscles of her legs. I stood as I finished pulling the slip of fabric off of her, dropping it onto the pile of her clothes already on the floor.

  God, she was almost as white as her sheets except for her lips and her nipples – small red beacons of what I’d already claimed. Perfect. Pristine. Mine.

  Channing tipped her knees out and my eyes settled on the space between them. Even from here, I could see how drenched she was. Carefully undoing my fly, I pulled my jeans down over my aching flesh eagerly jutting out to point at exactly where it wanted to be. She moaned, her foot sliding slightly on the covers. I was driving us both crazy.