Up in the Air

by Rebecca Sharp

  “I missed you,” I rasped, watching her eyes refocus on me.

  She bit her lip. “I missed you, too.”

  I moved back slightly allowing her to walk into the kitchen. I could see how she sipped the coffee I’d brought her like it would calm her. She was nervous that I was here and I was determined to find out why. Setting the bag down on the table, she turned to me, waiting for my next move.

  “What happened, Channing?” I let her see the pain in my eyes. “Everything was perfect… beyond perfect. And then the other night you disappeared. You were there, but you were gone. Qualifiers start tomorrow and I’m not going into this with this wall between us. I’m not going into the Games without you by my side.”

  The sound of the pastry bag crinkling as she opened it was my answer.

  “You can talk to me, gorgeous. You can trust me.” Woah. Her head spun to me so fast I thought her neck might snap. Her eyes like blue ice, freezing my every thought.

  “How can I trust you when you are keeping something from me?”

  That’s what this was about? I let out an exasperated laugh. “I told you I wanted it to be a surprise! I just hit a few road bumps, but I told you that you were going to love it.”

  “I’m not going to love Canada!” There were so many emotions written all over her body, I doubted if she knew how she was even feeling.

  I laughed because I was at a complete loss. “What?” I ran a hand through my hair. “I mean, I think that’s a little harsh if you’ve never been there.” Well, that was the wrong thing to say. I took a step towards her. “Gorgeous, I don’t care if you love Canada, I just care if you love me.”

  I raised a hand to her face, my thumb prepared to wipe the tear about to drop from her eye. And then she said the words that broke my heart. “I do love you, Wyatt, which is why I’ll move there if that’s where you’ll be.”

  Shock. Confusion. Astonishment. The words weren’t synonyms for how I was feeling – I felt every one of them separately. What the fuck was my girl talking about?

  “Channing,” I said quietly, “I’m not going to Canada. I wasn’t going to ask you to move there.” I saw the weight as it lifted from her shoulders.

  “But… Ally said Zack…” Her brow crunched, trying to figure out how she’d made a mistake. “I heard you talking to your mom.”

  Tilting her chin back up, I made sure she was looking me in the eyes when I repeated. “I’m not going back to Canada, Channing. I’m not asking you to move away from here.” I let out a deep breath before I gave her the actual news that I’d been waiting to share. “I’m moving here, gorgeous. I’m moving here to start a school. And yes, I want you to move somewhere, but that somewhere is just in with me – whether it’s here or the condo or a new place. I’m moving here to be with you.”

  Finally, I forced myself to pause and let her respond, but she only just stared at me in disbelief. “I didn’t want to tell you until I had the funding for the school squared away. And then, I didn’t want to freak you out by asking you to move in a day after I asked you to meet my parents.” She was frozen. I hoped she was at least breathing because she didn’t move a muscle. “Please, say something, Channing.”

  Her arms came around my neck as she jumped against me, crushing her lips to mine. Fuck, I hoped that meant she’d loved my secret. My arms molded her against me as we devoured each other, the wall that had been forming between us melting in a second.

  “I thought you were going to ask me to move to Canada,” she finally whispered. “I wouldn’t ask you to do that and leave your home, your friends.” I kissed her again.

  “But you’d ask it of yourself?” Her big blue eyes looked up to mine.

  “Channing,” I chuckled, “I haven’t lived anywhere for a long time. Yeah, my parents and some of my friends are there but with competing and practicing, I’m hardly ever there. This is the most I’ve seen of my brother in probably a year.” I pulled her against my chest. “Another reason I’ve been fighting against leaving the competition world. Where was I going to go? Back home to what? I haven’t lived with my parents for fifteen years. I had nothing to do. No where to go. Until I met you, Channing.”

  Her body quaked with the shaky breath she inhaled. “I feel like such an idiot.”

  “Don’t—” I cupped her cheek. “Don’t ever think that. I should have said something earlier. I didn’t know Zack overheard and misinterpreted. I only talked to my mom about it, but I should have said something to you.”

  “It’s ok,” she mumbled.

  “No, it’s not. I was afraid. I was afraid I was going to ask too much, too soon of us – of you. I was afraid of losing you.” My lips touched her forehead.

  “We all know how unfamiliar you are with that sensation.” My laugh shook my whole body. Only my girl would tease me about losing right now.

  When my smile faded, I asked the question that hung in the air. “Well, did I? Did I lose you?”

  “I would have moved to Canada had you asked, Wyatt,” she answered me incredulously and then I remembered that she had said that. “I think that’s as far from losing me as you’re going to get.”

  “Thank fuck.” I didn’t realize until she said the words just how afraid I’d been that I would never hear them. I kissed her again – ravenous with relief that my girl was mine. I was only a few seconds into her sweetness when I realized that I needed more. “I want you so fucking badly, Channing.”

  “So, take me.” She ground her hips against my arousal.

  “Ally…?” Even as I asked my hand snaked down over her ass, fingers delving underneath her to where her entrance was. Through her sweats, I could feel the heat radiating from her core.

  “Upstairs. Sleeping.” I swore. “She won’t hear.” And then her hand grabbed my throbbing cock and I lost the fight.

  “Turn around,” I bit out. My hands guided her around, her palms slapping onto the granite countertop as my hands snaked around her – one up her shirt finding her nipple hard and begging, the other down her pants to her sex that was hot and soaking.

  My finger tuned her body better than any board I owned. Within minutes, she was shuddering against me, her body about to break. Releasing the flesh of her breast, I freed my erection.

  She bent over farther, giving me the perfect view of her pink slit, wet and ready as I pulled her pants down just far enough. I grabbed her hips to anchor myself and steady her, putting my head at her entrance and then ramming into her. She exploded on contact – my cock hitting that sweet spot all the way inside of her. Her orgasm broke around me, muscles clenching as I pushed inside of her. My thumbs dug into the sweet flesh of her ass, watching as my erection pulled out, coated with her desire, only to disappear back inside her haven. Two more thrusts was all it took, the waves of her climax too strong to resist, before I came.

  My tongue bled from where I bit it, trying to silence my shout, as we collapsed over the countertop.

  “Sorry,” I groaned, kissing her shoulder, waiting a few more blissful seconds inside of her heat as my cock pulsed, releasing every last drop of my desire.

  “Don’t—“ she gasped as I slid out of her, righting her pants, “—apologize.”

  I grabbed a tissue and quickly wiped myself, checking the stairs every few seconds to make sure Ally wasn’t about to walk in on us. “That wasn’t what I was planning when I came here.”

  “Oh, no?” she asked coyly, resting an elbow on the counter. “And what were you planning?”

  I pulled her against me. “I was planning on making sure that my girlfriend knew that I’m looking for something much more permanent than just ‘girlfriend.’”

  The happy moan that escaped her made my whole fucking body vibrate with how much I loved her. “Mmm… well, mission accomplished, Mr. Olsen.”

  “Good.” My teeth grabbed her lower lip and tugged. We stood there for several minutes just holding each other. The details would come later. Right now, this was all we needed. “Alright, Miss Ryder, go finish
getting ready and we can ride over to the mountain together.”

  She pulled out of my embrace with a brilliant smile on. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Me too, gorgeous. Me too.”

  Chapter 28

  Channing

  I could have screamed. Or cried. Or jumped around like a lunatic when Wyatt told me that he was moving here. However, I think I preferred the quick and dirty kitchen sex to celebrate.

  I’d been an idiot for not talking to him the past few days and now I felt like my heart could explode with happiness. He was moving here. For me.

  To be with me.

  I didn’t care where we lived or any of those details. I wouldn’t have to leave my family, my friends, or my mountain. And, most importantly, I wouldn’t have to leave him. How did I get so lucky?

  Immediately, the cool breeze of guilt brushed over me. I was lucky because Chance fell – because his dream had been taken from him – and left us. If he hadn’t left, I would have never gone to registration, I would have never crashed into Wyatt’s boards, I would have never met him. The guilt that all of my happiness had stemmed from the one thing that had destroyed my brother’s life and taken him from us was very, very real. But, so was my love for Wyatt.

  Chance couldn’t stay away forever. And I couldn’t keep blaming myself for it either.

  Grabbing my jacket, I shoved my feet into my boots and headed out the door; Wyatt was already in the car, warming it up and waiting for me. I barely shut the door before I asked the next thing that consumed my mind.

  “So, you’re opening a school?” Obviously, the fact that he was moving here and not asking me to move to Canada had taken precedence. But now, I wanted to know everything about his plans.

  He laughed, throwing the Range Rover in reverse and backing up to turn down the driveway.

  “Yup,” he grinned, “and completely inspired by you.”

  “Me?!” What was he talking about?

  “You told me I was a good teacher. Well, not just you… but you were the first.” He shrugged. “After that and hearing about the type of school that you and your brother and your friends went to, it got me thinking. I thought it was great the way that your classes and time was flexible so that you could spend more time on the mountain, but I want to be able to offer more than that. I want to be able to offer not just freedom to go to the mountain, but instruction there as well. I want there to be a professional training component to the curriculum.”

  “That’s… that’s amazing.” My mind was already racing with the possibilities – with all of the things that Chance and I could have accomplished had our time on the mountain been somewhat more structured, instead of relying on lessons from the resort or private lessons from another rider.

  “You think so?”

  “Seriously? I think that’s an incredible idea. If I had had that kind of opportunity, especially to be taught by someone as skilled as you are, well, the triple would be the least of my problems.” I grinned excitedly at him.

  “Good.” He paused and I knew there was more coming. “Because I want you to teach there too.” My head whipped to him and I stared. “If you want, of course. I’m not going to force you. But, I’ve seen the way that you are with the kids; I may make a good instructor, but you aren’t too bad yourself there, missy.”

  “You… you want me to help you?” I clarified. God, I was turning into a damn watering pot this morning. I reached for the tissue box that was on the floor as Wyatt turned into the resort.

  “Gorgeous, I want you to be a part of my life in any and every way possible. So, if you want to, then yes, I want nothing more than for you to be a part of this with me because, without you, I’d still be a lost asshole, flying down a mountain, up into the air, and hoping that when I landed there would be a future for me waiting at the bottom instead of just a medal.”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle. “You know you love the medals.”

  “Not as much as I love you.” He winked at me and I almost lost my shit again.

  “So why were you on the phone with people from Canada?”

  He parked, grabbed his gear from the back and continued to reveal more of the story as we walked towards the training room to grab my equipment. “I know some people in Montreal who are both friends of the family and who have also sponsored me in a bunch of competitions in the past. I wanted to reach out to them for venture capital. Not that I can’t fund the entire thing but I guess I wanted to know that people with a business mindset thought it was a worthwhile investment as well.”

  “Oh…” Everything was starting to click into place.

  “I had a few phone calls with them. I also spent a few mornings going to some of the schools in the area. At first I thought about just working at one, but none of them seemed interested in adapting their curriculum to add a sports training component. Anyway… everything was going really well after the calls. The one guy, Vaughn, his wife works with my mom. I emailed my mom a business plan, proposed funding needs, etc. and had her take it over so that she could gauge his reaction first-hand. But, I guess stuff with work happened and then he wanted to talk to me personally – which was fine, but it just took longer than I was hoping for. You know, I even had a feeling that Zack was listening to me on the phone the one day, but he had headphones on and was watching some show on his laptop, so I figured he wasn’t paying attention; I’m going to have to have a small chat with my little brother.”

  I shook my head as we sat on the lift. “Don’t yell at him. It wasn’t his fault. I should’ve said something as soon as Ally mentioned it, but I was afraid. First, I thought you were just going to leave and then it spiraled into you wanting me to move with you…” It really did seem crazy how it spun out of control in my mind.

  His mitt grabbed mine. “Told you, gorgeous, I’m not leaving you.”

  The bar went up on the chair and we slid down off of the lift. Stopping at the beginning of the park, we both strapped in.

  “Let me guess,” he said, “you’re a pro at the triple now and you no longer need me.”

  “Well, I may be an expert at it now,” I grinned, “but, I think I’ll still keep you around.”

  He laughed and began to carve down the slope. I stayed for a second longer – taking in the view, taking in my life.

  I wasn’t just on top of the mountain – I was on top of the world.

  It was only when we parted ways after lunch that I remembered the elephant in the room. The Games. Crazy to think about how an international sporting competition that began the next day had slipped my mind, but what can I say? Love can make the rest of the world disappear around you.

  The argument in my mind was nothing new, but qualifiers were tomorrow; the reality was that I couldn’t back out now. And that meant that I had to pray that Wyatt wouldn’t be running his pass close to mine – that he wouldn’t recognize me. I wasn’t even worried about winning; Wyatt was far too good for that. Plus, I actually wanted him to win.

  My anxiety about the upcoming two days plagued me through my lessons. I’d taken off from Breakers in preparation for getting a good night’s sleep for the competition; I told Wyatt that they didn’t need me and that’s why we could actually spend some time together tonight.

  He was waiting for me outside the equipment room when my lessons were over and I wondered if the warm electricity that spread through my body would always be there when I saw him; I had a feeling that it would.

  “Do you mind if we get Thai?” he asked on the way back to my house. I shook my head; that was fine with me. “For some reason, I always crave Thai right before a competition.”

  “Ahh, so now you’re giving away your competition secrets!” I exclaimed. “The secret to winning – Thai food!”

  We laughed and continued talking like we’d known each other for years instead of just a few short weeks, stopping in town to pick up dinner and then heading back to the house.

  “What is Zack going to do?” I don’t know what made me
think about it, but I realized that Ally could be in the same position that I was in. Zack was only here because Wyatt was competing. What happened afterward?

  I glanced over and saw his mouth firm into a thin line. Uh oh. That doesn’t look good. “I’m not sure. I haven’t told him about the school. I’d really like him to come teach skiing there. Well, maybe not teach,” he laughed, “but coordinate the skiing program maybe.”

  “You don’t think that he will?”

  He sighed as he turned the Range Rover into the driveway. “Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t think Zack is at the point where he really wants to settle down; he likes traveling, competing, ‘living life.’”

  “Oh.” That didn’t sound good for my sister.

  “Maybe Ally will have changed that.” Wyatt knew what I’d been thinking.

  Holding the take-out bag, I shut the door behind me. “As much as I like to think of her as my baby sister, she’s a lot wiser and stronger than I give her credit for. I’m sure whatever happens, she’ll find a way to make the best of it.”

  “If I could make him stay, I would.” He held the door open for me and I walked into the hall.

  “I know.”

  At that point, our conversation transitioned back to our own future and the school – all Wyatt’s ideas for where it should be, who should be hired, how many students we should have in a class.

  I remembered when I’d first met him, the barrenness that had come over his face when people mentioned his retirement or asked him what his plans were – even when he told me about working with some of his sponsors. Nothing had inspired him. Nothing had excited him. The thing that was so poignant to me, though, was the fact that the X Games began tomorrow – his last Games – and nothing could have been further from his mind.

  He’d come to Aspen clinging to this competition like it was his last chance at living and doing something meaningful. Now, he’d found something so much more – something that he wanted me to be a part of with him.