“The one in your hall closet,” she explained, cozying up to him again to get him to relax.
But he didn’t. Instead, he gently pushed her away, which was just about the exact opposite of what she wanted. Then she caught sight of his face, which had clouded over like a summer storm in the Rockies. She hoped it would clear just as quickly as the storms usually did.
“When were you in my house?”
“Um, it was a few days before you left for Denver. Oh, the day you helped me figure out what I was going to be when I grew up!”
She grinned up at him, remembering how close she’d felt to him that day, after the initial awkwardness of discovering his secret. But Zach didn’t grin back. He was clearly waiting for a more detailed explanation.
“Spike asked me to drop by and pick up his boots. He said you were fine with it. Didn’t he tell you?”
His frown only grew darker. “No, he didn’t.”
“I’m so sorry, Zach,” Mike gasped, turning beet red with embarrassment. “I should have known my stupid brother—“
Zach swept past her and crossed to the other side of the office. It was only a few feet, but it felt like a mile. He crossed his arms and stared at her with a look of disbelief.
“What did you find?”
An unexpected wave of fear rolled over Mike like a tsunami. This wasn’t how she pictured this moment going.
“I found the photos,” she mumbled, not meeting his increasingly angry eyes.
“Anything else?” It sounded as if he was chewing glass.
Mike nodded, but found it hard to speak. “A…a letter.” She risked a glance up and shivered under his ice-cold gaze.
“Did you open it?”
The guilt Mike had felt while pawing through his box of photos was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. She’d justified such a gross invasion of his privacy by telling herself that since the letter was addressed to her, she should be able to read it. Only now did she understand how selfish she’d been.
Zach didn’t need an answer to see the truth. “Let me get this straight… First you break into my house without my knowledge, then you snoop through my stuff, and then, when you find something that’s clearly private, you rummage through it and open a sealed letter? Does that about sum it up, Mike?”
“I didn’t mean to.” Lame, and she knew it.
He balked. “How do you accidentally read a letter sealed in an envelope, hidden in a box stuffed in the back of a closet, in a home you weren’t invited to enter? Maybe a better question would be, how could you?”
Mike blanched. She’d been so sure what she’d done was reasonable. Even now, part of her insisted her snooping had led her to see Zach in a new light, allowing her to fall in love with him too. But she somehow doubted he’d see it that way.
“I-I’m so sorry, Zach.” When she reached out to him, he pulled away and continued glowering at her. “I never meant to hurt you. You know that. You know me.”
He barked out a bitter laugh that sounded anything but amused. “I thought I knew you. The Mike I knew would never have done something like that. That’s the Mike I loved. Not…this.”
“What are you saying, Zach?”
The fear she’d felt a moment before was overtaken by sheer terror. Not once during her career skiing some of the most dangerous mountains in the world, had she ever experienced an emotion like what currently cramped her stomach in knots. As much as she’d loved skiing, she loved Zach infinitely more.
To the moon and back.
“The guys were right,” he growled, raking a hand through his dark hair, as a muscle in his jaw clenched. “I don’t know you at all.”
Mike stumbled backward when he pushed past her and whipped open the door.
“Zach! Wait!”
But it was too late. He was gone. And if she didn’t do something about it, maybe for good.
9
Hundreds of happy couples snuggled on blankets as they listened to a killer Telluride blues band rip it up on stage under a gorgeous Colorado sky. Little kids danced to the music as their parents laughed in delight, but Zach looked on with envy, sorrow and shame.
“Why so glum, chum?” Josh asked.
Zach jumped, not realizing someone had walked up next to him. He’d ducked into the shadows of a tree to watch Mike introduce the band and hadn’t expected anyone to spot him.
“Hey, Josh. What’s up?” He put on as happy a face as he could muster, but his friend saw right through it.
“The better question is, what’s up with you? Why do you look so bummed?”
Zach grimaced. “That obvious?”
Josh laughed and pounded him on the back. “Man, you look like someone ate your last slice of birthday cake.”
That at least brought a smile to Zach’s face. But any amusement was doused by a cold-water bath of reality.
“I blew it with Mike.”
In true “bro style,” Josh didn’t say a word, just waited for him to explain.
“We made out,” Zach finally admitted. Heat rushed through him as he remembered how Mike felt in his arms — before he’d turned into a giant asshat and rejected the only woman he’d ever loved.
“Dude!”
Josh grinned and balled up his hand for a fist bump, but Zach shook his head.
“Don’t congratulate me so fast. I totally screwed it up.”
“How?”
Zach wasn’t sure how much to share with Josh. Guys didn’t dole out every gory detail of their relationships, but he needed to talk to someone. Preferably someone who wasn’t related to Mike, which was hard to come by in Silver Springs.
“I overreacted to something. Told her I didn’t know who she was, then walked away.”
“You didn’t.”
“I did.”
Zach cringed, remembering the scene in Trent’s office the day before. One minute they’d been hot and heavy, the next, he’d stormed out of the gym in a snit. For hours after, he’d tried to convince himself he’d been justified in what he’d said to her and how he’d left her standing there. But in the wee hours of the night, after sleep had eluded him, he’d crept downstairs, pulled his special box from the closet and looked at it through her eyes.
He had no reason to doubt she’d truly come looking for Spike’s boots, but after that…
The first thing he’d seen was a stack of photos, not boots. A normal person would have immediately closed the box and put it back, but they might have paused if the top photo was of them. And the top photo was of Mike and him, grinning like idiots at the end of an impromptu race. Many guys he knew wouldn’t have liked a girl beating them, but he’d been proud of her — even raised her arm in victory.
He’d had to admit, that might have tempted anyone to at least pick up that photo to get a closer look. But when he’d picked it up, he’d seen another photo of Mike. Then another and another. He’d thrown them down on the coffee table and fallen back against the couch cushions, hands fisted in his hair.
Idiot!
First, for keeping a box like this that could come back to haunt him — which it had. It was stuffed with photos, news clippings and printouts following Mike’s career — and love life, if things weren’t humiliating enough. Of course she’d searched through the box. And when she found a sealed envelope addressed to her at the very bottom…
Zach just counted himself lucky she hadn’t taken the box full of her to a judge and asked for a restraining order!
At three in the morning, with only a reading lamp burning over his shoulder, Zach had realized any normal person would have done exactly what Mike had. He’d been the one to cross a line by collecting all of this stuff over the years.
He’d fallen asleep on the couch, but not until he’d come to some more realizations and understandings — all of which pained him more deeply than he wanted to admit to Josh.
“So what are you going to do about it?” Josh asked.
Zach shook his head and stared absently into the crowd.
“Not sure what I can do. Or if I should even try.”
“Why not?”
“First of all, she deserves someone better than me. I behaved like a child, not a man. And especially not a man in love. After my little tantrum, how could she possibly love me? I turned into a little boy at the first sign of trouble. I think I’ll take that job in Denver and learn how to behave like a man.”
The band segued into a slower song that spoke to Zach, one about lost loves and broken hearts. Its rhythmic beat pounded to the beat of his own heart. He had the sudden urge to go home, lie on his couch, and listen to old blues masters late into the night, drowning his sorrows in a big bottle of bourbon. But he had to make an appearance at the RMA booth sooner or later. As it was, Spike would probably chew him out for being so late on the first day.
“So apologize,” Josh suggested. “There’s no need to move. Just take her some flowers. Chicks love flowers.”
Zach slumped and looked up at his friend helplessly. “I don’t even know what her favorite flowers are. What does that tell you?”
“That you’re at the beginning of a relationship,” Josh said with a sympathetic smile. “Give yourself a break, man. You don’t have to know everything about a woman to know you love her.”
“So what if I do? That doesn’t mean she has to love me back.”
Josh looked confused. “But I thought—“
“Yeah, yeah, we made out a little. Big deal. That doesn’t mean she’s in love with me. At most, she’s infatuated, but I suspect it’s something else.”
“It certainly sounds like she’s infatuated.”
“I honestly think she’s just bored.”
Josh gaped at him, so Zach hurried to explain.
“Think about it. She’s an internationally famous athlete who’s used to a jet-set life. She was always busy, always on the move, always working. Right?”
“I’m with you,” Josh said warily.
“So she comes home to sleepy little Silver Springs with no career, no friends and no direction. I know she was feeling pretty bad about all that for a while.”
Then she’d found his box. Since she hadn’t called the cops on him for stalking, she must have taken his collection as a compliment, then it had stewed inside her until she’d convinced herself she liked him as more than “practically family.”
“So?” Josh prodded.
“So…she doesn’t really love me. I’m a placeholder. A stand-in until she figures out what she really wants from the rest of her life and she shakes off the dust of this town once again.”
At Josh’s doubtful frown, Zach continued, “You know as well as I do that a woman as motivated and ambitious as Mike won’t be long for Silver Springs. She’s traveled the world, been wined and dined by the best people — no way is she going to settle for us…or me.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
Mike’s whisper from behind them sent shivers up Zach’s spine and all the way to the top of his head. Josh cocked an eyebrow at him, then sauntered away, leaving him to turn slowly to face her. That was probably the most difficult three seconds of his life.
“How much of that did you hear?” he asked.
As if he didn’t feel like a big enough jerk as it was, she’d just caught him talking about her to someone else.
Idiot!
“Enough.”
She smiled softly up at him, and his heart broke. Again.
“I’m so sorry, Zach,” she said, wetness welling up in her eyes. “I really didn’t mean to—“
“Stop,” he said, holding up a hand. “I was a jerk. What you did, while pretty embarrassing for me, was only natural. I’m the one who should be sorry here.”
Mike’s laugh sounded like wind chimes. “I guess we’re both a couple of sorry ding-dongs.”
He couldn’t quite muster a smile, but he nodded. Just seeing her drove him to distraction, thinking of how her lips had tasted and how delicate, yet unbreakable, she’d felt in his arms. If he could have just one wish, it would be to relive that moment forever. But that was only another childish fantasy.
“Listen, Mike. I think it would be best if we just—“
“Hold that thought.” She grabbed his hand, turned, and pulled him along after her. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”
* * *
Mike’s heart raced as she dragged Zach behind her. The last twenty-four hours had been a sleepless blur. Judging by the dark circles under his eyes, Zach had also had trouble sleeping. Did it make her a bad person if she was just a little bit happy about that?
It didn’t really matter. What mattered was showing Zach what she’d been working on since their meeting about their future in his office. Stopping in front of the Rocky Mountain Adventures booth — where Spike and Amy stood grinning — Mike turned and waved her arm like a game show hostess.
“Um, hi guys,” Zach said, looking at Mike like she was insane.
She probably was, but that was beside the point.
“No, here.” She pointed at an easel sitting on the booth’s table. “That’s what I wanted to show you.”
Glancing between her and the table, Zach moved in to get a better look at the architectural drawing, which was really more of a map. He glanced up at her again, his brow all cute and crinkled.
“What is this?”
Spike stepped forward. “That’s the Mike Roberts Alpine Village at Silver Springs, my friend.”
“The what?”
Poor Zach looked more confused than ever. And why shouldn’t he? Most of the planning had been done while he was in Denver.
“Spike, honey, now that Zach and Mike are here, let’s go listen to the music,” Amy said, pushing Spike in front of her and winking at Mike.
“But I wanna hear—“
“Music! You want to hear music, my darling fiancé. Now, go!”
Mike waited till they were out of earshot before continuing, “It’s all your fault, you know.”
Pain flashed in Zach’s eyes, and she was quick to clarify.
“I mean this,” she said, pointing at the drawing. “After we met, I realized what potential our little idea of a training camp had. I loved the idea of training young skiers, and that will be Phase One of the project, but it could be so much more.”
“More?”
Mike’s excitement for her project bubbled up inside her. She hadn’t felt this way since she’d been selected for the ski team. It was a new challenge she felt more than capable of accepting.
“So much more, Zach! The camp itself will, of course, mostly take place at the resort.” She tapped a corner of the drawing, then pointed to an area on the other side of the river from the park they were standing in. “The Alpine Village will be located here, assuming the city council sees the potential of the project.”
“Project?”
Mike laughed and placed a hand on Zach’s rough cheek. Poor guy hadn’t even shaved.
“You said I’ve been bored since I got back home, but nothing could be further from the truth. Okay, maybe at first, but our talk got me thinking. Dangerous, I know. I’ve been on the phone almost nonstop since then, working on this plan.” She took a breath and hoped for the best. “I’d hoped you’d want to help me with it.”
“Me?”
It was clear she wasn’t going to get more than one-word answers — questions, really — from him, so she pressed on.
“My dad helped find the parcel of land, Uncle Ralph is working on financing options, and Uncle Steve has volunteered to work up all the necessary contracts. I personally have called every one of my past sponsors, even the ones who dropped me along the way, as well as the US Ski Team. Oh, and a couple of state senators to boot. Everyone is really excited about the project. I’m not so sure about naming it after myself, but everyone else insists it’s the best way to draw funding and other support. It’ll be a years-long process, obviously, but the buzz so far has been very promising.”
Zach leaned down to look
at the drawing again. “What’s that?”
Mike couldn’t resist laying a hand on his shoulder. A spark of static electricity jumped between them, which seemed just about right.
“That’s where you come in, Zach.”
He turned to face her, intrigued, but still confused. “How?”
“That would be the dorm for the youth outreach program.”
His eyes widened. “The what?”
“It’s not all fleshed-out of course, but the idea is to set up an outdoor education program that brings underprivileged kids from all around the state, maybe even the entire country, at some point. I’d sort of hoped you’d head that up.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry,” she said quickly, before he could object. “Spike and Amy are fully on-board, so you wouldn’t have to do it alone. In fact, I think it should be named Rocky Mountain Youth Adventures. What do you think?”
The skeptical look Zach wore worried her. As she’d furiously planned the project while he was out of town, she’d always pictured him working alongside her. When he came back to town with another woman, she’d nursed her bruised heart, but never lost her passion for the project. Whether he was a part of it or not, the Alpine Village would eventually become a reality. She just really wanted him to be a part of it.
“I’m not trying to pressure you, Zach,” she finally said quietly. “I know what I did was…unforgivable. I really am sorry. I hope one day you can forgive me, but I would totally understand if you can’t.”
“So…you’re going to stay here? Long-term? What if a better offer comes along?”
Mike smiled up at him, trying to convey just a hint of the love she felt for him. “You can’t get rid of me that easily, Zach McCormick. Silver Springs is my home. I’ve been gone for far too long, and it’s about time I give back to the people who’ve loved and supported me all these years.”
“Your family,” he murmured, flicking his gaze away from hers.
Mike reached out and let the tips of her fingers tickle the tips of his, as he’d done before. “Yes, them. But also you.”
His eyes darted back to her. The doubt in them broke her heart. Obviously, trying to tell him she loved him with her eyes wasn’t working. She’d simply have to use her words.
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