The Christmas Playbook (Shadow Valley U)

Chapter 9 Mira has never snowboarded in her life, but she sure is sexy as hell trying. After breakfast, which went a lot better than I was expecting, we parted ways to get dressed. My lovely fake girlfriend kept her mouth shut while we suited up. First, it was the leggings that clung to her thighs and ass. Then the shimmy she did to get those white snow pants up over her hips. She paired it with a matching white jacket and helmet and rainbow, mirrored goggles. It really goes with her ice queen vibe-the pale skin, light-blonde hair, blue eyes.

Of course, those features are all now safely hidden away, protected from the cold wind that'll soon assault us. It went downhill once we grabbed our boards and headed out. First, she tried to clip into her board backward, which didn't even make sense. The bindings are kind of self-explanatory. I had a good chuckle about that, and it earned me one of her pretty glares. Once that was sorted, she inched toward the lift in some sort of wiggle, both boots clipped in, and her eyebrows hiked when I tugged her to a stop. Luckily, no one saw her. Probably.

The line was already long, and we were immediately separated from Cammie and Andrew. Unfortunately, they ended up behind us, so there was no chance of Mira and me ducking away. "You've been on a lift before, right?" I collect another glare for my collection, filed under If Looks Could Kill. Damn. I hold up my hands in surrender, hoping for a smile. Or a smirk. I'd settle for a rueful headshake at this point. Nada. And then, suddenly, we're next up.

This lift is fancy, which means shuffling forward when the attendant motions, facing the mountain, and letting the chair come up behind us to sweep us away. Mira lets out a squeak when the bar hits the backs of her knees. I grab her gloved hand, and once our feet have left the ground, I reach up with my free hand and lower the bar in front of us. She slips her hand from mine and grips the bar hard. "Mira." She shakes her head. My brows furrow, and I lean closer. "Are you okay?" Her lips press into a thin line. "I'm totally fine." Oh, boy. It's worse than I thought.

I crane around, and the chair swings a bit. Mira makes a choking noise, but I temporarily ignore it in the attempt to spot her sister and brother-in-law. Her whole family is irritating, but judging by Mira's complete and utter lack of snowboarding knowledge, she's never been on the slopes. Even though they apparently do this sort of holiday every winter. Even though she literally grew up around these people. I can't see much beyond the two behind us, and neither one appears to hold Cammie and what's-his-face.

When I turn back around, Mira's goggles are off, and her eyes are squeezed shut tight. Her whole face is scrunched. "Oh, fuck." It dawns on me. "You're afraid of heights." "Nope," she squeaks. "Liar." I scoot closer, causing our chair to bounce. I haul her toward me, into the center of the long chair. And it's fine, because suddenly we're pressed together from hip to knee. Her knee anyway, since she's a lot shorter. I wrap my arm around her shoulders, and with my other hand, I bring her face toward my chest.

"Breathe with me, and I'll tell you when you can look." Her body trembles slightly, but she does what I say. I exaggerate the rise and fall of my chest, sucking in deep breaths for her to mimic. When she does, satisfaction-and a thread of worry-fills my chest. I rub her arm and lift my gaze away from the top of her helmet to scope out the run beneath us. It's a black diamond, and we're passing a section of moguls. It's probably for the best that she doesn't see this portion. No need to freak her out more. Step one: get her safely off the lift.

Step two: figure out how to get her down the mountain without killing both of us...or further damaging her reputation with her family. I know why she rose to the challenge set out by her sister. It seems like the whole family is hell-bent on antagonizing her-or ignoring her. My parents would never. Sure, my mom often kicked me out of the house as a kid, but that was because I was an insufferable ball of energy and she worked from home. When we were home from school or off for the summer, she got the short end of the stick.

Luckily, we all survived, and my relationship with my parents is solid. It's why they're sad I'm not going to be home for Christmas, even if they understood the need for this trip. I am going pro. I will get drafted, and my life will be a whole lot different in a few years. Hell, a few months. When we were planning this trip, piled around the living room in November, exhausted from midterms, hope bubbled through me. My friends were right in front of my face, but I missed them, nonetheless. Now, locked into this ruse with Mira, I'm still not getting my fill of them.

But how would they react if I showed up with her in tow? I can't lie to them. It took everything in me to not blurt it out at dinner last night when they asked how my hot tub was treating me. Ugh. "Okay," I eventually say. "We're going to have to get off in a minute. I want you to copy me, all right?" Her head bobbles against my chest with her nod. "Wait just a second, we're still a bit high. Then you can open your eyes." I take a deep breath.

"Then we're gonna put this bar up, scootch to the edge of the seat kind of at an angle so when the ramp comes, we can hop off and slide down." This isn't going to be pretty. "I'll help you. Okay?" "Yeah," she manages. The lift descends, and I tell her when it's okay to open her eyes. She raises her head and blinks, meeting my gaze then quickly glancing around. "Got it. This is totally fine." She clears her throat. The bar comes up, and we shift. "Put your back foot in front of the binding." I put my hand on her hip.

"Yep, just like that." We watch the people on the chair in front of us, but they're both skiers. Then it's our turn. Together, we hop off. I grab her waist, keeping her steady on the short ramp. She's way too stiff, her whole body locked up, but I navigate us away from some clusters of people to a quiet, flatter spot. "That was good." I focus on her face. "There are only blue and black runs up here. Blue will be our best bet, but we have a minute. Probably need to show our faces to your sister." Her cheeks are flushed, but she grimaces and nods.

She slowly lowers the goggles back into place, shielding her eyes from view. Not a moment too soon, because her evil sister gets off the lift a second later. I face Mira again then kneel to help get her foot in the binding. I shouldn't say evil. That's cruel. What I should call her is self-centered, spoiled, no-good⁠- "Rhys?" I jerk. "Sorry. What?" My hands are on her calf and boot, and I think I might've just been frozen there. "I said, I'm sorry⁠-" I shake it off and finish getting her binding secured. "No. Don't do that." I rise.

And then Cammie and the brother-in-law are in front of us, both smiling widely. "We thought we lost you!" she coos. "That would've been a shame. We were eyeing the slope under the lift. It looked really fun. What do you think, Mira?" My fake girlfriend squares her shoulders, suddenly smiling broadly. Cammie is talking about the trail with the moguls-the one that is probably a double black diamond. The one that we should avoid at all costs. "Sounds great." Nope. Bad. Bad, bad, bad. "Great!" Cammie's husband says. "It's decided." "No," I blurt out. They all pause. Shit. "I, um...

I can't do that one, guys. I had a health scare with an old knee injury"-Thank you, Thorne, for never shutting up about yours-"and all those moguls might aggravate it. It's rehabbed, but with my future at stake..." "Oh my God, Rhys, you're so right." Mira smacks my chest. "I'm sorry. We should pick something a little less... extreme." "Blue is more my speed these days," I say. Cammie and her husband, whose name I should really clarify, shift and nod. "If you guys want to go for the other one, we can just meet you at the bottom." "Oh, yeah, good idea," the husband says.

"If you can make it down in one piece, Mira." Cammie smirks. "I've got to say, I'm surprised you even made it up here. Last one down is a rotten egg?" We manage nods, and then they're gone. I blow out a breath. One problem conquered. I don't even mind being labeled a rotten egg. The next is getting Mira down in one piece.