Taking a different ski lift meant seeing a different view of the trees and slopes from up above and, for her, exploring a new virgin trail. This one curved more and was steeper. Although still wide, it wasn’t as wide as the bunny slope. Attempting a different slope was scary, but after she had gone down it, she was ready to sample another and another, which she did until she’d tried them all.

CJ even took her on the easiest intermediate slope. It was much steeper with a few moguls, but she skied around them. She loved it, although her legs were becoming weary. Running, walking, and swimming kept her in great shape as a wolf, but skiing worked her muscles differently. She fell more on the intermediate slope, maybe because of the steepness of the slope, and panicked when she hit a mogul and flew over the top of it rather than cutting sideways across it. She quickly turned into the slope and maintained control. Thankfully.

When she skied down the last time and reached the base, she wasn’t sure what happened next. She turned to stop, but an out-of-control skier nearly ran into her. CJ came in behind her, his skis on either side of hers, and moved her in a forward motion out of the skier’s path. But the skier who sliced past them startled her, and Laurel lost her balance, while the skier crashed and burned a few yards away.

Laurel felt herself falling. And taking CJ with her.

Skis and poles and legs tangled, he landed on the ground hard, softening her fall. She was sitting half on his lap and half off. They looked at the wiped-out skier, who was getting up, dusting off snow, and heading out to confirm that he was fine. Then CJ and Laurel’s gazes collided. They both burst out laughing.

He dropped his poles, cupped her face, and kissed her.

Letting go of her poles, she kissed him right back, tongue for tongue, mouths locked, the cold wind no longer noticeable as he heated her blood right up.

She kept telling herself that the way she was feeling was just gratitude for him being such a trouper in teaching her to ski. Yet, she couldn’t help wishing the kiss would lead to more. A deeper relationship, maybe.

They still had so much other stuff to resolve. But in this instant, half sitting on his hot lap and half off, wearing the unwieldy skis on her heavy ski boots, and feeling his mouth hot and hungry against her lips, she was leaning a lot toward yes!

CJ pulled his mouth away from hers first, his eyes darkened to midnight, his hands still cupping her face, as if trying to sense how she felt about this jump in their relationship.

She smelled the testosterone fired up between them and smiled a little. “I bet when you’re teaching new students to ski, this doesn’t happen often.”

He smiled a little. “I never give private lessons.”

She chuckled.

“But for you, just say the word and I’ll bring you up here for more.”

“I’d love it. I need to do it again soon so I don’t forget all that you taught me.” She sighed. “What are we going to do about getting up?”

He was fully aroused, and she figured he was going to have a time of it. So was she.

“I don’t think there’s any way to do this gracefully. Just do whatever you have to. And then, did you want to get a drink at the lodge?”

Leaving at this point would be less embarrassing, but she wasn’t a cowardly wolf. A hot drink sounded good.

“Yeah, I’d love that.”

Somehow, she managed to swing her leg around, despite wielding the long ski, though he groaned a little as her buttocks pressed against his arousal. All she’d accomplished was to move her leg off his. She was still sitting squarely against his crotch. She leaned forward to try and stand, and he gave her rump a little boost. Startled to get some help from behind, she nearly fell but managed to stabilize herself. She looked back to see how he was managing.

Despite being so good at skiing, he took a moment to rise to his feet. He squirmed a bit as if he was trying to re-situate his gear to get more comfortable, while she was trying not to smile. Then he skied with her to the baseline lodge.

They left their skis and poles outside, leaning against a wooden rack where he looped his pole straps around her skis and his as if claiming her—or stating they were together. Which she found amusing.

Little things like that might not mean much to some people, but they were a big deal to lupus garous. He was telling other wolves to keep their paws off her. She didn’t mind, because she really liked CJ, and, well, she could see them going further with this, if she could resolve the business with their aunt’s disappearance and not upset the pack in the process.

Inside, they looked for a free table to sit at. Many were filled with skiers stopping to get a drink. At one of the four-person tables, the Viking brothers, Cantrell and Robert, waved them over.

“Do you mind sitting with them?” CJ asked.

She really appreciated his thoughtfulness, ensuring she liked the men before she agreed.

“Sure. That would be fine.” She glanced up at CJ. “We have only a half hour left to ski before the resort closes. I thought this would be a nice end of the day. What do you think?”

“Hell, yeah.” He grinned from ear to ear.

She laughed.

“But,” he said very seriously, “we still have supper plans.”

“Yeah.” She wouldn’t give them up for the world. It would be a lovely way to conclude the evening, especially since her sisters weren’t around and she knew she would be lonely.

When they sat down with the brothers, both were grinning at them. “I should have known you’d take your cue from Tom,” Cantrell said, directing his comment to CJ, who smiled back a little. To Laurel, he explained, “His cousin Tom and Tom’s mate, Elizabeth, were caught on video kissing up by one of the ski lifts before they were mated. The video went viral in the pack.”

Laurel frowned at them. “Don’t tell me anyone took pictures or a video of us.”

Robert pulled out his phone. “I don’t know if anyone else did, but I got a shot.”

She wouldn’t have cared if she and CJ were truly courting. But they weren’t, and worse, she didn’t want her sisters to learn about it like this. In this case, a picture was worth more than a thousand words. It would cause all kinds of speculation.

“But, of course, you didn’t share it with anyone,” she said, putting Robert on the spot. Didn’t the pack members need permission?

“Not me. My shot didn’t turn out all that great.” Robert gave her another cocky smile, then handed his phone to her.

She saw twenty-three other pictures posted of the kissing scene. Some from a distance, so it was hard to tell who was kissing whom on the slope. Others, close-ups. And one was a really short video from one of those helmet cams as someone skied past.

Shaking her head, she handed the phone back to Robert. But she was amused. She’d never expected that to happen.

“So how did it work out for Tom and his mate after they earned all that fandom on the ski slopes?” she asked, curious if that had led to their mating shortly thereafter.

“She left him,” Cantrell said.

Laurel laughed.

“But obviously she returned,” Robert said. “We knew that would happen.”

“We have to get back to ski rescue. If you need rescuing from CJ, just let me know,” Cantrell said.

“But call me when you do.” Robert slapped CJ on the shoulder. “See you later, man.”

“Yeah, see you.” CJ waved to a waitress. Then looking a little worried, he asked Laurel, “Are you okay with the pictures? I can ask Darien to have everyone take them down, if you want.”

“I’m okay with it. I’m just not used to pack dynamics, and I wouldn’t want everyone to think…” She hesitated. She didn’t want to say their kissing didn’t mean anything to her, because it sure did.

“I understand,” CJ said quickly, as if he didn’t want her to say she wasn’t interested in him the way she knew he was interested in her.