Authors: Serena Bell
Hot and Bothered (18 page)
She flushed a little. Not as bold as she wanted to be, but she wasn’t backing away. She
was
doing this. She was going to be impulsive. And daring. Not
Lindsey-like.
Needing a distraction, she glanced down at the resolution list on the card. “Do you do resolutions?”
“Seriously?” he asked with a mocking look. “Do I look like someone who wants to better myself?”
She shook her head, but realized in that instant that he was playing at being the bad-boy snowboarder she’d always thought he was. “I’m not sure about that. I think there is a big part of Carter Shaw the world never gets to see.”
He shook his head. “Nah. I mean, there are those tattoos, but otherwise, what you see is what you get.”
She doubted that. She was on to him. Why did he work so hard to be something he wasn’t? For that matter, why did
she
? Because it was easier than letting the world see who she truly was.
“What food do you want to try next year?” she asked, reading from the list and hoping that she could keep her courage until midnight. Only another fifteen minutes. She wanted him. She wanted this New Year’s Eve to be different from all the rest.
“Food, eh?” He wrinkled his forehead. “Not sure. I’m going with one of my cousins on a trip in Iceland to see a reindeer farm. So maybe reindeer?”
“I bet it doesn’t taste like chicken,” she said with a half smile. “When is that trip?”
“In the fall. It’s a Northern Lights trip. We spend three weeks up close to the Arctic Circle living with the locals and watching each night for the aurora borealis.”
That sounded...cold, but intriguing. “Have you done anything like that before?”
“Nah. This is the first year that I’m not competing anymore.”
She looked at him in surprise. “What? Why not?” If not for her reconstructed knee, she’d still be training and focusing on four years from now. The next winter games.
“I have gold medals and more titles that one man could ask for. It’s time to set my sights on something else.”
“Such as...?” she asked, leaning closer. This is what she was searching for.
What
came after competing the way they had for most of their life? It was different for Carter because he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A little rich kid who got whatever he wanted. But that had only carried him so far. She knew that he’d worked as hard as she had to get to the winter games.
“Not sure. But this is my year of adventure. My year to find out. I’m working on that charity you’re involved with to help kids get started in winter sports, because that’s new for me. The old man is glad to see me giving back. Can you believe he said that to me?” Carter scowled. “I’ve given back a lot over the years.”
For a moment she caught a glimpse of the real Carter. “You have. I’ve heard about the board you developed. It changed snowboarding.”
“Yeah, that was nothing,” he said, flashing a grin at her. And the real man disappeared behind that flirty facade. “So what new food are you going to try?”
“Nothing exotic like you. I have a thing about dairy and have usually not eaten cheese. I know that sounds silly but this year I think I’ll give it a try.”
He lifted a brow. “Cheese?”
“Yes.”
“You seriously don’t eat cheese?” he asked.
She had friends who acted the same way when she mentioned it. “I don’t like dairy stuff usually.”
“Cheeseburgers?”
“Nope.”
“Pizza?” he prodded.
“Pesto-based pizza with fresh tomatoes. No cheese.”
“Weirdo,” he said.
“Like
you’re
normal!”
“Who wants to be normal?” he scoffed. “Okay...all kidding aside, what new thing are you really going to try?”
She looked at him for a long minute before the two lemon-drop martinis and her courage finally caught up with her mouth. “You.”
Copyright © 2015 by Katherine Garbera
ISBN-13: 9781460344576
Hot and Bothered
Copyright © 2015 by Serena Bell
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