Just Perfect (12 page)

And fun loving. And happy. Gawd, she wished she had a life like that: carefree and filled with friends. She had Maddy and Amy, who loved her completely, but most people found her too intimidating to befriend for reasons she’d never understood.

She wasn’t sure anything intimidated Alec Hunter. Or discouraged him. The memory of their dance and the kiss in the dark made her smile—until she realized the announcer was thanking him for his time. The next thing she knew, he was leaving the booth and heading up the bleachers straight toward her. She mentally scrambled for what to say. What if he tried to join them?

Glancing frantically about, she gave thanks that the seats to either side of her family were taken. Even if he stopped to say hi, he wouldn’t be able to join them.

Or so she thought.

To her horror, Alec maneuvered down the line, greeting several spectators by name, exchanging handshakes, and asking half a row of people to get up and move down a seat. Of course they did. No problem. Anything for good ol‘ Alec.

Honestly, the man could sell ice to Eskimos.

“Hey, Chris,” he said when he reached her. “I see you got the passes I left at the gate.”

“Actually, we bought tickets.”

“You didn’t have to do that. So is this your family?”

“Uhhhh.” Her mind went blank.

“Hi, Alec Hunter.” He leaned across her to offer his hand to her brother. “You must be Robbie.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Robbie shook his hand. “This is my wife, Natalie, and my father, Dr. Robert Ashton, Sr.”

“Hello.” Natalie greeted him with a friendly smile. Robert Senior barely grunted, then turned his attention back to the course as they waited for the action to begin.

“I hear you’re Christine’s ski instructor,” Robbie said as Alec took a seat next to her.

Alec laughed at that, showing off those gorgeous white teeth of his; then his eyes went to her face with a long, admiring look. “Something like that.”

Please God, don’t let him say anything else. Please
! She clasped her hands between her knees, jiggling slightly as if trying to stay warm. In truth, she was sweating inside Natalie’s coat and the strong mountain sun wasn’t helping.

“I also take it you know something about snow-boarding,” Robbie said. “I don’t suppose you teach lessons on that as well.”

“I might.” Alec sent her a flirtatious look. “For the right price.”

“How much?” her brother asked.

“Hmm?” Alec tore his attention away from her. “Oh, I didn’t mean money. If I did it, it would be as a favor to Chris.”

“Oh really.” Robbie gave her a searching look. “ ‘Chris’?”

“Look.” She straightened. “I think the first contestant is heading down.”

Both men turned their attention to the slope. The next several minutes passed with all of them watching the snowboarders do aerial stunts that Alec proclaimed to be “huge” or “awesome” unless the boarder “biffed” or “bailed.” Alec and Robbie leaned forward almost constantly, talking around her, while

Alec explained the language as much as the action. Hearing her brother pick up the lingo should have made her laugh, but all she could do was cringe. She’d heard Alec use boarding terms before, but never like this. Why did it have to be in front of her family?

She tried to tune both men out, but felt Alec’s puzzled gaze land on her several times. Finally, he looked right at her. “Chris, how about going with me to the concession stand?”

“I’m fine,” she insisted, knowing if she went with him, Robbie’s suspicions about them dating would return. “I don’t need anything.”

“Or we could talk right here.”

“Talk?” Panic shot through her. “About what?”

He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “About why you’d meet me here, then freeze me out.”

“I’ll go with you to the concession stand!”

Alec stared as Christine shot to her feet, then scrambled past him and half a row of knees to get to the steps. After a look at her brother, who’d gone from cordial to confused, he rose and followed. She stayed ahead of him, clambering down the steps until she reached the bottom and ducked in front of the announcers’ stand, where they’d be hidden from her family.

“Hey, where’s the fire?” he asked.

She turned to face him, looking flushed. “I did not come here to meet you.”

“What?” He frowned.

She crossed her arms, refusing to meet his eyes. “I came with my family.”

“But this is right where we agreed to meet.”

“That’s why I wore all this—this stupid fur.” Frustration flashed in her eyes. “I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me.”

“I don’t understand.” Although he was starting to and hurt nudged against confusion. She looked like royalty standing there in a fussy coat and hat that didn’t look at all like the expensive but no-nonsense clothes she usually wore. If he hadn’t looked right at her earlier, he probably wouldn’t have recognized her. “Once again, I don’t get it. I know you’re attracted to me.”

“I am.” Her gray eyes pleaded with him. “I like you, Alec. I really do. But I can’t go out with you. Can we please just leave it at that?”

“No, we can’t leave it at that. I want to know why.”

She glanced nervously at the stands, as if to be sure her family couldn’t see them.

He followed her gaze, and understanding smacked him in the face. “You think I’m not good enough for you? So much for your claim that money doesn’t matter.”

“No!” Color flooded in her cheeks, convincing him otherwise. “Do you really think I’m that kind of snob?”

“I didn’t before, but now I don’t know.” His mind did a fast replay of the whole week, how she’d rejected him at every turn, then shown up at the pub, danced with him, flirted with him, and given him that brain-spinning kiss. “What happened Friday night? Did you finally get bored and decide to do a little slumming before the family arrived?”

Her jaw dropped before she snapped it closed and spoke through gritted teeth. “I was not slumming.”

“Then why am I good enough to hang out with in a crowded bar, but in front of your family, I’m something to scrape off your designer boots. Which look ridiculous, by the way. Who wears city boots to walk on a ski slope?”

“They’re not mine,” she growled as anger sparked in her eyes. “They’re my sister-in-law’s, and they
feel
ridiculous!”

“Then why are you wearing them?” His voice rose along with his temper. He had a long fuse, but she’d definitely lit it. “Oh yeah, so that I wouldn’t recognize you. Well, good job, because I don’t! For the past half hour I’ve been wanting to ask who this person is in Chris’s body.”

“My name is Christine.”

“It certainly is.” He looked her up and down. “How could I have been this wrong about you? I thought you were different from the rich vacationers who think they’re above us working-class stiffs or the women who think the words ski pro and gigolo are synonymous. I guess I should be thankful you aren’t one of the latter, because frankly, it’s the more insulting of the two.”

“I’m not either one of those things.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “If I’m wrong, give me the real reason you won’t go out with me.”

She stared up at him, and he thought she wouldn’t answer, but then she nodded. “Okay, you want to know? I’ll tell you. It’s because you’re an unemployed ski bum. I don’t care how much a man makes as long as he makes
somethingl”

“I’m—I’m what?” He pressed a gloved hand to his forehead trying to make sense of her words. “What did you say?”

“I have a terrible weakness for immature, irresponsible men. I’m going to break that habit, though. I don’t care how much I’m attracted to you or how much fun you are. I’m not going to do this to myself anymore.”

“You think I’m unemployed?” The accusation spurred his anger higher because it lumped him into the same group as his lazy bum of a father. She thought he wasn’t any better than that? “You came up with this theory how, exactly? Without even asking me?”

“I did ask! And Trent said you didn’t work. Plus, you spend all your time skiing or hanging out in that pub, drinking with your friends. Is this the schedule of a responsible, working adult?”

He shook his head in amazement. “This coming from a woman who takes three-week vacations in her rich daddy’s condo and wears clothes that could bankrupt a small country. What do you know about working? Have you ever had to work for anything?”

“Talk about unfair assumptions,” she nearly sputtered. “You know nothing about me.”

“Ditto, babe.”

“For your information—”

The crowd rose with a gasp. Alec looked to the stands and saw a sea of horrified faces. Whipping around to face the slope, he saw a snowboarder rolling in the snow, clutching his leg.

The announcer’s voice rose over the sound of the crowd. “Oh, that’s a bad one, folks.”

“Stay here,” Alec snapped at Christine and took off at a dead run for a break in the barrier between the stands and the course. One of the workers tried to step in his path. “Let me through!”

Realizing it was either that or get plowed over, the worker stepped aside. Alec raced toward the downed boarder who was thrashing about, screaming.

Dropping to his knees, Alec grabbed the guy’s shoulder and tried to hold him still.

“I’m a paramedic. Will you let me help you?”

“My leg! Shit! My leg!”

Alec glanced at the thigh and silently cursed. The fractured femur hadn’t broken through the pant leg, but he’d bet money it had broken through skin. And he couldn’t do squat until he had verbal permission or the guy passed out.

“Hey! Listen!” He pressed the boarder down. “I’m a paramedic—”

Christine dropped to her knees on the other side of the boarder. “You’re a what?”

The surprise on her face would have been comical if he’d had time to enjoy it. Ignoring her, he turned back to the boarder, getting his first good look at the kid’s face. Jeez, he was young. “Will you let me help you?”

“Yes! Shit!” The face contorted in agony.

“Try to be still,” Alec ordered and ripped off his ski gloves before reaching for the surgical gloves in his jacket.

Christine surprised him by pulling a similar pair out of her purse and snapping them on like a pro. He looked from her hands to her face.

“Surprise.” She smiled. “I’m an ER doctor.”

“You’re a
doctor
?” The notion seemed ludicrous with her kneeling in the snow in a white fur coat and matching hat haloing her supermodel face.

The boarder screamed, jarring Alec’s attention back into place.

Christine bent forward, pressing her fingers to the patient’s throat. “What’s your name?”

A stream of obscenities spilled forth.

“Hold him still,” Christine ordered and pulled a pair of scissors from her purse. “This is going to be messy.”

Alec pressed the kid’s shoulders down with one forearm and reach for his radio. While he called in the situation, she cut the pants from hip to knee. Yep, she was right. It was messy. Blood gushed out, staining the snow about her and turning the fur coat red.

“This is 14B32 to dispatch,” he said to Doris back at the station, then gave her a quick rundown. “I’m going to need a trauma kit, spine board, and traction splint.”