‘They were cute,’ Kristie said as the lift carried them up the mountain and Jess forced herself to turn her head and look away. Maybe that would break the spell.
‘I guess,’ she said. She felt like she had a mouthful of marbles as she tried to feign indifference. Kristie would have a field day if she knew what Jess had really been thinking.
‘What do you think?’ Kristie asked. ‘Worth a second look?’
The girls had the quad chair to themselves but that didn’t mean Jess wanted to have this discussion. She knew if she agreed it would only serve to encourage Kristie’s foolish plan.
‘You’re not serious!’ she cried. ‘I don’t think they’re my type.’ She suspected she’d have nothing in common with them. She knew she wouldn’t be cool enough.
‘Why not?’
‘You know the reputation those guys have.’ The towies—usually an assortment of college students taking a gap year, locals and backpackers—had a reputation as ski-hard-and-party-harder people.
But Kristie was not about to be deterred. ‘So …’ she shrugged ‘… that all adds to the excitement and the challenge.’
‘I’m not going to hook up with a total stranger,’ Jess said. Obviously the lessons of her upbringing were more deeply ingrained in her than she’d realised. Her movements were carefully orchestrated, her whereabouts were always mapped out, and she’d never really had the opportunity to mingle with strangers. Prince Charming was going to have his work cut out for him.
‘I know your parents want to know where you are every minute of the day but they’re not here,’ Kristie replied, ‘and despite what they tell you, not every spontaneous situation is dangerous and not every stranger is a psychopath. I’m not saying you have to marry the guy, just have some fun.’
‘He looked too old for me,’ Jess protested.
‘You’re always complaining about how immature boys our age are. Maybe someone a bit older would suit you better. Shall we head back down? Take another look?’
The quad chair took them to the basin where all the other lifts operated from. No one skied straight back down to the bottom of this lift unless they’d forgotten something and needed to return to the village. Jess didn’t want to be that overtly interested. She needed time to think. ‘No. I want to ski,’ she said as they were deposited in the basin.
The slopes were quiet at this hour of the day and it wasn’t long before Kristie decided she was overheating from all the exercise and needed to discard some layers. Jess suspected it was all an act designed to invent a reason to return to their apartment and hence to the quad chair, but she was prepared to give in. She knew she didn’t have much choice. She could have elected to stay up on the mountain but they had a rule that no one skied alone and she had to admit she was just a tiny bit curious to have another look at the boy with the forget-me-not-blue eyes. After all, there was no harm in looking.
But by the time they had changed their outfits and returned to the quad chair there were two different towies on duty. Disappointment surged through Jess. It was silly to feel that way about a random stranger but there had been something hypnotic about him. Something captivating.
They rode the lift back to the basin where they waited in line for another quad chair to take them to the top of the ski run. As they neared the front the two original towies appeared, each with a snowboard strapped to one foot as they slipped into the singles row and skated to the front of the line.
‘G’day. Mind if we join you?’
Jess and Kristie had no time to reply before the boys had slotted in beside them and Jess found herself sandwiched between her cousin and the boy with the tousled, blond hair and amazing blue eyes. He shifted slightly on the seat, turning a little to face her, and the movement pushed his thigh firmly against hers.
‘Have you had a good morning?’ he asked her. ‘You were up at sparrow’s.’
‘Pardon?’ Jess frowned. His voice was deep and his accent was super-sexy but the combination of his stunning eyes and his Aussie drawl made it difficult to decipher his words. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was sitting thigh to thigh with a cute boy who was messing with her head. Either way, she couldn’t think straight and she could make no sense of what he was saying.
‘Sparrow’s fart,’ he said with a grin before he elaborated. ‘It means you were up really early.’
His blue eyes sparkled as he smiled at her but this time it was the twin dimples in his cheeks that set Jess’s heart racing. His smile was infectious and she couldn’t help but return it as she said, ‘You remember us?’ She was surprised and flattered. The boys would have seen hundreds of people already today.
‘Of course. Don’t tell me you don’t remember me?’ He put both hands over his heart and looked so dramatically wounded that Jess laughed. She’d have to watch out—he was cute and charming with more than a hint of mischief about him.
And, of course, she remembered him. She doubted she’d ever forget him, but she knew his type and she wasn’t about to stroke his ego by telling him that his eyes were the perfect colour—unforgettable, just like him. She knew all the towies were cut from the same cloth, young men who would spend the winter working in the resort and then spend their time off skiing and drinking and chasing girls. They would flirt with dozens of girls in one day, trying their luck, until eventually their persistence would pay off and they’d have a date for the night and, no matter how cute he was, she didn’t want to be just another girl in the long line that would fall at his feet.
‘Well, just so you don’t forget us again, I’m Lucas and that’s Sam,’ he said, nodding towards his mate, who was sitting on the other side of Kristie.
‘I didn’t say I’d forgotten you,’ Jess admitted. ‘I remember your accent.’ But she wasn’t prepared to admit she remembered his dancing or had been unable to forget his cornflower-blue eyes. ‘You’re Australian?’
‘Yes, and, before you ask, I don’t have a pet kangaroo.’
‘I wasn’t going to ask that.’
‘Really?’
‘I might not have been to Australia but I know a bit about it. I’m not completely ignorant.’
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that,’ Lucas backtracked.
‘It’s okay.’ She’d stopped getting offended every time people treated her like a cheerleader but while she was one she was also a science major. ‘I know most of you don’t have pet kangaroos and I know you eat that horrible black spread on your toast and live alongside loads of poisonous snakes, spiders and man-eating sharks. Actually …’ she smiled ‘… I’m not surprised you left.’
Lucas laughed. ‘I’m not here permanently. I’m only here for the winter. It’s summer back home. I’ll stay until the end of February when uni starts again.’
‘So where is the best place to party in the village?’ Kristie interrupted. ‘What’s popular this season?’
Kristie knew the village as well as anyone—she didn’t need advice—but Jess knew it was just her cousin’s way of flirting. To Kristie that came as naturally as breathing.
‘How old are you?’ Sam replied.
‘Nineteen,’ she fibbed. She was only three months older than Jess and had only recently turned eighteen but nineteen was the legal drinking age.
‘The T-Bar is always