and frozen him out.
She was like that ice queen in the Disney movie who always hurt the ones she loved by keeping them away. Her parents were a good example of that. She loved them, but they weren’t close. Once she’d turned eighteen, she’d started living near her coach and never had time off to visit with them.
Her relationship skills were sadly lacking, and dinner tonight confirmed that until she had her second glass of wine and Penny turned to her.
“Rumor has it you’ve been hooking up with Carter Shaw,” Penny said as she arched her eyebrows.
“Rumor?”
“Well, Elizabeth. But I want to know all the dirt,” Penny replied. “You’re pretty quiet for someone in the midst of a red-hot affair.”
That was because, as usual, she’d doused the flames and there was nothing to tell. “I screwed up.”
“What?” Elizabeth said, coming into the living room with a new bottle of wine. “What did you screw up?”
“Everything with Carter,” Lindsey lamented. “I love him but I can’t find the words to tell him. He was at my class this afternoon and I just acted like I always do. Focused on skiing and pretended that I wasn’t excited to see him.”
Penny patted her hand. “Why did you do that?”
She glanced at Elizabeth. Her friend took sympathy on her and poured more wine into her glass.
“She called him a distraction and got into a huge fight with him in the restaurant,” Elizabeth said, filling their friend in. “It wasn’t pretty.”
“No, it wasn’t. But we sort of talked afterward and I realized that I’m not sure I wasn’t a distraction for him. I’m just not good at relationships.” She took a sip of wine, then went on, “Before this thing with Carter, I hadn’t really had time for one, and now... Well, as I said, I screwed up and have no idea how to fix it.”
“Sexy lingerie,” Penny said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “That will get his attention, and then afterward you just tell him all of that stuff you just told us.”
Penny’s idea had some merit. She could do the seduction thing. That part was easy between the two of them. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?”
“That’s the risk you have to take when you fall in love,” Elizabeth said gently.
Taking a sip of her own wine, Penny added, “And if he doesn’t feel the same, isn’t it better to know than to stay in the agony of what-if?” Penny had another valid point.
“Is that what you did?”
“No way. I just kept my guard up until Will stepped up and proved himself. I knew I loved him, but I had pretty much resigned myself to living with heartbreak for a while. But he made a big gesture,” Penny explained.
“The dog? Everyone knows it was Fifi,” Elizabeth said, poking her friend in the ribs.
“Well, not every guy has two great artists working for him so they can make a mural and hang it up for the world to see,” Penny fired back, referring to the gesture that Bradley had made.
Was that what she wanted? A big romantic gesture so she knew it was safe to fall for him? Safe to tell him how she really felt?
She wasn’t sure. Even if he did something like that, how would she be able to believe it? How would he believe it?
“Maybe I should do something to get his attention,” Lindsey said, biting her lip.
“Lingerie,” Penny reiterated. “Believe me, it works. Men can be brought around to your way of thinking once you have their undivided attention.”
Lindsey swallowed, remembering New Year’s Eve and how that night had worked out exactly the way she’d wanted it to. But since then she’d been struggling to figure out how to get him where she wanted him and not have to risk showing him any more of her weaknesses.
“It’s different with us. Sex is easy. He thinks I was using him as a booty call and he’s got all those scantily clad girls hanging around him,” Lindsey said. But deep down she knew that wasn’t true. She felt closest to him when he held her in his arms after they made love.
“Well, whatever the gesture, you better get moving. He told Will he’s heading back to California on our flight in two days’ time. And you’ve got the ski event and then my awesome party between now and then,” Penny said.
“Maybe I could do something at the party?”
“Like what?” Elizabeth asked. “Given that the last time you two interacted in public it felt like a nuclear meltdown, I think you need a plan.”
“I do need a plan. I need something that shows him that I’ve finally figured out that we belong together.”
“How?”
“Now, that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”
She put her wineglass down and thought again of all the things Carter had done for her and how he’d taken time to help her learn to ski again when he was so busy... But he’d never been too busy for her. Carter had been there for her when she needed him most, and he had been there to catch her when she’d felt like she’d been stumbling around in the dark. Now it was her turn.
It was time to take the ultimate risk. To prove to Carter Shaw, once and for all, that she wanted only one thing for this year, and it was him.
* * *
CARTER AND HIS team were in high spirits, wearing the trademark green-and-gold Thunderbolt colors. The other team had gold with green accents, since Georgina and Stan had sponsored all the events. They were at breakfast in one of the ballrooms set up with two long tables on either side of the room. In the middle of the room were big, round tables draped in green or gold, depending on which team they had sponsored.
The tables in the middle were for the other big sponsors—resorts donating their instructors and their teams to help staff the event—and those tables were slowly filling. Carter stood to one side, smiling and joking with his team. Thunderbolt girls were moving around the room posing for pictures with the attendees.
They had their branded charity event logo on a big drape in the corner. It was set up with a backdrop of the Wasatch Range so that guests could pose for a picture to appear as if they were skiing.
The wounded vets were very popular. Carter was pretty sure that Lane, Duke, Marsalis and Wynn hadn’t had a minute to themselves all morning. Georgina and Stan were making the rounds, with Thunderbolt girls handing out beverages. Lars Usten had invited some of his old ski team cronies and they were all sitting at the head table.
Carter kept watching the room and knew that there was only one person he was looking for: Lindsey. But she had yet to show.
He worried about her, wondering if all the practice runs she’d taken had prepared her for this big run with so many people watching. Granted, it was nowhere near the pressure of the winter games, but this was the first time she’d be skiing in an event. It would bring back memories, he was sure of it.
