Chapter 48
NASH
“You’re doing great.” I stay by Sadie’s side as we slowly ski down the intermediate hill for the second time. “How do you feel?”
“Um…”—her skis wobble in front of her—“good, I think. Does it look like I’m in control?”
“Yeah, you’re killing it.”
“I just don’t want to kill me.”
“We’re almost to the bottom. Just keep this pace.”
She goes silent, concentrating on bending her knees and leaning her body for the last few turns until we’re safely at the bottom.
“I did it!” she huffs, pulling her ski goggles onto her helmet so I can see her eyes. “I’m a skier again.”
“You’re a skier again.”
She glances up at the mountain. “I mean, I don’t want to keep doing it, at least not today, but I skied in Zermatt.”
“You sure did.”
I know what a big deal this is for her, and I couldn’t be prouder.
I click out of my skies. “In a way, we both got over our fears today.”
“Oh, yeah?” She follows my lead, clicking out of her skies too. “What were you scared of.”
“Keeping you safe. I was behind you when you got cut off and hit the tree. I saw the whole thing.”
“I bet that was awful.”
“It wasn’t great,” I joke to offset the emotion taking over my eyes.
“Like you said, we both got over a fear today.” Sadie reaches for me with her free hand. I can’t feel it through all the layers, but it still means a lot.
This new version of our relationship swings back and forth between serious and fun. Both are equally important for us to move forward, but I’ve had enough serious for now.
I bend my knees and wrap my arms around her stomach like an offensive lineman.
“Nash!” she yelps as her poles and skis drop into the snow.
I pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder with no real plan of what to do with her—it’s all just part of flirting and dating. A giant snowbank with pure powder seems like the perfect place to drop her. I carry her to the pile of snow, flinging her body into it. She screams even though the landing is like cotton balls. I bodyslam her like they do in WWE and then spend the next twenty seconds trying to defend myself from the snow she shoves into my face. It takes me a second, but I pin her arms above her head, stopping the fight.
“Now, you’re in trouble,” I say, leaning over her.
Her pretty lips pull into a smile. “Or was this my plan all along?”
“You planned to lose our snow fight?”
“No, I planned to get you close.” The flirtation behind her stare has my head swimming with all sorts of ideas.
“Why do you need me close?”
“Do you realize we haven’t kissed?”
The corner of my mouth lifts. “Yes, I’m very aware we haven’t kissed.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Her voice has a challenge, a dare I’d love to take her up on, but in my mind, we’re still taking things slow.
I playfully scrunch my nose. “I’m probably not going to do anything about it.”
“Nash, why won’t you kiss me?”
I lean in, lowering my voice to a whisper. “Because if I kiss you, I won’t be able to stop.”
“Please tell me at some point you’ll change your mind.”
“At some point, I’ll change my mind.”
“Then I’ll wait.”
“You know, while you wait for our big kiss on the lips, I could remind you of other things you liked,” I say as I drag my body off hers.
“Like what?”
“I believe you also loved it when I kissed your neck.”
Sadie smiles mischievously. “Hmm, I don’t remember that. You’ll have to show me.”
I sling my arm around her shoulder. “Deal.”
SADIE
“Hi, Mom!” I answer my cell phone.
“Hi, sweetie. I’m glad we caught you. What are you doing right now? It’s late there, isn’t it?”
“I’m on my chalet balcony.” My eyes drift to Nash. He wags his brows up and down, giving me the feeling he can hear my mom through the phone.
“Just sitting there in the cold?”
“No, I’m by a fire.” Technically, I’m sitting on Nash’s lap, but since I haven’t told my family that I ran into him in Switzerland, it would be hard to explain the lap-sitting.
It’s not that I’m hiding Nash from my family. I just don’t need the added pressure of someone knowing we’re spending time together and asking questions about how it’s going. Focusing on my feelings for him is all I want to do. We’re in our little Switzerland bubble, and that’s how I want it to stay for a bit.
“A fire on the balcony,” my mom gushes. “That’s sounds cozy. I just wish you weren’t alone.”
Nash squeezes my body, hugging me close. “Trust me, I don’t feel alone.”
“Oh, that’s good. What did you do today?”
“Well”—I sit up a little taller—“you’ll be proud to hear that I went skiing.”
My dad cheers in the background, listening in on the call.
“Are you serious?”
I beam at Nash, and he smiles back. “I am serious. I started on the beginner hill and worked my way up to the intermediate.”
“I hope you were careful.”
“I was.”
“And did you wear your helmet?” my dad chimes in.
“Yes, of course.”
“How did you work up the nerve?”
“I had a charming ski instructor. I had to put my best foot forward for him.”
I give Nash a sideways smile, and in return, his hand squeezes the tender part above my knee, which is so ticklish all I can do is jerk my leg out straight to get away. A squeal comes out with my leg jerk, and I quickly cover my mouth with my hand.
“What was that?”
“I thought a bat was flying toward me, but we’re all good.”
Nash’s smile turns wicked, making me think he’s not done interrupting my phone call.
“So where do you go tomorrow?” my dad asks. “You were only two days in Zermatt, right?”
“Tomorrow, I go to Montreux,” I say as Nash kisses my neck. The touch of his warm lips against my skin sends an explosion of chills down my body.
“Is that the one with the Christmas markets and the flying Santa?”
“Mm-hmm.”
I tilt my head, letting Nash’s lips have free rein over the side of my throat. His soft kisses drive me insane with desire. He’s right—I’m a big fan of this.
My, oh my, is it nice.
“Sadie?” The impatience behind my mom’s voice is my first clue that I wasn’t paying attention to her.
“Sorry. What did you ask?”
“How are you getting to Montreux?”
“Train.” I close my eyes as Nash nibbles on the bottom of my ear. His hot breath tickles my skin, and I feel like I just died and went to heaven, or cloud nine, or wherever the best place to be is. That’s where I’m at.
“What are you doing once you get there?”
His lips burn a trail of passion from my earlobe down my jaw and back to my neck. That’s when I decide I’m not a good multitasker.
“Mom, my phone is cutting out. I’ll have to call you tomorrow. Love you guys!”
I end the call and look directly into Nash’s blazing eyes.
“You little liar.”
I could kiss that mischievous smile right off his lips.
“Did you really expect me to be able to concentrate with you kissing my neck like that?”
“Nope.” His grin gets more prominent. “You’re at a huge disadvantage. I know just where and how to kiss you.”
Playfully, I punch his shoulder, which causes him to tickle me. I squirm in his lap until I eventually settle, curled up in a ball with my head on his chest and his arms around me.
“I canceled my room in Montreux,” I say.
“Really?”
“Yep.”
“Where are you going to stay, then?”
My lips drift upward. “I got a note that said, ‘Nash and Sadie. We hope you’re enjoying your time in Switzerland. Should you choose to forego your individual rooms, please use this key to stay as a couple in the fantasy suite.’ I decided to forego my individual room.”
Nash’s chest lifts up and down as he laughs. “You can’t remember me or anything about our three-year marriage, but you can remember—verbatim— The Bachelor fantasy suite note?”
“Some things just stick with you.”
He hugs me closer, pressing a kiss to my head. “I guess I’ll let you stay with me in my fantasy suite.”
“Was it always like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You and me. Did our marriage always feel like this?”
“For me, it did.”
“Did we ever fight? I mean, besides the Nick Jonas night.”
“We were just like any regular couple. We had disagreements.”
“What did we fight about?”
“Stupid little things.”
“No big things?”
“I mean, the biggest thing was probably your family.”
“Why, ‘cause you didn’t like them?”
“No, not that. You’d get annoyed at me whenever I tried to get you to call your parents or pressed you to make up with them.”
I shift my head, looking at him. “I should’ve listened to you instead of getting irritated. You were right to push me toward forgiveness.”
“I could’ve tried harder. Done more. That’s one of my biggest regrets.”
I rest my head on his chest. “Restoring my relationship with my family was the only good thing that came from my accident.”
“It’s not the only good thing.”
“What else?”
“You get to fall in love with me all over again.”
I smile because it’s true.
Not everyone gets to fall in love with their favorite person twice.
But I do.