16
I push my key into the door and swing it open, but the chalet is quiet. The others clearly haven’t made it back yet.
Rory hovers outside after having walked me up to the door, and there’s this awkward moment where we’re standing opposite each other, the doorframe like a defining line between us.
I hang up my coat and lean down to take off my boots for lack of anything else to do, not wanting to close the door on him quite yet.
‘Thanks for today,’ I say, pulling off my left boot. ‘You saved me from an afternoon I’d likely have wasted scrolling on my phone, trawling through travel accounts and planning a grand move to Australia that would never happen.’
‘It’s no problem, I’m glad you weren’t hurt too badly. Reckon you’ll be back on the slopes tomorrow?’
My chest deflates at the mention of tomorrow, making it clear that’s the end of our time together today.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but the fact he showed up here, it’s hardly surprising I’d got my hopes up.
Then I remember that our class hasn’t previously been his only one of the day, and more specifically I remember who he’s taught in the afternoons after us.
‘Tomorrow then, I wouldn’t want to keep you away from anyone important,’ I say, going to pull my other boot off before closing the door.
‘Anyone… what do you mean?’
He seems genuinely confused, and I’d forgotten that I only know who his afternoon lessons are with because I asked Kevin about their history.
I probably should play it off, act like I didn’t mean anything by it, but part of me wants to gauge his reaction so I can know once and for all whether there’s anything going on there.
‘Hey, I’m not one to judge. I’m on holiday with my ex, so it’s not weird that you’re giving yours extra lessons. I’m sure you’re eager to go and meet her. Don’t let me keep you.’
Rory stands still as he considers my words, and part of me is embarrassed for revealing what I found out from Kevin.
But a bigger part of me waits with bated breath for what he’ll say next.
His expression keeps shifting by the smallest of details, and the waiting makes me feel like I might combust despite the chilly air that’s blowing in through the open door.
‘You think I’m leaving you to go and teach Tori?’
I shrug. ‘Aren’t you?’
‘No, I’m not. I cancelled my lesson with her this morning, the same time I asked Kevin to cover for yours.’
‘Oh.’
That’s all I can think of to say. There’s a tension in the silences between our sentences, and I busy myself with removing my other boot as I try and keep my heartbeat from becoming audible.
‘Why did you do that?’
Cancelling this morning’s class I can understand, but how could he have known we would spend so much time hanging out after he arrived here? What if I’d told him I was fine when I was on the balcony, and never even invited him inside?
‘Why do you think?’ he asks, avoiding my question and throwing one back at me instead.
‘I don’t know, Rory. I don’t know what’s going on here, that’s why I’m asking you,’ I say, feeling flustered as I gesture between the two of us.
My cheeks are burning up, and I start yanking off my boot to hide my face. When I do, pulling hard and putting all my weight on my dodgy ankle, the boot comes off more easily than I was expecting. I lose my balance, my weight shifting backwards as I start to fall.
The only thing that stops me landing on my arse, and potentially messing up my ankle even further, are the two hands now grasping me firmly by my shoulders and pulling me back up. Back towards him.
There’s an inch of bare skin between the bottom of my fleece and the top of my leggings, and it’s there that the warmth of his fingers shifts to.
I’m safely back on my feet, but he doesn’t let go, and our faces are so close that all I’d have to do is rise onto the tips of my toes and our lips would touch.
‘You really don’t know?’
His breath is everywhere, the tickle of it on my forehead from where he stands above me makes my spine shiver. I shake my head ever so slightly, so I don’t move away from him.
‘I thought maybe you were just doing your job, checking I’m okay so you can tick a health and safety form?’
He chuckles, and the rush of air from his lips brushes against my now burning cheeks. ‘If that is all I was doing, then why would I be standing here fighting the urge to kiss you?’
His confession hangs in the air between us, and we’re both still as I register his words. I start to wonder again if I hit my head yesterday during my fall, and all this is a delusion.
Is he really admitting that this thing I’m feeling between us is real? That it’s more than the temporary lust from our one night together, passionate in the moment but then sated? Nothing more than a thing of the past.
I’m wondering all of this, when he moves one of his hands up to my face, his fingers lightly caressing my cheek, tracing my jawline down to my lips.
‘I wanted to tell you earlier, before your phone interrupted us, but I’ve been thinking about these lips ever since you left that morning without saying goodbye.
’ His fingers brush over them then, slightly open as I take in shallow breaths.
‘And then when I saw you again… when you turned up in my class of all places, it took everything in me not to kiss you right there, in front of everyone.’
His fingers move, travelling across my face and to the back of my neck.
His hand wraps around it, tugging me closer to him until we’re pressed tightly against each other.
I steady myself by lifting my hands up from where they hang by my sides and resting them on the top of his chest. His heart beats beneath my palm and I can feel the familiar hardness of his chest underneath the thin fabric of his shirt.
I’m speechless as his words echo in my head, but he’s not done yet.
‘I’ve been trying to take this slowly, but I can’t pretend any more that you haven’t been on my mind every minute of those lessons, and every minute outside of them. And I hate that you’re hurt but I’m also grateful it gave me an excuse to come over here to see you and finally do this.’
With two hands he cups the sides of my face and guides my lips to his, pausing right before they touch like he’s waiting for me to let him know this is what I want. But I don’t need more time to be sure. Without a second thought, I close the gap and kiss him.
In the moment where our lips meet everything around me disappears and my body becomes alive with the desire for more. But after one delicate kiss, he pulls away.
I wonder if that’ll be it, but when I open my eyes, that same hunger is reflected in the darkness of Rory’s pupils. The next time he leans in to kiss me, it’s with such force my feet nearly lift off the ground.
Then for a second, I actually am weightless, his arms lifting me so he can step over the doorway that was separating us.
His back foot kicks the door and it slams shut behind us.
Then all I know are hands, and lips, and our feet knocking over all the shoes and other shit that’s scattered over the floor as we move further inside.
‘Bed,’ he mumbles between kisses, and I lead us towards my open door, nearly tripping countless times but never falling because of how tightly he’s keeping hold of me.
It’s as if letting me go so we can find a route to the bedroom that is less hazardous is not an option if it means he has to take his hands off me for even a second. Hands that take my weight so I don’t have to worry about my ankle.
Once we’ve rounded the corner into the bedroom, he turns me around so my chest is facing away from him.
He walks me forwards until I’m pressed against the wood of the closed door.
He pushes his lower body against the small of my back, and I could almost laugh at how similar it is to when I slipped and fell against him on the magic carpet.
His hands move from my waist to my arms, lifting them up and then pinning my wrists together against the wood. With his free hand he brushes the hair away from my shoulder, planting kisses along the side of my neck.
‘Is this all right?’
His breath is hot against my bare skin and I shudder, pressing my body further into his.
‘Are you kidding? I’ve thought about this ever since I left your place. I’ve thought about you doing this to me when I’ve been lying in my bed here,’ I admit, worrying that’s too much.
But he groans near my ear at my confession, and before I know it, he’s released his grip on my wrists and used his hands to spin me back around.
He rests his forearm on the door above my head, his body towering over me as his chest rises and falls with shallow breaths.
His hair is mussed from where my hands have dragged and tugged at it.
‘Tell me,’ he says, his tone commanding. ‘Tell me what you’ve imagined me doing to you there.’
He tilts his head over to the unmade bed to the side of us, and I bite at my bottom lip, embarrassed to admit all the things I thought to myself that first night.
I struggled with the guilt of picturing Rory, when it used to be only Adam who filled my thoughts in those kinds of moments.
It felt wrong, disloyal. But now with Rory here, and the reassurance that he feels the same way about me, I realise there’s no way something that feels this right could ever be wrong.
I duck out from under his arm and walk over to the bed, positioning myself so I’m lying with my head propped up against the headboard.
‘It started like this,’ I say, peering down at the sports leggings and fleece that I’m still wearing. ‘Except I was wearing less clothing.’
‘I can help with that,’ Rory says, taking two long strides, which bring him to the foot of the bed.
He gently lifts my ankles, shifting them up towards me so my knees bend, then he positions himself between my open thighs. I can barely think as his hands travel up to the waistband of my leggings, his fingers dipping beneath the fabric and hooking around it so he can pull them down.
The cold air wraps around every inch of my exposed skin as he drags the leggings off torturously slowly. Once he’s finally removed them completely, he throws them over his shoulder and smirks as he moves closer, his hands circling my thighs and his chin lowering until it’s above my belly button.
‘And then?’ he asks with a wicked look, knowing he’s about to make me say every dirty thought I’ve had about him out loud.
I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it.
I’ve never been the type to be vocal about what I want, happy to let Adam be the one in control, even if there were things I secretly wished he’d do more of.
As if sensing my hesitation, Rory shifts, his lips brushing my stomach as he brings his mouth down to my burning skin.
‘How about I take a guess, and you tell me what to change if the things I’m doing don’t live up to your imagination?’
His hands massage my thighs as he places a line of kisses down my stomach. He pauses before straightening back up, his body moving away from mine and I don’t realise I’m pouting because of the distance until Rory starts to laugh.
‘Don’t worry, I’m just making sure we’re even,’ he says, crossing his arms in front of his chest and removing his shirt in one fluid motion.
Even though I’ve seen it before, I’m no less mesmerised by the muscles that cover every inch of his body. I want to run my hands along them, but before I can sit up and touch him, he’s moved again.
My thoughts are paralysed as he continues his earlier journey down my body, travelling lower and lower.
When I woke up this morning, I never believed this is how my day would go. I swore to myself I wouldn’t let anything like this happen with him, but we’re here now, alone, and no one needs to know.
His tongue brushes against the place I’ve longed to have him again, and I prepare for the utter ecstasy that will be his—
‘Did you hear that?’
Rory freezes, and I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t know what he’s talking about until I hear it too. Voices.
‘Fuck,’ I curse under my breath, manically trying to formulate a plan for how to get him out of here.
Maybe he can climb out of the window? Is there a pipe out there he could shimmy down? I’m about to leap off the bed and grab something from the floor which I could wear on my bottom half, but there isn’t time.
Without knocking, the door starts to open, and a voice travels through the newly exposed gap.
‘Lotts, I’ve been thinking, and I really want to apologise again for earlier. I still think we can wo—’
His word cuts off halfway, and I don’t want to look. I don’t need to look to know that Adam is standing only a few metres away, mouth agape, looking at where Rory is kneeling.
Shirtless.
With his head between my naked thighs.