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  “Right,” Elise agreed. “We both have to focus on having our fun, right?”

  Corey’s grin wasn’t quite as exuberant now. “We also have this moment. We’re in the same place. At the same time. With all the fun for the day behind us.”

  “Maybe not all the fun,” Elise said, leaning down and nipping at Corey’s bottom lip. “I’m feeling an urgency for more cardio.”

  “The season is fast approaching. If you think another workout is in order, I wouldn’t stand in your way.”

  “No,” Elise agreed. “We’re always supportive of joint workouts, but I think your hoodie is restrictive.”

  Corey shed it without further comment. “I hadn’t wanted to bring it up, but your cuddle duds aren’t as supportive of our training as they could be, either.”

  Elise reached between them and grabbed the hem of her long-sleeve gray shirt. Then, beginning a little shimmy that sent a thrill to the point where their bodies connected, she slowly started to raise up the garment over her beautiful torso.

  “Knock, knock,” someone called as she rapped her knuckles on the door to the suite. “Elise, are you in there?”

  “Tigger,” Corey groaned as if someone had dunked her who-ha into another ice bath.

  “If we ignore her, will she go away?” Elise whispered.

  She knocked again. “Hey, Paolo and Holly said to meet them here.”

  Elise hung her head. “It’s like we’ve adopted an overgrown three-year-old, and all her friends invited themselves for a play date.”

  “Be right there,” Corey called, then kissed Elise one more time. “You go ahead and get changed. I’ll handle first shift with the baby.”

  “Thanks.” Elise smiled tightly as she extracted herself from Corey’s embrace. “Please tell me we’ll get back to whatever we were about to do here.”

  Corey nodded and tried to use her most nonchalant voice even though every nerve ending in her body screamed, raw from the need for release. “Sure, it’ll happen when it’s meant to.”

  • • •

  “To the future!” Tigger raised her glass of sparkling water.

  Nate clinked it with his beer bottle. “To the season ahead.”

  “To the next step.” Holly added her wine glass.

  “To living the life,” Paolo contributed.

  “To comebacks,” Corey said confidently.

  They all turned to Elise, and she raised her glass, knowing she had to offer up something more than a simple toast, a wish, a hope, not only for herself but something to hold them all over until they found each other again. She opened her mouth, not sure what she’d say until the words spilled out. “To real friends.”

  They all paused with every glass raised, each making eye contact, memorizing one another’s smiles, and imprinting the warmth of the moment to hold them over on the long, cold stretches of work and competition ahead.

  Tigger broke first, likely because she didn’t yet understand how rare these moments were. Elise envied her naiveté.

  “How much longer will you stay down here?”

  “We’ll stay another few weeks, then head back to Park City for a November first check-in,” Elise said, as casually as she could muster. One more hurdle, one more hoop to jump through. One more medical check to clear her to compete. On one hand, three more weeks felt like an eternity when all her friends were already so far ahead, but on the other hand, three weeks didn’t seem like nearly enough time to get to where she wanted to be before that check-in.

  Corey moved her hand under the table to let it rest lightly on Elise’s thigh, before saying, “Then where do you start your season?”

  “We’ll train the last two weeks in Lake Louise, Canada, before the season opens there December first.”

  “Hey, we’re in Lake Louise in December, too,” Tigger exclaimed, but before anyone else at the table had a chance to feel much excitement, Holly said, “Not until the twentieth.”

  “We’ll be in France by then,” Paolo said, making it clear the two of them had already compared calendars.

  “Oh,” Tigger said, with a frown. “We leave for Austria in the middle of November and don’t come back until the middle of December. I don’t even get a full week off until Christmas, and even then my mom wants to travel to some place fancy in France ahead of our January races.”

  “Welcome to the big leagues,” Nate said dryly. “They ain’t what they used to be.”

  “Even I’m going to the team camp in Austria these days,” Corey said.

  “You’re not going home?” Elise asked.

  “I’ll be there for a few weeks, but it doesn’t make sense to stay in Lake Henry waiting for snow when I can be on the glaciers right next door to where we’ll be racing when the season opens,” Corey explained, not going into any of the details about her fear that with extra practice the kid and God knows who else might pass her up this year. “I’ll head home for two weeks at Christmas, though. What about you?”

  “I usually stay in Europe—”

  “Usually,” Paolo said. “But I’ve been meaning to mention it might be a good idea to go back to Lake Henry this year.”

  “Why would a trip back to the states make sense between a mid-December race in France and a January race in Austria?”

  “Because all the trainers, coaches, and USSA officials will be there for meetings the week after the holiday. They’ll no doubt discuss Olympic team slots, and if you’re there, they can see you work out.”

  “And you can try to browbeat them if I haven’t had great results on the tour.”

  Paolo raised his hands in defense. “I didn’t say that.”

  “You didn’t have to. We’ll have had two races before then, and if I do well, there won’t be any question as to my place on the team.”

  Corey tightened her grip on her thigh, causing Elise to glance over at her. She saw none of her own tension reflected in her expression.

  “Also,” Corey said with a smile, “bonus: Your favorite workout partner will be in town.”

  “So will Paolo’s favorite person in the whole world,” Holly added with a smile much more suggestive than Corey’s.

  “A much happier bonus,” Paolo said.

  “I see.” She pretended to pout even in the face of Paolo’s love-struck grin. “The LaCroix sisters are the reason you want to add thousands of miles to our already hectic season.”

  “They are two of many reasons,” Paolo said, with as much seriousness as he could muster, but she felt certain he and Holly were playing footsie under the table. Then again, they weren’t the only ones. Corey ran her fingertips along the seam of Elise’s jeans from her knee to mid-thigh, not quite high enough to be scandalous, but enough to distract her from her frustration.

  “I suppose two races isn’t very many for the powers-that-be to see before they all get together at the new year,” she finally said. “A few publicly supervised workouts wouldn’t hurt.”

  Everyone smiled but Tigger, who’d either missed the subtext of the discussion or felt sad at being the only member of the group not going home for the holidays. Elise would’ve felt sorry for her if she wasn’t also partially relishing the thought of a few days with Corey, even if they were two months from now. Would that be their lives from now on? A few days every few months? She’d never had anything more with any of her other lovers, and the idea had never bothered her. Why did the concern weigh on her mind now, with so many other events and challenges between now and then?

  She was still pondering the question half an hour later as they all headed back to the hotel.

  “Nightcap, anyone?” Nate asked as they reached the lobby.

  “I can’t,” Tigger said with a sigh. “My mom already let me stay out later than usual tonight. I bet she’s sitting watching the clock and checking our flight schedule for tomorrow.”

  He laughed, then turned to Paolo and Holly. “I know you two are out, must go shack up one more time before the big departure.”

  “Shack up?�
� Paolo asked. “Is that what we’re doing?”

  Holly wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. “That and so much more, honey.”

  “Adios,” Paolo said, and led her quickly away.

  “I’m going to call it a night, too,” Elise said, making eye contact with Corey in a way she hoped made it clear she didn’t intend to go alone.

  She must’ve gotten the message, because she gave a big stage yawn and said, “Me too. I’m beat. Why don’t you go ahead and make sure the kid gets home? I’ll see you both in the morning.”

  Nate shrugged. “Okay. It’s me and you on the long walk home again.”

  “Night, guys,” Tigger called as they walked away. Corey and Elise stood in the lobby for several long seconds until they were out of view.

  “I’m not that tired,” Elise finally said.

  “Yeah, not even a little bit,” Corey said.

  “Your room or mine?”

  “Mine’s closer,” Elise said.

  “And bigger,” Corey added.

  “And nicer.”

  “What are we waiting for?”

  The elevator doors barely closed behind them before their lips locked. The ride up five floors had never been so short or warm, and they almost missed the little bell signaling their arrival. Wrenching themselves apart only at the last second, they both did a poor job of acting natural as they speed-walked down the hallway.

  They stumbled, groping and fumbling across the room to the couch, and Corey started to ease her down, but Elise held them both up. She needed more space to do what she’d spent all evening thinking about doing. They would need every inch of the glorious, king-size bed.

  “Easy, snowboarder,” she teased, pulling away from the kiss only enough to keep breathing hot and fast against Corey’s neck. “No hard landings tonight. Let’s go to the bedroom.”

  Corey nodded and kissed her throat, nipping and sucking the sensitive skin in a way that sent the most delicious chills down her spine. Elise stepped slowly backward, leading her along with little kisses across her cheek, and tantalizingly brushed her fingers under the bottom of Corey’s shirt. She wasn’t sure who enjoyed the touching more, because as she traced the line of Corey’s amazing lower abs, she had visions of running her tongue along the same path.

  Then all contact between them broke as Corey wrenched away.

  Elise’s eyes flew open as she struggled to process the withdrawal and the screaming need it sent through every nerve ending.

  “I can’t,” Corey panted.

  “What?”

  “We have to stop.”

  Elise couldn’t make the answer compute. “Why?”

  “I can’t, um, I can’t do it.” She exhaled and ran her hands through her hair.

  “Like physically can’t? You only had one glass of wine at dinner.”

  “What?” Corey blinked a few times, then shook her head. “No, no, no, trust me. Performance issues aren’t a problem here, now or, I mean, ever when you’re around, but it’s already late. I have a five a.m. flight tomorrow morning. I have to leave here before four.”

  Elise caught her by the waistband of her jeans and tugged her forward once more. “You can sleep on the plane.”

  “No. Sweet Jesus, this isn’t about sleep.”

  “What’s it about then?”

  “You,” Corey said softly. “I have to leave you in five hours, and that’ll be hard enough as it is. Harder than it should be, and I don’t want to do it knowing I left something half done.”

  “Half done?” Elise asked.

  “When I finally get you into bed, I’m going to want more than one go at it. I don’t want to rush like some teenagers in the backseat of a car. Or maybe we will the first time, but not the second or the third.”

  “Second or third?” Elise repeated as she sank onto the couch, or at least she thought she said the words aloud, but she couldn’t hear them over the rush of blood in her own ears. “Are you saying you don’t want to sleep with me once because you won’t get to do it again?”

  “Yeah. When you say it like that, it sounds epically dumb, but I actually meant I don’t want to sleep with you yet, because I want to wait for a time when we have time to take our time.”

  “You have to give me a second, because you caught me off guard.”

  “Me too,” Corey admitted. “I didn’t plan this, and if me-from-three-months-ago could hear me tonight, she’d kick my ass, but after all the talk at dinner of going our separate ways, it doesn’t feel right. You deserve better, and maybe for the first time in my life, I want better for myself, too.”

  Elise hung her head and tried to roll out the tension. What could she say? She didn’t think they deserved better? Of course they did, but better wasn’t an option for them. They had no guarantees. What happened to living in the moment?

  Corey sat down beside her and took her hand. “We’ll be home for a week at Christmas.”

  “Christmas?” Elise asked. “You think we’re going to feel this way at Christmas?”

  Corey grimaced. “I suppose I was presumptuous to assume you’d still want me two months from now.”

  “No.” Elise shook her head. “That sounded bad. I didn’t mean I wouldn’t want you, but it’ll be mid-season. The pressure will be so strong. Everyone will be watching me. I won’t be on vacation. It’ll be a training holiday. I’m going there to work. That’s the only reason I agreed to travel.”

  “The only reason?” Corey asked, her eyes searching Elise’s. “Christmas in the Adirondacks with the LaCroix clan didn’t factor into the decision at all?”

  She pursed her lips. “I suppose there’s one LaCroix sister I considered in the deal.”

  “It’s Meg, right? You want to meet Meg?”

  Elise laughed, once again impressed with Corey’s ability to lighten her mood even under the most frustrating circumstances.

  “I won’t pressure you,” Corey said, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead. “I’ll try not to make assumptions, but I’m going to ask Santa for you in my bed on Christmas morning.”

  “What if he can’t deliver?”

  “I know I’m supposed to say I’ll understand, but honestly I will probably regret this moment for the rest of my life. Like I said, ‘no pressure.’”

  Elise shook her head. Of all the surprises she’d experienced with Corey over the last few months, this one had to take the cake. She wanted to be mad. No woman had ever turned her down. Not ever. She liked to be the one to set the terms, and everyone else gladly accepted them. Then again, that’s a big part of what drew her to Corey. She wasn’t like anyone else in her life. Why should she expect sex with her to be any different? And if Corey could back up her promise for many hours and multiple times with the passion they brought to every other interaction they’d shared . . . the frustration overwhelmed her again, burning up her chest, but it went only surface deep and stemmed partly from having to admit Corey was probably right, again.

  “You’re not who I thought you were the first day in the cafeteria,” she finally said.

  “Maybe I’m not who I thought I was then, either.”

  “I’m not sure I like you acting as the reflective, logical one in this friendship.”

  “I know, right?” Corey asked. “I hate responsible Corey. She’s a buzzkill.”

  “I don’t know,” Elise said, running her fingers through Corey’s thick, soft mane of golden hair. “She’s frustrating, but also kind of endearing. Everyone’s always wanted whatever they can get from me, whenever they can get it. I can’t think of a single person in my life, with the exception of maybe Paolo, who cared enough to invest long-term.”

  Corey leaned in until their foreheads touched and closed her eyes. “Okay,” she murmured. “Maybe responsible Corey isn’t such an asshole after all.”

  Elise smiled and inhaled the deep, rich scent of her, cotton and pine, so comfortable, probably too comfortable. She’d made peace with them as friends, and then as friends with
the potential for some pleasurable benefits, but the sensation stirring in her chest now hinted at something much deeper, something she feared would linger long after the feel of Corey pressed against her had faded.

  Chapter 11

  December 6, 2017

  Montafon, Austria

  Corey’s vision flashed red as sweat poured down her back in rivulets. She engaged every stabilizer muscle in her body to hold her form under the onslaught of g-forces, and the Russian snowboarder leaned heavily into her path as they cleared the final turn.

  She tightened her jaw, bent her knees, flattened her board, and lowered her head. Gravity would be her friend here, or it wouldn’t; there were no more technical maneuvers to make. Her stocky build offered her a genetic blessing in the race to the finish. Heavy and compact might not make the most of big air, but it never hurt when someone tried to push her off-track on a downhill run. She felt solid and steady, as if the finish line were racing toward her instead of the other way around, but she took nothing for granted, and refused to so much as glance over her shoulder until the tip of her board crossed the line.

  One advantage to having someone practically on top of her at the very end was that she could easily see she’d been the one to get there first. The officials could check the cameras or the sensors, but as soon as she threw her board sideways and rocked back on her heels, the relief washed over her. All the adrenaline and endorphins instantly transitioned from her fight-or-flight instincts to pure biochemical jubilation.

  Raising one fist in the air, she gave a shout of joy and searched the crowd for Holly. She came pushing up to the snow fence, and they fell together, cheering and laughing.

  The announcer came over the loudspeaker to confirm what Corey had already known. She’d taken first place. The Russian had come in second, and a Swede had come in third.

  “One race. One win.” Holly shouted to be heard over the raucous crowd echoing through the Alps. Corey turned to shake hands with her fellow finishers when she noticed Tigger getting slowly to her feet.

  “Shit.” She’d forgotten about her the minute they’d left the gate. They’d been on opposite poles of the starting line, and she hadn’t seen her once since she broke out. Tigger must’ve been behind the pack for the entire race.