Sweethearts on the high school ski team, Riley and Jean-Claude always expected to marry and stay together forever. But as they become world-class skiers, they drift apart, and Jean abandons Riley.<br><br>Years later, Jean appears unannounced to train at the resort where Riley works. He's  still charmingly irresistible and physically powerful, and is the US's hope for a second Olympic downhill gold. Once Riley herself expected to win gold, but a skiing accident dashed those hopes. Jean never sent any condolences, and he shattered her heart when he married -- and quickly divorced -- a skier she dislikes.<br><br>Anger and pain flare between them, and Riley ignores Jean's attempts at friendship to insulate herself from further hurt. Yet the old longings and the love they once shared resurface. What will it take for her to come to terms with the past? Or can she?

Snowfall

As he waited in the chilly air with snow dusting his jacket with its individually unique white flakes, he imagined Riley warm and comfy in bed. Unbidden, thoughts of the lighthearted foreplay they’d once shared made his face heat up, signaling he was the one experiencing embarrassment now.


Exploring and tasting each other’s naked bodies had always swelled into an intense and bonding arousalthat made sliding into the tight secret place in her beautiful body explosive. On the ski slopes, she was powerful and all business, but at night in his arms, she was one wild, hot, responsive woman, takingand giving everything she wanted and he needed, leaving their groins slick with sweat when they collapsed after climaxing.


For him, orgasms temporarily erased any interest in fucking, yet she would sleep curled next to him in the aftermath, as if the deep connection with him remained for her.


Cut it out, Merseau, if you want to sleep tonight.


Chapter 5