“That wasn’t so bad,” I said as we finished putting away the groceries.
“I thought he would have wanted more sugar.”
“Julia was pretty adamant on having him on an organic, healthy diet.”
“I see that.”
Christian raced down the stairs. “I’m ready!”
We were going to hit the slopes; she was going to ski while we snowboarded because apparently, skiing was for girls and snowboarding was for boys.
“Let me get my suit on, I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Dad, look at my board, it’s got skulls on it.”
We waited for Ysabelle and she came out looking like a snow bunny. I had an instant hard on.
“I’m ready.”
“Yeah! Let’s go!”
I had grabbed her around the waist before she exited the door. “What are you trying to do to me?”
She giggled. “Christian is waiting. Come on.”
I groaned.
We hit the easy trail at first and worked our way up to the intermediate. Christian made some friends and asked to go hang out with them. I gave him my cell phone and told him we would meet up at the lodge in a few hours. Ysabelle said the trail was too easy and she wanted to go try the advanced. The lift was high and the takeoff was rough.
“I changed my mind,” she blurted.
“No way, we’re already up here.”
“I don’t want to anymore.”
“Nope, the only way back down is on the trail.”
“No! Did you see all those people who biffed it coming off the lift? I don’t want to eat shit.”
I laughed. “You’re fine.”
“No I’m not. I’m taking it back down.”
“No you’re not. Now come here and get ready.”
She shook her head back and forth instantly. I grabbed her by the waist, trying to support her weight and slid her off.
“Ahhhh!” she screamed until she glided down the stoop and then turned. “Oh! That wasn’t so bad. Sebastian? Sebastian, where did you go? Why are you on the floor?”
“I sacrificed myself for you.”
She chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“That’s because I pretty much carried you off.”
She smiled. “Awe! Let me kiss and make it better,” she teased.
She was a great skier, kept up with me the entire time. I was surprised. I had been doing it since I was a kid and I knew it hadn’t been more than a few years for her. I’m assuming it was associated with VIP, but I didn’t want to know. She was picking up great speed and somewhere along the turn, I lost her. I started to panic; these trails were dangerous if you didn’t know what you were doing.
“Ysa!” I yelled. “Ysabelle?”
No answer.
“Ysabelle, this isn’t funny.” I unlocked my boots from my board. There were miles and miles of snow ahead of us, but there were some trees scattered. I was terrified she might have gotten wrapped around one.
I started running toward that direction and an icy shot to the head stopped me.
“Now that’s funny,” she laughed and I turned following the sound of her voice.
“Oh…Ysa…it’s on,” I warned.
“Bring it!”
I took off running and she shrieked, ducking to the massive pile of rolled up snowballs she had in front of her. She hit me with one right after the other and it slowed me down. Once I got closer to her, she sprinted in the other direction, taking a few snowballs with her.
“You can’t catch me!” she shouted.
She was hysterically laughing and lost her footing. I tackled her to the ground, catching myself before I crushed her with my weight. We fell into a pillow of ice.
“Hi.” She smiled. “I win.”
“You cheated.”
“It doesn’t matter how you win or lose, Sebastian, it’s how you play the game.”
“Oh yeah?”
I grabbed a pile of ice and smashed it in her face. She squirmed, kicking and twisting to try to break free.
“Why are you freaking out? What’s going on?” I taunted, piling more and more snow on her face.
“Okay! Okay! Okay! I cheated. You win.”
I immediately brushed off all the snow and her face was bright ass red. I felt bad.
“I can’t feel my nose.”
“Awe! I’m sorry.” I placed my hands on the sides of her face and blew warm air. “That better?”
She nodded, grinning. I leaned in and kissed all over her face until I reached her mouth. The kiss started off innocent enough, but it quickly became heated and passionate.
“I love you, Ysa. I love you so much. You’re my whole world.”
“I love you, too,” she moaned into my mouth.
I kissed her one last time and pulled myself up, dragging her with me. She stumbled, trying to find her balance.
“Whoa, I’m a little lightheaded.”
I held the woman that I wanted to marry in my arms.
And it took everything in me…
Not to ask.