Alex and Jordan have been chasing me on their skis for the last hour and a half. They were on me from the moment I stepped out of the lodge. And now they’ve finally succeeded in cornering me.

“That’s our money that went into your good night, yo,” says Jordan, cutting off my escape route into the woods. He knows if he lets me skate past him, he is not going to be able to get close to me ever again. “You’re, like, obligated to tell us how it went. What happened.”

I ski right past his weak attempt at blocking me. “I don’t remember that being part of the deal,” I answer, aware of my brother hovering back and to the other side of Jordan. “You wanted me to forget about Darla, and I forgot about her.” I zip down a bit of an incline, purposely spraying some snow in Jordan’s face. “Mission accomplished.”

Jordan shakes off the snow, and flips me the bird. I return fire lazily, which pisses him off more. He skates down toward me. “That wasn’t a five-dollar fuck, yo. We deserve some details.” He pauses, looking frustrated at more than just the snow that’s melting into his jacket. Into his uncovered spots. “I mean, at least give me something, man!”

Alex coasts up to me, whispering, “He didn’t get any girl to take his bid, so his bed was empty.”

A snowball collides with the side of my brother’s head almost instantaneously. “Hey! You said you wouldn’t tell him that!”

“Seriously, though,” says my brother, talking over Jordan and his temper tantrum. “He’d like to hear something about what it was like with her, brother.” He pats me on my snow-dusted shoulder. “At least so he knows our money went to a good cause. And so we won’t have to listen to him whine and cry anymore.”

I sigh, throwing my hands up in defeat. “Fine. It was great.” Just thinking about Mariah — her silky, pliable body — makes me grin like an idiot. “Well worth the money. Every dollar of it.” I shrug, deciding to leave my brother behind in the powder. “Happy?”

“Yeah,” says Alex, bringing up the rear. “I guess I understand you not wanting to go into too many details.” Behind me, I hear his ski poles poking gentle holes in the snow. “I bought her friend. You know, Jane?”

I swivel around to face him. “Yeah?”

Alex blushes deeper than a summer sunset. “Well, she was worth it, too,” he mumbles. “When she said that she was open to anything, she meant it…”

If my brother says anything more after that, I have no idea.

My attention has just been inextricably drawn to the skiing area down below. To the field the snow closer to the lodge. Mariah is down there, ordering herself a cup of hot cocoa. Jane’s with her, holding her own hot drink. “I’m going to go talk to her,” I say suddenly, not caring if Alex is still going on about his own night.

Jordan rushes up toward us. “Who?”

“Mariah.” Without wasting another second, I dig my ski poles into the side of the hill, and launch myself down a barely-visible path toward her.

“You’ve got it bad, yo,” shouts Jordan, coming to stand right where I just was.

Alex calls down after me, “You really like her, don’t you?”

“I’m not getting serious about her,” I shout back, not bothering to stop my skis. “I just like hanging out is all!”

“Suuure, whatever you say, dude!” I crouch on my skis, gaining more speed and distance. That’s right, Paul. Keep your fucking head on right. As I tear down the slope toward Mariah, I try to steel myself from her sugar-plum personality. You’re not serious about any woman, virgin or not, remember? I grunt, forcing my skis to go faster. You don’t do relationships, remember?

I do remember, but that was before Mariah. It might not be that easy anymore.

 

***

 

Mariah’s face lights up the minute she sees me. A smile bigger than the sun beams across her lips, warming and brightening her entire body.

“Paul!” She giggles, as if I’m her most favorite playmate in the whole world. Even more fun than her girlfriend, who is just a few feet away. “Oh my gosh! It’s so good to see you!”

Just like when I first met her, Mariah’s in her ski gear. Snow pants, snow jacket, goggles and knit cap. She’s so damn cute even when dressed in winter clothes.

“I was just going to go do some skiing!” She wiggles her skis at me. “I was going to try some of the most difficult, black double diamond slopes. Since I’m feeling so adventurous these days.” She pauses, drinking from my eyes like it’s a bigger, sweeter cup of hot chocolate than the one she’s already holding. “What about you?”

“Same.” I try to sound nonchalant. Like I wasn’t rushing down here to see her. “Just doing something so that when I warm up in the hot tub it’ll be extra nice.”

Mariah hits me with a smoldering grin. “‘Extra nice,’ huh?” She brings up her cup of cocoa and finishes it. “Before or after you get me and you in front of one of the underwater jets?”

“Well, kitten” — I snatch her empty cup of cocoa with playful, mocked irritation — “That all depends on you.” I shake the empty cup at her, watching out of the corner of my eye as Alex and Jane meet up not far away, and engage in their own conversation. “More hot cocoa?” I ask hotly.

She refuses wordlessly, biting her lip.

“You know,” I whisper, discarding the still warm Styrofoam cup, “I’ve tried those jets, Mariah.” I brush my finger down her chin and over her lips. “They’ll loosen you up. Even in your tightest, smallest places.”

Mariah hums as if she’s already in front of such a waterjet, testing its patterns on her bare skin.

“Oh, yeah,” I say, egging her imagination. “You’ll be wide open in no time.”

Just as I’m about to kiss Mariah on her plump and shiny lips, I see Darla, the Barbie from hell, making her way toward us. She’s got skis on, but it’s clear from her scowl and the way she skewers Mariah with it that she’s jealous. She looks at me, torn between being flustered and angry. Possessive and uninterested.

Tellingly, her boy toy isn’t with her. She must’ve left him up in the room like a caged canary, like she tried to do with me. But I’m not a canary; I’m a fucking lion, and she found that out the hard way.

I watch her, preparing to slink away if she so much as opens her mouth.

Mariah, thank God, seems not to have noticed Darla. She’s too busy playing with my hair. Particularly the longer bits by my ears. Also with my tattoos. The little bit of one that she can make out on my wrist.

As I fear, the moment Darla comes close enough to us, she reaches out to me. I scoot away. “Paul,” she begins, “I’d like to —”

Without waiting for her snake tongue to wrap around me even more, feed me more poison and more lies, I grab Mariah and head away with her.

“Are you ready to hit those black double diamonds together now, babe?” I ask Mariah, making my voice extra sweet, extra protective, just to piss Darla off. To give her the verbal finger. “I’ll show you some advanced moves. Just like I did last night.”

“Sure!” By Mariah’s playful and happy tone, it seems I’ve dodged the bullet of her realizing my ex is here, as well as the fact that she just tried to sideswipe into our time.

“Okay,” I say, matching her carefree tone. “Let’s go.”

My tone may be light, but my hold on Mariah is not. It’s strong and unmoving, so I can get her and myself the fuck out of here.