Carry Your Heart by Audrey Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

skier, one I knew from races—Joe Byrne. He lopes over—short and densely muscled, Joe’s a U.S. champion who has broken both his ankles twice. You’d never guess. He doesn’t walk; he springs on the balls of his feet like Tigger.
    “Hey, kids,” Joe says. His eyes settle on me. “Holy shit, Pippa Baker. It’s good to see you.” He puts his tray next to Hunter’s and pulls out my chair and yanks me onto my feet and into a warm, crushing hug.
    “Holy fucking shit,” Joe repeats. He looks at me when he lets me go. “Where the hell have you been?”
    “College,” Lottie says.
    “Really? What’s your major?”
    “I’m not sure. Physical therapy, maybe.”
    Joe stares at me. “You gonna be able to keep up with that while you’re doing this?”
    I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m doing this kind of as a one-off. We’ll see how it goes.”
    Joe smiles. “Yeah right.”
    “What?”
    “I know you.”
    “And?”
    “You’re going to do one race and just head out?” Joe laughs. “Come on. That’s totally unrealistic.”
    “I’m not that competitive.”
    Lottie and Joe both burst out laughing.
    “I’m not,” I tell Hunter, the only one still listening.
    “Nah, you look kind of psycho, Phillippo. I wouldn’t want to get in your way.” The grin playing on his face suggests he’s gotten he’s confidence back enough to tease me.
    “I thought I looked like a lost cause.”
    He keeps smiling, albeit a little less broadly. “I told you. I’m a douchebag. Nobody should listen to me.”
    Joe glares at Hunter. “How have you already been a douchebag to her?”
    “She met me at an airport. On an airplane in fact.”
    “Ah, then it doesn’t count,” Joe smiles. “He’s terrified of flying.”
    “I’m not terrified of it. I just don’t like it. I don’t like spinach, either—doesn’t mean I’m fucking terrified of it.”
    Joe grins. “Total nutcase about it. He always tries to get himself kicked off the plane so he has to drive.”
    “That’s not true.”
    “That is absolutely true. Denver, Whistler, Jackson—every single time I’ve flown with you, you’ve tried to get kicked off the flight. You have a straight-up phobia of planes.”
    “I’m not—whatever,” Hunter shakes his head.
    “I have a serious question,” Lottie says.
    Hunter smiles slightly and turns his green eyes to look at her. It gives me the opportunity to stare at him without him knowing. He reaches down for his fork and using it to gesture says: “Shoot, Lottie. I’m all ears.”
    There’s something adorable about the way he says it, the way he smiles, holding the fork, swiveling it around in one hand, that makes me want to interrupt, so I can be the one talking to him.
    I realize that I am developing a mild crush on this infuriating person. You know what that is? Annoying . That I’m even capable of having a crush on someone so unlike Danny—so much louder and more abrasive—suggests that I have finally lost it. Really, completely lost it. You cannot like someone like this. After eighteen months of certainty that Danny was the single love of my life—a few sentences, most of them not very nice—and I have a crush on Hunter fucking Dawson.
    I swallow thickly. Danny, Danny, Danny.
    But I can’t even imagine what Danny would say about this. So, he doesn’t say anything. I can’t quite conjure up a mental image of him smiling.
    “What are you doing in Snowbird? If you’re so bored and there’s no competition…” Lottie asks.
    He rolls his shoulders. “Had to get out of Whistler for a bit.”
    “Why?”
    He shrugs again. “Just felt like trying something new. Got itchy.”
    “Itchy?”
    He smiles. “When I get itchy, I usually get into trouble. And I’m trying not to fuck anything up this year, so…” He glances at Joe. “I guess Mike thought hanging with a bunch of skiers would help. Plus, my family’s nearby.”
    He turns back to look at me and his phone starts to ring. He lets it