ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) by Elisa Elliot Read Free Book Online Page B

away.”
    He nodded and I hoped he got the hint that none of this was for him.
    “You’re good to go,” he said. Now remember—“
    “I know,” I interrupted him. I wanted to cut the one-on-one time with him as short as possible.
    I pushed off, nearly lost my balance, but managed to fix it and I slid down the slope. I went from side to side in hair pin turns so I wouldn’t go too fast. The other three girls cheered me on at the bottom.
    “That was amazing!” I cried out when I got to the bottom.
    “We have to go out for cocktails again tonight to celebrate this,” Ashleigh said. My hangover was a thing of the past and we all agreed. We would suffer again in the morning, but that was the thing about alcohol. You always went back for more.
    “Even when some of us fell on our faces,” Ella quipped and Ashleigh shoved her into the snow. We went a couple of times more, and every time it was easier and more fun. By the time the sun was setting we’d all picked up our speed quite a bit and no one was falling anymore.
    “Let’s get back to the hotel,” Kate said, out of breath. “I’m bushed. And hungry.”
    “I want to get to town again,” Ella said.
    I shook my head. “I want to go again.”
    “We’ll come back tomorrow,” Ash offered. “George already left.” I shook my head.
    “One more time, what’s going to happen? I won’t be long.”
    They started to protest but I turned my back on them and skied to the chairlift. They didn’t have to wait for me if they didn’t want to, I could make my own way to the hotel and join them for drinks. I just wanted to go down the slope one more time. The sunset was beautiful, casting smudges of orange and pink across the snow as it reflected the light. I wanted to be wrapped in it again.
    I took the chairlift and at the top of the slope I straightened myself out and slid down the snow. I went faster this time, looser turns. The wind whipped around me, nipping at my nose and my skin felt numb. This was the fastest I’d gone all day.
    Suddenly there was another person in front of me, going really slow. I pushed the back of my skis out and my toes in, to brake, like George had taught us, but I was going way too fast. I was going to collide with him if I didn’t turn out. There was only one way for me to turn with the direction I was going, and I bent my knees and leaned hard to the right.
    I missed the man by a hair. I’d been so close I’d seen the whites of his eyeballs. We’d both been sure it was going to be a collision.
    The man was safe, but I wasn’t out of danger yet. I was heading for the edge of the slope, the small rise marking the edges lifted me into the air and I was airborne for a moment, trying to move my legs and keeping my balance. I landed okay but I was between the trees now, and still unable to stop, going faster and faster down the slope that was a lot steeper now.
    I screamed, leaning from side to side to dodge trees. I managed to miss four, but then a huge pine tree jump up in front of me and I was too late and too inexperienced to do something about. I hit it full on. A sharp ache shot through my body and I saw white and black spots that melted everything in front of me together in a blur. The tree had been enough to hurt me but not to stop my momentum. I crashed through the trees, tumbling into the snow. I lost one ski, and then the other. I hit another tree trunk with my shoulder and it knocked my breath out of me. My body spun and I crashed into a trunk horizontally, with my torso wrapped around the tree. I gasped for breath, acutely aware of the ache in my shoulder and the burn in my lungs. I couldn’t see anything, and my head felt like it was swimming in the pool of black that wrapped itself around me.
    And finally dragged me under.
    By the time I opened my eyes again, everything was dark. The trees around me were black pillars and I couldn’t even see the sky above me. The night was a bluish-black and I tried to guess what the