Page 63 of Wild Heart

“Alright, alright. Who’s next?” Ivy chimed in, attempting to bring the focus back to the game.

I was the happiest I’d been in months.

It was the week after Christmas, and I was taking part in one of the best Christmas gifts I’d ever received. Larry and Wendy Westwood had organized a ski and snowboard trip to Keystone Mountain Ski Resort for the whole family.

Keystone Mountain was a family-owned and operated ski resort in Scarlett Valley, Pennsylvania. Their daughter, Mina, had married into the family years ago.

Larry and Wendy had decided they could support their daughter’s family business at the same time they gave everyone the chance to kick back and have some fun. They’d extended the gift not just to Malcolm, Evelyn, and their grandkids. They’d invited Rhea, Skye, Marco, and me as well. And since his uncle’s funeral had been three days ago, Marco had chosen to come on the trip. There hadn’t been any pressure—everyone understood if it was too much for him—but we were all thrilled he’d come along. For the most part, it seemed he was enjoying himself, too.

We’d arrived late yesterday afternoon, so today had been our first full day at the resort. Following a big breakfast this morning, we all got our gear on and spent the day on themountain. Everyone had a blast, and now, after a long day of skiing and snowboarding in the cold winter weather and a warm, hearty dinner, we were looking for the fun to continue.

So, we’d decided on a game of Trivial Pursuit. And if there was one thing the Westwood siblings—especially the boys—were known for, it was their competitive spirits. Wendy Westwood had paired us up into teams of two, and she wanted us to be opposite sex teams.

Naturally, Wyatt and Rhea teamed up, as did Cooper and Skye. Then it was Jules and Marco, Ivy and Liam, and Tate and me.

Tate and I had been getting along well, too. Things were much better between us. I was beyond grateful I’d approached him and fixed the situation between us early Christmas morning. Knowing things weren’t perfect, but that we were both going to try to work on becoming friends again, had alleviated so much tension, and we were able to enjoy the day with the entire family. We didn’t actively avoid one another, and we even sat beside each other during dinner.

Since we’d arrived in Scarlet Valley, things had been improving more. We’d spent a good deal of time talking and laughing with everyone in the family during any of the group conversations.

Of course, I’d noticed Tate’s ability to find time alone with me wasn’t diminished. And in each of those instances, he didn’t hesitate to flirt. His flirting had been elevated to a level I’d never experienced from him before in my life, and it had started when I ran into a technical difficulty with my gear while we were on the mountain.

“This is the story of my life,” I muttered, struggling with the zipper on my jacket.

“Do you want me to help?” Skye asked, moving toward me carefully at the top of the lift we’d all just exited.

I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. I’ll get it. You guys can go down ahead of me, and I’ll catch up.”

“Well, this isn’t exactly my forte,” Rhea chimed in. “Even if you’re up here another ten minutes struggling with that and I start my descent now, you’ll likely still pass me.”

“Oh, you’re not that bad,” I insisted, still struggling with my jacket.

“Tell that to my legs. We’ve only gone down twice, and I’m already exhausted.”

“It gets easier,” Jules assured her.

Ivy didn’t hesitate to chime in and offer some encouragement, too. “Yep. I remember when I was first learning. I thought it was hopeless.”

“Hey, what’s going on?” I looked up from my jacket and zipper along with the girls and saw the guys making their way in our direction. Wyatt continued, “Are we heading down or what?”

“In a minute,” Rhea answered. “Ava’s fixing the zipper on her jacket.”

Nobody else seemed to give it a second thought, but Tate couldn’t let it go. He made his way over to me and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I let out a frustrated sigh, dropping my hands to my sides. “Ugh, all I wanted to do was get out some lip balm and apply it before we went down the trail. I had it tucked in the inside pocket of my jacket, but now the zipper is stuck. I can’t get it up or down.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Tate muttered. He brought his hands to my zipper and began fiddling with it while I was busy trying to process what he’d just said and making sure nobody else had heard. When I returned my attention to him, Tate’s eyes were focused on me, his lips twitching. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Pardon?”

“Since when are you shy? I would have expected you to be the one to say something like that.”

He wasn’t wrong. But it seemed I was struggling these days to feel even a smidgen of confidence when it came to teasing Tate. There was far too much at stake to risk going too far with it.

Ignoring him, I glanced back down at the zipper. Sure enough, with a bit of finesse, Tate managed to get it unstuck and opened for me.

“How did you do that?”

“What? Unzip your jacket?” he countered. When I gave him a nod, he said, “You’re crazy if you don’t think I’d do anything necessary to get you out of your clothes.”