Pride

Unfortunately, Adam had other ideas.

“Can you believe Kane? Grinning at me like that? As if nothing had ever happened?”

Harper sighed and rolled toward Adam, wrapping her arms around him.

“Maybe you should try not to think about it so much,” she suggested. “I hate to see you like this.”

“I can’t stand it!” Adam raged. “I mean, what does she even see in him?”

Harper just clung to him tighter and tried to ignore his words and their meaning. They had never really talked about what had happened between Adam and Beth, and Harper liked it that way. Because that way she could pretend that he’d forgotten. Moved on. That he only cared about Harper and what she wanted.

“He’s been with so many women,” Adam continued. “He’s a slut, you know? Can a guy be a slut? Because he is-and she just fell for it. Like he’ll treat her any better than the rest of them.” He snorted. “Someone like that will never change.”

Almost unnoticeably, Harper stiffened and pulled away. It was that word. Slut. Not that she thought she-or that Adam-saw her as-

The thing was, Harper was no vestal virgin. She didn’t regret any of the things she’d done-even if she had, she could never take them back. She’d never be Beth-and if that’s what he wanted…

“Hey, where are you going?” Adam asked, finally noticing that she was slowly easing away from him. He placed a warm hand on her cheek and grazed his fingers down her neck. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking about this. It’s not fair to you.”

“No.” She sat up, pulling him up next to her, and took both of his hands in hers. “I want you to talk about whatever you need to. You can say anything to me. You know that.”

He gave her a mischievous smile. “Does that mean I’m allowed to call you ‘Gracie’ as much as I want?” he asked, knowing how much she hated the childhood nickname.

“Only if I’m allowed to tickle you as much as I want!” she shot back, and launched herself at him, wrestling him onto his back as he shook with laughter. Finally, she took pity on him and quieted him with a long, deep kiss. It went on and on-and though she’d promised herself that she would wait just a bit longer, until they were up in the mountains, away, alone, and everything was perfect, she didn’t want to pull away. His lips were so soft, his kiss so firm, and their bodies felt so right together, as if each had been designed with the other in mind.

So, after several long minutes, it was Adam who pulled away first, breathless. He brushed a lock of hair away from her face and kissed her lightly on the forehead. It was a cold, clear night, and as she lay against the cool granite, she could see her dark bedroom window. How many nights had she come home alone and gazed out at the backyard, at the rock where she and Adam used to play as children, wishing she were out there with him again? And how many of those nights had he been in his own room, only a few yards away-with Beth?

“Harper, I just want you to know,” Adam murmured softly in her ear, “I love-”

Her heart stopped beating.

“-being here with you,” he concluded.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them slowly, gazing into his clear, trusting eyes. So he loved… being with her.

It wasn’t everything-but it was a beginning.

Chapter 4

Adam had been waiting desperately for the chance to get away from everything, to clear his head. It had been such a confusing autumn, everything falling apart so suddenly, the world he thought he knew turning upside down. He just wanted to get away from it all: the classes, the pressure, the people. He was hoping he and Harper could have a long, quiet, romantic weekend to figure everything out, to be together, leave school and all that baggage behind.

But that’s the thing about school trips: the rest of the school has a nasty habit of coming along.

“Dude, I am going to tear up those slopes!”

Which is, Adam supposed, how he’d ended up stuffed in the back of a school bus with a bunch of his basketball “buddies” listening to them vie for the title of BMOC (Big Moron Off Campus).

“There better be some hot honeys up there!”

“Yeah, because I’m looking for a ski bunny who knows all about going down-and I don’t mean down the mountain!”

“Good one, man.”

It’s not that he didn’t like hanging out with the guys-even now, as they were bragging about their nonexistent ski skills and carving their initials into the cracked leather bus seats-but he just wasn’t in the mood.

“What’s the matter, Morgan?” his seatmate asked, elbowing him in the ribs. “All this guy talk too rough for you? You’d rather be up front with the ladies?”

Uh-yes?

“This dude is so whipped,” his first-string point guard confided to the rest of the team. They roared in approval.

“Like you’d be talking about the honeys if Nikki was back here,” Adam shot back, and the point guard shut up, fast. He could intimidate 6?4? guys on the court-but 5?3? Nikki left him quivering in his Nikes, and they all knew it. When the girls were around, everyone clammed up, like perfect gentlemen.

But the girls were all the way up in the front of the bus, the guys had slipped some Baileys into their morning coffee-and the desert road stretched ahead of them with no end in sight.

“I’m gonna get so ripped tonight-you guys in?”

“Shit, yeah!”

Adam smiled weakly as his teammates cheered around him.

His inner five-year-old had only one silent, but increasingly insistent question: Are we there yet?

Not even close.

Winter in the desert sucked.

Kaia knew she shouldn’t have been too surprised-everything in the desert sucked-but winter was yet another, surprisingly painful disappointment.

She’d always looked forward to the season with a childlike enthusiasm: skating in Rockefeller Center, Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity, the Macy’s Christmas decorations, even The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center. By January, everyone would be tired of the biting cold, the dark skies, the ever-present slush. But in December, winter was fresh and new, the air crisp and refreshing, and it was as if the entire city came alive.

Here, on the other hand-nothing. More hot days, more cold nights. Desert wind, desert sand. No ice skating, no cozy Burberry scarves-and certainly, no snow.

She’d called Powell, hoping that even from a distance he could liven up her night. But there’d been no answer. And he hadn’t called back. Not that Kaia missed him. Not that she wished she was up there on a stupid school trip-even home was an improvement over that. (Having her teeth drilled during a Novocain shortage would have been an improvement over that.) But she was bored, and she was bitter. And she couldn’t ignore the fact that while she was stuck on the couch, Powell would be whooshing his way down the slopes. And he wouldn’t be alone. That handsome figure and sexy accent pretty much went to waste in a town like Grace; a ski resort, however, was a whole different story.

Not that Kaia cared. She had a life of her own-even if it wasn’t a very thrilling one at the moment.

On a sudden impulse, she grabbed the phone book and flipped open to the entry for Guido’s Pizza. She wasn’t that hungry-especially not for the dried-out slab covered in greasy processed cheese and a watery layer of sauce that Guido had the nerve to call “pizza.” But if the pizza wasn’t tasty, the delivery boy definitely was-and, hungry or not, Kaia could use some good eye candy.

Let Powell do whatever he wanted up on the mountain. She was more than ready to have a little fun of her own.