And to be honest, I really wanted to hook up with him again. Preferably somewhere warmer and softer than an icy picnic table.
I asked Brown for the night off. I’d worked every day since we arrived, and frankly, I needed time to decompress. People had jammed Laax since the day before the opening ceremonies. The place was your basic security nightmare.
I’ll pick you up at seven, Connor’s last text said.
At six-forty-five, Veena was getting ready for dinner with her folks. She seemed unusually calm, although she’d prayed puja to Lakshmi at her makeshift altar on the bedside table for ten extra minutes.
“Let’s hear it. You and Connor. Are you, like, dating?” she asked while dabbing gloss on her lips.
Barefoot, in pajama pants and a tank, I shook my head while examining the pathetic contents of my closet. Veena thought I should rock heels and one of her teeny skirts, but I’d rejected that idea. First, it was freezing out there. Second, if something happened to her while I was out, I wouldn’t be any help dressed like that. I laid out skinny jeans, a deep V-neck blouse, a scarf, and sensible boots on my bed.
“He’s a great guy, like you said. But I don’t expect anything. I just want to spend a little time with him while I can. How about Anders? How are things?”
She flopped on her bed, a pillow tucked into her abdomen. “Oh, Anders. My lover, my tormentor.”
I eyed her. “Lover?”
“A figure of speech. For now. Although . . . I haven’t heard from him today. And I don’t know when I’ll see him again. I can’t hang out the next few days because of my events, and then his events are after mine.”
Anders competed in boardercross, which meant he cared about breaking his neck about as much as Veena did.
“And—” She started, stopped, and started again. “I told you I don’t get to see Ali and Gage that much because of our travel schedules. So, what’s the point of getting closer to Anders? How can we have a relationship when we go to different events all over the world? And what will he think of me when he truly gets to know me.” She pointed at her altar. “What would he think of Lakshmi, for example? Or my parents? Has he ever even met another Desi before?”
I’d finally Googled what that was: someone from India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh who lived outside of their country.
“Well, I’ve never known a Desi before, and your four-fisted goddess wasn’t all that strange to me.”
She snickered. “Yeah, but you were trained to, like, kill people with your bare hands. You’re already strange.”
I rolled my eyes as I pulled on my jeans. “Well, this strange agent thinks you’re making excuses because you’re scared.” Her eyes went slitty. I’d learned over the weeks the one thing you don’t tell this girl is that she’s afraid of something. “No?” I said. “Prove it. Tell him you’re into him.”
Her mouth turned up in an evil smile. “I will if you will. I tell Anders; you tell Connor.”
Connor already had an idea about it from the picnic table, I thought, but I hadn’t told Veena about that. I might have shredded the majority of my professional boundaries with her, but I thought my love life should still be mostly off limits.
Someone knocked on our door. I yelled to Connor to hang on, pulled on the rest of my clothes, yanked a brush through my hair a few times, and slicked a bit of makeup.
She gripped my hand and whispered, “Tell him! I won’t let go until you say you will. You’ll have to take me with you on your date!”
“Okay, fine. I will. Be careful tonight, please.” I side-eyed her, scooped up my coat and bag, and went to see where the night would take me.
Connor and I strolled through the Olympic Village, a soft snow drifting past the circles of light thrown by streetlamps. This was nothing like the furious storm we drove through to Copper—more like goose feathers dusting our heads and shoulders. Laax was even more charming in the snow, if that was possible.
We passed athletes coming and going from the Village. Most were at least a few years older than Veena. Snowboarding was a young sport, and she was one of the youngest Olympians at sixteen. But they were all healthy and fit. Knowing how hard they worked to get here, what they often had to sacrifice, made respecting them easy.
The base of the mountain was full of chic restaurants, bars, and shops. People were everywhere, strolling like us or inside enjoying dinner and drinks, oozing money in leather and fur. I’d seen an animated version of Heidi when I was a kid. This wasn’t it.
Connor turned to me with a surprised look when I took his hand in the middle of the main square where NBC Sports was set up, getting ready for their nightly broadcast.
“Hey . . . in case you didn’t know, I like you. A lot,” I said.
“Okay.” He raised an eyebrow. “Is this a joke?”
“No joke. I promised Veena I’d tell you that tonight, and I thought I’d get it out of the way early so I can relax.”
He pulled me around so he could see my face. “I thought you’d be pissed off at me. But instead you tell me you like me?”
I brushed snow out of his hair. “Don’t forget I said ‘a lot’. Why did you think I was mad?”
He encased my fingers in his gloves; I’d forgotten mine. “Because, you know, we kissed and everything, and it was great, but I haven’t been able to see you since. I wanted to, believe me, but a lot’s been going on.”
“Oh. Yeah. It’s okay. I’ve been busy, too.” Did he think I was that self-centered, that he had to spend every free minute with me? On the other hand, Veena was worried because Anders hadn’t texted her today. Huh.
He
