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  For the next two hours, she and Ryan traversed the winding, snow-packed trails under a light snowfall, enjoying the picturesque scenery of the beautiful Colorado mountain top. As they explored the terrain, they encountered several other riders along the way, fellow men, women and children out enjoying the winter weather just as they were. Luckily the wind wasn’t howling through the trees as it had been the night before, and it proved to be ideal weather for their early morning ride.

  Stopping for the third time during their ride, Brooklyn was delighting in showing Ryan some of the more scenic spots that the trails had to offer. The sweeping vista before them now was her favorite, and by far the most beautiful, she thought, as she dismounted from her sled. “Isn’t this a marvelous view?” she said, once she’d pulled off her helmet.

  “I’ll say,” Ryan agreed, as he too pulled off his helmet and then went to stand beside her. The break in the tress allowed them an unobstructed view of the wide, snow-covered valley below, and with the snow still falling softly around them it really was a magnificent sight. They couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day, and he was enjoying himself immensely.

  After a couple more minutes, Brooklyn turned to him with an engaging smile. “Having fun?”

  “Yep, this was a great idea. Let’s keep going,” he said as they turned back around to the snowmobiles. However, as soon as Brooklyn’s back was turned, Ryan couldn’t resist the sudden urge to have a little fun of a different sort. Bending down, he scooped up a glove full of snow. Then, waiting until she picked up her helmet from the seat of the sled, he tossed the handful of snow into the air so that it showered down around her head in a cloud of white.

  “What the heck,” Brooklyn gasped, as she shook the snow from her hair. Thinking that a pile of snow from one of the tree branches above must have shaken loose, she glanced upward. Then she heard the distinct sound of a muffled chuckle. Spinning around, her eyes wide and her lips forming a round o, she looked to where Ryan was standing just a few feet away, suddenly busying himself with the straps and buckles on his helmet.

  Ryan pretended not to notice.

  She wasn’t fooled. “Oh no you didn’t!” she said, shaking her head from side to side as little bits of snow continued to shake free.

  Ryan looked up, trying not to smile. “Didn’t what?”

  She wasn’t buying his innocent act for a second. “You - are - so - dead,” Brooklyn said slowly, enunciating each word as she looked into Ryan’s laughing green eyes.

  “Who me?” he asked ingenuously, but couldn’t keep a straight face for more than a second before he broke into a wide grin. In the next instant he found himself ducking for cover, amazed at how fast she’d managed to drop her helmet and snatch up the large mound of snow that sailed by just an inch above his lowered head.

  For the next several minutes, he and Brooklyn engaged in a full-on snowball fight that had them laughing, yelping and gasping for breath as they ran across the snowy ground. They darted behind bushes and trees, pelting each other with one snowball after another, until finally, Brooklyn, stumbling backward, tripped over a fallen tree limb and landed on her backside in a tall heap of snow.

  “I surrender, I surrender,” Brooklyn squealed as Ryan advanced toward her with another handful of snow, his expression menacing.

  “Do you acknowledge that I am the ultimate snowball fight champion of the world?” He asked, towering above her with a wicked grin.

  “Yes, yes, you’re the champion!”

  “Well alright then.” His expression was both cocky and victorious as he let the snow fall from his gloved hand and then reached out to help her up.

  Grasping his outstretched hand, Brooklyn gave a hearty tug as she rolled to her side, and just as she’d hoped, Ryan tumbled face first into the powdery snow bank.

  “That’s what I get for trying to be a gentleman,” he groaned, rolling onto his back and spitting out snow, as Brooklyn jumped agilely to her feet.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” she laughed, watching in amusement as he struggled to extricate himself from the deep snow bank in Wade’s bulky snowsuit.

  “A little help,” he asked, eyeing her pleadingly as he flopped back onto the snow. “I’ll be good, I promise,” he said, when she cocked her head, eyeing him dubiously.

  Stepping toward him, she cautiously reached out her hand. A split-second later she was lying sprawled on top of him in the snow.

  “Geez, have you always been so gullible?” he laughed.

  Pushing herself up onto her forearms with an unladylike huff, she was about to give him a pert reply, but then she noticed how close her face was to his. With only a few inches separating her from those glorious green eyes and those oh-so-tempting lips, all conscious thought seemed to fly right out of her head.

  Ryan too, was knocked slightly off kilter, as Brooklyn’s beautiful face hovered mere inches above his own, and for one long moment he could only stare in silent wonder as a dozen different emotions suddenly warred within him.

  As Ryan gazed up at her in silence, Brooklyn tried to decipher the look on his face, realizing just how easy it would be to lower her head just the tiniest bit and press her lips softly against his, if he gave her even the slightest sign of encouragement. However, the notion was so compelling, that if it weren’t for the sudden and unmistakable sound of motorized vehicles approaching from the distance, she might have been tempted to give in to the overwhelming urge even without any encouragement from Ryan, despite what she’d told herself the night before, that if anything was going to happen between them, he was going to have to be the one to make the first move. Fortunately though, the advancing motorists shattered the moment and saved her from potentially making a fool of herself once again.

  A few seconds later, four snowmobiles cut through the trees, slowed and then came to a stop as Ryan and Brooklyn extricated themselves from the snow bank and scrambled to their feet.

  “You folks doing okay,” the first in the group of four riders shouted over the roar of the engines, as he lifted the visor of his helmet.

  “Yeah, we’re fine thanks,” Ryan shouted back, smiling good-naturedly at the two adults and two children as he gained his feet. “Just taking a little break.” The man squinted at him then, looking with a little more interest as Ryan rose to his full height, probably wondering if he was who he thought he was. Being recognized, even in an out of the way place like this, just came with the territory.

  The guy studied him for another couple of seconds, and then, either not recognizing him or perhaps simply not wanting to bother him, he merely nodded politely and raised his hand in a gesture of farewell. “Alright then, enjoy your ride.”

  “You too,” Ryan and Brooklyn answered back, waving as the small group revved their engines and then continued on down the trail.

  After they’d brushed themselves off and gotten back onto their sleds, the moment in the snow going deliberately unmentioned, they rode for another hour before the chill started to seep through their heavy clothing, and they decided that it was time to head back to the house.

  “Man that was fun,” Ryan said as he pulled off his helmet in the cabin’s wide, snow-covered driveway, the earlier tracks from their sleds barely visible now as the large white flakes continued to fall gently around them. “You were an excellent tour guide Miss Foster,” he continued, grinning at Brooklyn as she tugged off her own silver and black helmet.

  “Why thank you Mr. Landry,” she said smiling back. “I’m glad you thought so.”

  Unbelievable, Ryan thought. She was as cute as ever, even with her rosy cheeks and red-tipped nose. Although he wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that a woman like Brooklyn still harbored the same schoolgirl crush she’d had on him years ago, for a moment he couldn’t help wishing that she did, and wondering what might have happened between them earlier if they hadn’t been interrupted. However, though he hated to admit it, it was probably for the best. Getting involved with Brooklyn wasn’t a good idea, for more reason
s than one. Ah hell, perhaps it had been fate sending him a message. “Let’s get these things back into the garage and then we can go inside and start a nice warm fire,” he said, attempting to push the aggravating notion from his mind.

  “That sounds like a good idea to me,” Brooklyn readily agreed. Despite her heavy gloves and boots, her toes and fingers had begun to feel the cold, and the thought of a warm, toasty fire held tremendous appeal. A steamy mug of hot chocolate didn’t sound too bad either.

  Once they’d gotten everything put away, they quickly headed into the warm house, stopping to check their respective cell phones for messages as they entered the kitchen.

  Ryan listened to several voicemails, one of which was from Wade. Though he didn’t come right out and say it, the warning to keep his hands off of Brooklyn was definitely implied. Another sign, this one infinitely more recognizable, for him to keep his distance from the oh-so-desirable Brooklyn Foster, he wondered? Sighing in irritation, he quickly read through his text messages, and then without responding to any of them, he tossed the phone onto the kitchen table, leaving the ringer on vibrate so that he wouldn’t be disturbed, and then headed for the family room.

  Brooklyn had four new text messages, one from her mother, one from Julia and the others from a couple of her and Julia’s other girlfriends. After firing off quick responses to her mom and friends, she slipped the phone back into her pocket. A few minutes later, having fixed each of them a cup of cocoa topped with small white marshmallows, she followed Ryan into the family room, setting the warm mugs onto the coffee table.

  “I’ll get some more wood from the back deck,” she said, as she noticed Ryan working to start the existing logs burning in the room’s huge stone fireplace. Slipping on the rubber-soled slippers she’d left in a corner of the family room, she opened the back door, stepped out onto the covered wooden deck and reached toward the tall stack of firewood propped against the side of the house. Grabbing four thick logs she quickly piled them into her arms and turned back toward the door. However, as she spun around, her gaze fell upon the covered hot tub sitting to her left, and she paused mid-step. Looking in through the glass panes of the tall French doors, she saw that Ryan was still focused on the fire. Oh, what could it hurt? Setting the logs down onto the deck, she stepped over to the hot tub and lifted the cover. As she’d hoped, it was full of lukewarm water. Putting the cover back into place, she located the thermostat and turned it up to the higher setting.

  Picking up the discarded logs, she reentered the house, pulling the door closed softly behind her. “Here you go,” she said, placing the wood into the hinged metal box that sat at the end of the hearth, as Ryan used the fireplace poker to rearrange the logs that now burned atop the large metal grate.

  “Thanks,” he said as Brooklyn dropped the extra logs into the box. “That should last us a while.” Standing up he leaned the poker against the mantle. “Do you mind if I turn on the game?”

  “No, not at all.” She wasn’t sure which games were on, but she knew that he and Wade’s teams weren’t playing, as Denver wasn’t playing again until Thursday night, and the Vipers were scheduled to play the Indianapolis Colts tomorrow on Monday night football.

  Moving to the sofa, Ryan sat down, grabbed the remote and switched on the television, flipping through the channels until he landed on the Bears-Raiders game.

  As Ryan settled in to watch the game, Brooklyn stood warming herself by the now blazing fire.

  “Uh oh. Raiders are up twenty-one to seven,” Ryan said as the score popped up on the screen.

  “It must be frustrating, having to sit out for the next few weeks.”

  “Yeah, it sucks, Ryan admitted. “One little bump on the head and I’m sidelined for over a month. But at least I’m not out for the entire season.”

  “Any headaches today?”

  “Nope, I feel pretty good actually,” he replied truthfully as he reclined his seat and kicked up his feet.

  “I’m glad. I was afraid some of those rougher trails might have rattled your brain a little,” she teased.

  “Nah, I think I’m okay,” he said with a grin, wobbling his head from side to side as if to double check. “Yep, everything seems to be intact.”

  “Good.”

  “Oh come on, Jackson,” he groaned as the action on the television drew his attention. “I could have caught that in my sleep.”

  Brooklyn had watched more than enough football games with her brother-in-law to know that she might as well be invisible for the next several hours. Whether they were playing or not, at game time, intensely competitive guys like Wade and Ryan were only focused on one thing, the game. “Are you hungry?” she asked. “I could make us some sandwiches for lunch.”

  “Sure, that would be great. There are a bunch of cold cuts in the fridge, and some bags of chips in the pantry.”

  “Okay. Would you like anything in particular on your sandwich?”

  “Nah, whatever you fix will be fine. Thanks.”

  After she’d put together their sandwiches, Brooklyn loaded their plates onto a large serving tray along with two big bowls of chips, a smaller bowl of mixed nuts and a couple bottles of water, and then carried it into the family room. Setting it down onto the coffee table, she handed Ryan his sandwich.

  “Umm, looks delicious,” he said, taking the plate. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said, as she sat down on the other end of the sofa.

  “The hot chocolate was delicious by the way,” he said, motioning to his empty mug.

  She picked hers up and took a sip. “Are the Raiders still ahead?”

  “Yeah, but the Bears just scored on a forty yard run.” His expression was pleased.

  She nodded, took another sip of cocoa and then set it down, reaching for her plate. Taking a bite of her sandwich, she settled in for what she expected to be a long Sunday afternoon in front of the television.

  Chapter 4

  As the afternoon slowly turned to evening, Brooklyn’s thoughts once again turned to the hot tub out on the back deck. Although she’d spent the majority of the afternoon on the couch with Ryan, she had meandered off a few times. On one of those occasions, she’d snuck into the master bedroom and expeditiously picked through the closetful of clothes her sister kept at the cabin, looking for one specific item in particular. Grabbing a couple of Kate’s cuter tops, she tossed them over her arm, and then turned to the closet’s built-in dresser drawers. Pulling out the second from the top, she quickly pawed through Kate’s collection of swimwear until she found what she was looking for, a little red bikini with tiny white hearts embroidered onto the fabric. Perfect!

  Although she had packed a swimsuit of her own in case she’d wanted to make use of the hot tub, she had a feeling that her simple black one piece wouldn’t have quite the same effect on Ryan as the skimpy red bikini. Even though she was still determined not to be the one to make the first move, she didn’t see anything wrong with providing Ryan with a little incentive.

  Now, seated on the sofa once again, she deliberately rolled her shoulders a few times and then reached up to massage the side of her neck with her right hand. As she’d hoped, Ryan noticed.

  “Sore?”

  “A little,” she said, continuing to massage the area for a moment, and then moving her hand to her shoulder blade.

  “Yeah, riding like that can take its toll on the upper body.”

  She nodded. “I think I might take a quick soak in the hot tub, see if I can relax a few of these knots before dinner,” she said, her tone purposely without inflection as she tilted her neck from side to side a couple of times.

  Ryan cast a quick glance at the television. The Patriots were up forty-two to seven over the Saints. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said as he grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. “In fact, I could go for a nice long soak myself. You don’t mind if I join you, do you?”

  “No, of course I don’t mind,” Brooklyn replied, her expression purposely i
ndifferent as she rose from the sofa. “I’ll just head upstairs and change and then meet you out there.” Turning toward the stairs, she called to Ryan over her shoulder, “I’m sure Wade has some swim trucks in the bedroom closet if you need to borrow a pair.”

  “That’s okay,” he called back. “I brought a pair with me.”

  Fifteen minutes later, after she’d changed into the red bikini and did a quick touch up on her legs with the electric razor she’d fortuitously brought along, Brooklyn pushed her arms into her knee-length, white terrycloth robe, belted the sash, slipped on her slippers and then headed downstairs.

  When she opened the back door, she saw that Ryan had removed the cover from the hot tub and was already seated in the hot, bubbling water. She also noted the wineglass he held in his hand.

  “I made us a snack to tide us over until dinner,” he said, motioning to the silver serving tray that sat on the edge of the tub. It held a bottle of white wine, a second wineglass, and a wooden cutting board with an assortment of crackers and cheese slices on it.

  “Good thinking.” Kicking off her slippers, she stepped onto the bottom step and then unbelted her robe. Shrugging it from her shoulders, she then casually tossed it onto a nearby chair.

  Although Ryan hadn’t turned on the back porch light, the glow coming through the family room windows and the tall French doors leading out to the back deck, provided more than enough light for him to get an unhindered view of Brooklyn’s little red bikini as she shucked her robe and tossed it aside. Taking in her trim waist, long legs and lush feminine curves, she looked almost too good to be believed. Damn, he had the sudden feeling that he was in big trouble.