Page 13 of Ski You Later (Alpine Glow #1)

Daniel is a dead man walking.

The sun’s blinding as I groan and pull the covers over my head. The concept of waking up crosses my mind, but I ignore it completely and snuggle deeper into the comforter. I don’t have my first class until two, so that’s plenty of time to sleep in and get ready for the day.

My bed is so much softer than normal. My thrifted mattress has never given me this good of a sleep before, and there’s no way I’m going to ruin this moment by waking up.

Even the smell is different today, the scent of cleaning detergent filling my nose, but in a subtle and calming way. I relish in this comfort, as I fully extend my limbs and stretch them out.

Pain shoots down my legs with a vengeance, my tailbone throbbing at the discomfort I put it through. The night comes back to me then, slipping on the ice, forcing Roman to come along, dancing, and then running into Daniel.

I can’t help but put my hands over my head in embarrassment since the entire exchange went horribly.

Roman must think so little of me; he doesn’t know our history, and probably thought I was just being a weirdo who freaked out.

The memory of crying in the washroom flickers in my brain, but I’m just going to pretend that didn’t happen.

With a steadying breath, I pull back the covers and prepare to get a good start to the day. Carefully moving my tailbone, I throw my legs over the bed and come to a complete stop.

A very large Roman is curled up on the floor, wearing a blanket that barely covers him, and his head rests on what looks to be a throw pillow. His dark brown hair is messily strewn across his pillow, and the expression on his face lacks all the tension I’m so accustomed to seeing.

This is the most defenceless I’ve ever seen him. The lack of a scowl or furrowed brow revealing the soft features of his mouth and eyes. His state of utter peace shocks me so much, that I’m just now realizing he’s asleep on my floor .

Wait, no. That’s not right. This isn’t my pink duvet, but rather a dark blue one. Quickly looking around the room, I’m greeted by the sight of minimal decorations and ornate furniture. Roman’s actually sleeping on his floor, and I’m in his bed.

Looking under the covers, I see I’m still wearing my outfit from last night, and I let out the breath I was holding. I never expected Roman to do anything without clear consent, but my trust in men is officially at an all-time low.

A sensible part of my brain is telling me to bolt, and if this were some random guy, I would’ve already been down the street.

But something has been going on between us lately, and I can’t imagine I’m here for no reason.

No, I don’t want to bolt. I want answers.

Leaning over the side of the bed, my hair falls over my shoulder and hangs right over Roman’s face. Surprisingly, it’s not as knotted as I had feared, and I quickly tuck it behind my ear.

Using my pointer finger, I don’t think twice as I poke Roman in the forehead.

He lets out a frustrated grumble, the scowl instantly forming on his face as he turns onto his side. I move to lay on my stomach, and I lean farther over the bed so I can poke him even harder.

Seriously, what’s with this guy? If I felt someone randomly poking me in the face as I slept, I would wake up right away.

I now lean precariously off the bed as I simultaneously poke him and say his name. “Roman. Roman. Roman,” I whisper yell. Increasing the pressure of my pokes each time.

This finally causes him to stir, whipping his face in my direction and glaring at me with menace. If he thinks he has the right to be upset, he has another thing coming.

“Roman Huxley, you better have a damn good explanation for why I woke up in your bed!” The volume of my voice rises as I just start randomly smacking him on the shoulder. This man is something else, only starting to wake up as I actively hit him.

“Shhhhh,” he groans. His hand lightly grasping my wrist and pulling it towards his chest. With one of my hands clasped in his, he closes his eyes, and the peaceful expression takes over his features again.

He turns to the other side, putting my hand in his and fully succeeding in pulling me off the bed. The upside is that I finally got Roman to wake up as my weight lands roughly on top of him.

His upper body shoots up off the ground, confusion written all over his tired face. “Rhodes, are you okay? What’s happening? What’s going on?” His face is scrunched up with sleep, and his brown hair defies gravity with how it’s sticking up in every direction.

His gaze focuses on me as he seems to wake up more, and his hand steadys me as I sit up myself.

I look at him with an accusing glare, not letting him think for a second that I’m happy.

“Well, I tried to wake you up multiple times, but you were basically dead. Seriously, I was smacking you, and you didn’t even move! ”

His palm moves to rub his eye and then moves to run through his unruly hair. “Uh yeah,” he mumbles. “That makes sense. I haven’t stayed up past ten in such a long time. I think my body just shut down.” He reclines back onto the floor, keeping his eyes on me as I watch them slowly close.

“Are you trying to go back to sleep!” I try not to shriek at this man, but is he serious right now. “A strange girl just woke up in your bed, and you don’t even care. Is this a common thing for you? Do girls just come and go through that door?” I add some fake sass to my voice as I stare him down.

Roman stares at me as if I said something ridiculous and gives me a knowing look as he sits up fully. He’s wearing a Polar ski team shirt, I can’t help but focus on the flex of his arm as he stretches them both over his head.

“Rhodes. Of course, I’m trying to go back to sleep; we were up until three in the morning. Second, you are the farthest thing from some strange girl.”

I decide to brush off his second statement, not wanting to read too much into it and have to acknowledge the flutter in my stomach. The first part of his statement makes me pause. Three in the morning?

That can’t be right. We couldn’t have left later than midnight. But now that I think about it, I can’t remember leaving at all.

He must see my confusion, the last remnants of sleep leaving his face as he looks at me. “What do you remember from last night?” His question is soft, as if he knows I can’t remember.

I see no point in sugar coating my memory since he was there the whole time anyway. “I can remember everything until I started crying in the washroom. So, yeah.” I purse my lips and look away, refusing to let the embarrassment overtake me at this moment.

I take a couple of scootches back to the end of the makeshift floor-bed so there’s a decent gap between us, and he doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

It’s easy to tell that he’s fully awake now, as his classic scowl takes up residence on his face once again.

He tilts his head up, looking at the ceiling as he thinks. His expression suddenly turns more excited as an idea forms in his mind. I’m nervous as he turns to face me with a small smile.

Wariness quickly fills me as I return his gaze with a skeptical expression. “Alright, I’ll tell you something from last night in exchange for a question answered by you.” He states this as if it’s an acceptable trade and places his hands under his chin.

“Is this a form of blackmail?” I ask immediately.

“No,” he states. The side of his mouth quirks up, and I can’t help but frown.

Frankly, I don’t have many secrets, and I like being in his presence, so I don’t mind going further with this.“Fine, but I get to go first,” I say as I extend my hand.

He seems smug as his large hand wraps around mine, giving it one downward tug. “Deal. ”

I decide to bite the bullet right away. “What happened last night?”

“Too vague,” he responds immediately.

“You never said it had to be a specific question!” I counter, triumph lighting up my face.

He narrows his eyes at me, the gears turning behind those pretty brown eyes of his. “Fine, Langley. Last night we went to the bar and came back here.” He stretches his hands in the air, an arrogant smile building on his face.

When he looks back at me, my frown mirrors his from earlier. It seems that if I want detailed answers, I will need to ask detailed questions.

“Why am I in your bed?” I ask quickly.

“Nope, it’s my turn now. You wasted your question. Who’s Daniel?”

My morning brain didn’t expect having to explain this so early, and he can see it in the way my eyes slowly widen.

There’s a piece of me that just wants to get up and leave, ignore this game, and go right home. But I know he didn’t ask it to be rude.

There’s an undertone of worry in his gaze, and I find myself being just as curious as he is .

“Daniel is my ex-boyfriend,” I say the words slowly. Trying them out and smiling when I feel nothing towards the sentence.

Seeing him last night was overwhelming for sure, but I’ve put a lot of work into moving on from anything we had. The lack of feeling regarding him calms me down, and I look at Roman with a little more confidence.

He watches my face through this all, and he’s obviously struggling to keep his own expression neutral. Even though his face is set in a frown, he doesn’t broach the topic again and signals that it’s my turn.

“Why am I in your bed?” That has been one of my biggest questions so far. Why didn’t I just go home with Aurora?

“Because that’s where you fell asleep,” he says with a straight face that crumbles instantly at my glare.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That was a joke!” He puts his hands up and blocks the smack I send his way.

“I don’t know how much you remember, but you didn’t want to leave the bar at all.

You left the bathroom, then ran onto the dance floor and hung out with the rest of the team.

Everyone was completely hammered, and I only left when you stumbled over to me, asking me to take you home.

” He states this all as if it’s just a fact and not horribly embarrassing for me.

“Then I had this whole moment of panic if I should go through your purse and find your house keys or just take you back to my house. In the end, I was exhausted and overwhelmed, so I just brought you here.” He rubs the back of his neck, and his body language conveys how unsure he was of his decision.

Without a doubt in my mind, I get up on my knees and wrap my arms around his neck. Words don’t seem like enough as I express my gratitude. “Thank you so much, Roman.”

He hasn’t moved under me, but I feel his hand lightly pat my back after his shock wears off. I chuckle at his awkwardness and pull back to my side of the floor bed, with my tailbone only giving an uncomfortable twinge now.

His face is beet red, and the blush only intensifies when he looks in my direction. I suppress my smile at his adorable behaviour and decide to put him out of his misery. “Your turn,” I say casually.

Collecting himself, he answers right away, as if he’s already planned out these questions. “Why do you not like your cousin? ”

His innocent question doesn’t fool me. I have a feeling I was blabbering last night, and Roman’s now trying to put together a puzzle.

“We don’t get along,” I reply quickly.

“Too vague,” he counters immediately.

“I don’t want to tell you,” I say defensively.

“I didn’t want to go out drinking last night, but sometimes we don’t get what we want.”

I glare at him, and the fact that he just made a really good point.

“Jasmine and I have never gotten along, but things got much worse when I caught her sleeping with my boyfriend.” I keep my tone neutral, since I don’t let the situation cause me discomfort anymore.

But I can’t help my laugh as I look at Roman’s face.

He’s able to school his features better than anyone I know, so seeing his jaw drop completely is very amusing. I can tell I’ve thrown him off greatly with this information, as his face looks as though I’ve slapped him.

At first, I kept the situation quiet because I was so embarrassed. I couldn’t even imagine leaving my house for the first week after I found them. But, as time passed, I just stopped caring .

Revealing the details to everyone would only bring more attention to me, and that’s the last thing I want.

The best revenge I can think of at this point is bringing a loving partner to this family wedding, but that’s out of the question for me.

The next best thing is faking a loving partner, and that’s much more doable.

“It’s your question now,” he says. It’s obvious he wants to ask more, but the fact that he’s not prying is a relief to me.

“Why were you sleeping on the floor?” Thinking about him sleeping on the hard floor all night made me cringe, and I had to know why.

He looks up at me immediately, his facial expression seems like he knows a funny joke that I don’t.

“Oh, I tried my very best to give you the bed and go sleep downstairs. You weren’t having it.

” He tries to keep his voice level, but a chuckle works its way in as he keeps talking.

“I had my work cut out for me on that one. You barely let me sleep with my shirt on, let alone downstairs.”

If I could choose a moment to disappear, it would be right now. “Shut up. That didn’t happen,” I say defensively .

“Oh, it really did. And I hate to break it to you, Langley, but it was hilarious.”

I fall on my side, covering my face with my hands as I process his words.

“I’m so, so, sorry, Roman,” I whine.

As I highly debate moving out of the country, his hands lightly grip my wrists and pull my hands away.

“Hey, no, no. It’s okay, you weren’t yourself.” I see him give me a reassuring smile as he looks down at me on the floor. “If anything, it made me feel very handsome. So, thank you.”

It’s strange; his behaviour towards me has been so kind lately, and I have no idea why. No matter, he has made me feel nothing but safe this past week, and for that, I’m thankful.

I nod in his direction, feeling better as I sit up and indicate that it’s his turn.

He hesitates before he asks, eyeing me up curiously before he speaks. I brace myself for this one, sensing there’s one more thing he hasn’t figured out yet.

“My question is, what’s the deal with your cousin’s wedding?”