Behind me I heard snickering and swiftly turned to see Finn, fist balled up and covering his mouth to hide his giggles.

My cheeks burned with embarrassment. “Shut up! It’s been a while.”

He looked past me to my family then effortlessly floated to me. He reached my side and playfully tapped my leg with his ski poles. “Wait right here.” He made his way to Cooper and spoke quickly, pointing at random spots in the mountain.

I awkwardly made my way to my family, ignoring Finn's request for me to stay put. Matt laughed at my attempted skiing and Taylor elbowed him in the side.

Mom had her hand on Dad’s arm while she talked with the other. “Cooper said that Finn is the best skier over here! Said he won a bunch of medals and even almost went pro. How amazing is that?”

I glanced back at Finn and Cooper, who were still talking. Almost went pro? That was impressive, and the fact that he was so good but chose instead to work with kids slightly warmed my frozen heart.

“Yeah, he is really good,” I said as if I’d seen him do this a million times. Yes, see, I’m a wonderful girlfriend! I have seen my boyfriend at his job multiple times! See how real we are?

Cooper and Finn fist bumped and headed toward us. “We were just mapping out where we should go. We’re going to take this ski lift up,” he said, pointing to the lift closest to our right, “and then I’ll guide us from there. So, pick a partner and stick to them.” We paired off naturally into our couples, leaving Cooper as a ninth wheel.

Finn held both my hands and pulled me along like I was one of the kids he worked with. He dragged me to the ski lift entrance and bypassed the lines that were full of tourists. The guy operating the lift nodded his way and let us through.

As soon as I was settled into the lift seat, Finn took the poles from me and set them on his side, then lifted his strong arm and placed it over my shoulders. The sudden affection made me stiff. “Relax, Olive. It’s going to be fine,” he said as he toyed with the edge of my braid. “Your family is watching, so I’m just doing what I normally would with my girl.”

Heat raced through me and my stomach turned. It had been so long since I was with a man. Not that I’m with Finn. But since I moved to Florida, I had been out of the dating game, and I refused to have casual sex, so celibacy it was. The sudden physical affection from Finn just had me reacting stronger than I normally would.