“Finn! This is not the bunny slope!”

He smiled brighter at me. “Yes, it is, Grinchy. This is the first slope I take all my students down.” What? Absolutely not.

Matt passed us and waved, then Taylor. Soon Mom and Dad went down and even Sarah and Logan flew by. How are they not sick? I’m hurtling down a mountain and they’re passing me?

“Finn, I think I’m dying,” I shouted over the wind blowing in my face. His answering cackle made me feel equal parts better and worse.

“We’re barely even moving, Olive. I can do this hill with my eyes shut. Your family’s already down at the bottom and everyone is passing us.”

He lifted a hand and pointed it to a group of kids that blew past. One of the boys turned around and gave us a middle finger with his black glove-covered hand before taking off. I gasped loudly, and Finn laughed so hard I was sure people back at the resort heard him.

“Even the kids are telling us to go faster. Come on, let's pick it up.”

“No! I refuse.”

A couple of terrifying minutes later we approached the bottom of Mount Everest and Finn gave me instructions on how to slow down. I couldn’t hear a word he said over the pulse pounding in my ears.

When we reached the bottom, Finn swooped in front of me and threw his poles. He confidently opened his arms to catch me, and I smacked into him. He must have thought I wasn’t going all that fast, so he was taken aback when the impact landed us both in the snow. His back landed on the cold, hard ground with an oof slipping from his lips. We were chest to chest, and I suddenly wished I had three more layers of clothing on. Anything to distance us further from each other, because now my ovaries were winning the battle with my brain. They officially had control, and I was a goner. I was nestled between his muscled thighs, and our skis were awkwardly tangled together. I could feel his muscles tense below me, he was stiff under my touch like he was afraid for me to move. When I lifted my head, his eyes were on me. His mouth gaped, matching mine, and we stared at each other for a minute. My head was pounding, and my fingertips were going numb. He was right there. His face inches from mine, his lips calling mine to them. He was a magnet with a pull strong enough that it could reach me back in West Palm. I licked my bottom lip, and his eyes darted down to the movement.

“Alright, lovebirds. Come on,” Matt mumbled from a few feet beside us.

Mom hit his arm. “Hush! Look how sweet they are.” She had her head tilted comically like we were a couple of puppies in a pet store.