“Help?” He grinned, looking sexier than any man should. “No. I wondered if you would like to join me for lunch.”
So she hadn’t been reading him wrong. He was interested in her.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She fumbled for her keys, her mind racing for a way out of this, an excuse. Then she remembered. “I need to pick up the kids. My mom has an appointment at one.”
He glanced at his watch. “A cup of coffee then?”
Damn.
She hated to hurt his feelings, but she needed to make herself clear.
“Jesse, I …” Why did these things have to be so difficult? “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for the kids and me, and I appreciate your volunteering for the first-aid tent. But I know what you’re trying to do. I’m just not ready to date yet.”
One dark brow arched. “You think I signed up to volunteer for the first-aid tent to get closer to you?”
The way he said it made it sound like the most absurd conclusion possible.
“I signed up for this because I was sick over the weekend and all the other events had filled up. Megs would bust my ass if I didn’t volunteer for something. I asked you to lunch because we’re neighbors.”
Oh. God!
She stared up at him, her cheeks burning, the sharp edge of guilt pressing into her. She was such an idiot! “I guess I misunderstood. I just thought … I’m sorry.”
But she’d seen interest in that smile, in those eyes.
His forehead relaxed. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
He turned and walked away, leaving Ellie to stare after him.
Chapter 6
“Okay, what’s eating you?” Claire glanced over at Ellie, her hands on the steering wheel of her Subaru Outback as they made their way up the mountain toward the ski resort. “You might fool Mom and Dad, but you can’t fool me.”
Ellie looked out the passenger side window at the snowy landscape. “I hurt his feelings.”
“Whose feelings?”
“Jesse’s.” Ellie told Claire about the meeting and the conversation in the parking lot. “I thought he was trying to start something, but he was just being friendly. I know I hurt his feelings. I feel so bad about that, so embarrassed.”
“Oh, Ellie, honey. You really are hopeless at this stuff, aren’t you? He was totally asking you out. The guy is into you. Why you didn’t just say ‘yes’ is beyond me. Could it hurt to have lunch with him?”
Ellie’s head snapped around. “Why do you say that?”
“Well, he’s hot. You’ve said so yourself. And if—”
“No, I mean why do you say he’s into me? He said—”
“I know what he said, but he was just protecting his ego.”
“How can you know that for certain?”
“Oh, come on! Isn’t it obvious?”
Ellie looked out the window again. “I just hope we don’t run into him today.”
“I was kind of hoping we would. I want to check him out for myself.”
Ellie could only imagine how that conversation would go. “If I see him, I’m going to ski away as fast as I can.”
Claire changed the subject. “It looks like we’re going to have perfect weather.”
It was only a thirty-minute drive to the ski area. Claire parked. They got their lift tickets, then put on their boots and skis and skied to the lift line. The line wasn’t as long as it typically was on the weekends, though a busload of middle school kids from Boulder were ahead of them, probably here for ski lessons as part of a PE class.
Ellie glanced over at the Ski Patrol chalet, her pulse taking off when the door opened, and a man in a red parka stepped out.
It wasn’t him.
She wasn’t sure whether she felt relieved or disappointed.
Stop doing this to yourself.
She couldn’t let her confused feelings about Jesse ruin this day. She was here to spend one-on-one time with her sister, not to waste energy worrying about what he thought of her now. She’d been honest with him.
But had he been honest with her?
She set that thought aside, looked up at the cloudless blue expanse of the sky, inhaled the scent of pine and snow, and willed herself to relax. They’d almost reached the front of the lift line, so she shifted both poles into her right hand.
Claire turned to the lift operator. “You’ve got a great job.”
He grinned, dimples in his tanned cheeks. “Fresh air, sunshine, lots of skiing. There’s no better job in the universe.”
It was Ellie and Claire’s turn now. They skied into place.
“Do you know Jesse Moretti?” Claire asked the lift operator.
Ellie gaped at her sister. “What—?”
“Moretti?” The lift operator nodded. “Sure. You a friend?”
Ellie answered. “No, just a neigh—”
Claire cut her off. “Tell him Ellie Meeks is here.”
“Will do.”
Ellie didn’t have a chance to respond or protest because in that instant the chair scooped her and her sister up and carried them up the hillside.