Just Perfect by Julie Ortolon Page A

“About why you’d meet me here, then freeze me out.”
    “I’ll go with you to the concession stand!”
----
Chapter 8

     
    Alec stared as Christine shot to her feet, then scrambled past him and half a row of knees to get to the steps. After a look at her brother, who’d gone from cordial to confused, he rose and followed. She stayed ahead of him, clambering down the steps until she reached the bottom and ducked in front of the announcers’ stand, where they’d be hidden from her family.
    “Hey, where’s the fire?” he asked.
    She turned to face him, looking flushed. “I did not come here to meet you.”
    “What?” He frowned.
    She crossed her arms, refusing to meet his eyes. “I came with my family.”
    “But this is right where we agreed to meet.”
    “That’s why I wore all this—this stupid fur.” Frustration flashed in her eyes. “I was hoping you wouldn’t recognize me.”
    “I don’t understand.” Although he was starting to and hurt nudged against confusion. She looked like royalty standing there in a fussy coat and hat that didn’t look at all like the expensive but no-nonsense clothes she usually wore. If he hadn’t looked right at her earlier, he probably wouldn’t have recognized her. “Once again, I don’t get it. I know you’re attracted to me.”
    “I am.” Her gray eyes pleaded with him. “I like you, Alec. I really do. But I can’t go out with you. Can we please just leave it at that?”
    “No, we can’t leave it at that. I want to know why.”
    She glanced nervously at the stands, as if to be sure her family couldn’t see them.
    He followed her gaze, and understanding smacked him in the face. “You think I’m not good enough for you? So much for your claim that money doesn’t matter.”
    “No!” Color flooded in her cheeks, convincing him otherwise. “Do you really think I’m that kind of snob?”
    “I didn’t before, but now I don’t know.” His mind did a fast replay of the whole week, how she’d rejected him at every turn, then shown up at the pub, danced with him, flirted with him, and given him that brain-spinning kiss. “What happened Friday night? Did you finally get bored and decide to do a little slumming before the family arrived?”
    Her jaw dropped before she snapped it closed and spoke through gritted teeth. “I was not slumming.”
    “Then why am I good enough to hang out with in a crowded bar, but in front of your family, I’m something to scrape off your designer boots. Which look ridiculous, by the way. Who wears city boots to walk on a ski slope?”
    “They’re not mine,” she growled as anger sparked in her eyes. “They’re my sister-in-law’s, and they
feel
ridiculous!”
    “Then why are you wearing them?” His voice rose along with his temper. He had a long fuse, but she’d definitely lit it. “Oh yeah, so that I wouldn’t recognize you. Well, good job, because I don’t! For the past half hour I’ve been wanting to ask who this person is in Chris’s body.”
    “My name is Christine.”
    “It certainly is.” He looked her up and down. “How could I have been this wrong about you? I thought you were different from the rich vacationers who think they’re above us working-class stiffs or the women who think the words ski pro and gigolo are synonymous. I guess I should be thankful you aren’t one of the latter, because frankly, it’s the more insulting of the two.”
    “I’m not either one of those things.”
    “Oh yeah? Prove it.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “If I’m wrong, give me the real reason you won’t go out with me.”
    She stared up at him, and he thought she wouldn’t answer, but then she nodded. “Okay, you want to know? I’ll tell you. It’s because you’re an unemployed ski bum. I don’t care how much a man makes as long as he makes
somethingl”
    “I’m—I’m what?” He pressed a gloved hand to his forehead trying to make sense of her words. “What did you say?”
    “I