Lois hadn’t been skiing in a while, and she desperately hoped she remembered how to do it. As they pulled on their ski gear, she snuck glances out of the corner of her eye at Clark, noting internally how good he looked in his winter wear.
Face it Lane, her inner voice chided, the man hasn’t met an article of clothing that doesn’t look good on him.
Okay so that was true. Equally true was the fact that he likely looked just as good with nothing on.
Nope. Still not going there.
“All ready to go?” His cheerful voice jarred her out of her thoughts, causing her to jump slightly. She blushed, trying to banish the thought of him with nothing on and smiled a probably far-too-cheerful smile.
“Ready!”
The slopes were all but completely empty but for a few die-hards that likely also had nowhere else to go Christmas Eve. The services inside the lodge were fairly limited, with the lounge area and snack bar open, but the restaurant and dance floor closed. Lois didn’t mind. She liked the idea of having Clark all to herself in this winter wonderland.
They started on an easier slope. She pretended it was for Clarks benefit – after all he’d never been here before, but really it was to spare herself the embarrassment should she have lost whatever skills she used to possess.
Once her skis hit the snow, however, it all came back and Lois felt that same freeing feeling she always felt as she weaved her way down the hill, the wind whipping through her hair, and the wind on her face.
The feeling was amplified by the look of utter joy on her partner’s face as he kept pace with her all the way down the hill.
They did this a few more times before moving on to a more challenging hill. Lois noticed that Clark seemed to always ski directly by her side, never seeming to fall behind or get too far ahead. She might not have otherwise noticed it were it not for her newfound awareness of his alter ego.
Still, she didn’t mind. In fact it was quite flattering to know that he didn’t want to be anywhere else but right next to her.
Eventually, Lois got tired of skiing. It was, after all, a fairly solitary sport even if Clark was right next to her the entire time. They couldn’t talk or joke the way they normally did and given that she was already nervous about the fact that she planned to reveal her secret to him later, she felt the need to spend this time connecting to him on a deeper level before that happened.
She checked her watch as they both reached the bottom of the hill and noticed it was just after three.
“What are you thinking?” He asked, and she silently suspected he really was capable of reading her mind.
“I was thinking maybe you wanted to try sledding for a bit?” She suggested. He grinned cheerfully and nodded.
“Sure, sounds good.”
They had to return to the cabin to briefly switch their skis out for some sleds and Lois was mildly embarrassed to discover that, in addition to the hoarding situation currently taking place in the guest room, the several sleds she possessed were all somewhere buried under all her stuff.
Only one had escaped the carnage, and that was the one Lois had kept in the living room – a long, wooden toboggan she had used the last time she was here.
“We could take turns,” he offered.
Lois was about to agree, when a better idea suddenly came to mind. She wanted to get closer to him. Well this was the perfect opportunity to do it. After all, two people could fit on a toboggan.
“It’s a big sled,” she said innocently, “why don’t we just share?”
She watched his eyes widen as the possibilities went through his mind. She’d definitely sounded a little bit seductive. She hadn’t meant to…it had just come out that way.
“Okay,” he agreed and she loved the way he looked at her afterwards – a slightly nervous but hungry look.
When they found themselves back on the top of the hill, Lois set the sled down and instructed Clark to sit on the back. As he did, she sat down between his legs and urged him to scoot closer to her, pulling his arms securely around her waist.
Despite the extra layers of clothing she felt like every nerve was suddenly on high alert. His arms were strong and sure as they closed around her and she could smell the faintest hint of his aftershave.
“Is this okay?” His voice was soft next to her ear and she fought the urge to yell ‘yes’!
“It’s more than okay,” she said, surprising herself with how forward she suddenly felt. Something about being held tightly in his arms this way made her want to push things just a little bit further. “It feels…nice. Better than nice. You…holding me in your arms, I mean.”
“Really?” He sounded more than a little surprised which caused a small stab of pain to run through her. If she’d only allowed him to love her when he had offered her the chance, he wouldn’t be so unsure.
“Really,” she said firmly, but feeling more than a little out of breath.
“Then we should do this again,” he replied, his voice taking on a husky quality that told her this flirting was affecting him just as much as it was her. “When we aren’t about to go speeding down a snowy hill, that is.”
“Sounds good to me,” she said as the idea sent jolts of excitement and pleasure to all the right places. She could swear his arms tightened ever so slightly around her waist even more. “Come to think of it, I’m getting a bit tired of outdoor winter activities. Maybe after we go down the hill we could make some dinner, put on a fire…and you could hold me some more?”
He drew in a sharp breath and Lois felt her heart race as she waited for his answer. When he did, his voice deepened sending a shiver throughout her entire body.
“That sounds perfect.”
The ride down the hill had never been so exhilarating.
