Chocolate Kisses and Love Filled Wishes: Kissing Bridge Mountain - Book 3 Read Online Free Page B

anyone else.”
                 
    He nodded.
                 
    “The hard truth is that no one remembers a loser. You need to follow your heart, I say. If your heart says ‘Olympics,’ then don’t ever let anyone stop you.”
     
                  She had been so used to hearing people telling her to stop training, that his advice was like one huge gust of fresh air. If she hadn’t found her heart almost palpitating around him, she might have reached out and given him a huge hug; that’s what she normally would have done. But as soon as Tanner Williams stepped in, normality let itself out the back door, like they couldn’t even exist in the same space. A shy, “Thanks,” was all she could manage.
                 
    A buzzing in her puffy snowboarding jacket startled her.
                 
    “Oh, just one second.”
                 
    “No problem,” he said, stepping a little way back to give her some privacy and gaze up at the mountain.             
                 
    Even as she got her cell out of her jacket pocket, pulling open the zip, she gazed at him. The wonder in his face as he stared up at the peak was almost mesmerizing.
                 
    She looked down at the screen. Brody. A feeling tugged at her heart, somewhere halfway between affection and guilt. Was it guilt for snowboarding, when she told him she wouldn’t… or… something else?
                 
    “Hey, Babe,” she said, kicking the snowboard up into her hand and walking away from Tanner.
                 
    “Hey, Babe,” he said back. “Just calling to tell you I just got into Park City and the… Snow. Is. Epic.”
                 
    She tried to find some enthusiasm. “That’s great!”
    The sound of girls giggling in the background made a lump rise in her throat.
     
    “I hope you’re having a good time.”
     
                  “Sure I am,” he said. She expected something else to come, like ‘ but it would be so much better with you here.’ Instead he asked, “What are you doing right now?”
                 
    “Oh… er… I’m just taking a walk around the bottom of the mountain,” she lied—while the guilt multiplied and swelled in her chest.
                 
    “As long as you’re not snowboarding. Take care of yourself, Kacey.”
                 
    “I will.”
                 
    A silence grew between them, and was filled with more feminine giggling.
                 
    “Well…” he said, and the discomfort in his voice made her feel awful. “I’ve gotta go.”
                 
    “Okay.”
                 
    And, despite everything, she waited, just as she did at the end of every call. Maybe this would be the time he would say those three small words that her heart craved.
     
                  “Well, bye, Babe.”
                  Or not.
     
                  It looked like she’d be on her own again, the only one to go out on a limb and declare her feelings. “I love you,” she said, in little more than a whisper.
                 
    A tiny silence, and then a series of three beeps that let her know he’d hung up. Had he heard her and hung up?
    Or taken the phone away from his ear before that?
    What did it matter anyway? He’d probably take up with some beautiful snowboarder—maybe even Brittany—and forget all about Kacey.
                 
    Blinking tears back, she headed over to tell Tanner she was going back up.
     
    She needed another run down the mountain to get all the worry out of her mind.
                 
    But before she could speak, he did.
                 
    “Hey, you know it sure would be nice if you let me buy you dinner tonight.”
                 
    “I’m in a relationship,” she said