Kiss Me (Townsend Legacy)

Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

T ania

“Why are we so far out?” I ask for the second time from the passenger seat of Taehyun’s rented SUV.

“Not one for surprises, huh?” he asks, giving me a sideways glance before returning his attention back to the road.

“It depends on what the surprise ends up being.”

“It’s not a damn surprise if I tell you beforehand.”

I push out a breath of frustration and fold my arms across my chest. “You said we could spend the day watching Christmas movies.”

“And I told you that Hook and Die Hard aren’t Christmas movies. Even I know that.”

I roll my eyes skyward. “First of all,” I shift in my seat to face him, “ Hook takes place during Christmas time, which very much makes it a Christmas movie. And Die Hard is …”

“Is?” He draws out the question.

“A tradition.”

He snorts and shakes his head.

“It is,” I protest. “We watched Die Hard every year during this time of year. And Hook . I love that movie. Therefore, they’re both Christmas movies.”

He holds up a hand as if in surrender. “If you say so.” He shrugs. “We can watch them when we get back.”

“And where is that from?”

He gives me a sly grin, and I know by the expression he’s not going to tell me. Taehyun laughs at the pout I make.

“Just remember how stubborn you’re being now once we arrive.”

“Whatever,” I mumble and turn away from him as if ignoring him. I guess the answer to his question is no, I don’t think I like surprises.

Unfortunately, Taehyun proves himself right when about thirty minutes later, we turn down a long, windy, snowy pathway. I can see why he’s rented a four-wheel drive SUV for today’s outing.

I want to ask him once again where we’re going, but then the road opens up. A few small, wooden cabins come into view. But it’s the scenery behind them that captures my attention.

Mountains upon mountains covered in beautiful, pure snow as far as the eye can see. And while the area is forested, there’s a perfect pathway that I would love to rip on with my board.

“We’re here,” Taehyun says as he brings the car to a stop in front of the first cabin. He’s out of the car before I can ask him where ‘here’ is.

I allow him to take my hand to help me out of the SUV. We start toward the front door, but I stop him.

“Wait, should I bring my crutch? Just in case someone’s inside?” I look around. No one’s around but you never know who’ll show up.

“You don’t need it out here,” he promises.

Inside, we’re greeted by a guy who looks to be in his early twenties.

“Oh man,” he says as his eyes widen. “I know I had to sign an NDA for this, but I didn’t really expect Tania Casey to show up.”

My eyes widen and I turn to Taehyun. He’s frowning at the young man.

“Sorry,” the guy, who I assume works here—wherever ‘here’ is—says before retaking his seat on the stool behind the glass counter. “I’m just a huge fan of yours.”

I give him an uneasy smile. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. My little sister looks up to you as well. She’s adopted, and … well,” his face reddens, “where we live, she’s one of the only Black girls in her class. One of the kids in her class told her that Black girls didn’t ski or snowboard.

“The next day my dad showed her a competition of yours on the Sports Network and she’s been a huge fan ever since.

“That was three years ago. She started taking snowboarding lessons right after that.”

His smile is bright enough to make me forget all about my fear of someone discovering my secret.

“What’s your sister’s name?”

“Sasha.”

“Do you have a pen and paper?”

He nods eagerly and rushes to grab a notebook and pen for me.

I write out a quick note of encouragement for Sasha before signing it and handing it to the young man.

“Tell her I look forward to seeing her on the slopes sometime soon.”

“Aw man, she’s gonna love this.”

Taehyun’s hand on my back causes me to lean into his body as I smile up at him. Yes, the guilt over lying to my audience about my injury is still there, but hearing this young man’s story about his sister warms the places of my heart that had begun to grow tired and cold.

“Are we ready?” Taehyun asks once the guy finishes telling me he watched my last competition with his sister.

“Yes, sir, Mr. Kim,” he says. “Right this way.”

He stands from his stool for us to follow him. That’s when I remember that I still don’t know why we’re here in the first place.

We’re led to a room with at least a dozen different types of snowboards on the walls.

“Pick whichever you want,” the guy says with his arms wide. “It’s an honor to have you ride any of our family’s boards.”

Again, I look over at Taehyun but the young guy whose name is Steven interrupts first.

“Don’t worry. No one will ever know you’re here. I’ve already signed the NDA.” He nods at Taehyun.

“Thank you. I’ll call if we need you,” he says in obvious dismissal.

The guy, to my surprise, nods pleasantly before disappearing out of the door he just showed us in.

“What is this?” I whirl on Taehyun as soon as we’re alone.

“You said the one regret you have being here is your inability to get on a snowboard.”

I remember telling him that three nights ago. After our first time together.

“Is that still true?” he asks.

I don’t have to think about it. The past few days with Taehyun have almost extinguished the ache in my heart, but it’s still there. Being surrounded by so much snow and not getting on my board at least once has left me feeling a little empty.

“Yes.”

His smile widens as if he knew my answer before I opened my mouth. He takes my hands in his, lowering to press a kiss to my lips.

“I knew it. Which is why we’re here. I pulled a few strings. Behind the cabin are private slopes.” He gestures to the door with his head. “The family of the guy out front owns this property, and they run private ski and snowboard classes.

“And the slopes are ours for the day.”

My eyebrows raise. “Ours?”

“Yours,” he corrects. “It’s not nearly as big as the slopes of our resort, but it is private and?—”

“It’s perfect,” I say at the same time I leap into his arms, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He bursts out laughing.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I’m so excited I can barely contain myself. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say,” he replies. “Except, which board do you want to ride?”

The question sends a thrill of excitement down my spine. I select one of the longer boards and am grateful to see that my boots fit right in.

“Ready?” Taehyun asks as I carry the board underneath my arm.

“More than anything.”

Five minutes later, I’m strapped in, with my sunglasses lowered over my eyes, and the rest of my winter gear on.

We come to the top of one of the hills, and I gasp at the sight of an actual snowboard ramp. It’s smaller than most of the ramps I train on but my fingers twitch in excitement as I picture myself doing a couple of one-eighties on it.

“Have at it,” Taehyun says. “It’s your day.”

I jump up and kiss him again before settling into my board. Once my boots click into place and I start to get a real feel for the snow beneath my board, I feel like I’m at home.

The past few days with Taehyun baking gingerbread cookies, decorating, dancing to Christmas music, and just being able to be me—Tania Casey, a girl who loves Christmas, snowboarding, and to laugh—feels like I’ve been transported to a time in my life I felt like I would never get back.

I didn’t even want to imagine it could get any better.

But Taehyun creating a safe space to give me the freedom to move in a way that I’ve been craving is more than I could even ask for.

I allow my giddiness and cheer to carry me down the hill and onto the ramp. I give myself a couple of tries at some small jumps just to get a feel for the ramp. It takes no time to warm up, however.

Before I know it, one drop in from the top of the ramp turns into a front three-sixty.

My first three-sixty feels weightless. The familiar feeling of flying that I only get on my board takes over. The next thing I know, I’m in the air doing a backward three-sixty. When that trick lands beautifully something clicks in my brain.

I start to replay the trick that I’ve been working on lately. The new trick that I failed to land in my last practice, which is what led to me making the split decision of faking my ankle injury.

My desire and persistence in pushing boundaries and doing new tricks is one of my advantages in my sport.

As I sail down the ramp and center my body, the urge to try the new trick overcomes me. Before I know it, I’m sailing in the air. The sky becomes my ground, and the ground is my sky for what feels like seconds, before my body automatically braces itself for the landing.

“Hell yeah!” I clap and cheer for myself once I’ve landed the trick.

For fun, I complete another backwards alley-oop and come down on my board perfectly. Not one slip, not even a wobble as I land the trick in style.

“Hell yeah!” This time it’s Taehyun who’s cheering.

I turn to see him standing, both arms in the air, cheering me on. Laughter bubbles up from my belly, and I cover my mouth with my hands to see him cheering so vigorously.

“That’s what I’m talking about,” he cheers and claps.

His encouragement spurs me into another round of alley-oops and other tricks I’ve missed doing in the two weeks I’ve been off of my board. Though it’s only been a few weeks for me, it felt like a lifetime.

Especially before I met Taehyun and I had nothing but phone calls with sponsors, a photoshoot, and tons of video to study and analyze from my coaches to keep me busy.

Being here on a board now, though, feels like no time has passed. This is what true freedom feels like. This is the moment I realize that I truly needed this break. Yes, the way I went about it probably wasn’t the best, but I’ll be damned if I regret it right now.

“You’re fucking amazing,” Taehyun cheers as he skis down to the bottom of the hill to meet me.

“You think so?” I playfully ask, lifting the sunglasses from my eyes to the top of my head.

“Damn right I do.” He cups my face, kissing me.

“I can’t begin to explain to you how fun this was.”

“What was the name of that last trick?”

I shrug. “Honestly, it doesn’t have a name yet. It’s just something I’ve been testing out. This was the first time I landed it,” I tell him.

“The Casey,” he replies with a sparkle in his eyes. “Name it The Casey. You deserve to have it named after you.”

Smiling, I tuck my head. “It’s always been one of my secret goals to have at least one trick named after me before I retire from the sport.”

“You’ll have more than one,” he says. Then he pulls back, looking down at me, his eyebrows furrowing. “You’re having fun, right?”

He asks as if there’s any doubt.

“Are you kidding me? This is amazing.” I widen my arms, showcasing the beauty of our surroundings.

“I was concerned this might be a little smaller than what you’re used to and not fit the bill.”

Be still my freaking heart.

At this point, I have to wonder if Taehyun is intentionally trying to get me to fall in love with him or if he has no idea that’s what he’s doing.

Because it might just be the Christmas spirit, or the giddiness from being on a snowboard after so many days away, or the fact that for the past three days my diet has only consisted of hot cocoa, gingerbread cookies, and Taehyun’s kisses, but yeah, I think I’m starting to fall incredibly, ridiculously hard for this man.

“There is absolutely nothing that could make this moment any more perfect,” I confess.

His shoulders relax and the sparkle in his eyes grows, nearly matching the glare of the sun off of the snow around us.

He cups my face with a serious expression on his. I think he’s going to say something, but at the last second, he pulls me in for a kiss instead.

No words need to be exchanged in order to understand this kiss. He’s happy because he’s made me happy.

The realization overwhelms me a bit because I start to suspect that what I’d begun thinking earlier is true.

I’m falling in love with a man I met only a few days ago.