"I love you, Logan," she told him.

"I love you too, sweetheart," he replied, unable to contain his contented smile.

She giggled. "You look…" Her brow furrowed as she searched for the right word.

"Satisfied?" he supplied. "Happy? In love?"

"I was going to say 'worn out,'" she teased, walking her fingers up his chest. "Does this mean that the princess has served the term of her punishment?"

"No way," he grinned. "I'm just getting started."

Logan had meant what he said. Throughout the evening he'd made love to her again and again. On the floor. In the shower. In front of the fire he'd built. Afterwards, he'd bundled her up and carried her back to their bed, where they slept deeply wrapped in one another's arms.

When Soo Ryeon awoke the next morning, still tired and pleasantly sore, Logan's side of the bed was vacant. She climbed out from beneath the mound of blankets and padded to the balcony that looked down on the chalet's vast living room. She could hear Logan moving around the kitchen below as he opened cabinet doors and rattled pans. He was singing as he worked, although from her vantage point she couldn't identify the song. Smiling, she returned to the master suite to shower and dress, humming a tune of her own.

Twenty minutes later she walked into the kitchen and found Logan at the stove. Coming up behind him, she snaked her arms around his waist, slipping her hands under his t-shirt to trace the contours of his abs. She rested her cheek against the hollow of his back, and even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling.

"Good morning," he greeted, covering her hands with one of his as his other hand tended to the omelet he was cooking.

"Yeah, it is," she sighed against his back.

He chuckled and turned, bringing her around to wrap his free arm around her shoulders. She lifted her chin to offer him a kiss, and he accepted with a smile. She tightened her arms around him again, nestling into his side as he worked. He was wearing a red t-shirt and track pants, and he smelled clean and masculine. He'd even shaved and splashed on the aftershave she loved.

"How am I supposed to bring you breakfast in bed if you aren't in bed?" he teased.

"How am I supposed to satisfy my desires when I wake up to an empty bed?" she answered cheekily.

He laughed, pulling the finished omelet off the stove and switching off the burner. Then he leaned a hip against the counter, grabbing her waist to bring her close to him. "Sweetheart, I'll be more than happy to satisfy all your desires, and mine, after I get some food into that gorgeous body of yours. What kind of man would I be if I allowed my lover to collapse from hunger and exhaustion?"

"The kind of man who puts his money where his mouth is," she replied, deliberately pressing her hips against his.

"Baby, I don't know what this mountain air is doing to you, but I think I'll have to look into signing a long-term lease on this place," he told her, pulling her tighter against his body. He struggled to contain the arousal that was threatening his senses. "But first, we're going to eat."

"Fine," she pouted. An idea struck her, and she reached for a strawberry from the fruit plate he'd laid out. She raised it to her lips, and making sure he was watching, she took a slow, sensual bite. Then she raised the partially eaten fruit to his lips. He accepted her offering, biting off the remainder of the berry. A dribble of juice clung to his bottom lip as he chewed, and she raised her fingertip to wipe it off, tracing the outline of his lip along the way.

"Juice," she explained hoarsely. She started to lower her hand, but he caught her wrist, returning her finger to his lips. She smiled triumphantly as he closed his lips around her finger and sucked it into his mouth.

"Juice," he returned, his eyes blazing fire.

"Oh, yeah," she breathed. "That's the kind of man I need."

...~«ώ»~...

The morning was nearly half over by the time Logan and Soo Ryeon made it to the slopes, although neither had any complaints about their morning activities. Logan was anxious to try out his new snowboard, and Soo Ryeon encouraged him to make a few solo runs while she reacquainted herself with the fundamentals of skiing. It had been a few years since either of them had skied, although Logan's surfing and skateboarding skills and natural athleticism allowed him to dive back into the sport far more easily than she did. At her urging, he reluctantly left her on the bunny slopes, promising to rejoin her in an hour.

When they met back up, Soo Ryeon smiled at the boyish excitement on Logan's face. His cheeks were red from the cold and his hair was tousled, but the smile that consumed his face sent a wave of warmth through her.

"Can I safely assume that you approve of the snowboard I picked out?" she teased as he approached.

"Absolutely! This thing is awesome," he enthused. "It's great on the turns, really sharp and clean. I love it!"

"I'm glad," she grinned, lifting her chin to accept a quick kiss.

"How are you doing?" he asked as he slung an arm around her. "Ready to tackle some bigger slopes after lunch?"

"It's coming back to me," she told him. "You'd better watch yourself, big boy… By the end of this weekend I'll be skiing circles around you on the black diamond trails."

Logan couldn't help but laugh at her empty threat. She was hardly a thrill-seeker, and though she did enjoy skiing, he could clearly recall his mother-in-law's stories about their first trip to this resort, when Soo Ryeon had spent more time curled up with a book than hitting the slopes.

"Game on, baby," he grinned.

...~«ώ»~...

All afternoon they skied together. Logan coaxed Soo Ryeon to try harder trails, and she met each challenge with fierce determination. He snowboarded around her, alternately dropping back to gaze appreciatively at the sway of her hips as she executed turns, and dashing ahead so he could turn to see the adorable way she chewed her bottom lip in concentration.

He was ahead of her on the trail when he saw a Korean little girl sprawled in the snow with a young woman bent over her, wringing her hands worriedly. He steered himself towards them and stopped a few feet away, careful not to spray loose snow on them. The girl, who appeared to be around 10 years old, wailed and clutched at her leg.

"Hi," Logan said as he approached them. "Are you Korean? Is there anything I can do to help? I'm a doctor."

The woman looked up and sucked in a breath at the handsome man in front of her. She gestured vaguely at the girl, but her eyes remained on Logan. "Um, yeah… she fell… and I think she hurt her leg…"

"Is this your daughter?" he asked as he released his boots from his snowboard.

"What? Oh, no, no! She's my niece," the woman corrected. She stared at him before pointedly adding, "I don't have any kids. I'm single. My name is Jun Hwa. What's yours?"

"Logan," he answered dismissively as he knelt next to the little girl. "Can you show me where it hurts, sweetie?"

Annoyed that he'd brushed her off, Jun Hwa moved closer to Logan, kneeling next to him. Her niece stared up at him uncertainly. "My mom says I shouldn't talk to strangers," she announced.

"Your mom's right," Logan replied with a smile. He extended his right hand to her. "My name is Logan, and I'm a doctor. I work in a hospital in Seoul. Would it be all right if I take a look at your leg? I promise I'll be very gentle."

The girl seemed to consider his proposition for a minute before she nodded her head in agreement. Logan pulled off his gloves to examine her, and Jun Hwa sighed audibly when she saw the wedding ring on his left hand. She pushed back to her feet, and her eyes narrowed as she belatedly noticed Soo Ryeon working her way towards them on the hill.

"Where does it hurt?" Logan asked again, and this time the little girl pointed. His hands explored her shin carefully as he kept talking to distract her. "I told you my name, but you never told me yours."

"It's Soo Ryeon," she told him, causing a wide smile to erupt on his face.

"Really?" he asked. "That's my wife's name!"

Little Soo Ryeon looked around and then gestured toward Soo Ryeon. "Is that her?"

Logan glanced up and nodded with a grin.

"She's pretty," little Soo Ryeon told him shyly.

"I think so too," he replied, leaning closer to her. "Can I tell you a secret? I've heard that girls named Soo Ryeon are the most beautiful girls in the whole world."

"Really?" she breathed. Behind her, Soo Ryeon smiled, and Logan winked up at her. Jun Hwa rolled her eyes.

He turned his attention back to his small patient and gently lifted her leg, pressing in various spots. "Soo Ryeon, does it hurt when I press here?" She shook her head. "Here?" Another no. "How about here?" Still no. Finally he touched a spot that made her wince. He palpated that area gently as she watched him trustingly.

"Soo Ryeon!" They glanced up to see a man coming toward them.

"Daddy!" she answered.

When he reached his daughter's side, the man knelt next to Logan. "Did you fall and hurt yourself, honey?" he asked, wiping a lingering tear from her face.

"Yeah, but Logan made it feel better," she told her dad. He turned curiously to Logan.

"I'm a doctor," he explained. "She doesn't seem to have any broken bones, just a few bruises." He paused and winked at little Soo Ryeon. "Nothing some hot chocolate and cookies won't fix."

She grinned broadly, clearly as enamored with him as her aunt had been. Realizing that the handsome doctor was already spoken for, Jun Hwa had taken off down the hill when her brother arrived, but not before casting one last glare in Soo Ryeon's direction.

"Thanks for taking care of her," the girl's father replied gratefully.

"No problem," Logan answered. "Do you need help getting her back to the lodge?"

"No," he replied. "My wife will be along soon. The two of us can get her down in one piece."

"All right," Logan nodded. "Bye, little Soo Ryeon. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will," she answered earnestly. "Bye, Logan! Bye, Soo Ryeon!"

Soo Ryeon waved, touched by Logan's kindness towards the little girl. He'll be a wonderful father, she thought. Logan fastened his boots back onto his snowboard and pulled alongside her, noticing the warm smile she was sending towards him.

"What?" he asked, unable to keep from smiling back.

"Nothing," she demurred, then mischievously gestured down the hill. "Jun Hwa said to tell you that if you get bored with me, she'll be waiting for you at the lodge by the fire."

"She did not!" Logan protested, scandalized, before he saw her failing attempts to control her laughter.

"Okay, she didn't," Soo Ryeon confessed with a giggle. "But if looks could kill…"

"Then I'd be here to resuscitate you," he filled in. "Besides, 'boring' is one of the last words I'd use to describe our relationship."

"Oh?" she asked coyly. "How would you describe our relationship?"

"Passionate," he answered effortlessly. "Deep. Loving. Strong. Hot. And I'd better stop there before I lose all sense of propriety and drag you off into the trees to have my way with you."

Her face flushed hotly. "Don't make promises you can't keep, lover boy," she teased before pushing off and heading down the hill.

"Damn," he murmured in her wake, aroused by her boldness. He bent to adjust his boot before racing after her.

...~«ώ»~...

As the sky darkened and the floodlights along the trails blinked on, Logan offered one last challenge.

"Come on," Logan urged enthusiastically. "Last run of the day. Let's do a black diamond trail."

Soo Ryeon glanced up the mountain uncertainly. "I don't know, Logan. I'm finally feeling comfortable on skis again… I don't want to push my luck."

He scoffed. "Baby, you've been down black diamond slopes before. Sure, it's been a few years, but you've picked it back up like a pro today. Besides, I'll be right behind you. You'll be fine."

Finally she nodded and pointed her skis toward the chair lift. Soon she and Logan were on their way up the mountain, his arm draped comfortably around her shoulders. "So, Mrs. Shim Soo Ryeon, how should we spend the rest of our evening? How about a nice dinner before we get back to baby-making?"

She blushed adorably and shushed him, glancing behind them to see if the people in the next chair had overheard. "Why don't you just announce to everyone on the mountain that we're trying to get pregnant?"

To her horror, he took a deep breath as if he was about to do just that. Her gloved hand clapped over his mouth, and he laughed heartily at her wide eyes. "Hey, I've had other guys giving me dirty looks all day because I'm with the prettiest snow bunny on the mountain," he teased. "I have to make sure everybody knows that you are very much off the Market."

Soo Ryeon rolled her eyes. "I haven't been 'on the Market' for years, Logan. Besides, don't pretend that you didn't see Aunt Jun Hwa swooning over you when you stopped to help."

"What was I supposed to do?" he defended. "Leave the girl there to get down the mountain alone?"

"Her father was on his way," she reminded him playfully. "And yes, you're a doctor, but that doesn't mean you have to be so charming!"

"Hey! I thought you liked my charm," he argued, feigning hurt.

"I love your charm, just not when it's directed towards other girls," she clarified.

"Aww, sweetheart," he purred, nuzzling his nose into her neck. "Little Soo Ryeon was cute, but I'll stick with the grown-up version I already have. Forget about Jun Hwa… you're the only woman that I want to be with, naked, in front of a roaring fire…" He grinned wolfishly at her, and she swatted him again as her cheeks flamed.

He glanced up to see that they were approaching the tower, and bent to tighten the strap on his snowboard as Soo Ryeon readied her ski poles. When their feet connected with the snow, they stood and glided toward the start of the trail.

"Ready?" he asked, sliding a finger under her wool cap to tuck in a stray curl.

"I guess so," she answered, hoping she sounded more ready than she felt.

"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you the whole way," he told her, brushing a soft kiss across her lips. "Just take it slow, and you'll be fine."

She forced a brave smile, and then set off down the mountain. A few seconds later, she heard Logan's board scrape across the ice-crusted snow behind her. She maintained a comfortable pace on the first part of the trail, and began to breathe easier and enjoy the scenery around her.

"Lookin' good, sweetheart," Logan called encouragingly from behind her. She waved one of her poles, not wanting to risk turning to look at him as she approached the steepest part of the slope.

Soo Ryeon quickly picked up speed on the uneven slope, and her heart began to pound as she pointed the tips of her skis together into a snowplow, trying to slow down. As she struggled, she heard shouting behind her, and feared that Logan was in trouble. She shifted her weight, trying to turn horizontally on the slope to look back, when another snowboarder shot past her in a blur. His board clipped the tips of her skis, knocking her off balance. She fought with all her strength to remain upright, but her right ski hit a patch of ice and slipped out from under her. Suddenly she was tumbling down the hill, her skis breaking away as she clawed at the packed snow to slow her fall. Logan's heart stopped as he helplessly watched his wife bounce down the rough slope like a rag doll.

"Soo Ryeon!" She distantly registered Logan's frantic shout as she finally came to a stop mere feet from the edge of the trail. Blood pounded in her ears, and she laid on her side in the loose snow by the tree line, too breathless and disoriented to move. Logan reached her moments later, releasing his boots from his snowboard and tossing it away before dropping to her side.

"Soo Ryeon!" he called again, relieved to see that her eyes were open. His skilled hands skimmed over her body, searching for damage. "I'm here, baby. Where does it hurt?" She responded with a soft moan, and he winced. "Look at me. I want you to follow my finger with your eyes." She did so as he moved his finger across her line of vision and watched her pupils. "Does your head hurt? Or your neck?" She shook her head. "Can you wiggle your fingers and toes?" She demonstrated that she could, and, satisfied that she hadn't suffered a spinal injury, he rolled her onto her back.

She was cradling her right wrist with her left hand, and he gently separated her hands to get a closer look. Her left glove had come off as she fell, and her palm was scraped raw from her attempts to stop herself. Logan took his glove off and eased it over her icy fingers, then carefully lifted her right hand. She sucked air in through her teeth when he pulled off her glove. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," he murmured. Her wrist was already starting to swell, and it was warm to the touch. "Do you have pain anywhere else?" he quizzed.

She shook her head, trying to clear her cloudy mind, and gazed back to her husband's worried face. "I'm okay, Logan," she answered softly. "I just got the wind knocked out of me, and I'm a little light-headed. I just need to rest for a few minutes."

"You're going to need an x-ray on your wrist," he fretted. "And probably a CT scan, just to be safe."

With effort, she pushed up to a sitting position. He moved quickly around to support her back, allowing her to lean against his chest. "I really am all right, Logan," she insisted, turning slightly to touch his face with her left hand.

"Tell me that when we're safely back at the lodge," he replied, pulling her more tightly against him and rubbing her arms to keep her warm. He noticed that she was trembling slightly, although he couldn't be sure whether it was from the cold or the shock of her fall.

Soon they heard the buzz of an approaching bobsled, and two men from the Ski Patrol skidded to a stop beside them.

"I'm okay," Soo Ryeon told them, embarrassed by the unwanted attention.

"She needs a transport down the mountain," Logan countered authoritatively. "She's light-headed and is showing signs of shock. Possible wrist fracture."

"Logan, I'm okay," she argued again, but sensed that this was an argument she would not win.

...~«ώ»~...

Sure enough, a couple hours later, they waited in a triage room at the hospital for Soo Ryeon's test results. To her frustration, Logan had insisted that she get a CT scan, even though she showed no signs of head trauma. She knew he was just being careful, citing the skull fracture she'd suffered the previous year, but it irked her that he was making such decisions without regard to her opinion. Sensing her ire, Logan sat silently in the corner, twisting his ring around his finger.

When the doctor came in, Logan pushed to his feet and moved closer to his wife, settling a hand on her shoulder in a silent show of support.

"First of all, the CT scan came back fine," the doctor told them. Soo Ryeon shot an I-told-you-so glare towards Logan, but the ER doctor raised his hand in defense. "I know you felt that you didn't need the scan, but if it were my wife, I would've done the same thing. Traumatic brain injuries can be very, very serious, even fatal." He gestured towards Logan. "A good doctor always errs on the side of caution, especially when he cares so much about the patient." She almost expected Logan to gloat, but he simply nodded at the doctor, grateful that he understood.

"Your wrist is not broken, but you do have a moderate sprain," the doctor continued. "I'll put a compression bandage on to stabilize it and minimize swelling, and you'll need to rest and ice it for the next couple of days. Over-the-counter pain medication should be adequate to control the pain. Since your injury falls under Dr. Lee's area of expertise, I trust that you will be well cared for."

She glanced up at Logan, surprised by the tight line of his mouth. Her frustration began to fade as she realized how worried he'd been. "Thank you, doctor," she told the ER physician quietly.

After her wrist was wrapped and she was discharged, Logan settled her back into the car and slid into the driver's seat. He started the engine, but didn't put the car in gear. Finally, he turned to her.

"I'm sorry," they both said at the same time.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"I'm sorry for getting upset with you. You were just trying to take care of me," she told him.

"Soo Ryeon, I'm sorry for being so insistent about making sure you were okay," he replied earnestly. "It's just… when I saw you falling, my heart stopped. I was so worried…"

"I know, Logan," she told him, reaching for his hands. "I'm sorry for worrying you…"

"I'm sorry for talking you into going down that trail when you weren't ready," he said miserably. "It's my fault…"

"Stop," she insisted, lifting his face to look at her. "It's not your fault. I won't let you blame yourself."

"But…" he began, but she covered his lips with her finger.

"Don't argue with a lawyer," she smiled. "It won't do you any good."

He returned her smile. "What if I use my irresistible charm?"

"Let's make a deal," she negotiated. "No more apologies, and when we get back to the chalet, you can unleash the full power of your charm on me."

"But you're hurt," he protested.

"Eh," she waved it off. "What were you saying earlier about being naked in front of a roaring fire?"

"Soo Ryeon," he began, but then paused, unsure of whether to argue or give in. He wanted to protect her, but if she insisted she was fine…

Grinning broadly, he threw the car into gear and headed for the hills.

---

Happy new year everyone 🥰

Since it's new year I will post another chapter in a few hour. Please stay tune 😉

And you see, LogRyeon is trying to get pregnant so their daily conversation is often round this topic and it's a bit sensual and erotic. I hope you guys will understand 🥰