Chapter 2

After a night of bunny slopes, Andy was sore and ready to crash. She was so exhausted that the next morning she didn't wake up until a little after noon, and she realized her family had left her.

Her mother had left a note stating:

We've gone to the big hills for better skiing. If you want to join us, we'll be on the intermediate trails till three this afternoon.

Love you,

Mom

Honestly, Andy didn't feel like skiing. Her butt was sore from the little beginner hills they'd tried out the night before. She realized she could easily skip out on a day of skiing and instead, she decided to treat herself to the indoor pool and hot tub. That sounded much more exciting. Then perhaps if she slept in too late the following day, she could always go to the spa and get a free facial and massage. That sounded fantastic.

Andy quickly changed into her two piece bikini and wrapped a hotel robe and then slipped into an old T-shirt and some shorts. She grabbed her room key and a towel, and padded to the elevators, where she waited until one opened. She had no idea where the pool was and so she engaged in a light dialogue with the man who ran the elevator.

"It's on the ground floor, off to the left of the gift shop." He kindly instructed.

"Thank you." Andy smiled at him as she stepped off. How did Miranda use the elevator when a man was paid to be in it with her? Did she make him get off first? Andy snickered at her thoughts, but then frowned. Why did she have to go and think about her?

Attempting to clear her head of all thoughts, she located the pool. It looked gorgeous through the clear glass doors that contained it. Windows on the other side of the room gave a breath-taking view of the slopes and mountains and greenery and winter snow that was just outside the hotel.

Andy swiped her card and the glass door clicked open so she could enter.

And the second she stepped in, she heard a familiar voice barking orders and it sounded like the voice was coming from....the hot tub? Andy whirled around, eyes darting to the smaller pool of hot water, and there amongst the bubbles and hard pressure sprays was none other than Miranda Priestly herself.

Before Andy knew what she was doing, a rather loud cry escaped from between her lips and she darted towards a nearby potted plant, only to have it fall on its side, dirt pouring out all around her, and the small palm type tree fell right on top of her. "Shit." She called out, immediately realizing she had just skinned her knee.

And then she knew that she was watching her. The room became silent. Miranda was no longer talking in that hushed tone of hers, explaining to her seemingly incompetent (even though she probably wasn't) assistant back in New York detailing what she needed sent to the hotel. And when that voice left the room, all Andy could hear was the loud thumping of her heart in her ears. She could actually feel Miranda's cold blue eyes on her.

Andy quickly scampered to get up, righting the palm tree, pushing dirt off of herself. And even though she had intended to run as fast as she could away from the silver-haired woman, she stupidly made eye-contact.

Miranda was staring daggers at her, and Andy was quite glad that Miranda didn't have super powers, for she was most certain that she would be dead by now.

"Andrea. Still as disappointing as ever, I see." Miranda chastised the brunette. Each word she said burned deeply into Andy and she felt like Miranda was ripping her apart. Miranda stepped out of the tub, reaching back into it and pulling out her phone. It was clearly drenched and obviously not in working order. "Shit." She cursed under her breath as she became conscious of the fact it was now a completely useless piece of equipment. Realizing her eyes wouldn't revive it, Miranda turned her hateful gaze to Andy. "What am I supposed to do, now? Hmm?" Miranda began walking directly towards her. Her body was just as Andy remembered it, but even more of it was exposed for the Ice Queen's sumptuous body was barely covered by a two piece golden swimsuit, connected down the middle with a thin strip of gold so it covered her belly-button. But Andy could tell her stomach was perfect, her legs muscular yet small and fit. Her arms were as Andy remembered them, and even though Andy was a complete and utter nervous wreck, she couldn't help but eye her ex-boss and be impressed by her gorgeous figure, dripping wet from her stint in the hot tub.

And Andy found herself frozen to the spot. She was trembling, and she was certain that the blood trailing down her leg was going to be added too shortly. Miranda looked pissed.

"I-I-I," Andy stuttered, unsure of what to do. Miranda was literally inches from her, blue eyes burning a deadly shade of navy.

"Do you have your phone?" Miranda demanded, her words carefully pronounced so Andy would not be able to miss a single syllable and would be able to fully comprehend what was being said.

Andy opened her mouth to form the word, 'yes', but no sound came at first. Finally she managed a nod and a quiet, "yes," sounded.

"Go get it." Miranda pointed towards the door and Andy immediately hopped to, glad to be running away from the Devil herself. But she realized she would have to face her again.

Shit.

It was just like being at Runway again. Andy raced through the lobby, up the elevator she had just come from, (the man staring at her oddly, noticing the blood that was threatening to fall on the carpet from the cut on her leg), and then to her suite. She fumbled with the key, knowing she was making Miranda wait FAR too long. She, at first, could not locate her phone, but soon she found it resting on her bureau. Grabbing it, she raced back; back down the hall, down the elevator, across the lobby, and to the pool.

And there she was, wrapped in a robe, sitting elegantly by the pool, staring out absently at the white covered world outside the windows. For a moment, Andy allowed herself to study the unaware woman. And she felt her heartbeat quicken; this time it wasn't from fear, it was from quiet adoration. God, the woman was temperamental, but she was absolutely gorgeous and Andy wondered if she did, after all, have a heart buried somewhere deep inside.

The door clicking shut behind her alerted Miranda to the fact that she was there, and so she turned, blue eyes still ablaze, and Andy lost her train of good thoughts of Miranda. Hatred flared up inside once again. "Here you go." Andy extended her phone out to Miranda, who snatched it away from her and quickly dialed the number Andy knew all too well, and somehow still had programmed into her phone.

"Emily?" Miranda inquired, "No...this is not Andrea. Andrea stupidly ruined my phone. I will need a new one before the end of the day. That's all."

She clicked the phone shut, but didn't move to hand it back to Andy. Instead, her cool gaze returned to the cold looking world outside the pool room's large windows.

Andy let her hand drop to her side, having extended it to receive the phone, but realizing she wasn't getting it back.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Miranda exclaimed, completely out of the blue, surprising Andy, causing her to jump.

"What?" Andy found herself incredulously asking, unable to fathom the words Miranda had just uttered.

"What are you doing here?" Oh, Andy thought. She equally hates the fact that I'm here with her.

"My parents won a vacation and they practically forced me to come with them because clearly I can't seem to get out of New York, I mean with my new job and all, and," Andy knew she was rambling, she could see Miranda's hand moving, seemingly about to cut her off, but all she could do was keep talking, "I wanted to come to see Colorado, I haven't been in a long, long time, and then we thought we could-"

"Shut up!" Miranda quickly snapped, her eyes still fixated on the world outside. Her remark sent Andy to silence; she had never heard the silver-haired woman respond in such a biting manner. "Please go bore someone else with your recitation of a Lifetime movie." The woman had still not turned to meet Andy's gaze, and Andy was surprised. She watched as the woman let her head rest against her hand. She actually looked quite...well...depressed?

Andy sighed, knowing that Miranda was done talking with her. But she would be damned if she was going to give up and leave. This was a public pool; she had every right to be in this room. She wasn't going to leave just because Miranda was there.

And suddenly feeling a sense of defiance, Andy stripped down to her suit and jumped into the pool, not caring whether she splashed Miranda or not. For all she cared the woman could go fuck herself. Who did she think she was taking her blackberry?

Andy stayed under the water as long as possible, and despite the liquid barrier she could feel Miranda's eyes on her, watching her every move. When she finally came up for air, she could tell Miranda was freely roaming all over her body with her eyes. Her gaze was so intense.

Andy felt uncomfortable as she kept her focus outside the building, out at the rolling mountains. She tried to pretend that Miranda was not sitting beside the pool, adamantly focused on her.

It seemed like hours went by before Andy finally dared to glance behind her to see if Miranda was still present, and she found the chair in which Miranda had been sitting was now empty. She breathed a sigh of relief and swam towards the edge.

She was done swimming for the day, she had decided. Drying off with her towel, she noticed her blackberry was sitting on the table close to the chair Miranda had been sitting in.

She snatched it up and carried it with her back up to her suite. A nice shower was in order and then Andy would probably finish the article Mark had asked her to do while away. Then she could have it off her mind and she could enjoy the rest of her vacation.

As she stepped off and on to her floor, smiling at the nice man on the elevator as she did so, she felt her phone vibrating.

It was a text. From Doug.

'Hey, did you get my text?'

Andy frowned. What text? She hadn't seen a text when she'd grabbed her phone earlier for Miranda. Had a text come through while Miranda had had her phone?

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

Andy quickly scrolled through her blackberry, bringing up her text messages.

And there it was.

It had come through barely fifteen minutes before, around the same time Miranda had left the pool area.

Andy prayed that it wasn't a horrible text; unfortunately it was Doug and she supposed her text from the night before had fueled his response.

' Yeah....fucking Priestly...we both know you wish you were J.'

Oh holy shit.

Miranda had undoubtedly seen that text. There was no way she couldn't have. Fuck.

What was Miranda going to think about this?