Chapter 11
Everyone has the same idea we did about enjoying the fresh snow. I promised Stella I would ski with her, so I dutifully strap on my gear, and we head for the bunny hill.
She peppers me with questions about last night, but it’s all I can do to stay upright, and talking about kissing Teddy is a major distraction.
“Stell, can we talk about this later?”
She sighs, loudly. “Fine. You’re doing that all wrong. You have to make the wedge, like a pizza, remember?”
“I’m trying.”
“Here.” She moves in front of me to help guide me in position.
Thirty minutes and several trips down the hill later, I’m finally ready to get on the lift.
“I need to pee first,” Stella says.
“Now?” I laugh.
“I had like a gallon of coffee on the trip back.” We move over to the food hut next to the skating rink. There are bathrooms inside, so you don’t have to trek all the way back inside the resort in times like these. She takes off her skis and then hands me her poles. “Be right back.”
While I wait, I watch families skating together. Dads holding on to their little ones and pulling them along; kids with skating aids marching around with huge grins on their faces.
There is holiday music playing over the outdoor speakers and the air has a festive feel with all the happy laughter and smiles of pure joy.
All of it makes me miss my parents. I hope they’re having fun and I can’t wait to see them and cram all the holiday traditions we can into the rest of the school break.
“Yo, Holly!”
I turn at my name to find Felix, Lucas, and Emmett skiing over to me. Teddy is behind them. His cheeks are red, and one side of his pants is covered in snow.
“Been out yet?” my brother asks.
“No. We were just about to go.” I tip my head to the hut. “Stella had to use the bathroom. What are you guys doing back so soon?”
“Snack break,” Felix says.
“And Teddy needs to warm up.” Emmett snickers.
I fight a smile. “I want to laugh, but I have a feeling I’m going to be in the same position as soon as I get up there.”
The rest of the guys take off their gear and head inside, but Teddy lingers. He has a blue hat that matches his coat pulled low over his ears, but the ends of his hair curl around the back.
“I’m pretty sure I broke my tailbone.” He winces as he rubs the side of his butt.
“That’s not where your tailbone is.”
He glances over to where the guys disappeared before kissing me. We didn’t have time this morning to talk about what last night meant or if we’re going to keep doing it.
“Stella knows about us,” I tell him when he pulls back. “Not everything, but she’s always known how I felt.”
He nods. “I figured.”
“What about Felix?”
“I’ll tell him,” he says, “I haven’t had time today, but I will tell him. I owe him that.”
“We should do it together. I don’t want you to feel like you have to ask permission. This is between us.”
Except I don’t really know what this is, but he kisses me again, so I guess it involves kissing, and I’m good with that.
We ski all day, then go back to the cabin long enough to shower and change. Emmett had to leave to get home for the holidays, but the rest of us head back to the resort for a night out. We get a big corner booth in the restaurant. Stella is on one side of me, Teddy the other.
We order a bunch of appetizers to share, and the mood is fun and light.
Felix and Lucas are teasing Teddy about falling down the mountain today.
My brother has this huge grin on his face as he tells us how his feet were over his head and Teddy looked like Sonic the Hedgehog in a cloud of blue rolling down the hill, snow flying everywhere.
Teddy lifts his glass to his lips with one hand, but the other finds my bare thigh under the table. I thought this skirt was a good idea. It’s red and green flannel, short. Very holiday but still sexy. And I paired it with my favorite over-the-knee boots. I did not imagine this happening, though.
I make a squeak of surprise, which I cover with a cough. Stella drops her stare to my lap and then giggles into her napkin. Thankfully, no one else looks twice.
Teddy chuckles quietly and lets his fingers graze higher. I squeeze my legs together, but now his hand is trapped between my thighs. Two inches higher and he could feel how wet he’s making me.
Which sounds nice and I could be into him having his hand up my skirt in public under different circumstances, but not with my brother across the table.
I set my napkin on the table and scoot closer to Stella. “Come with me to the bar.”
“Why?” she asks, lips twisting in amusement. “Something wrong?”
“You got a fake ID I don’t know about?” Felix asks.
“No. I want to see if they’ll make me one of those holiday drinks, the Christmas mimosa, but you know, virgin.”
Teddy was taking a drink and now shoots the liquid out of his mouth as he starts coughing.
“Sorry,” he says, voice tight. “Wrong tube.”
My face burns. I shoot him a get your head out of the gutter before my brother figures us out glare and then I push against Stella, forcing her to move.
“Okay, okay. Let a girl get her shoes on.” She stumbles as she slides into the stilettos she’d taken off while we were seated.
“Our server is coming. You can order it from him,” Felix calls behind us. I don’t look back, but I’m sure Teddy is laughing.
“I don’t know how you wear these.” Stella winces as she walks.
“Practice.”
“Hmm.” She hums. “I need more of it because those boots are amazing.” She gives me a once-over and then her lips quirk up at the corners. “Teddy seems to have noticed as well. You guys are cute.”
I blow out a breath as we squeeze into an open spot at the bar. “Yeah, well, I have two years of pent-up sexual frustration. I’m going to combust.”
“Should have followed him into that shower this morning.”
I finally told Stella everything while we were getting ready for dinner. She was appropriately excited for me, but telling someone just made it all feel so much more real, and now I am dying to tell Felix, so we can stop sneaking around.
Is he going to freak out? I don’t think so, but I’m worried his reaction will change how Teddy sees me.
“He’s looking over here,” Stella says, leaning one elbow on the bar top.
I peek over my shoulder to meet Teddy’s playful stare. Lucas says something, pulling his attention away, but his gaze returns a second later.
“I can’t handle any more teasing.” I fidget, trying to calm the buzz skating over my skin and pulsing in my core.
“You know what you need?”
“Yes. A six-foot-two football player with fingers like magic and a kiss that makes my knees weak.”
“Daaaang.” Stella laughs lightly. “You have it bad.”
“So bad. I didn’t think it was possible to like him more. What am I going to do?”
“I have an idea.”
“It was a rhetorical question. We’re going to tell Felix and then we won’t have to steal kisses and touches when no one is looking.”
“I think you should lean in. Have a sexy, little holiday vacation fling. You can tell Felix after we leave. And I have the perfect way for you to dish out a little teasing of your own.” She lifts a brochure from the bar and holds it up.
“The resort is having their annual party. A very fancy party, where we can get all dolled up and dance under the twinkle lights. Teddy will eat his heart out seeing you all done up and not being able to touch you.”
Stella holds her arms out and looks up at the ceiling. “How fun would that be? I’ve always wanted to go, but we’ve never been here during the party.”
My phone buzzes in my purse. I pull it out and get a little zap of excitement when I see Teddy’s name.
“Theodore?” Stella asks.
“Yeah.”
I show her the screen, You can’t hide from me forever, sweetheart.
Laughing, Stella says, “He is a tease. I so love this for you. Playful and sexy.”
A wistful look crosses her face.
“You should invite Beau.”
“He’s busy with his family.”
“Bummer.”
“Yeah.” She nods her agreement.
I take the brochure. Images of Teddy and I dancing and kissing float through my mind. “What would we even wear to this?”
Her face lights up. “Does that mean we’re going?”
I meet Teddy’s stare across the room. His eyes darken and his mouth twists into a smirk.
“Absolutely.”
Get ready to eat your heart out, Teddy.