Chapter 35
T he sun is shining, making the snow look like a sea of glitter.
It’s freezing cold outside, but the sun kisses my skin with a touch of warmth.
We’re taking a walk around the pond behind the rental property we're visiting.
Reid takes my hand, and we walk at a leisurely pace talking about our ideas for this project.
He lets go of my hand and I stop to see what's going on.
“Fuck, leg cramp,” Reid grits out, bending over to massage his quad.
“Are you ok?”
Reid sits down in the snow, face twisted in agony. “Shit. Can you run back to the cabin and get me the Icy-Hot I have in my travel bag?”
“Yes! Of course!” I turn around and start walking back as fast as I can without falling on my ass. I don’t need him to try to rescue me when I'm supposed to be rescuing him.
Something explodes on the top of my shoulder and puffs of icy white particles whoosh against my neck.
No. He. Didn’t. I whip around to give Reid hell when a huge snowball hits me square in the chest. I yip in surprise and in my scramble to get away, I slip on an icy patch and fall face first into a pile of snow.
Reid’s laughing his ass off and I'm about to lose my shit. I push up out of the snowbank, face covered in freezing cold powder.
“You're sooooo going to pay for that!” I yell at him.
He holds his hand out to help me up but instead, I pull him down to the ground with me. God, his laugh is so sexy. Throaty and deep, I want to burrow into him and feel the rumbling in his chest.
When I wipe the snow from my eyes, everything is blurry. Where are my glasses? They must’ve fallen off when I face-planted into the snow.
I frantically sweep powder aside and dig around in the freezing wet hell.
Reid crawls over and starts to help me search.
After a few minutes with no luck, I'm verging on panic. I can’t see shit without my glasses.
I’ll always be a little bit bitter that Delilah has perfect eyesight and I’m blind as a bat. We have the same DNA for god's sake!
I growl out in frustration and Reid laughs!
I yell at him, "It’s not funny! I can’t fucking see!" But he keeps laughing. “What?” I demand.
“You growled like an angry little tiger cub. So ferocious,” he scoffs and dissolves into a fit of laughter.
“Reeeeeid! It’s not funny!” I whine. But as we sit together, frozen to the bone, in a mystical winter paradise, I start to giggle, which turns into a full belly laugh.
How is this my life? How did I go from bounced checks in a crappy shared apartment in Denver, working shitty jobs—to playing in the snow with the man of my dreams in this idyllic setting, loving every minute of my new life?
I wipe joyful tears from my face a moment before I feel my glasses gently slip onto my face. In mock outrage I gasp. “You traitor! You found them and let me keep flailing around?”
“Pretty much, yea. You were so fucking adorable I couldn’t help myself.” His happiness is contagious. It lights up his face making him even more gorgeous than he already is. It’s moments like this I wish he could see himself through my eyes.
Because I don’t see scars, or damage, or a blackened reputation. I see my future. If only in my dreams.
I tackle him to the ground and frantically try to shove snow down the collar of his coat and down the back of his jeans.
He traps my arms against my sides and rolls me onto my back, bracing his massive body above me.
We're panting for breath—his eyes fall to my mouth and back to my eyes, once, twice, as if asking permission and I give the tiniest dip of my chin.
Time stops and all my senses zero in on this exact moment. The chill of my skin, the bulk of my jacket underneath his heaving chest. The heat of his breath against my cold face. Slowly, Reid lowers his head until his lips are nearly touching mine.
It feels like an eternity before his lips touch mine. He kisses me with a tender intensity, making me feel high.
Our mouths move together in soft waves, perfectly in sync.
He doesn’t request entry to my mouth with his tongue, satisfied to be lost in this perfect, heartachingly sweet kiss.
Lost in me. He pulls back a fraction and plants one last kiss on my lips before sitting back on his heels and offering me his hand to stand up.
I’m in love with him. I’ve never felt anything with such certainty. Maybe I'll get my happily ever after, after all.
The sexual tension between us is off the charts.
Every interaction balances on the edge of a knife—I think he's as nervous as I am to take things any further. He’s been so incredibly sweet to me since New Year’s.
We flirt, gazes linger, shoulders brush, but nothing has moved past platonic touches.
Being in close proximity to him but not having him is the sweetest agony.
That night I touch myself to the image of him in only boxer briefs on the other side of the wall. I imagine him grunting in blissful release, just as tortured as I am.
We're back on the road and I have the munchies. I root around in my bag and am disappointed to see my candy stash is barren. I sigh in annoyance. “Do you think we can stop at the next exit so I can get some treats? I didn’t realize I'd run out.”
Reid opens the center console and hands me a plastic container. I open the lid, labeled Isabelle in his slanted handwriting, and am stunned. The container has two compartments. One is filled with a rainbow of Skittles, minus any greens. The other is brimming with M&Ms, not a green in sight.
“Reid!” I exclaim in both delight and question.
He opens the center console again and hands me another identical container, this one labeled Reid . I open the container and become a giddy schoolgirl. All I see is green. Green M&M’s fill one side and green Skittles fill the other.
“This must’ve taken you forever!” Tears burn my eyes and sting my nose.
He takes a handful of green Skittles and pops the entire lot into his mouth. Cheeks full, he simply says, “I like green.”
I tightly close the lids on the precious containers, filled with evidence of his devotion and set them on the dash. Testing the limits of my seatbelt, I launch my body across the center console to wrap Reid in an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable hug.
He chuckles and pats at my arm braced across his chest. “Had to make sure my sugar had her fix of sugar.”
I think I die and my soul floats out of my body and looks down at us screaming, “I’M SO INSANELY IN LOVE WITH YOU!”
It floats back down and reanimates my body. What I actually say is, “thank you,” and kiss him on the cheek before returning to my seat. He didn’t flinch or grimace when my lips touched his scarred face, and my heart soars.
With every sweet gesture, my hope grows that he feels the same about me. I might be speeding towards ruin, but I can’t take my foot off the gas.