Chapter Twenty-Five
He paused to scan my face again, like he wanted to confirm what I’d said, while every molecule in my body screamed DO IT.
It was a mistake, we both knew it, but the magnetic pull between our bodies was canceling out logic. I knew I’d regret kissing
him, or letting myself be kissed by him, but I wasn’t about to stop it from happening.
He leaned down to whisper in my ear. “I need you to know that I’ve been hoping for the chance to do this again for the past
four years.”
I couldn’t blame my goose bumps on the snow.
“I don’t believe you,” I whispered back.
The moment stretched on while we both seemed to weigh what a kiss could mean.
After a lifetime on the ice the two of us were nearly immune to the cold, so it made sense that we could lay in snowdrifts
like it was a day at the beach. My pulse thrummed in my ears as I waited for what was to come next. As much as I wanted to
wriggle my body so that I could drape my legs over the back of his and lock my hands behind his neck, I was afraid to do anything
that might break the spell.
“Are you guys dead?”
We’d been too wrapped up in each other to hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps crunching on snow. Neil’s voice startled
me enough that I somehow summoned the strength to push Ben off me with enough force that he landed beside me with a thud.
I sat up and tried to pretend that I was a normal, functioning human and not someone dealing with near-kiss aftershocks.
“We crashed,” Ben answered as he sat up next to me, totally unfazed.
“Clearly,” Hailey replied. “Any injuries to report? Because we’re not going to get an ambulance out here thanks to the weather,
but I can be a field medic.”
“I think Ben was doing a full body scan on Quinn when we walked over.” Neil cocked an eyebrow at us. “Is she going to make
it, doctor?”
It took all my strength not to make a crack about how cozy the two of them seemed.
“Not sure. Quinn, you good?” Ben asked me.
We both went quiet for a beat, because neither of us was okay after what almost happened.
“Still in once piece.”
“Another run, then?” Neil asked.
Ben looked at me, hopeful, but I shook my head. I didn’t trust myself enough to sit between Ben’s thighs again.
“No, I’m done, you guys take our sled.”
“Oh, uh,” Hailey shot a look at Neil. “That’s okay, you keep it. I think we go faster with the two of us on one.”
I hid a smile. “Right, okay.”
“Wait for us, we need to figure out dinner,” Neil called over his shoulder as the two of them started walking away. “We’ll
be back.”
We both turned to watch them trudge up the hill, silently considering what they’d interrupted.
“Probably a good thing they showed up,” Ben finally said in a quiet voice. “We both have too much to lose.”
“Agreed,” I admitted quietly. I closed my eyes, partly because the snowflakes kept getting caught in my lashes, but mainly
because looking at him sort of hurt. “And you have to maintain your journalistic integrity.”
“Yup,” Ben said. “Duty calls.”
Neil and Hailey went tearing by us in the sled, whooping with laughter. It made me envious of their freedom.
We watched their successful run and then their slow return up to the midpoint of the hill, where we were still camped out
on the snow nursing our aftershocks.
“It sure is taking them a long time to get back here,” Ben said.
They looked like they weren’t moving at all, two parallel, hovering shadows.
“But then again . . . be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid of standing still,” he added.
“Oh, okay, coach.” I said sarcastically. I glanced down the hill to watch them. “Wait a sec. Are they . . . holding hands?”
“Fuck,” Ben said. “They are, and the show has a strict nonfraternization policy.”
Securing my own happily ever after wasn’t even a consideration, but I wasn’t about to stand in the way of anyone else’s, even
if I didn’t understand the pairing.
“Well, if you think you saw them holding hands, no you didn’t,” I said. I got up slowly.
“Maybe he’s helping her, because it’s icy?”
“Maybe,” I agreed.
The mention of ice was a bitch slap of reality. We probably weren’t leaving tomorrow, at least not on our original flight
at eleven.
Neil and Hailey finally reached us, no longer holding hands and a safe distance apart.
“How are the rooms?” Ben asked as we started back toward the inn.
“Shockingly nice, considering how old-timey it looks from the outside,” Hailey replied. “Not one haunted doll or doily to
be found. We’re on the second floor, and I think you two are on the third.”
I hoped at opposite ends of the building.
“Any ideas for dinner?” Hailey asked. “I’m starving and it’s not like we have a ton of options with the weather.”
“There’s a pizza place within walking distance,” I answered. “It was still open when we drove by.”
“Perfect,” Ben answered. “The men will brave the elements to go get it.”
“And I was thinking maybe we could screen a little of what we’ve captured so far while we eat,” Neil said. “It’s looking really
good, if I may say so.”
“I can get us set up in your room if you want,” Hailey volunteered.
They exchanged a quick look. “That works. It’s open on my laptop. Room two fourteen.” He reached into an interior pocket in
his coat and pulled out an actual key with a heavy brass keychain.
Once I’d ditched my bag-boots in the lobby and made it up to the third floor I discovered that my room was not on the opposite end of the building from Ben’s. In fact, ours were the only two rooms on the whole floor.
I pulled off my wet jeans and slid on sweats and a hoodie. I was tired enough to fall into bed for the night, but I was also hungry and insanely curious about how the show was shaping up. I padded down the back stairs in my socks to the second floor.
Hailey welcomed me into Neil’s room like it was her own.
“I think you’re going to like what we’ve got so far,” she said. “Come.”
She led me over to the desk, where his laptop was set up, and grabbed a second chair for me.
“Should we wait?” I asked.
“Nope, let’s go. My fingerprints are all over this edit, don’t let Neil convince you it’s his baby. And Ben still needs to
take a crack at it. And the producers. They get final approval.”
My stomach twisted. I’d come to trust the team, but who knew what the big guys would do to the footage?
“Ready?”
I nodded, and she pushed play.
And there was Mel, in profile and shot from a distance with me hazy in the background, spinning on the ice. It looked cinematic.
“Wow,” I breathed.
“That was all me,” Hailey puffed up with pride. “My vision.”
“Neil let you?” I joked.
“He has his moments,” she replied, keeping her eyes on the screen. “I’m not sure why the sound isn’t working.” She smacked
the keys, becoming increasingly frustrated. “Don’t worry, it’s a me thing, not a footage thing. I’m not used to his laptop
yet.”
“I actually prefer no sound,” I said.
The footage at the rink cut to a close-up of Zoey.
“Aw, she looks adorable.” I put my elbows on the desk and leaned closer.
I watched my friend speak animatedly, probably saying nice things about me. Yeah, I definitely didn’t want to hear it yet. Accepting compliments still wasn’t easy for me, because I’d been taught that flattery led to ego, and ego led to failure.
An abrupt cut to me at Greta’s studio. I jumped and covered my eyes. “Oof.”
“What? You look incredible.”
“I don’t like watching myself off-ice.”
Because even after all these years, I could hear the laundry list of things that weren’t quite right.
The footage jumped to me in the “Movement” costume at Greta’s studio, looking at myself in the mirror. There were glimpses
of Greta as she bustled around me, but the focus of the shot was tight on my face and slowly moving closer.
It was like a voyeur was looking at me while I looked at myself. An intimate moment snagged without my knowledge, like the
camera was a secret admirer.
“It’s so close,” I said quietly.
But I didn’t hate it. I looked . . . beautiful.
“That was all Ben,” Hailey explained. “He pushed Neil out of the way to get it.”
I hadn’t noticed Ben behind the camera while we were at the studio. Hell, I didn’t realize that he even knew how to operate
one, yet what he’d captured was perfect.
“Okay, I’ve seen enough.”
“Are you sure?” Hailey asked. “We also started roughing the footage from today, with your parents—”
“Yikes.” I shook my head. “No thanks, I’m good.”
Because I finally believed that my story would be well told.
All thanks to the one person I swore I’d never trust again.