“So that’s the cake sorted.” Sofia rubs her hands together. I’m not sure whether from the cold or because she’s excited. “We all need to arrange a girls’ trip to get your dress.”
“That will be fun. We’ll bring grandma with us, she’ll love that.” Charlotte wraps her arms around my neck and plants a big kiss to my cold lips.
I hold her close, burying my face into her neck.
“Hey, enough of that,” Dad grumbles. “Plenty of time later.”
“Are you staying at Charlotte’s apartment with them?” Madison asks my father.
Silence follows so I break my hold on Charlotte and glance at my dad wondering why he isn’t answering. He notices my frown and quickly clears his throat.
“Um, no, I’m not. I thought it best if I stay in a hotel with them acting like newlyweds.” He glances away and then says, “If you’ll excuse me.” He walks toward the house.
“Is he okay?” Charlotte asks following his retreating back. “I haven’t seen him distracted like that before.”
“I don’t know. That wasn’t like him.”
Madison runs a hand through her hair that has a light layer of snowflakes covering it, and shrugs. “Maybe it’s me. He acted weird when we were introduced. Couldn’t take his hand back quick enough.” She moves away and joins in the game that the others are playing.
“I’ll talk to him later.” I hug Charlotte. “Don’t worry.”
“Charlotte?” Madison shouts. “Come and join in. I need you!”
I wrap my arm around her midriff, keeping her with me. “You can’t be going playing rough with them.”
“I always do.” She turns her head, a frown on her beautiful features.
“You might be pregnant,” I whisper. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“Oh,” she grins, throwing herself into my arms. “I think we should leave then. I mean…practice makes perfect.” Her cool lips lock around mine and everyone else is forgotten…until an ice cold snowball hits me in the back of the neck.
I groan and curse while Charlotte chuckles. “Figured you needed help cooling down,” Joshua shouts, grinning.
Turning back to Charlotte, I raise a brow and she answers my silent question with a laugh. “Let’s do this.”
We reach down for handfuls of snow and then, letting them sail through the air, we take cover as more snowballs fly in our direction.
Charlotte can hardly form a ball through laughing so much, but I don’t have that problem and continue exchanging the cold snow until my arms feel heavy.
Twenty minutes later, all sweaty and tired, we trudge aro
und to the back of the house to dry off in the wet room before stepping inside. Charlotte’s cheeks are rosy from the cold and the fun we’ve had—just looking at her fills my heart.
She notices my gaze, slipping her cold hands inside my sweater and rubbing my stomach, which certainly warms me up. “Did you have fun?” she asks, resting her chin on my chest, her eyes full of mirth as she holds my gaze.
“I did.” I dip down and capture her lips for a quick kiss. “I’m just cold and wet right now,” I smirk, “although you’re warming me up.”
Grinning against my lips, she mumbles, “I think we need to head home.”
“Mmm,” I wrap her up in my arms. “I think you’re right.”
“Thank God!” Joshua mutters, moving past us.
“I’ll remind you of all these comments when you bring a woman here,” Charlotte shouts to his retreating back.
He waves, but doesn’t turn around.
“He’s a pain,” she comments.