Now it was time to get serious.
He reached down and made a perfect snowball. It was bigger than his fist and full of cold, white snow.
This time, he feinted throwing it, causing her to twist away. When no snowball came, she paused and he made his move. He sprinted the short distance between them and instead of throwing the ball, tackled her into a fluffy snow drift.
He then proceeded to put the snowball down the back of her jacket.
She yelped with the sudden cold, twisting and shaking until she got the majority of the snow out of her coat. She glared at him for a second before breaking out into a grin. He smiled back at her, innocent as to her plan.
Then she pushed a snowball of her own down the front of his coat.
“Truce!” he spluttered, the cold turning wet and dripping down his front. He did his best to get the snow out, but some had melted. It was cold and wet.
“Truce.” She chuckled. “Nice tackle.”
“I played soccer in college,” he replied. Th
ey lay there in the snow, gasping for breath. Soft snow began to fall, landing gently on their upturned faces. It was then that she started to giggle.
His own laughter bubbled up, breaking past the reserved business exterior and filling the mountain with their joy. He shook with laughter. The more he laughed, the harder she laughed until they were both laying on the ground, convulsing with giggles.
He lay there with her, stuck in a snow drift with snow down both their jackets, laughing like maniacs.
He hadn’t laughed that hard in ages. It felt good. His soul felt light for the first time in years. To be honest, he couldn’t remember laughing like that since childhood.
Slowly, they both regained their composure. He managed to get up to his feet in the deep snow before turning and offering her a hand.
He pulled her up, and she stumbled forward, her hands coming to his chest. Instinctively, his arms wrapped around her.
She looked up at him through long eyelashes, the pink in her cheeks darkening. Her lips were cherry red and his mouth watered to kiss her. He tipped his chin, moving in for a kiss. She lifted her face, her beautiful mouth moving to meet his.
And their helmets bonked with a hard plastic sound. There would be no easy kiss with their safety gear in place. The moment shifted, and the kiss was lost.
She giggled again, stepping out of his arms. “Lunch?”
He nodded and together they found their poles and skis. She clicked her boots into the skis and waited for him to do the same. Together, they worked their way to the where the chair-lift spun to pick up passengers.
The lift attendant looked them both over and slowly shook his head. He’d obviously seen their snowball fight and wasn’t impressed. Nathan didn’t care. He was having fun. The next chair came and the attendant motioned them forward and onto the next seat.
He glanced over to see her smiling at him as the chair bumped into the back of his legs and sped them into the sky. The snow fell hard around them, muffling the sound of the lift. She grinned at him, looking like something from a advertisement for the resort.
His chest tightened a little around his heart at her beauty. That smile. The way she made him laugh. A couple of hours with her, and he was smiling and laughing again.
He wondered what he would be like if she was always around her. He imagined he would be happy. She was some sort of winter magic.
“You still have some snow on your jacket,” she teased, pointing to his shoulders. The dark jacket was still dusted with white from their snowball fight.
He nodded, reaching his hand up to brush it away. Only, instead of brushing it off, he brushed it in her direction. He made sure to flick as much snow as possible at her.
She threw her head back and laughed, holding up her hands to block his snowy attack.
He laughed too, feeling happy for the first time in ages.
Chapter 9
Nathan
The snow was falling hard enough that the restaurant didn’t have many patrons. It was on the top of a mountain. The only way to get to it was by chair-lift or a snowmobile. They practically had the place to themselves.