And someone’s left several sleds lined up in lanes, with flags at the bottom of the hill.
They must be planning sled races.
Grinning from ear to ear, Blake’s eyes meet mine and do a double take.
“What’s up?”
“Fun,” I say, turning to walk backward in front of him. “Race you to the bottom of the hill.”
His eyes follow to the sleds I’m pointing at.
He stares at me, blinking. “What? Shit, you can’t be—”
“C’mon.” I toss my head toward the sleds again. “Scared of taking a tumble?”
Another blink.
Then a wide, disbelieving, almost boy-like grin spreads across his face.
“You’re fucking kidding me, Peace. What are we, twelve? I’m supposed to be Mr. Authority here.”
“Maybe,” I tease. “Listen, I’m not good at ignoring my impulses. So, I’m gonna sled down this hill. You can come with, you can watch, or you can keep being a boring adult, but I’m going to have some fun.”
Something in Blake’s eyes snaps, soft blue turning fiery, his grin sharpening. “You think I’m boring?”
“I dunno.” I shrug flippantly with an innocent little whistle. “It’s all safety this, safety that, barking orders...”
“With good reason.” He snorts. “And speaking of safety, we could break our damn necks on those things plowing into a tree.”
“All the more reason to try it out! So you can check for safety before the carnival races.” Spreading my hands, I take a few steps back, then turn and dart for one of the sleds. “See you at the bottom, slowpoke.”
“Hey!” he hollers after me, but I’m already running, flinging myself facedown on one of the wooden sleds in a totally graceless belly flop and shoving off with my feet.
Laughing uncontrollably.
Snow sprays my face in a dusty white plume as I go rocketing forward, surging over the peak of the hill and down way faster than I expected.
I let out a breathless sound that’s half scream, half laugh, clutching tight to the edges of the sled.
“Goddammit, Peace!” Blake snarls after me, but he’s laughing, and his voice sounds way closer than it should.
No, I don’t want to crash. There’s no real danger of trees, thankfully. They’ve already got this little plastic fencing set up to stop serious crashes.
I can’t resist looking back over my shoulder as the bottom of the hill comes hurtling toward me.
Oh, God.
Oh my God.
Blake’s barreling down after me, but he’s sitting upright on his sled.
Only, it’s too small for him.
His long, muscular legs jut out in the air, and his hands clutch at the front of the sled between his thighs, his entire body leaning back like he’s trying to slow the thing down, bucking its nose in the air from his weight.
Yes, he’s hollering fit to kill.
But he’s laughing, too, breathless and startled and a little bit panicked.
He’s also careening straight toward me. Uh-oh.
Gravity isn’t my friend today.
Blake weighs a lot more than I do, and he’s hurtling toward me at breakneck speed, moving twice as fast and bearing down.
Our eyes lock for half a second. He comes screaming in, trailing white plumes in his wake.
Then the nose of his sled plows the side of mine, and we both go airborne in a tangled mess.
I let out an undignified screech, laughing helplessly as I grab at him.
We don’t fly far.
We’re almost to the bottom of the hill anyway, and Blake’s heavy, weighing us both down.
But my stomach still nearly drops out and buries itself in the frozen snow clinging to me as we tumble and roll and tangle together.
Finally, we hit the bottom, smashing into a snow drift with a dramatic whump!
At least we’re not moving anymore, right?
I don’t think I could if I wanted to, anyway.
And right now, I don’t want to go anywhere.
Not when Blake’s weight presses down, all heat and hardened man. The snow feels frigid against my back. It’s already starting to soak my jacket and freeze my skin, but Blake is a couple hundred pounds of masculine fire caged in human skin.
Right. On. Top. Of. Me.
We’re both breathing hard, panting, and he’s collapsed with his head buried against my shoulder and neck, his arms braced to either side, keeping me pinned down.
Good.
So deliriously good, that thick, weighty, granite-hard frame of his molded to mine, heating me up until I can’t even feel the winter night.
It’s just Blake’s rasping, heavy breaths, hot against my throat, suggestive and loud, and the sight of the stars dancing overhead. I stare up past the thick bulk of his shoulder.
I didn’t mean to grab him the way I did, my fingers curled against his biceps.
But now that he’s there, I don’t want to let him go.
My face hurts from grinning, but I’m not smiling now.
Not when I turn my head toward him, my entire body pulsing with the feel of him, and my cheek brushes his.
Blake goes oddly quiet, still, his heavy breaths silencing, slowing.
He pushes himself up on his arms.
God, I can’t stand feeling even the slightest bit of that delicious weight lifting, but...
When he looks down at me, snow in his messy hair and dusted all over his coat, eyes razor-blue and hot, leverage bringing his hips tight against mine, I’m so done.
Utterly breathless.
I just feel sparks all over, thrumming in my blood, lighting up bright and burning over and over and over again in little rushes.
Licking my lips, my mouth aches for the taste of him, the feel of him, the need for him.
It wouldn’t be hard.
I could spread my legs so easy, let his narrow hips sink down between my thighs, shudder with his molten friction. If he’d just let me.
If that animal look in his eyes, something smoldering-dark, is an answer to the call of desire rushing through me. Raw heat strums between my legs. Focused. Brutal.
No lie, I could writhe on him and get off in under a minute just by rubbing my body against his.
I want to.
This roughed up tree trunk of a man makes me shameless.
But before I can move, before I can do anything, he parts his lips to speak—
Only for both of us to go stiff. A deafening roar sounds from up the hill.
Over his shoulder, I catch a pillar of flame shooting toward the sky.
Mega-crud.
“Shit.” Blake jerks up, looking over his shoulder sharply, staring at that orange and gold plume for half a second before he thrusts himself off me and surges up the hill on powerful strides that churn through the snow, leaving me behind.
I lie there for a dazed moment, staring at the sky.
All the stars are laughing at me tonight.
Damn it all.
So close.
So close, but so far.
I drag myself to my feet with a wince.
Now that Blake’s not on top of me, I feel the bruises from bouncing and tumbling around, not to mention the chill crawling over my skin.
Shivering, I dust myself off, then climb the hill in his wake, trudging up after him in the path he so helpfully cleared through the snow.
It’s not hard to figure out where he went, judging by the thick coiling smoke rising over the field.
Everyone out working stares in that direction.