Page 10 of Hating the Book Boyfriend

"How is this helping? Have you ever polar plunged before?"

"No, but?—"

"There are no buts. You most definitely are not helping me." I elbow him in the side. "Now go away."

"Five, four, three, two, and plunge." Sandman's voice carries over the crowd, and we all enter the freezing cold water. There's a lot of hissing and cursing, and two people automatically step out. "You have five seconds to submerge, or you'll be disqualified," he adds.

I'm just preparing to sit when I feel Colton's arms wrap around my middle. "What are you doing? You're going to get me kicked out of the contest," I hiss.

"No, I'm not. You are if you don't let this happen and sit down with me," he snaps back.

"Fine," I clip before pushing back, catching him off guard and knocking us into the water. Shit, that's cold! I mentally shout, not wanting to give Colton any further ammunition to throw at me. I expected him to curse, yell, or hiss out his own discomfort, but instead he shocks the hell out of me and pulls me close against his front, before wrapping his legs over the tops of mine. My body immediately tenses under his touch. The hold is intimate whether he wants it to be or not. His arms wrap tighter around my center, slightly warming my insides in ways I didn't think his touch could.

I try to push it out of my mind, but when he tucks his face into my hair, I notice he's holding his breath. For a second, I consider that our proximity may be affecting him like it is me, but now is not the time to play head games. I have money to win, and holding your breath in frigid water won't help. "Don't hold your breath. Take long, slow, conscious breaths. In through your nose, and release it slowly through your mouth."

I take my own advice after giving the directions. This water is cold, though not as cold as expected given the snow. This snow crept up on us. This isn't the dead of winter, so the water hadn't gotten cold enough to freeze through, which means this temperature is likely somewhere in the thirties. It's still frigid, but it's also not unbearable if you remember to breathe through it. Three more girls exit quickly. That means we are down to five.

"I'm fine. I have my way. You have yours," he mutters through clenched teeth like he's pissed.

"Why are you even doing this? I didn't ask you to participate. In fact, I told you to go back to the room."

I feel his body shake around mine, and he squeezes me tighter before pushing our legs together to fight back the tremors. "You seemed adamant that you needed to win. I'm helping."

"How do you figure? Sniffing my hair isn't going to win me any points," I tease. I have to. Admitting that his head in the crook of my neck while his body is tangled around mine isn’t unbearable is not something I currently want to process.

"Funny..." his teeth chatter slightly. "Isn't it obvious? Body heat."

Another person hops out as Sandman calls out, "That's two minutes." He's walking up and down the water feature, filming all the contestants and commenting. Typically, I'd be acutely tuned in to his every word, knowing this will be used for socials. There's probably a good PR grab for me in all of this, but I can't focus on any of it—not with Colton's body glued to mine.

"Why does it feel like you've done this before?" Colton asks as he nuzzles past my hair, his hot breath now on my neck. He rests his lips close while he waits for my reply. I know I don't have goosebumps—it's literally impossible—but in their place, a trill runs down my spine.

"Because I have. I take ice baths. They help with my injury."

"I thought they were just something athletes do for recovering and building muscle.”

"Are you insinuating that you don't think I workout?"

"No…" He takes the liberty of slowly sliding his hand across my stomach before grabbing my hip. "I can feel that you're fit."

It takes more willpower than it should not to lean into his touch or tilt my neck in a silent offering for him to press his lips against it, but luckily, the desire is ripped away when the contestant beside us shouts, "Three grand isn't worth freezing to death, and they're cheating. Obviously, they're warmer together than any of us are apart."

I stay the course and do not let her words faze me. That's when Sandman says, "Nowhere on the flyer does it state you couldn't enter as a team. No rules have been broken."

Colton's lips brush against my skin before he says, "We only need to wait out two more."

"You probably shouldn't keep your face in the crook of my neck like that," I warn when I notice Sandman's camera zeroing in on us.

"Why's that? You're not catching feelings on me, are you, Estes?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Callahan. You're the one who was copping a feel less than five seconds ago?—"

"I wasn't copping a feel I was?—"

"You don't need to waste your excuses on me; I'm only mentioning it because we're being recorded, and your positioning looks…" I clear my throat, the thought coupled with the move choking me up. "Intimate."

"That's because it is intimate," comes out easily. "I'm not worried about his twenty thousand followers. The only thing I'm worried about is in my arms."

The way his words make my heart skip a beat feels pathetic. They shouldn't so easily be able to erase the years of torment.

---