Page 39 of Snowbound with the Santas

“Frankie!” Nick yells, making for the ladder. “Hold on!”

“Oh, my God…” It’s difficult to tell what happened, but from here, it looks like the ladder Frankie was holding onto simply crumbled away from age or even the cold. Pieces of it litter the snow around me, and Frankie appears motionless at the end of the line. Archer is hanging on for dear life, balancing his own weight with Frankie’s as Nick swiftly climbs upward.

Then the cable snaps.

A scream of fear escapes me as Frankie appears weightless for a split second, then he plummets down and lands with a thump in the snow beside me.

“Frankie!” I lurch toward him, fearing the worst, until I land on my knees next to him and he lets out a long, low groan.

“Ow.”

“Are you okay?” I can’t bring myself to touch him, too scared of what my contact might do to him. A moment later, Nick is by my side.

“Frankie? Are you hurt?” Nick demands.

“No,” Frankie groans. “Just winded. Wasn’t that far.”

“Wasn’t that far?” I snap, scrambling up from the snow and looking upward. “It was far enough! How are you not hurt?”

“Luck,” Archer pants, appearing beside me. He immediately kneels down and clutches at Frankie. “You bastard, what were you thinking?”

“Uh…” Frankie groans softly. “That the snow was thick enough to absorb my fall and also, I hate climbing that fucking tower.”

“You fucker.” Archer shoves Frankie back down into the snow as he tries to stand up, causing Frankie to wince, which makes everyone immediately concerned that he’s hurt.

I glance upward again. From here, it did look like a far way to fall, and maybe it’s a stroke of luck that he’s unhurt.

My heart pounds and something clicks in my mind. I was scared in those few seconds when Frankie was falling through the air.

Not scared of being alone. No, I was scared that Frankie would get hurt. That someone I care about would get hurt.

I stand back, watching as Archer unclips the broken belt while Nick tilts Frankie’s head this way and that to check for injuries. He really does seem fine.

I force a deep breath in and hold it as I look back up the tower.

Then, something glints and catches my eye. The ladder that broke under Frankie’s weight seems to crumble right before my eyes, and one of the ladder rungs suddenly detaches from the tower completely.

It plummets down, and I open my mouth, ready to tell them all to get out of the way, but there isn’t enough time. I react purely on instinct and throw myself into Archer.

“Archer!”

He stumbles back with a grunt of surprise, wrapping one arm around me to regain his balance just as the rung pierces into the ground just where he was standing.

A split second too late and he’d be gone.

14

RAYNE

“You fucker,” Archer mutters as he towels his hands try. “If you scare me like that again, I will kill you.”

Frankie looks up from the chopping board and grins, placing one hand on his chest. “Youdocare.”

Archer gives him a withering glare which lacks the usual bite I’m used to seeing, and a smile creeps up onto my own face.

The hike back to the cabin from the tower was much easier, and it passed quickly too, although that might have just been my perception. Archer was a little warmer toward me after I saved his life, although I quickly waved away the notion because everything was so heightened in the moment that I only reacted to what I saw.

Still, Archer chose to walk beside me on the hike back, and while he didn’t speak much, his presence was so warm that I found myself enjoying just being next to him. That, coupled with the relief that Frankie really was okay, put everyone in a happier mood.

---