“It’s a small hill and there’s people overseeing the whole event.” Even after hearing his words, I still nervously chewed on my bottom lip. “Besides, I think we’ve experienced enough bad luck this weekend already. Let’s go have some fun.” He gently nudged me with his elbow as if coaxing me.
I watched the families with small kids sliding down the slopes and could almost hear their laughter ringing in my head. He was right. I shouldn’t let the fear of my bad luck prevent me from trying new things.
We didn’t have snow at home, and I doubted that I would try something like this at school. Even if he couldn’t do anything to save me from flying down a hill, I felt so much safer knowing that Kingsley would be by my side.
“All right. Let’s do this,” I said with determination and led us out the room. Kingsley chuckled as he followed behind me.
The ground outside the B&B was painted in white, but they had removed the snow on the driveway and a small path leading to the hill in the back. It wasn’t snowing anymore, but it was still colder than the year round mild weather that I was used to.
I wrapped Kingsley’s scarf tighter around me, glad to have it shield the wind. My neck was protected, but my bare hands were turning pink from the cold. Keeping them in my pockets didn’t help, so I rubbed them together in hopes to generate some warmth.
“Hey,” Kingsley called, and I stopped to face him. He reached out and covered my hands in his warm ones. The jealousy I had for his good circulation was quickly replaced with blankness as he brought our joined hands to his face and blew warm air on them.
This totally wasn’t something you did for a friend or even your best friend’s younger brother, right? If it happened once, I could say he was merely being a nice person, but this was already the second time. I wasn’t an expert in relationships, but my friends and I had never acted like this with each other. We weren’t physical in general besides the occasional half shoulder hugs and fist bumps.
He pulled away a second later, and I instantly missed his warmth. My hands followed him for a millisecond before I could stop myself and force them to my sides. Kingsley noticed, revealing his annoying grin once again.
I turned to resume walking, but he grabbed my hand before I could get far. “What?” I bit out, but even I could hear that I sounded more lost than menacing. These mind games were going to lead me to an early death. Maybe that was the real reason I’d avoided Kingsley Sharp in the past.
“Here, give me your hand,” he said with a chuckle. I automatically extended my right hand to him. He pulled out a pair of gray gloves from his coat pockets and slowly helped me put on the glove.
My chaotic mind became even more messy. I couldn’t understand his actions, but I was going to enjoy them before he went back to normal.
“Thanks,” I shyly mumbled as I held my other hand to him. He didn’t take it, and instead smiled as he put the left glove on his own hand. My hand dropped again along with my heart.
I started walking, refusing to wait for him. His kind acts were all a ploy for his true motives. He just wanted to tease the next door neighbor kid who had a crush on him.
He kept bringing my hopes up before shattering them into oblivion. The ups and downs were happening so fast that I was getting nauseous. I hated roller coasters.
Kingsley shuffled after me, not saying anything. He grabbed my left hand. I tried to shake him off, but he held on tight and refused to let go. He threaded our fingers together and pulled our combined hands into his coat pocket.
The heat that spread through his skin to mine helped warm my cooled heart. But I wasn’t going to be tricked again that easily. “What are you doing?” He wasn’t surprised by my question.
“I’m helping you warm your hand,” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice like his actions were self-explanatory.
Irritation throbbed at his answer. That was what I got for thinking he’d be upfront with me for once. “I mean why are you doingthis?” I squeezed his hand to emphasize my point.
He shrugged and nonchalantly said, “I only had one pair of gloves. You wouldn’t want to selfishly have my hands freeze while you hogged them, would you?”
The heat that slid off his hands like a furnace had me thinking he wasn’t even cold in the first place. I could argue. I could call him out on his bullshit, but there was no point stooping down to his level. “Use them both. I can keep myself warm, thank you very much.”
I tried pulling my hand out of his so that I could return his stupid glove, but his tight grip refused to release me. I growled in frustration and used my other hand to bang his chest. He caught it with his own free hand and held it against his heart.
“I meant what I said last night,” he whispered. The playfulness in his voice was gone and in its place was pure earnestness that made me stop struggling. Underneath my palm, his heartbeat thumped at a rate that almost matched my racing one.
It pleased me to know that I wasn’t the only one that was worked up, whether out of nerves or something else.
My eyes drifted from his heart to his eyes to find that he was watching me with such tenderness that it had me believing he wasn’t teasing me this time and that he’d truly meant the words he’d whispered last night.
I want you.
All the fight left me, and I knew my heart was falling for it. I could only hope he wasn’t playing with me once again.
THIRTEEN
KINGSLEY
Teasing Ethan was becoming one of my favorite things in the world. His reactions were adorable, and the pout he put on when he realized I was teasing him was downright cute.