Page 65 of Gracefully Yours

“Mhm,” she hummed in response, settling further against my legs. “How long do you think we have until the others get back?”

“A few hours, I hope,” I said, arching an eyebrow. “Why?”

She smirked, wrapping her arms around my neck and placing a kiss against my lips. “Might as well get some practice in now, right?”

I laughed. “I like where your thinking is at.”

Laying her down on the blanket, I took my time this time, showing her just how much I liked that idea.

CHAPTER15

Charlotte

It turned out that getting better acquainted with Daniel’s body had definite perks. One of which was that when I wrapped myself around him in bed that night, there was no shame or embarrassment. We slept snuggled up next to each other, and I didn’t think I’d gotten a better night of sleep in my life.

There was still another full day of the ski trip on our itinerary, but I took it easy as Hunter had suggested, staying at the house instead of going up to the lodge. My ankle wasn’t bothering me anymore, but truthfully, I just needed a moment for my brain to catch up to my body, and figure out what was happening.

What had I told him?Sex, just sex.My brain was a blurry mess, but all I’d thought when he was walking away to let me warm up in the shower alone is that I didn’twantto be alone. And I didn’t want to ignore this feeling between us anymore, either.

Who was that girl? Certainly not me. I’d never been so bold or brazen in my life. Except for when it came to him.

“You’re sure you’re okay staying back?” Daniel asked, a little frown spread over his handsome face.

When had I started noticing how attractive he was? I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him, off the little black curl that had separated from his hair and hung onto his forehead in the perfect Superman curl. I’d decided it was my weakness.

My pile of books was at my side, as well as a steamy cup of hot apple cider with a little something extra, courtesy of Noelle, who’d also taken up camp next to me. “Absolutely.”

Apparently, we were operating in solidarity, and the girls had decided to send the guys up without us. The guys all loved to ski, and we loved to curl up with a new book boyfriend and dive into our fantasy worlds.

“What are you working on?” I asked Noelle, who was typing away on her laptop’s keyboard.

“I had this idea for a single mom romance where she falls in love with her daughter’s ski instructor, so I was just jotting down my notes.”

Gabbi looked up from her book. “What if he’s also her brother’s best friend, and they’ve just reconnected at the ski resort?”

She was wearing one of Hunter’s green henleys with a pair of leggings today, which was totally oversized and so cute. I, on the other hand, had pulled on one of theBest Friends Book Clubsweatshirts Noelle had made all of us, and was enjoying how cozy and warm it was.

Noelle tugged the turtleneck of her cream colored sweater. “I like it.” She leaned over to jot a few more notes down on her computer, before closing it and grabbing her Kindle. “What’s everyone reading?”

Angelina plopped down on the loveseat across from us. “I just finished my book. I was trying to decide if I wanted to start something new or reread something from last year.” We’d buddy read a lot of things, and the perk of all of us being readers was always having someone to talk about books with.

Gabbi held hers up in the air. “Want this one? It’s got fated mates and a littletouch her and you die. Plus, there’s only one bed.”

Angelina held up her hands. “Gimme.” Gabbi tossed the book to our dark-haired friend, before pulling out another one of her own.

Only one bed—I giggled. If only they knew the romance tropes I was living out right now.

“What about you, Char?”

I held up the cover of mine. “I’ve been reading this hockey series. Felt fitting for wintertime.” And it had all of my favorite tropes. One book was a marriage of convenience, another accidental pregnancy—two of my favorites.

“One day, I’m going to drag you along to a game with me,” Gabbi muttered. “You’ve read enough of it.”

She’d grown up around it in Boston, and always talked about how they’d gone to see games. Meanwhile, I’d barely been to a handful of games during college, even though I ate up sports romance books like they were going out of style.

“Too bad there’s no professional team in Oregon,” I laughed.

“I’m just saying, next time I go home, you could come with me and we could go watch the Bruins…”

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