Page 28 of Ice Melts

Not hard, just enough to send them tumbling backward into the snow, a tangled mess of coats and laughter.

She gasped as the cold hit her, wriggling under him. “Travis! That’s cheating!”

He grinned down at her. “We have no rule against tackling. And I prefer to think of it as… adapting.”

Sarah’s breath caught slightly. “I can see adapting being a thing.”

The way he was looking at her—soft, warm, like she was the best part of this entire snow-covered world—made something inside her melt faster than the snow on her gloves.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Then Travis’s lips twitched. “You’ve got something…”

She blinked. “What?”

He leaned closer, brushing a snowflake from her cheek with his thumb.

Sarah swallowed. “Oh.”

His gaze flickered to her lips and then lingered there, message clear.

She almost licked her lips. Was she hoping for a kiss?

Instead, he grinned mischievously—and dumped a handful of snow onto her stomach.

Sarah shrieked. “Travis!”

He bolted, laughing, as she scrambled up, chasing him through the trees.

And just like that, the moment passed—but not entirely.

Not when her heart was still racing.

Not when his touch still lingered on her skin.

Later, after declaring a truce, they found an old wooden sled behind the cabin.

Sarah eyed it skeptically. “This thing looks like it came from a museum.”

Travis smirked. “You scared?”

“Of course not.”

A few minutes later, they were barreling down the hill, screaming and laughing, the sled barely holding together beneath them.

They hit a bump near the bottom, sending them tumbling into the snow—again.

His weight on her legs kept her pinned.

Sarah groaned, flat on her back. “I hate you.”

Travis heaved himself up, laughing, then he held out a mittened hand. “Worth it?”

She smacked it away—but couldn’t stop herself from laughing too.

After warming up with cocoa, they trekked onto the frozen lake, where a few local ice huts were set up for fishing.

One older man, a longtime friend of their families, waved them over.

---