Page 76 of Wild Promises

"Me against you?" I asked as I edged toward one of the walls and bent over to form a ball.

Xander shot me a grin. "No one else is here."

I raised my arm and let loose.

Xander's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe I'd thrown the first snowball, and he ducked at the last second. "I didn't tell you to start."

"All is fair in love and war," I said, remembering our battle cry when we were kids.

"Now you're going down," he roared as he hurriedly formed more snowballs, then thew a bunch in my direction.

I dove behind the barrier, giggling at how freeing it felt to let go. For once, I wasn't a doctor with responsibilities. I was just having fun. I quickly built an arsenal, then peeked over the wall.

Xander wasn't anywhere to be seen. Was he hiding, waiting to jump out at me? I didn't like that. I was on edge, waiting for him to make a move.

I wanted to scream in frustration. My heart was thumping, but there weren't any sounds. He wasn't moving, or if he was, he was quiet.

We were away from the lodge's patio where guests drank hot chocolate and rested before getting on the lift again. Was he going to ambush me? Or throw ice down my jacket? I shivered at the thought. Should I keep moving or stay put?

The problem was, he knew where I was hiding, but I had no idea where he'd chosen to hide. I picked up the bucket by the metal handle and ran. I zigzagged from one wall to the other, keeping low so he wouldn't see me. Unfortunately, I was wearing a red jacket. It would be difficult to hide while moving.

I paused behind a barrier to catch my breath. Was he in the snowball house? That made the most sense. It had the best fortifications. Since when did I start thinking in terms of fortifications? I was losing it. But I never had fun like this in New York, and especially not in the hospital.

I snuck up on the house, catching a flash of black inside. He was definitely in there. I paused behind another wall and filled my bucket with snowballs. Then I found the perfect spot to fire balls through a window.

I took a deep breath and threw five in quick succession. When I heard him cry out, I moved to a different window and kept throwing. It took a few seconds, but he returned fire.

I laughed as I ducked out of the way.

I kept throwing balls, a few through one window, then another, as he fired back at me. It was so much fun.

Then a roar sounded, and he was flying out of the door. I screamed and ran, forgetting all about my bucket of snowballs. I ducked and scurried from one wall to the other, not sure where I was going, just knowing I had to get away from him.

All of a sudden, he ran into me from behind, and we were flying forward. At the last second, Xander wrapped an arm around my middle and spun us so that I landed on him.

I was stunned for a second, the wind knocked out of me.

"Are you okay?" Xander asked, his gloved hand in my hair, and I remembered I was still holding onto some snow.

I shoved my snow on his face, unable to control a fit of laughter.

With a growl, Xander flipped us so he was on top, his strong thighs bracketing me. "That was a dirty move."

I thrust upward in a weak attempt to dislodge him. I felt safe with him even when we were horsing around. He'd always protect me. "What if I like to get dirty?"

His eyes darkened. "I know you do."

Snow was falling from the sky, covering us in a thin layer of flakes. My body was sore from the running we'd just done, and my mind was blessedly blank. I'd forgotten about our worries during the few minutes we'd let go. It was nice.

"What's going on?" Eli asked, and Xander's eyes widened. He scrambled off me, throwing a hand in my direction to help me up. I frantically brushed the snow off my clothes, hoping I didn't get Xander into trouble with his brothers.

"We were testing out the snowball course. I thought it was fun. What do you think, Tori?"

"It was, but I imagine it would be more fun with more people."

Eli glanced from me to Xander. "It looks great. I didn't expect anything this elaborate when we initially planned it."

"I started making the walls and got a little carried away." Xander gestured toward the house.

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