Page 25 of Captain's Claim

Chapter Seven

Blake

Snow flies in every direction. Laughter, shouts, and thethumpof snowballs colliding with puffy jackets fill the crisp air as chaos unfolds around me.

Then, the first snowball hits me right in the back of the fucking head.

Not a soft, lazy lob. Oh no. This one’s a sniper shot, perfectly aimed, packing just enough force to send a spray of ice down the back of my collar.

I whip around, ready to raise hell.

A group of grinning kids scatter across the rink, their heads thrown back with laughter, their mitten-covered hands already gathering more ammo.

"Is that how you treat your hero?" I shout at them, shaking the snow off my back. "Really?"

I turn back to Sophia.

She’s standing at the edge of the rink like she’s above all this madness, hugging her expensive coat around her like it’s abulletproof vest. Her lips are pursed in that particular way that tells me she’s about ten seconds away from turning on her heel and escaping.

Not happening.

“You’re in now, sweetheart,” I say, grinning as Iyankher forward. She stumbles, her boots skidding slightly on the packed snow. “No backing out. You're an Icehawk now.”

“Excuse you,” she sputters, wrenching against my grip, but I just tighten my hold.

Her eyes flash, half outrage, half something else. Something that sends heat straight to my gut.

“I don’t do spontaneous team-building exercises,” she huffs.

I smirk, ignoring the way my chest tightens at how damn good she looks under the festival lights, cheeks pink from the cold, little wisps of hair escaping from under her hood.

“Too bad. You’re doing one now.”

I release her wrist for half a second, just long enough to grab the back of her coat and hoist her straight over my shoulder.

She screeches, her fists pounding against my back. “Put me down, you overgrown lump!”

I chuckle, adjusting my grip as I step deeper into the war zone. “What’s wrong,corporate girl? You afraid of a little snow?”

Before she can launch a response - probably one that would burn me alive - a perfectly aimed snowballwhacksher right in the shoulder, sending a dusting of white fluff into her glossy waves.

Sophia gasps, her body going rigid against mine.

I let her slide off my shoulder, grinning as she stumbles back to her feet with a look of pure horror on her face.

“Oh no,” I say mockingly. “Did someone get your fancy suede wet?”

Her eyes narrow, fire flashing behind those hazel depths. “You.”

She bends down so fast I barely have time to register what’s happening before…

Smack.

A snowball explodes directlyagainst my face, ice and fluff splattering across my skin.

Holyshit.

The battlefield goes silent.

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