Page 21 of Loco

Dad sighed, clearly not happy with my answer but accepting it nonetheless. “Fine, stay out of trouble, okay?”

I glanced down at my legs, still very much trapped in snow, and sighed.

Yeah, that ship had already sailed.

With a frustrated huff, I started digging myself out of the snow, cursing whoever had come up with the brilliant idea of mittens.

Useless. Completely, utterly useless.

Who the hell thought it was a good idea to trap fingers together like some hand prison? How was I supposed to do anything when I couldn’t separate them to get some leverage?

I groaned, shaking my head as I tried again, my mittens slipping uselessly against the snow. I couldn’t even get a proper grip.

Damn whoever invented these ridiculous things. And damn me for buying them.

Why had I thought they were a good idea? Oh, they’re warm, Sayla, you’ll love them, I had told myself. They’re cute and cozy.

Yeah, cozy didn’t mean functional, and right now, I needed functional.

Before I could get too far in my mitten-related rage, a shadow loomed over me, and a deep voice drawled, “You planning on making a snow angel, or do you need some help?”

I glared up at Roque, my breath coming out in a frosty puff. “Oh, I’m just peachy. Thought I’d take a little break while half my body is stuck in a frozen grave.”

His mouth twitched, amusement flashing in his eyes. “Right. That’s what it looked like.”

Before I could make another smartass remark, he crouched down and grabbed me by the arms, his hands firm and warm even through my thick jacket. With surprising ease, he freed one of my legs, then the other, his grip steady as he pulled me upright.

“See?” He smirked. “Nothing to it.”

I wobbled slightly, still getting my balance, when he reached out and started patting the snow off me. His hands brushed over my coat, knocking the clumps loose, moving lower until his palm landed on my ass. And lingered.

Heat shot through me, unexpected and sharp, my breath catching in my throat. His touch was firm and deliberate, and his fingers flexed slightly before?—

The sound of paws scraping against wood caught both of our attention.

The screened porch door swung open, and in a blur of fur and energy, Roque’s dogs came barreling out, tongues lolling, eyes bright with excitement.

“Oh, shit,” Roque muttered.

That was all the warning I got before they were on me.

A solid, happy mass of muscle and fur collided with my legs, sending me stumbling backward. Roque barely had time to react before gravity took over, and suddenly, I was falling right back into the snow with Roque on top of me.

A heavy oof escaped me as I landed flat on my back, snow spraying around us. Roque’s weight pressed into me, his body flush against mine, his face so close I could feel the warmth of his breath against my skin. For a moment, neither of us moved.

His hands were braced on either side of my head, his chest pressing against mine, his hips—God, hiships—settled perfectly against me. His eyes locked onto mine, dark and unreadable, and for a brief, wild second, I wondered if he was going to kiss me.

Then, a big, sloppy tongue dragged up the side of my face. I yelped, shoving at the giant mutt responsible as Roque burst into laughter above me.

“Well,” he said, smirking down at me, his breath still coming a little fast. “That’s one way to break a fall.”

I groaned, shoving snow at his face. “Getoffme, you ass.”

But even as he rolled off, I couldn’t ignore the way my body still tingled where he had been pressed against me or the way he’d looked at me just before the dogs had ruined the moment.

The movie played,but I barely paid attention. The electricity was back on—for now. The lights flickered every so often, making the shadows in the room shift like they were alive. Any second, we expected the power to go out again, but we were pretending it wouldn’t.

Roque sat beside me on the couch, legs stretched out, one arm draped lazily over the backrest. He looked relaxed, but he wasn’t. He kept twitching, and his fingers tapped against his knee, then his thigh. His jaw clenched and loosened, and then he exhaled heavily through his nose.

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