Page 39 of Sunshine

The clock said five minutes in big red numbers. Ember was squealing, jumping up and down, and everyone else was clapping. Luca grinned ear to ear, and Logan’s expression was thoughtful.

“You did amazing.” Julian beamed at me like I’d cured cancer, and my heart squeezed. I would have stayed in the ice bath for an hour if it made him grin at me like that.

“Slowly, babe. Slow and steady.” He gave me one last squeeze and released me.

I almost protested. My brain was slow. It felt like I’d taken a nap and now I was trying to wake up.

Julian climbed out first, Chloe standing close by to offer him a hand. I stood up, my knees shaking, then Julian held out his hands, and I used both to steady myself. My legs were cold, but standing up was worse.

“You okay?” Julian looked into my eyes.

“Yeah.” I blinked. “Just sleepy, sort of?”

“Oh, yeah, we got another one.” Julian’s face lit up. “She likes the ice bath everyone.”

“Pretty sure it was the person she was in the bath with,” Ember muttered.

I pretended I didn’t hear her. She wasn’t exactly wrong. The other firefighters came over to congratulate me for making it five whole minutes. Julian brought me heated towels and sat us in chairs close enough to touch.

Julian waved his hand at Luca and Logan. “We need snuggles from dry people.”

“Did I stay in too long?” I blinked, my brain still fuzzy.

“Nah.” Julian put his arm around me. “I don’t have a full set of dry clothes for you, so we’re bringing our body temperature up the fun way.”

Luca and Logan came up to the stage.

Julian patted the two empty chairs on either side of us. “Come on, snuggle time.”

Luca and Logan both gave each other a look, and I was glad I was cold enough for my blush not to show. Logan sat down next to me, scooting close enough for me to feel his body heat.

“You okay?” Logan asked me as Luca sat on Julian’s side.

“It was actually…fun. I freaked out but it was good once I relaxed.”

Slowly, feeling came back into my legs and arms. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t as bad as the pins and needles from sitting on my foot for too long.

I looked at Julian. “I can’t believe that was five minutes.”

“You did great.” Luca patted my back again.

“We’re going to break down our booth.” Raina walked over and looked at Logan. “You’re going to stay with her?”

“Of course.” Logan nodded. “She needs to sit for about ten minutes, anyway.”

My family left, looking far too pleased. Julian’s coworkers congratulated us, then proceeded to break down their own booth around us. We offered to help but were told to stay put.

Julian squeezed his arm around me. “You did that like a pro. I thought you’d last a minute.”

“Showing me up,” Luca said. He didn’t sound mad at all.

“You’re going to come back to our place?” Julian perked up. “Logan promised us dessert.”

“He doesn’t have to cook,” I said automatically, although my words were still coming out slowly.

“It’s no trouble. Unless you’d rather wait for another day?” Logan’s face was close to mine, and I tried not to think about kissing him. His herbal scent was the perfect thing after being in the cold for so long. Invigorating and soothing.

I shook my head. I should use the excuse to get invited over some other time, but I couldn’t stand the idea of being parted from them. Being smushed between them was everything I wanted. All my defenses were down, and the reasons why I shouldn’t want them didn’t matter so much in the haze.

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