Page 40 of Reviving Kendall

I smile up to him, “Thanks.”

The cold has turned his cheeks and nose a tad pink and it looks good on him. I’m beginning to think that there’s no bad look on any of the quad. His eyes go wide, and he jerks me to him. My face is buried inside his unzipped jacket as his face nuzzles the side of my neck. Less than a second later I feel impact from the snowball hitting my back. That, however, is the last thing on my mind. This is the first time I’ve been within true touching distance of Mav and dear all that is holy, he smells so fucking good. It takes him longer than I would have expected to pull away, and it leaves my heart hurting. He’s closer to my height than any of the other guys, but he still has to look down at me. The look that he shoots me could melt the snow around us. For half a second, the agreement between us doesn’t exist, and I lean into him. His hand comes so close to my face that I can feel the heat coming from it. Then, as fast as it came on, that mask drops back into place and he’s back to being the same old Maverick.

He puts as much distance as he can between us by joining the other three in their impromptu war. My emotions are all over the place as I watch them. That one small moment with Mav has my heart hurting. Maybe I lied a little when I said all I wanted was new friends. I’m trying so damn hard, but it seems to get harder and harder every day. I just have to keep reminding myself that the sacrifices wouldn’t be worth it. Even as I watch Lucas and Mav lob snowballs at each other as Teagan and Goose wrestle on the ground trying to see who can stuff more snow in the other’s pants faster. I can’t think of anything that could possibly be any fucking sexier than the four of them.

Taking advantage of the situation, I get some good shots of them acting goofy before Goose tries to pull me back into the war zone. I keep the camera in front of me as an excuse to not engage.

Mav comes to the rescue again, “Guys, we need to stop messing around. We’ve still got to go back into town for food and shit.” When Teagan grumbles, he adds, “Plus, someone didn’t put on their gloves. Kendall is going to get frostbite on her fingers if we keep her out here too much longer.”

Goose is still within arms distance. He reaches out and wraps my hands up in his before I can pull away. His warm breath goes a long way in thawing my fingers out when he blows on them.

“You’ve got to remember to put your gloves on up here, babe,” he says quietly.

He’s been using the pet name more and more lately, almost like he hopes that I’ll let him back in romantically. It makes me sick to my stomach to ignore it, but if Mav were to hear it, he’d probably go ballistic. Smiling at Goose, I make my way to the back of the Rover. When I reach to take my bag, Lucas snatches it right out from under me.

“I can get my stuff,” I tell him.

He winks, “I’ve already got it. You better go claim a room before Teagan beats you inside, otherwise you won’t get the best one.”

“I heard that,” Teagan calls out from behind us.

Goose comes from our left side as we make our way up the stairs, “Don’t let him fool you. It’s true.”

“Oh, thank god,” Ryleigh says walking out of the kitchen. “I was beginning to think that you guys had gotten lost.”

I shake my head, “Nope. Not lost. The boys just had a little too much fun in the snow.”

She rolls her eyes, “No. Not them.”

“Where’s Eddie?” I ask looking around.

“Laying down in the day room,” she sighs. “I may be doing more babysitting than anything this weekend. Apparently, Eddie is sensitive to high altitudes.”

“Oh, that sucks,” I tell her.

Lucas puts his hand against my back, “We’ll be back in just a minute. We’re trying to beat Teagan to a room.”

She walks away and talks over her shoulder, “I guess we’ve got dibs on the downstairs room. I’d hate to add to his sickness.”

“Come on, Kendall,” he says, guiding me up the steps.

The inside of the cabin is rustic and homey. I expected nothing less. There’s a runner leading down a long hallway on the second level. It’s a hunter green color that goes well with the hardwood floors and dark tan walls. There are five doors leading off the hallway.

“You can look through each room if you want to, but this room back here is the best,” he says leading me to the door straight across from the stairs.

“What makes this one better than the others?” I ask.

He smiles, “You’ll see.”

There’s nothing spectacular that I can see about the room. It looks like the basic inside of a cabin with brown wood walls and the same dark hardwood floor of the hallway. Black bears cover the rug, quilt and in the couple of pictures on the walls. My favorite thing is the lamp. It’s a small bear holding up the post part of it and the shade matches the quilt.

Lucas grabs my hand and pulls me to the double doors across the room. He moves behind me and covers my eyes as he whispers in my ear, “This is the best part.”

A blast of cold air hits me in the face as he crowds my space and moves us forward. He uncovers my eyes and my breath leaves me in a whoosh of a white smoke. Due to the downslope behind the house, I can see straight over the bare trees surrounding the cabin. For miles and miles all that’s visible is mountains and snow.

When I feel that I can speak again, I turn around to tell him thanks for pointing me in the right direction. Only, he’s standing so much closer than I expect him to be. His lips slant down across mine and I’m too stunned to do anything other than kiss him back. Anything my imagination could have conjured up would never compare to the real thing. The feel of his hands on each side of my face makes it oh so much sweeter. Lucas acts as if we have all of the time in the world as he takes his time exploring every inch of me that he can. It’s a sobering thought to think that it’s just the opposite. I pull away with a sad smile and looking anywhere but him.

He lifts my chin so that I have no choice but to lock eyes with him, “I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.” I try to shake my head, but he stops me, “You can’t deny it. I don’t know what’s changed in the past month, but you’re keeping us at a distance. I’m telling you right now that it’s not going to work.”

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