Page 31 of Keeping Happily Ever After

“You’re a natural,” Jeremy said when Bella came to stand next to him where he waited for her.

“It’s actually harder than it looks.” Bella surprised herself by being out of breath. She always considered herself to be in pretty good shape, but snowshoeing took a completely different set of muscles than the ones she experienced doing the little bit of yoga she did.

“You’re doing great.” Jeremy touched her nose with his mittened hand and laughed. “And you are super cute when you’re out of breath. In fact…” He leaned toward her to kiss her, but Bella ducked out of the way with a squeal.

“Oh no you don’t.” Awkwardly because of the giant snowshoes strapped to her feet, Bella started to run down the path, giggling the entire way. “I’m not that easy to—”

Her words were lost as she tripped over her snowshoe and flew forward. She didn’t even have time to worry about the landing as she propelled over her feet and landed face first into the snowbank next to the trail.

As soon as Bella started to run, Jeremy knew exactly how it was going to turn out. He’d had enough experience with snowshoes to know that it was never a good idea to try to run in them. Still, he couldn’t help but smile and chase after her as she took off down the trail.

He didn’t have to chase her very far, because just as he’d predicted, it didn’t take long before she tripped over her clumsy feet and went flying through the air in a way that would have been actually pretty impressive, if he hadn’t been concerned about how hard she landed.

“Bella!” Jeremy ran as quickly as he could manage in his shoes and dropped down to his knees in the snow next to her. “Bella, are you okay?” He took hold of her by the shoulders and lifted her up and over so she lay on her back in the snow. He was prepared for the worst; after all, she’d fallen pretty hard.

But to his surprise and shock, not only was she fine, she was laughing. Her entire body shook from the laughter she was trying—unsuccessfully—to contain, until finally it came spilling out in a burst.

“That was…oh my God…I can’t believe that just happened.” She laid back into the snowbank as her body convulsed.

Jeremy shook his head and laid back next to her, flipping his snowshoes out in front of him so they stood straight up. “I should have warned you,” he said. “It’s never a good idea to run in snowshoes because…well…” He waved his hand in the air. “That.”

Next to him, Bella was overtaken by a fresh round of the giggles. “Well, you could have told me that,” she said between breaths. “Not that it would have changed anything.”

“Oh yeah?” Jeremy rolled over so he was propped up on an elbow and could look at her. “You still would have run from me?” He let one mittened hand run up her leg. Even bundled up in bulky winter gear, Bella was sinfully sexy and he couldn’t keep his hands off her. At least, he sure didn’t want to keep his hands off her. “I mean,” he continued as his hand trailed farther up her body, “I’m all for the chase, because it makes the catching so much sweeter.”

Her laughter dried up and her eyes darkened with desire as he positioned one arm over her, bracing him in the snow so he caged her in beneath him.

Bella’s breath came fast, her chest rising and falling. But this time it wasn’t humor causing it, but need and desire for him.

“I’ll always let you catch me.” Her words came out in a puff of air that he caught with his kiss as his lips crashed down on hers.

She groaned and her body squirmed beneath his. If only there wasn’t a risk of frostbite, he’d have her stripped bare in an instant so he could worship her body properly. But there’d be time for that later. He’d make sure of it.

Reluctantly, Jeremy pulled away from her and rolled off into the snowbank next to her. He needed to cool off if they were ever going to make it out of the forest. And as much fun as they were having, there was still a lot more fun to be had. And it definitely wasn’t going to involve thick snowsuits.

After a moment, he sat up again and looked at her face. Her skin pinked from a mixture of desire and the cold snow. She’d never looked more beautiful. “You’re amazing, you know?” He stared at her intently, completely overwhelmed by his feelings for this girl.

She bit her bottom lip and looked him in the eyes. “You’re pretty amazing yourself,” she said seriously. “Thank you for this. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I love that you show me things and give me these experiences.”

“Baby, I’d give you the world if I could.”

“Well, I’ll settle for the mountains and all you can show me in this corner of the world.”

He couldn’t help but be struck by her words.This corner of the world?Did she not think he could give her more than just this?Couldhe give her more? Hell yes, he could. He could give her love and a life and—

“This whole day. It’s been amazing and really fun.” She interrupted his thoughts. “Exactly what I needed. Whatweneeded before things get crazy.” Her smile dipped, the laughter of earlier only a memory now. “Jeremy, you know that I’m going to have to leave for a long time and we haven’t really had a chance to talk about it yet, but it could be—”

“Shh.” He put his mittened hand gently over her mouth. Maybe they did need to talk about things and what it was all going to look like, but more than anything, Jeremy didn’t want anything to ruin their day. “We don’t need to talk about that now.”

“Jer, we’re going to have to talk—”

“We will.” He interrupted her. “We will talk about it soon, okay? Just not today. Let’s just enjoy the day without any of that…” He didn’t know how to finish the sentence.

Real life?

Serious stuff?

Reality?

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