Page 18 of Choosing You

She was teasing and he knew it, but he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, somethingotherthan the whole kissing booth thing,” he clarified.

“Hmm…that’s a bit harder. But if I had to pick one thing, it would be how I follow a bunch of dogs on Instagram.”

Glancing over at her, he said, “Uh, yeah. I’m going to need some more information. Why dogs? Do you know their owners?”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “No! Don’t you ever just scroll on Instagram and see funny animal reels and videos? Some of them are adorable! My sister and I are a little obsessed with a couple of pugs who are pretty famous on social media.”

“Pugs? They have the flat faces, right?”

“Some do. Not all of them. Anyway, every time I watch one of those videos, it just automatically makes me smile. I work in social media, and I seriously wish I had a dog that I could train to do all those cute things.”

Will smiled, but all he could think about was how that was the weirdest thing he’d ever heard of. Sure, it was kind of cute, but it wasn’t what he was expecting her to say.

“What about you?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.

“Okay, something quirky…hmm…I enjoy really bad movies,” he finally said. “You know, campy, B-movies. The more ridiculous the better. Once a month, I get together with a bunch of friends and we’ll pick a movie—we each take turns—and have a crappy movie night. We get pizzas, drink beer, and eat a bunch of random snacks, make all kinds of random comments during the whole movie, and make a night of it.” Looking at her, he grinned. “Weird, right?”

She readily agreed. “Definitely. I think there’s some sort of TV show with that same premise—they watch really terrible movies and make jokes about it the entire time.”

“That was our inspiration for movie night! Have you ever watched that show?”

“My dad and my brothers love it. I’ve watched it with them every once in a while, but between the commentary on the screen and all the stuff they say too, it’s almost pointless to even try to watch the movie!” she explained with amusement. “Still, they always have fun with it.”

“And so do me and the guys.” He paused. “Which do you prefer when watching a movie—popcorn or nachos?”

“Mmm…if I’m at the theater, I want popcorn. If I’m at home, nachos. I make fantastic nachos.”

It was too soon to say he couldn’t wait for her to make them for him, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about it.

For the rest of the drive, they talked about silly stuff—nonsense that didn’t mean a whole lot, but little fun facts that just sort of teased what each of their personalities was like. When they reached the resort, Will parked and turned to her.

“Lunch first, or should we walk around a bit?”

“Well, I did just finish breakfast right before we met up outside, so I’m thinking we should walk around.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He climbed from the truck and immediately jogged around to the passenger side to help her out. She put her hand in his, and he held on to it as they made their way toward the grounds.

They walked across the parking lot and considered their options. Will pointed out the different paths and which attractions they led to. They decided to skip the ATVs and the slide and coaster because they were enjoying finally being able to talk to each other.

“How about we walk some of the trails, or maybe go on the ski lift?” Sloane suggested. “I imagine by the time we do the entire ride, we might be ready for an early lunch. What do you think?”

“I think that’s great,” he said with her hand still in his. They slowly strolled along the paths, and Sloane was chattering on about how different everything must look in the winter and how different this was from anywhere in Florida. He was enjoying listening to her, but…he knew there was one thing he needed to know before they went any further. Otherwise, it was always going to be there between them.

It could ruin everything. She could ask him to take her back to town immediately. Hell, he might decide to do that himself.

Without looking at her, he stopped walking—causing her to stumble slightly—took a steadying breath and asked, “Why’d you do it?

ChapterFour

As much as she didn’t want to keep harping on the subject, she knew Will deserved an answer—more than the one she gave him earlier.

She took it as a good sign that he was still holding her hand, but she wished they were still walking. So that’s where she started.

“Do you mind if we keep walking?”

He slowly nodded and they resumed their stroll toward the ski lift.

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