Page 38 of Snowflakes and Sparks

I put my hand on my hip. “I’m sure you say that to all the girls.”

Alex took a step forward and locked eyes with me. He stood so close that I could smell his shampoo. Honey and lime, a strange yet scintillating combination of fragrances.

He brushed a strand of hair out of my face and a shiver ran through me.

“You’re the first girl I’ve ever brought back here,” he whispered.

I swallowed. It was like his hands and his words had set my skin on fire and I had no way of extinguishing these raging flames. All I could think of were his lips only inches away from mine. A stark contrast with the physical distance between us in real life.

“Okay.” It was all I managed to say. Forming a full sentence seemed impossible.

“You’re not only adorable, but the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. I knew it ten years ago and I know it now.”

He raised his left hand and traced the outline of my bottom lip with his finger. He was making me all shaky. I had to react, show him how much I wanted him to kiss me. Without thinking things through, I bit his finger.

“Ah, here you two are. The tour’s about to start,” I heard a woman’s voice say.

I immediately took a step back as if I’d gotten stung by a bee. The world was starting to come into focus again. I put my hands deep into my pockets and prayed that Karen hadn’t seen me biting Alex’s finger.

“Thanks, we’ll be right there, Karen,” Alex said, his face flushing.

“Take your time,” she said with a wink before heading back to the reception desk.

“I guess we’d better go then,” Alex said. “Although I do feel bad about getting interrupted like that.”

“Me too,” I said, locking eyes with him. His smile set my body alight.

I followed Alex out of the room and we joined a group of seven others, all of them tourists. There was a couple from France, a family of four from Denver and a middle-aged man who told us his wife had to cancel the tour because she’d contracted a tummy bug. According to him, it was pretty nasty and she hadn’t left the toilet in over two hours. Not exactly information I was dying to know.

Alex introduced us, yet didn’t say a word about how we knew each other. As I followed the group onto the factory floor, I wondered what our connection even was. Every now and then I took small glances at him. Was he feeling as confused as I was? Why on earth had I bitten his finger as if I was a vampire?

Alex showed no signs of confusion, though. He nodded at the exact right times and laughed at everyone’s jokes. I on the other hand didn’t register a thing the tour guide was saying. If there was a test at the end, I’d fail for sure.

“And here we have ourpièce de résistance,” the tour guide said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

All kinds ofoohsandaahswent through the group as we gathered around the most gigantic snow globe I’d ever seen. It was twice my size, and inside was a very accurate depiction of the Old Pine Cove Santa’s Village I had visited with Alex last week.

“You are all free to take a picture here.”

“Merveilleux,” the French couple said and asked the guide to snap their picture. They hugged the snow globe, one on each side.

“You want one as well?” Alex asked.

I looked at the family of four. They were pretending to push the snow globe and had everyone in laughing fits, even though it wasn’t that funny to witness. Their enthusiasm was adorable though.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. A silly picture with a giant snow globe wasn’t on my wish list, but Alex ignored me. He handed the French guy his phone and strolled over to the globe.

“Come on, I won’t bite,” he called out to me, and pulled me next to him. “Biting is more your thing anyway,” he said, making my cheeks crank up the heat.

“Just a leeeetlle closer,” the French guy said, waiting for us to huddle together as if we were a real couple.

Alex put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a small squeeze. Maybe I hadn’t been wrong after all. Maybe he loved vampires. Or maybe I was just crazy for thinking any of it had been a good idea.

“Last stop is the gift shop, everyone. Through here,” the tour guide said.

“Do you mind meeting me out front in fifteen?” Alex asked me. “I’ve got to track down Donald to load the snow globes for the charity onto my truck.”

“Sure. I mean, I have no choice, do I? You drove me here,” I said, smiling.

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