Page 25 of Can I Tell You Something?
“OK, so let’s get you home.”
“You don’t need to cut your night short for me.”
“You’d leave your guest unaccompanied, halfway up a mountain, in a country he doesn’t know?”
“You’re a big boy. I’m sure you can handle it,” I say. He raises his eyebrows, smirking at my unintentional innuendo, and heat creeps further up my neck.
“More to the point,Iwouldn’t let a beautiful woman make her way home from a bar alone on a cold, dark mountain. If you get eaten by a bear, I’d never be able to live with myself.”
“There are no bears here,” I laugh.
“Maybe someone else will eat you.”
Heat spreads through my belly, pooling low and deep in my core. I don’t know whether it’s my dirty mind, scrambled by hours spent listening to him talk about how much he likes to go down on a woman, or if he’s really being this direct with me.
He helps me into my coat, his firm hands squeezing my shoulders and stroking down my arms. I feel his touch everywhere. A spark between us threatening to catch.
“So how do we do this?” he says, holding his sledge in his hands at the top of the slope. They’re not much more than a plastic disk with a handle, but they get the job done.
“You’ve never been sledging?”
“On those famous snowy Los Angeles mountains?” he teases. “No, I haven’t. I mean, we do actually have mountains in L.A. now that I think about it, but I’ve never been. Plenty of hikes, but we weren’t exactly a family of adventurers. I’m not sure my mom has ever even left the state of California. She’d probably have an aneurysm if she saw me right now. Maybe I should call her, say goodbye, you know?”
“Cameron,” I put my hand on his arm and he stops. “You’re rambling. Are you OK?”
“Why am I so nervous?” he laughs. “Oh yeah, because I’m about to throw myself down a dark mountain on a piece of plastic that barely takes one ass cheek, that’s why.”
“I’ll keep you safe. Here, let me show you how it’s done.” I sit down, wiggling a little to get myself centred with the loop handle pulled up between my legs. Beside me, Cameron does the same. “OK now we just scoot up to the edge of the slope but dig your heels in so you don’t go yet.”
“There are no brakes on this thing?”
“It’s easy. Once you get going, lift your feet up. If you want to slow down, put them flat and pull the handle up towards yourself. If you need to adjust course, lean your body in the opposite direction to where you want to go.”
“Maybe we should just call a taxi?”
“Cameron, you can do this. It’s the quickest way, and it’s not far. I promise you’ll be fine. Just follow me.”
Chapter 17
Cameron
“Slowdown!”Hannahscreamsbehind me, but it’s too late. The second I lifted my feet, I zoomed straight past her. I’ve veered off to the edge of the slope, and no matter which way I lean, I can’t get myself right again. Trees zip past in my peripheral vision, and I’m certain no other human has ever gone this fast before.
“Use your feet,” I hear her shout, but that only serves to catapult me over the bank of snow at the edge of the slope and then I’m flying. I land face first, inches from the base of a tree.
I hear her boots a few seconds later, stomping up the bank until she comes into view, dropping to her knees at my side. “Are you OK?”
“I did not expect it to go that fast.” I laugh, then cough and wheeze a little. That’ll hurt tomorrow.
“Are you hurt?”
“I don’t think so.”
I roll to my back, and she brushes the snow from my front. Her mittens sweep across my jacket and then down over my crotch and my thighs. My hips have a mind of their own, tipping upwards, but she’s too busy rescuing me to realise she’s basically rubbing my dick. She brings her hands up to my face and neck, her fingers digging out where snow has packed inside my collar. It’s ice cold, but all I feel is warmth looking up at her like this.
I wrap my hand around her wrist and hold it there by my throat, wishing we weren’t wearing gloves. Too many layers between us. She stills, her breath a soft cloud in the cold air. Even in the darkness, hidden underneath the low branches, I can make out the fullness of her lips, the pink of her cold nose.
“You still didn’t answer my question.”
