Page 146 of Let It Snow
"Maybe six months ago."
"Then I know what Bay was hinting at at the table. I just hope now—"
Snow lets out a small laugh.
"Don’t worry, Summer. I’m a monogamist, no matter what my past looked like. And you and I…" He smirks. "Well, you never took back your word when you said we’re boyfriends now."
I purse my lips playfully.
"I didn’t, and I’m not planning to."
After a moment of musing, I add,
"For someone who’s spent his life in a basement, you’ve had quite the colorful sex life. Maybe that basement’s just a chrysalis stage, while underneath there’s much more hidden. Or a dragon’s lair? From which you set out on the pleasure hunt."
Snow looks like what I said stirred something in him, some thought long repressed; he frowns.
So I keep it light.
"Do you like it?"
He raises an eyebrow quizzically.
"You know. Fucking."
Snow chuckles as if the question was obvious. "I sure do. I have a healthy libido." Then he smiles faintly. "But I’ve always known I wanted more than just a pleasure hunt. I just had to be patient inside my… chrysalis, and one day hope to build something better with the person meant for me."
We hold each other’s gaze, and I decide to ask something I’ve been struggling to find the courage to say for the past two weeks. With my anxiety, it hasn’t been easy. Maybe now’s the right moment.
"You know that square of land you’ve been clearing behind your parents’ place, cutting away all those shrubs? I was wondering what you planned for it?"
There’s a bit of a celebratory energy in the air. Snow rubs his chin.
"I want to buy a house."
I freeze.
Snow chuckles softly when he sees my face.
"Yes… I think it’s time to crawl out of the lair, you know, break free from the chrysalis." He winks. "I’ve been thinking of putting up a place kind of like Bay’s tiny house, a slightly more supersized version, with two extra rooms upstairs instead of one."
I sit up again, the conversation too big to keep having while lying down.
"Seriously?"
He nods with conviction. There’s a strange stillness hanging in the air. You can almost feel the electric charge, as if the atmosphere itself were alive with energy.
"A house… for us?" I dare to whisper.
Snow’s hand grazes my thigh, his eyes soft and warm.
"Yes, a house. For us."
My gaze sweeps across his face, his marked neck glands, his tattooed, bare chest. All… mine. He’s mine. And he wants us to have our own house!
"That’s sweet… Really?"
"Really, Summer."
