Page 22 of Once Upon a Winter
If Laura hadn’t looked up, she wouldn’t have had to discover that someone had rigged up the cat’s toy, and Courtney was dangling mistletoe from a fishing rod over their heads. Her gut instinct was to flee, but she looked.
In a full panic, Laura started to leave, but Cooper, apparently not one to shy away from a challenge, took Laura’s hand and drew her closer. His lips, of which she was now acutely aware, spread into a gentle smile. Laura’s heart raced as Cooper drew closer, his eyes trailing down to her lips. Time seemed to stand still as he gently cradled her face and tenderly kissed her on the forehead. Had he done that at any other time—preferably not under duress—she would have swooned, but under the circumstances, it was awkward. Her pounding heart didn’t help matters.
Tessa folded her arms. “Foreheads don’t count. It’s got to be lips.”
Laura whispered, “It’s okay. You don’t have to.”
But with a look both defiant and tender, Cooper kissed her on the cheek then brushed his lips against hers before planting a soft kiss on her lips. The warmth of it spread through her body until she nearly forgot where she was and melted against him. A shiver ran through her as his mouth moved over hers. After a lingering moment, they parted, both left breathless and stunned. Laura’s eyes fluttered open, and Cooper stared into them while Delia’s friends stood speechless, their taunts silenced.
“Wow,” Laura whispered, her cheeks flushed.
Cooper smiled, his eyes brimming with warmth as he leaned closer and said softly, “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now.”
Laura’s heart soared. Then something came over her. Maybe it was the look in his eyes that overwhelmed her reason and apprehension. Whatever the cause, she grasped Cooper’s lapel and kissed him. It was no peck on the forehead or soft lips brushed together. She kissed him with abandon, and he kissed her back as though it might be their last. For that matter, it might be. Laura had no idea how Cooper felt about it, except that their kiss deepened, and he tightened his arms around her.
A man’s cough sounded. Convinced it was her father, Laura put her palm on Cooper’s chest and gently pushed him away. Where that superpower came from, she didn’t know, but they parted.
Delia’s friends gaped. Her parents and Delia stood halfway across the room, staring. It appeared the party had come to a halt.
Cooper was the first to recover, declaring in a stage voice, “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the mistletoe tradition has endured through the centuries.” He grinned, took Laura’s hand, and said, “I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked up an appetite.” And with that, grabbing some champagne on the way, they escaped through the kitchen and up the back staircase, climbing and laughing their way to the top.
Cooper asked, “Where are we going?”
“There’s a great view of the city from one of the bedrooms.” She stopped, no longer laughing. “And… I need a quiet break from all the people.”
“Okay.” Not only did he seem to understand, but he didn’t seem to mind. If his kiss hadn’t sent her heart soaring first, that would have.
As Laura and Cooper made their way down the upstairs hallway, the sounds of the party faded. Laura stopped in front of a closed door and turned the handle. As she swung the door open, she froze. There on the bed sat her sister’s husband, Philip, with his arms wrapped around Delia’s best friend, Blair, their lips locked in a passionate kiss.
Blair was the first to notice their presence and, with a gasp, broke away from Philip’s embrace, covering her mouth in horror. Philip’s head whipped around, his face draining of color when he saw Laura. An agonizing moment of silence hung in the air as the four of them stared at each other in shock.
Finally coming to her senses, Laura hastily pulled the door shut. She staggered back a few steps, bile rising in her throat. Her mind reeled as she tried to process the image suddenly seared into her brain—Delia’s husband cheating with her best friend. How could she tell her sister?
Heart pounding, she headed for the stairs, nearly stumbling in her haste. Cooper stopped her on the landing. “Laura?”
“That was Delia’s husband, Philip. It was probably hard for you to recognize him since he was too busy making out with my sister’s friend Blair.”
“Oh.”
Feeling lost, she looked at Cooper as if he had an answer. “I should tell Delia. But I can’t tell her tonight. This is her big party. She looks forward to it every year. What should I do?”
“I can’t tell you that. All I can say is to trust your gut feeling.”
“My gut tells me that this sort of news can wait.”
With a sympathetic nod, Cooper said, “We could leave now, if you want.”
Between kissing Cooper and finding her brother-in-law kissing someone who wasn’t her sister, Laura’s head was spinning. “No. Delia would know something was wrong. Let’s give it an hour.” So they lingered as if nothing was wrong, talking some more with Laura’s parents and Delia’s friends until it almost felt normal. When a few guests left, Laura took that as her cue, and they made their escape.
Cooper offered to drive, and Laura let him. Freshly fallen snow crunched under their tires as they pulled out of the driveway, and the pale moonlight lit their path. Once home, Laura paused at her door. Catching a whiff of the surrounding pine trees and the neighbors’ fireplace smoke mixed with a faint hint of Cooper’s cologne, she was completely undone. Before she lost all control, she turned to unlock the door.
“Laura.”
With her hand placed on the doorknob, Laura turned to see the same confusion in his expression that she felt. Their mistletoe kiss had suddenly changed things between them. Other than Delia’s dallying husband, which she tried to block out, Cooper’s kiss had dominated her thoughts during the quiet ride home. She was hopelessly attracted to Cooper, and she had been since she’d met him. But like the accounting she did for a living, things were meant to occur in a predictable order. Relationships followed a logical progression.
In the olden days, couples had courtships to take all the guesswork away. They just had to go through the process. Not that she would want to live in those times with those rules, but there was a certain comfort in knowing the order of things. But the kiss at the party had been so out of order. Neither of them had expected it. Laura barely knew anything about the guy, and yet all she could think about was his lips against hers.
Whatever was happening between them had suddenly shifted into warp speed. If their relationship didn’t go as hoped, it could upend the new life that she’d planned for herself. Yes, she was crazy about him, but early feelings like that could cloud a person’s good judgment. If it was meant to be, it could wait.
