“It’s ON ME!”
“It’s technically on the branch—”
“It’s on me!” she shrieked again, shaking the pine wildly.
The squirrel chattered angrily, its little claws tightening around the branch as if offended by her lack of hospitality.
“Drop it!” I said, trying not to laugh.
“I can’t!” she yelled, dancing in circles. “It’s stuck!”
“Melanie, drop the branch, not the squirrel!”
She clutched it tighter instead. “If I drop it, it’ll jump on me!”
“That’s literally what’s about to happen if youdon’t!”
She kept spinning, shrieking, flinging pine needles in every direction. The squirrel was now clinging to the branch like it was riding out a hurricane. I lunged toward her, trying to grab the branch before the situation escalated further, but I underestimated just how slippery the snow had gotten.
“Mel—wait—”
She turned, panic in her eyes, and our boots slid on the same patch of ice.
Next thing I knew, gravity took over.
She went down first, I went down right after, and we landed in an undignified heap with me half sprawled over her, her hataskew, and the squirrel launching itself triumphantly into the air like it had just survived a natural disaster.
It landed on Melanie’s head for one chaotic second before bounding off, chattering victoriously as it disappeared into a nearby pine tree.
The crowd around us erupted into laughter and applause.
I lay there for a heartbeat, blinking snowflakes out of my eyes, and then looked down at her. “You okay?”
She groaned, eyes closed, still clutching half a pine branch in her fist. “Did it—did itgo?”
“It went,” I said, trying not to laugh. “Pretty sure it’s telling all its friends about you right now.”
She cracked one eye open. “You’re laughing.”
“Only a little.”
“You’relaughing at me.”
“Technically, I’m laughing on top of you.”
“That’s worse,” she said, but her mouth was twitching.
I couldn’t stop grinning. She had snow in her hair, pine needles stuck to her coat, and her cheeks were flushed from the cold and the chaos. And she looked… absolutely gorgeous.
I reached over, gently plucking a bit of pine out of her hair. “You’ve got a little forest situation going on here.”
“Don’t touch me.” Melanie clenched her eyes.
“Too late.”
She opened both eyes then, and that was a mistake for both of us. Because suddenly the world went quiet again, and all I could focus on was how close we were. Her breath hitched, warmagainst my cheek. My hand was still in her hair, her fingers fisted in the front of my coat, and I could see the quick flutter of her pulse at the base of her throat.
One wrong move and I’d kiss her.
