Page 12

I wanted to cry but knew I had to behave like an adult, so I followed suit, standing on wobbly legs.

“What do we do?” I asked since he seemed at home playing in the snow.

“Take aim,” he said, handing me a snowball.

Following his lead, I climbed to the top of the snow wall and waited. Sure enough, the hovercams sped into view, pausing just between the walls.

“Now!” Austin shouted and let his weapon fly. It smacked into the drone right over the camera, and the whole thing wobbled tenuously in the air.

I laughed and let loose with a barrage of snowballs along with him until the drones fled and we’d made enough of a dent in the ready-made pile that we could no longer reach them easily from our vantage point.

We both collapsed onto our asses in the snow with our backs against the wall, laughing.

“Not so bad,” he said after catching his breath.

I turned toward him to find him leaning into me.

“No,” I agreed. “I think we may have ambushed them instead of vice versa.”

“You have me on your side,” he said, pulling up his ski mask to reveal his face. “I won’t let you down.”

I bit my lip and flipped up my own mask I’d grabbed in hurried preparation for our playground adventure, allowing the icy air to kiss my face. Considering the warmth coming off Austin, the Arctic cold didn’t feel so bad. It was like he had his own furnace burning inside. Then the smile he shot my way eclipsed even that.

“Seriously, Rosi. I’m sorry they keep doing this to you. I know I work for them, but I’m not a bad guy. I’ll do everything I can to make things more comfortable for you.”

“I appreciate that,” I said, leaning in because he also seemed to have his own gravitational pull. To prevent throwing myself at him and regretting it, I added, “I had fun.”

He beamed, and a genuine smile made his eyes light up like liquid silver. My insides melted along with them, and my body practically cried to finish the distance between us.

“I did too,” he said. “We should go for another ride when there are no cameras around.”

I nodded, and he inched forward, only a breath away. The kiss felt inevitable, but I forced myself to wait for him to initiate it. The last thing I needed was to have misread the signs from Austin Cooper and be too mortified to go on the expedition.

My chest rose and fell faster the closer he came. His head tilted, and his lips opened. His breath tasted of mint. But just as we connected, something whooshed over our heads, and I jerked back, staring up at the camera light of a drone in horror.

Austin pulled his ski mask down and stood to swat the drone away, tossing a snowball after it for good measure. The thing sizzled and crashed in the ground.

He stood still, taking slow, deep breaths as I rose and readjusted my own face covering. The moment was ruined, but the look in his eyes said maybe not forever.

I put a hand on his arm, and he looked at me.

“Let’s go back inside. Maybe have a cup of cocoa?” I offered.

I could tell he was smiling even beneath the mask, but it didn’t reach his eyes, which meant it was the one he reserved for the cameras hovering nearby again despite the demise of their predecessor. “I should take you back, you’re right.”

I wanted to press him for more but didn’t want to do so in front of the cameras. So I followed him back to the sled and tried to enjoy the tame ride back up the hill. When we headed for the building, Austin turned around and waved at the hovercams like it had all been in good fun. And when we got inside, he offered me his hand to shake.

Confused, I stared at it as I pulled off my mask and gloves. Did he regret what almost happened? Because I didn’t.

Lowering his hand after leaving it up for far too long, Austin cleared his throat. “I’m glad you had fun, Rosi. I’m sure our excursion will be fun too. I’ll be in touch to discuss things next week. Enjoy the rest of your stay.”

He spun on his heel and walked away on long legs far too fast to catch up to unless I wanted to appear obviously desperate. My insides were a jumbled mess. Was he leading me on? Did he…do that for the cameras?

Feeling ill, I hurried back to my suite. No, I decided. I’d gotten a glimpse of the real Austin, even if for a moment, and he wasn’t faking that. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t be getting into more baggage than I bargained for if I pursued this. And I had bigger cryptids to fry while I was here.

Don’t lose sight of the goal, Rosi.