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I repeated the words over and over in my head and watched as Luke pushed off with a laugh and swept down the hill in a flurry of snow.
“Come on!” he yelled.
I glanced at Theo, then at Jax.
“On three?” Jax offered.
“Sure.”
“Okay. One… two… three!”
On three, I closed my eyes and shoved myself forward, then I snapped them open as we began to rush down the slope. Theo’s words vanished from my mind as the cold wind whipped past my warm cheeks and pulled at my hair. Theo was to my left, and he raced down faster while Jax held back, keeping pace with me. Faster and faster we went, and it was exhilarating. The speed meant the wind’s chill barely seemed to touch me, and the snow was smooth like butter.
At the bottom, Theo met Luke, and the moment I thought about reaching them, my legs wobbled. With a cry, my skis swept far too inward and caught on each other, locking up. Within a second, I was in the air, then tumbling down in the snow round and round. I hit something soft, and suddenly Jax’s laughter rang in my ears as I slowly tumbled to a stop. As my head stopped spinning, I realized that Jax had caught me when I fell, and I’d pulled him with me as I tumbled. He lay underneath me, laughing heartily, and I braced my hands on his chest to push myself up.
“Oh my God,” I cried, “I’m so sorry!”
“It’s okay,” Jax laughed. Nestled in the snow, he looked beautiful with that dazzling smile and rosy cheeks. His eyes sparkled like the snow, and his hands clutched at my waist. “Are you okay? No injuries?”
“I… I think so,” I answered breathlessly, giving myself a quick once over to check before my gaze returned to his. “You?”
“Nope, all good,” he grinned.
For a moment, a single quiet moment, I was struck with the sudden urge to lean down and kiss him to see what his smile tasted like. The urge lingered, and I glanced down at his lips just as Jax licked them slowly.
“Summer…” he said softly. “I—”
“Are you okay?!” Luke and Theo slid into view, and I quickly pushed myself up and rolled off of Jax. Luke’s hands slid under my arms, helping me to my feet as Theo picked up Jax.
“We’re all good,” Jax laughed. “Does that count as a forfeit?”
“No way!” I cried out, brushing snow from my jacket and pushing all thoughts of kissing from my mind. “I did the slope; you didn’t say I had to do all of it.”
“She’s got a point,” Theo laughed. “Come on, I’m starving.”
With Luke’s arm firmly looped in mine to prevent any more falls, we began skiing slowly down the slope toward the resort. Food sounded amazing, yet all I could think about was how close I had come to giving in and kissing Jax.
After sleeping with Theo, that was probably the worst thing I could do.
And yet… I was single and didn’t owe anyone anything. So what if I entertained the thought of them all? Did that make me a horrible person?
Maybe, but something about how Jax had looked at me had a yearning growing in my chest. Maybe it was loneliness. Maybe it was something more.
Whatever it was, this holiday had just gotten a lot more confusing.
12
SUMMER
After a lunch of chicken sandwiches, fruit, and small slices of cake that ended up on more faces than in bellies, we all relaxed in the lounge in front of the large roaring fireplace nursing aching muscles. Bonnie cuddled up on Jax’s lap flicking through a picture book, Kane spread out on the floor with a jigsaw puzzle, and Ava, keeping up with her current attachment, soon abandoned her coloring and crawled into my lap instead.
“Summer?” she asked, smacking her lips together.
“Yes, dear?”
“Are you going to—going to be here at Christmas?”
“Of course!” I smiled softly and dabbed at her nose. “I’m here to make sure Santa can find you all easily.”
