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He rested his hands on her shoulders and gave them a little squeeze and it brought her back to the café, which brought her body’s core temperature to simmering.
“Am I interrupting?” he asked, sliding his palms down her arms. That extra slice of birthday cake Milly had eaten somersaulted in her stomach.
“Nope,” Kat said. “Not at all. In fact, she’s all yours. Take her and do what you wish.”
“Lucky guy,” he said, taking her hand and tugging her to her feet. And then, like one of those cute couples in a rom-com, he twirled her around the couch and into his arms, giving her a cute little dip, before pressing her into his body. “Can I borrow you for a second?”
“I’ll give you two.”
“Then I better make them count.”
He placed a firm hand on her lower back—a possessive move that both confused her and turned her on—and led her through the crowd and toward the stairs, not slowing down until they were past the landing and down a small hallway that led to a row of doors.
When they found themselves alone, she asked, “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere that we can talk and not be overheard.”
“That sounds mysterious,” she said.
“Come on,” he tugged her further down the hallway, then stopped. “I want to show you something.”
“If it’s in your pants, I already went to that party.”
He stopped right outside of a bedroom. It had some snowboarding stickers and a big Caution, snowboarder crossing sign stuck to the door. “Is this the infamous Jax Macintyre’s bedroom?” A giddy feeling exploded through her at the idea of seeing something from his childhood.
She opened the door and she bit back a laugh at the poster covering one wall. It had snowboarding goggles and a message in a Star Wars font. “May the snow be with you?” she teased.
“I had a thing for Princess Leia.”
“I bet you did.”
“I think it was the hair.”
“Something else you seem to have a thing for.”
His eyes took in her hair, which was twisted into a messy bun at the base of her neck, and he flashed a sexy grin. “I also have a thing for necks, and sometimes I have to give the hair a little tug to get my mouth on it.”
Her insides turned into a heated pool of goo. “I think that falls into the category of verbal foreplay.” To resist the urge to give her own hair a tug to expose her neck, she walked to the window to take in the stunning view.
His room overlooked a small pond, which had frozen over and resembled a mini–ice rink with the twinkle lights strung around it. In the distance was a forest of pines, reaching toward the inky sky, the ice on their branches glimmering under the glow of the full moon.
The sky didn’t have stars like this in San Francisco or New York. Nor did those cities bring the peace of being surrounded by nature and the comfort of being surrounded by good friends. Sierra Vista had always claimed a special space in her heart, but lately that space was expanding to include so much more.
She looked over her shoulder at Jax, who was watching her intently. “Is this the window Teen Jax would sneak girls in and out of?”
He came up behind her, resting his hands on the sill, caging her in. “You’re the first girl I’ve ever snuck in here.”
That came as a shock to her. Every summer growing up, Jax had a new girl or sometimes he’d start off the summer with one and end up with another. “How come you never dated Zoe?”
“Because I liked her sister.”
Utter shock slid through her. She looked at him over her shoulder to see if he was joking. He was dead serious. “I didn’t even think you knew I existed.”
“Right back at ya, angel. In fact, you were so busy making cow eyes at Lucas, I didn’t think I stood a chance.”
Uncertainty flickered in his eyes, and she knew he was thinking back to when she’d mistook him for his brother and that caused her heart to sink. “Looking back, Lucas was the safe crush. You seemed like trouble and Zoe was all about trouble.”
“I was trouble,” he said. “I’m still trouble.”
