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“Go after me!” I exclaim, trying to shove him off. It does no good. I can’t budge him.
Jarrett starts to accelerate, and we both hold on. The tube slides easily over the snow and we pick up speed quickly. When we take the corner a little fast, all my weight shifts onto him, almost pushing him off the tube. It’s slick so he wraps his arm around me to try to hold on.
“Don’t take me down with you!” My words do no good. Jarrett swerves and Cooper flies off the tube, pulling me with him. We roll into the thick snow along the edge of the road.
The faint sound of our friends cracking up drifts down the street. “Asshole!” I leap to my feet, make a quick snowball and chuck it at him as he stands up.
“I—” Whatever he was going to say is cut short when the snowball explodes in his face. I wasn’t aiming for it but it’s spectacular. He sputters to spit out what managed to get into his mouth. When he looks at me with snow clinging to his eyebrows and scruff, I couldn’t stop laughing if I was under the threat of death.
A slow nod is accompanied by a growing devious smile. Uh-oh.
Turning on my heel, I dart between the trailers, trying to breathe through the giggles while I scoop up another handful of snow. He catches up to me around the back of a trailer. Arms grab me from behind. He doesn’t expect it when I drop to my knees so he can’t get a grip on me while I shove the snowball down the front of his pants.
Not just his pants. Underwear too, and I really got it in there. I felt balls.
He lets go of me, but I don’t run. Watching him squeal and jerk his pants down, then dump the snow out of the front of his boxer briefs is too good to miss.
“You’re going to pay for that.” I only make it a few steps before he tackles me to the ground. He rolls me over, straddles my waist and pins my wrists to the snow. “Do you want to say you’re sorry?” he teases.
“I’m not a good liar.” Moonlight casts a bluish glow over us and illuminates his grin while I squirm under him. “Did I chap the little fella?”
His gaze locks on mine, his eyes darkening. “Little fella? You really aren’t a good liar.” He leans down and ghosts his lips along my jaw to my ear. “It annoys the hell out of you that I turn you on.”
“Yes,” I confess. “It does.”
His chuckle is deep. “I fucking love it. I finally have you underneath me.” He looks down at me and time begins to drag as his lips part slightly. I remember how they felt, soft and firm. Hot on my skin.
Damn, I’m staring at his mouth.
It doesn’t escape his attention and his eyes find mine as soon as I look up. Neither of us speaks. The cold air suddenly feels warm and thick. My heart speeds up as he moves closer so slowly. It’s a wonderful terrible wait.
A loud wail blares across the yard the moment I feel his breath on my mouth, and we both jerk upright. In the silence, it’s clear and sharp.
“That’s a baby. Where’s it coming from?” I ask as we scramble to our feet. Nobody sheltering at the community building brought a baby.
My stomach climbs into my chest when the cry starts again and Cooper exclaims, “From that trailer. Who lives there? I thought no one was riding this out on their own.”
Without waiting for my answer, he charges through the yard with me on his heels. “They aren’t. That’s Kate Samuel’s place. She took her kids to her mom’s. I saw them leave before the storm.”
We circle the trailer to climb the front steps and walk across the porch that’s coated in fresh snow. No footprints. No one has returned. The cry comes again from inside, shriller this time.
“Does she have a baby?” Cooper asks, yanking the storm door open.
“Yes.” The word slips out in a whisper. I don’t know Kate well. She has her hands full with two small boys and a baby, but still. “She wouldn’t have,” I breathe.
“Step back,” Cooper barks, after trying the handle to find it locked. He raises his foot and kicks the door hard. The bang echoes down the road, chased by the sound of the second kick that does the job, forcing the door open.
I turn on the flashlight on my phone as we rush inside, and Cooper does the same. The crying has stopped. We stand still for a moment, listening.
I step over a stuffed animal on the living room floor and start down the hall. “Search the bedrooms!” Panic is trying to take over. We weren’t hearing things. There’s a baby here, alone, who has had to be here in the freezing cold since last night. I can’t remember Kate’s youngest’s name so I start frantically calling, “Baby! Where are you! Come on! Here, baby! Baby!”
Cooper races past me into the next bedroom to search while I tear the blankets off the bunk beds. The wailing begins again and it’s coming from down the hall. Cooper and I almost slam into each other when we emerge and run toward the sound.
In the last bedroom, a bundle lies wrapped up in the center of the neatly made queen size bed. Tears build in my eyes and my stomach rolls.
Cooper gets there first, gently scooping it up. “It’s okay, I got you,” he coos, cuddling it close. “Oh god, it’s so cold. We need an ambulance.”
I step up beside him and shine my light on the bundle. My fear and panic flee so fast that I almost collapse. “A doll!” I shout. “Oh thank goodness, it’s just a doll!”
