Page 74 of Catching the Mistletoe

“Not against me, you haven’t.”

I didn’t even have time to wind up before she was lunging away from me, a snowball flying from her gloved fist, hitting me square in the chest. I hurled my snowball in her direction, and she squealed, ducking behind a tree. I got her when she tried to run to the next tree and from there, the fighting was intense.

Twenty minutes in, I had a pretty decent pile of snowballs at my feet and Arabella was on the run, snow clinging to her beanie, her laughter bouncing off the trees.

Then she changed tactics, abandoning her snowballs and darting toward me. Just as I was about to let fly, she threw herself at me, her momentum knocking us both off balance. We tumbled to the ground, Arabella sprawled on top of me, her eyes laughing, her beanie knocked off, her hair spread around her. “Surrender?”

“You’re offering to surrender to me? Yes, I accept.”

“Not sure how that works, since I’m the one on top right now.”

“A position I can change in two seconds flat.” To emphasise the point, I wrapped my arms around her and tilted us both so that she was in danger of sliding into the snow.

“Okay, okay. Kiss me and I’ll let you up.”

I smacked a kiss to her lips, and she grinned, rolling away and helping me to my feet. Shrugging her beanie back on, she said, “That was fun.”

“Yeah, although I’m cold as fuck now. And starving.”

“Race you back.” She was already moving on the words, bolting for the track that led back to the cabin.

“Cheater!”

Her boots were slipping and sliding, her breathless giggles floating behind her as she heard me gaining on her. I caught up and snaked my arm around her waist, picking her up and spinning her around. She was still laughing when I set her down and fuck, she was a sight. All glowing eyes and pink cheeks.

Her smile faded and her gaze turned intense. Taking her glove off, she reached up to run her fingers down my cheek.

“This is nice.”

“Yeah it is.” That’s why I had to make the most of it, soak up every minute I could with her. Make enough memories to last a lifetime.

She leaned forward and kissed me, her lips cold, her beanie hanging forgotten. She didn’t seem to notice or care. Her arms looped around my neck, her mouth opening, her tongue stroking mine. Of course, it had my blood heating instantly and if it wasn’t so cold, I would have taken her right then.

Finally, we broke apart, and I put my arm around her as we headed back to the cabin.

“You wanna know something wild?”

“Sure.”

“This time last year, I was at death’s door. Touch and go whether I was gonna make it.”

“Yeah.” The memory of her in that hospital bed, all hooked up, fighting so hard, brought a lump to my throat.

“And now here I am. Healthier than I’ve been in my life.”

I could barely get the word out, but I managed a lame, “Yeah.”

“It just goes to show, doesn’t it? How life can turn on a dime. How everything can change.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s why you’ve gotta make the most of every moment, you know?”

Sure. If you’ve got the courage for that, I thought, but didn’t say. She was having a moment and who was I to take it from her?

“Live life to the fullest and all that shit. And now I’m a walking cliche, but oh well.”

I smiled, pressing a kiss into her hair as we walked along. We were both quiet for the whole way back to the cabin.

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