Page 21 of Love in the Details

“Kassidy, looks like you and Dustin are sharing the black sled.” Easton stepped toward them. “It’s kind of the fastest sled, so don’t fall out, sis.”

She slugged him in the shoulder again, and he grabbed the spot, feigning injury.

After setting the sled on the ground, Kassidy danced around it, not sure whether going in front of or behind Dustin would be ideal.

“I can just wait up here if you want to take this one down,” she finally said, waving to it.

“Are you scared of going down with me?” Dustin asked, the corner of his mouth turned upward.

At the word scared, her defenses rose. “I’m sorry, but I’ve had bigger scares on the backs of rodeo horses. Sleds are nothing but a thrill compared to those.”

She hopped into the front of the sled, not sure about his prior sledding experience. If she could control it at all, they wouldn’t land in a snowbank.

He slid in behind her, his snow pants riding up and revealing his pant legs.

“Are you ready for this?” he said, his lips so close to her ear that it sent a chill down her back.

“Oh yeah.” She grabbed the rope and maneuvered them into line with the others. Six sleds lined up next to each other were bound to end with some interesting turns.

“Go!” one of the twins called out from the other side, and everyone pushed off.

At first, Kassidy and Dustin had a good lead, keeping up with Walker and Lauren. Kassidy almost forgot about who was behind her as the wind raced against her face and they went sailing down the lane.

And then they were hit from the side, and as much as Kassidy tried to steer their sled away from the large jump her brothers had created earlier that morning, they ended up going straight over it.

For a few seconds they were airborne, and Kassidy’s stomach jumped. That feeling of falling out of the sky with nothing to hold on to caused her to cry out.

Arms wrapped around her as they came down on the ground, and she landed on top of Dustin before they went rolling down the hill. The wind was knocked out of her in the process, but somehow she’d landed twisted in his arms, staring into those turquoise-blue eyes.

Everything around them at that moment seemed to stand still, and even when she’d regained her air, it was sucked back out again. Dang, he was cute. And he’d done what he could to protect her from the fall. Not that she hadn’t taken notice of his strong arms around her. How did he have time to work out with all his meetings and work?

For a moment, she thought he would kiss her, and then she remembered her siblings were just down the hill. Pushing against the ground, she popped up, hoping her brothers didn’t notice the extra pink covering her cheeks.

Chapter 13

Nothing good could come from this.

Dustin wasn’t sure why he’d wrapped his hands around Kassidy’s middle. Maybe it was because she yelled and his instincts reacted, thinking he could protect her. Now all he’d done was land hard on the ground with his arms around a beautiful woman who he was supposed to be avoiding. She was his employee, after all, and he didn’t want history to repeat itself.

Dating wasn’t in the cards for him, not after all the betrayals he’d gone through over the years. There was no simple, “Hey, I like you and you like me, so let’s date and see where this goes.” Most of the time, the women who paid him any attention were only seeing dollar signs when they looked in his direction. That’s what happened when he became a billionaire after accepting the position as head of Wakefield Fabrication. Women flocked to him because he had a lot of money and then left when they found something better.

But Kassidy had been different to work with so far. She was sincerely trying to do a good job with this setup. And she’d never done anything to butter him up. In fact, the thing he liked most about her was that she wasn’t afraid to speak her mind.

“You guys okay up there?” one of her siblings called out.

Kassidy had scrambled out of his arms and to her feet in no time.“Um, er, thanks for helping me.” She brushed off the snow from her pants, most likely trying to avoid eye contact.

“I’m just glad you got us to go over the jump. I figured if we’d hit it at the side, we would’ve rolled down the rest of the hill.”

Kassidy finally cracked a smile. “We pretty much did.” She leaned over and held out a hand, pulling him to a standing position. She picked up the sled, but he took it from her.

“I’ve got this,” he said, giving her a small smile.

As she walked a few steps in front of him, his heart thundered in his ears. He’d been able to push off the little attraction he’d felt toward her from the first day they met, but something about her spunk coupled with her nerves around him drew him to her even more. And lying there for what was probably only a few seconds, looking into her milky-brown eyes and smelling her vanilla lotion, caused his thoughts to drift. What would it be like to kiss her?

Shaking it off, he focused on the walk down to the truck. Kissing led to a broken heart, one hundred percent of the time in his case.

A few of the siblings claimed they wanted to take a break, so the rest of the group went back up, getting on their own sleds this time. Dustin already missed the heat of Kassidy sitting next to him, and when he glanced over at her on the other side of one of her brothers, he caught her watching him before she moved her head quickly away.

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