Page 73 of A Winter Wedding Adventure
He flung out an arm and snagged the waistband of her underwear, just lightly. Tugging too hard – holding too tight – would only send her running. ‘To keep warm,’ he pointed out, although the roaring fire in the stove – crackling pleasantly – had heated the room a little past comfortable. ‘Casual body heat.’
‘I’m not a snuggler,’ she insisted, although the way she practically purred when he rubbed a hand up her back suggested she was only fooling herself with those words.
‘You’re not a snuggler; you’re not a wedding planner,’ he teased lightly. ‘What are you, Kira Watling?’
‘A loner,’ she insisted, slipping out of his reach.
Mattia sobered at her words. He had to take her at face value, even though he felt more than a glimmer of doubt. For a loner, she’d allowed him very close.
She pulled up her technical trousers and perched on the bed to adjust her socks, sitting up to run a hand over her tousled blue hair. It was still in a ponytail, but was barely recognisable as such, most of it now in loose, wild strands around her head.
‘Do you dye it blue so people don’t have a chance to judge the real you?’
She stiffened and he snapped his mouth shut a few seconds too late. The thought had just tumbled out. He hadn’t considered whether she wanted to talk about this right now.
‘If that’s true, it’s not working. You… all the others – you’ve found out more about me than my oldest friends know.’
His stomach dropped as he realised she was thinking about her ex, about the unwelcome reunion – whenever they made it down the mountain.
‘How are you feeling? About seeing him?’
She glanced over her shoulder at him. ‘Maybe a little better now,’ she answered with a dark chuckle.
‘Well, I’m glad of… that.’
The mattress dipped as she shifted closer and he propped himself up on one arm to meet her wary gaze. Lifting a hand haltingly, she brushed her fingertips over his cheek and he wasn’t sure whether to beg for more or berate her for touching him in such a patronising manner after everything they’d just shared.
‘I hope you find your soulmate. You’re capable of it.’
He frowned. ‘You think you’re not?’ She’d loved Christian enough to hurt for twelve years.
‘It’s a bit too late for me to believe.’
She stood before he could formulate a rebuttal. He hauled himself upright, reaching for her hand – when a distant roar made him pause and listen.
‘Do you hear that?’ he asked, alarm zipping up his spine as the rumble grew louder, punctuated by a crack that made him jump.
‘I heard that!’ Kira groped for him, hauling him up. ‘Away from the window!’ Pulling him into the corner away from the fire, she threw herself over him just as a resounding crash broke the silence of the early hour and he thought he felt the walls shake.
A moment later, the eerie mountain quiet descended again – muted and immense. Kira exhaled on a long breath, her expression tight. Glancing around as though to check that everything was still standing around them, she moved off him.
‘That was a few minutes too late to feel the earth move,’ he blurted out. ‘What just happened?’
The grim light in her eyes told him Alessandra’s wedding had just gone from hell to hell frozen over. ‘An avalanche. Come on, we have to check on the others!’
29
Kira burst out of Mattia’s room, racing for the stairs, but she stopped short when her gaze snagged on the door to her own room – off its hinges and teetering on a pile of snow, in the hallway.
‘Che cazzo!’ she heard behind her.
Stepping slowly towards the rubble of snow and rocks, she caught sight of her own suitcase, bent and knocked open, stuck halfway out of the doorway. Shards of glass and wood from the window frame were scattered at the sides. The beds must have been under there somewhere, but they were buried to the last inch.
A squeeze of her hand brought her racing thoughts back to the present. ‘I’m even more glad you were with me.’ The thought of what might have happened if she’d gone to bed alone instead of making the reckless choice to share the last hour with Mattia made her legs wobbly. ‘It was only this side of the building.’
‘You should stay back,’ was all she said in reply. ‘There’s glass. Get some shoes on! No wait, go downstairs. I don’t know if the floor is stable.’ An alarming creak sounded from somewhere in the guts of the building.
‘What about you?’
