Page 32 of Say It Isn't Snow
He hunches low to make up for our height difference. I stare at his back, not making a move to take the offer.
“You’re serious?”
He chuckles and shoots a grin at me.
“Yeah. Are you hopping up on my back or am I tossing you over my shoulder instead?”
Damn it. I’m a simple girl. All I want is to be tossed around and kept well-fed.
Caleb’s checking boxes he’s not supposed to.
I slide my arms around his shoulders. He grips my legs and lifts me so effortlessly, I cling to him in surprise. He starts up the slope without complaint.
Unable to resist, I snuggle against him, resting my chin on his shoulder.
“You’re going to carry me the whole way back?” I ask.
“Of course I will.” He squeezes my legs. “I’ve got you. Always will.”
I bite my lip, heart beating harder.
“It’s uphill. I’m not exactly light. It’s too much?—”
“You’re not too much, Holly. Nothing about you is. Anyone who makes you think that will have to answer to me.”
The fierce conviction in Caleb’s tone pierces the hardest parts of my defensive walls, sending a wave of something warm and soft spreading throughout my chest.
He holds on tighter, unwilling to let me down. “You know, I’m not a guy that trains hard at the gym just to play hockey in peak condition. I do it so I can carry my girl whenever I want, because this is exactly what I was made for. Carrying you whenever you need me to.”
I’m not your girl anymore. I want to say it out of habit, but I hold the thought in as my emotions threaten to bubble over from my watering eyes.
His grip flexes and his voice becomes gruff, edged with something that sounds jealous. “Anyone you’ve dated since is a fucking joke if they don’t want to be the one holding you up. That’ll never be me. I just want to take care of you.”
He doesn’t seriously mean what he’s saying…does he? I’m struck with the force of how badly I want to believe him because being stuck alone in the cabin with him has brought everything rushing back from the place I buried it deep inside me.
My heart climbs into my throat, making it hard to swallow past the lump forming. “Does that mean I have to answer to you?”
He makes a questioning noise. I blow out a breath, tucking my face into his shoulder to muffle myself.
“What if I’m the one who thinks I’m too much?”
Caleb stops and kneads my thighs reassuringly. His voice softens with a caring gentleness that’s a balm to the ache of self doubt in my chest.
“Holly, you’re amazing. Not only do you run your own bakery you started all on your own, your talent and passion for what you do are unmatched. You’re sweet, kind, and generous. You’re always worrying about everyone else first before yourself.”
He speaks with such fervent confidence in his words, I’m left speechless. But he’s not done yet, continuing in a hoarse, almost desperate plea.
“Everyone you meet sees that about you.Isee you. Believe me, not any voice in your head.”
My eyes widen and my mouth falls open. “Caleb, I…”
“I’m serious. Don’t put yourself down,” he says quietly.
“I don’t, not really. Sometimes it just crosses my mind.”
He cranes his neck to see me. “Then I’ll just need to stick around to always chase away your doubts when that happens.”
An arrow of profound longing pierces through me. It’s everything I wish he would’ve promised me before I ended things between us. What I hoped he would’ve fought for when I started ignoring his messages and calls, leaving me to believe I was right about our summer fling.
