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“This suit is suede!” he yelled. “It can’t get wet!”
But Tom and the rest of the producers made no move to stop us. In fact, they were in a flurry, directing cameras, capturing the moment of candid frivolity like it was a gold mine. I didn’t care. For once, it was something I recognized. Something without the heavy weight I’d felt since I’d arrived. It was so oddly… equalizing. As if we’d all gone back to childhood. There were no teams, just the excitement of the game and the thrill of getting the upper hand before losing it to rigid flakes down our necklines. Esme’s mouth opened wide in shock as Dagny dumped handfuls of snow over her head.
“Oh, I’m gonna get you back, Dagny.” Her smile showed none of the arrogance she normally employed, but as she tackled Dagny in the snow she looked happy for the first time. The blur of snowballs kept coming. We’d been in the thick of it for days and letting off a little of the pressure felt too good to stop. I smashed another snowball together and let it fly, not caring who I hit because no one seemed to care. We were kids again, lost in a game where nothing mattered but the fun.
“Hey, Coco!” I snapped around, searching for the only person who knew that name. Fitz pointed at me, grin locked in place. “I’m coming for you!”
My heart leaped in my chest. With a nervous squeal, I turned and started running through the high drifts of snow. Okay, so running wasn’t the right word, because the farther I went, the deeper the snow became.
“Pan in there.”
“Wide-angle shot.”
“Stay with them.”
The commands of the producers faded as I ventured farther away, but Fitz’s laughter came closer. The terrain tipped upward as I climbed a hill to escape him. Well, escape was probably the wrong word too. Like most kids on the playground, my heart was thirty percent escape mode and seventy percent what will happen if he catches me?
At the top of the hill, my pulse pounded with excitement, but the snowball to the back of my head never came like I expected. Instead, his arms wrapped around my center as he tackled me into the snow. A shock of exhilarating cold stole my breath, but our combined momentum tipped us over the other side, rolling us like one of those huge cartoon snowballs down the hill. The world tipped and swirled as we tumbled down the hill. I gripped at the snow, the air, and gave up and clung to Fitz instead, nearly breathless at the seemingly endless whirling motion.
“Oof!” Our bodies slammed against something, but covered in snow, I couldn’t see. Probably a rock, but at least the powder had softened the blow. My chest rose and fell as I tried to catch my breath. The weight on top of me encircled my frame. I opened my eyes to find Fitz staring down at me, concern written all over his three blurry faces.
“Coco? Are you hurt?” His gloved hand touched my face, but he hadn’t considered the snow that had stuck to it, and I gasped as the flakes bit at my cheeks. “Oh, sorry!” Shifting a gloved finger to his mouth, the less blurry version of him bit the glove, then pulled it off his hand. Warmth brushed at the remaining snowflakes and then cupped my jaw to bring back the heat.
The roll-induced vertigo faded as his face bobbed back and forth, two Fitzs slowly merging into one. He watched me, carefully taking inventory of my reaction, possibly checking for brain damage, but that wasn’t my problem. The dizziness had morphed into something new. Something light and heady. His dark eyes looked like a refuge
“Talk to me, Michaela. Say something.”
Something happened when he used my name, my real name. Coco was cute and sweet and it tied into our history, but my name, that was different. It brought attention to the fact that we weren’t kids anymore. We were definitely alone and the powerful magnetism between us refused to be ignored forever. His touch turned delicate, fingers like wisps of promises, moments yet to come, avenues we’d never explored, but his warmth had me aching to try. My skin tingled to life, every nerve calling out for him to come closer, to enact whatever plans waited beyond the boundaries we’d never pushed.
“Coco?” His brow furrowed, but I couldn’t read the exact reason. Perhaps it was concern about a broken bone, or maybe he confronted the same internal conflict, bravely desiring to venture outside our boundaries, like the first footprints after snowfall. But what if he wasn’t? I knew how much a kiss had ruined his relationship with Gwen. Was I willing to take that risk?
“I’m fine,” I whispered. “Just… dizzy.”
“Me too.” He pulled his hand away, but a wandering finger brushed the edge of my bottom lip. I sucked in a breath as shivers ran up my spine. Fitz stumbled to his feet, careful not to bury me any deeper in the snow.
“You’re frozen. Take my hand.” His extended hand reached out to me, and I took it and let him pull me to my feet. It wasn’t easy standing in one boot and one frozen foot in the snow. I lifted it out of the snow and tried to balance on one leg, but I overestimated my agility. Unsteady, his arms caught my waist before I fell again. My heart crept up my throat, leaving me lightheaded and short of breath as my nerves tingled from his touch.
“We better get back.” I looked away, trying to sort through the avalanche of unfamiliar feelings that ravaged my mind and heart. “They’re gonna be looking for you.”
Hooking my chin with his thumb, he brought me back to meet his gaze. “Are you sure you’re unhurt? I never meant to take us over the hill and—“
“I’m fine.” My breathy whisper felt more like a gasp, unable to get out many words around the rush of my emotions. A tremble buzzed through my bottom lip, and his thumb shifted to rub over the top of it. My eyes closed, unable to resist the need to focus on the sensation. A magnetic draw pulsed between us, a deep curiosity to understand what this was and how far it could take us. I opened my eyes, mesmerized by the depth of his eyes and the radiant glow of his touch.
He felt it too.
He had to.
Something this strong sent off shockwaves for at least twenty feet.
“Michaela, I don’t know how to—“
“Over the next hill,” Gwen’s voice carried from the other side, “I saw them take a tumble.”
Fitz’s eyes widened with fear. With cameras everywhere, we had to avoid being caught in a compromising situation. With apology in his eyes, Fitz bent, scooped some snow up, and tossed it at my face, just as the others came over the hill. I squawked at the flash of cold against my warmed skin and formed a snowball as fast as I could. Dagny crested the hill first, my boot in hand like a war trophy. More snowballs launched from the top of the hill as the others joined to engage in the battle.
Though we played for hours, laughing, building snowmen, and eventually drinking cocoa near the vans, my mind kept straying back to that moment, to that unfinished sentence that still hung in the air.
Was it a warning?
