He leans down.“You trust me?”
“I do.”
He grins.“Let’s get up there then.”
When the gondola door closes behind us and the wheel lifts, the town shrinks beneath us, a sea of glittering light and falling snow. Ethan shifts closer, his knee brushing mine, his breath warm against my skin as his eyes reflect all the twinkle lights circling us.
“God, Summer…” His voice roughens.“You can’t look at me like that up here.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want me to kiss you again.”
“Maybe I do.”
His good hand slides behind my neck, pulling me in slow.“Baby, if I could, I’d never stop tasting those cherry lips.”
My heartbeat is a drum in my throat.
“Then do it,” I whisper.
He does.
Not rushed.
Not gentle either.
A kiss that burns through the cold, that tastes like winter and warmth and desire. His fingers slide into my hair, tugging lightly, just enough to make every nerve in my body light up.
When he finally pulls back, we’re both breathless.
“Summer…” He rests his forehead against mine.“I’m crazy about you.”
My voice comes out barely above a whisper.“I’m crazy about you too.”
Outside the gondola window, snow keeps falling, blanketing the entire town in white, turning it into something straight out of a fantasy.
Ethan
As soon as I saw Summer coming down those stairs, I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands, well…hand, off her tonight. She looks breathtakingly beautiful. Her long dark brown hair, almost black, falls in soft waves all the way to her gorgeous hips, hips I can’t wait to hold while I… okay, not going there yet. Her blue eyes somehow seem lighter than usual, as if tiny firelights were switched on behind them. Her lips are the perfect shade of red to match her dress and coat. A warm beige scarf frames her long, elegant neck, and her usual scent, cinnamon, jasmine, and a hint of vanilla, makes me ache to bury my face in her shoulder and breathe her in like a starving man.
This woman is oxygen to my fire, I can’t stay away from her, and I don’t want to.
She’s staring up at the Ferris wheel we just got off, cheeks rosy from the cold, lips swollen from my kisses, the long line of her neck exposed in a way that makes me want to press soft bites all along it.
“Do you know how to skate?” I ask, squeezing her hand lightly.
“Oh? No. I always wanted to, but… well, my mother never thought it was a gracious thing to do. What if I fall, making myself ridiculous in front of everyone?”
Summer’s gaze drops to her feet, shoulders folding just slightly inward, that old insecurity tightening around her like cold wind. My jaw clenches. It never fails, every time shementions the cruel, useless things that woman drilled into her, my blood boils. And a part of me wants to find her family and knock some damn sense into them.
But I force the anger down. Not tonight.
Tonight, she’s here. Free. Wanted. Cherished. Loved.
And when she looks around the Winter Wonderland with wide eyes, something deeper hits me so hard it hurts, she’s never really been allowed to be a child. Never allowed to play or laugh or mess up without someone judging her.
I want to give that to her.
