Kip shrugged. “He might.” His eyes were locked on mine, and it was as if the entire room melted away.
The bell rang again, breaking us out of our trance.
“Whoops, sorry, folks,” someone called. “We didn’t mean to do that. You still have a few more minutes with your session.”
“Do you want to get out of here?” I asked. “The snow outside is perfect for building a snowman, and we haven’t been outside all day. I don’t know about you, but I could use some fresh air.”
“I should stay…” His gaze left mine for a moment, and he looked at the others around us. There were dozens of alphas and omegas all hoping to make a connection with someone. Not everyone was specifically looking for a mate.
“We have the rest of the week for events like this. This speed-dating thing doesn’t really seem like you enjoy it.”
Kip nodded. “Yeah, I don’t. Let’s go. I think if my mate was here, I would have sensed them already. What about you? Anything?”
“Oh, my mate’s here,” I said. “I can tell.”
I grabbed Kip’s hand and held it as we weaved our way through the people. A blast of cold air hit us, and Kip shivered.
I took off my hoodie and handed it to him.
“Won’t you be cold now?” he asked.
“You know me, I run hot.”
“Thanks, Braxton.” He slipped my hoodie on. His nose went to the collar of the shirt, and he inhaled deeply. “Oh, I could sleep in this. I might not give this back.”
“It’s yours,” I said. “Whatever you want, it’s yours.”
We made our way to the center of the courtyard and began our snowman. Ours wouldn’t be the first to grace the courtyard. Clearly plenty of visitors had the same thought as we did, and the area was filled with snowmen of varying sizes. It didn’t take us long to have two big balls rolled up. Kip grabbed the smaller one and hefted it, setting it on top of the other.
“Do you think they have scarves and things? We need a head.”
“Would you like head? I mean, did you mean make a head? Not do you want head. I mean, who doesn’t want—” He shook his head. “Never mind. My brain has left the building.”
I chuckled. I brushed my hand over Kip’s face. “You had some snow there.”
Flakes fell down around us. It was midday, but slightly overcast and cold. The wind whipped around us, and a light dusting of snow danced around like our own personal snow globe.
“I know I wanted to do this vacation on my own,” he said, “but it is nice having you here, Brax.”
“It’s nice being here,” I said.
I stepped closer to him. His breath hitched as he looked at me. My instincts got the better of me, and before I knew it, I was dipping my head down and brushing my lips over his. Sparks flew. I swore fireworks erupted in the sky.
All of the desire and longing that I had bottled up inside me from the years of waiting for him to notice me all came out at once. My bear howled with relief and excitement. This was our mate, and we could finally taste him, touch him how we’d always wanted.
I barely had to dip my head at all, since my mate was nearly my height. His lips were warm and soft against mine. He leaned into me and gripped the collar of my shirt.
When I lifted my gaze, I found a wide-eyed Kip staring at me. His fingertips brushed over his lips.
“What was that?” he said.
Chapter 7
Kip
I put a finger to my lips. They were still tingling from the kiss, the taste of Braxton hot in my mind. One minute we were building the most lopsided snowman in the courtyard, the next we were having a moment. One where my whole world was flipped on its axis.
He’d kissed me. And in doing so, he’d taken all the things I thought I knew about him and turned it around. His lips met mine and sparks flew.
