The howl went off again.
“Oh.” I laughed quietly. “He’s howling atyou.”
“Sì, because of my singing.”
I’d caught that, but Rocco’s face was entirely too serious. Romeo was messing with him. Just like with his hair, Romeo thought he was the best at everything. He knew damn well Rocco could out-sing him, but…Romeo was Romeo, and he was being playful.
Grinning, I bent down and made a ball out of the snow. I threw it up in the air and caught it with one hand. “Do it,” I whispered, holding the snowball out for my husband to take.
“Do it,” he repeated, empathizing every word.
“Yeah, be wild and free.” I made a throwing motion.
He narrowed his eyes on the glistening cold ball, then glanced in the direction Romeo’s howl had come from. He took it from me, throwing it up like I did, then catching it.
“The only problem might be—” I began, but I was too slow.
Like a Major League Baseball player, my husband got into position, and the ball I’d made for him went whizzing through the air. I was going to say, “the only problem might be finding our target in the darkness,” but Rocco knew exactly where Romeo was. The ice made an exploding sound, and Romeo’s voice yelled, “Ahhch!”
I exploded with laughter, then the next thing I knew, Rocco got hit on the ass from behind.
Brando shouted, “Ahhch!” Then his laughter echoed in the air.
Rocco turned so fast, it was like he was performing an ice-skating routine. Before I could even blink, Rocco had another ball and was throwing it in Brando’s direction. I started making balls as fast as I could, while other men were making the same noise all around. “Ahhch!”
Then they seemed to come out of the woodwork.
No hiding for these men.
They were smacking each other with balls made of ice and laughing their asses off while they were doing it.
After a while, though, we were getting bombarded. In we, I mean my husband. All the women were making the balls for them to throw.
“We must take shelter!” Rocco roared, and before I knew it, he had me over his shoulder, running for cover.
“My ass is a perfect target, Rocco!”
A second later, I’d been hit.
Scarlett.
Damn.She had good aim.
She was laughing so hard, she could barely breathe.
I was laughing so hard, I could barely breathe.
Rocco set us down in a wooded area, and the scent of fir trees was heady in the air like a natural perfume.
“My ass!” I barely got out. “She got me. She hit me.” I couldn’t say another word. I was wheezing so bad from how hard I was laughing, and the cold was burning my lungs, but it was the best kind of burn.
“You would make a terrible solider,” my husband laughed out. “You would give us away.” He turned me over, about to look at my ass to make sure the tender skin back there hadn’t been bruised. I was about to swat him away, but my husband’s nostrils flared a mini-second after his head perked up.
“Do not take another step, Romeo,” he ordered.
“Brother!” Romeo’s voice sounded scandalized. “What you are doing in the darkness is uncouth! Your wife’sculowill freeze!Ahhch!”
Brando made the same noise after he hit Romeo.
