“Just waiting for you. Ready?”
He smiled. “Ready.”
I pushed open the door and stepped through.
The first thing that hit me was the wall of windows filling the entire back side of the cabin from floor to pointed peak.
After that, I noted the deck, the hot tub just a few steps up on a second, connected deck, and the snow-covered trees surrounding it. Beyond the trees, I caught a glimpse of the circular clearing below, and the still flowing stream winding through it.
“Oh,” I said, breathing out the word. “This is wonderful.”
Ryder stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around mine.
“You like?”
“Very much.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Good. Because we have a lot of unpacking to do.”
Chapter Thirteen
Turned out I liked vacations.Who knew? The unpacking had been quick and would have been quicker if Ryder hadn’t put his face in the way of the snowball I was totally just randomly throwing in his general direction.
Cue one massive snowball fight.
“Which I totally won!” I said, flicking hot tub water at Ryder’s face.
“The best fiancé in the world prize?” Ryder asked, unperturbed by his wet face. “Yes. Yes, you did.”
“No. The snowball fight. I won it.”
He raised one eyebrow and tipped back his wine glass. “You must be drunk. You lost.”
I was not drunk. Maybe a little floaty, but it would take more than one glass of wine after that fabulous roast we’d had for dinner to get me anywhere near drunk territory.
“Lies.” More wine sounded good, so I tipped back my glass. It was empty, darn it. “I can tell when anyone is lying, Ryder Bailey. I am an officer of the law and have a finely honed bullshit meter. I won that fight fair and square.”
“No,” he shifted forward and all the water in the hot tub sloshed, some of it pitching over the edge to land on the snowy deck. “I distinctly remember sitting on you and pinning your arms until you cried uncle.”
“Yes, but I let you.”
“You let me smash snow in your face?”
“It only seemed fair with how badly you were losing.”
He crowded up in front of me, his hands slipping under the water to curve against my ribs before running down my waist to my stomach, my thighs.
“Mmmm,” I hummed, pushing my arms out of the water to drape them along the tub’s ledge. “That’s nice. Come here.”
“I am here.” His hands wandered and I fought the urge to arch my back into his touch.
“Come closer here,” I said.
He moved in closer, his pupils blown wide, his mouth soft. I loved that look on him. Like he was staring at the one thing in the world he desired, and that one thing was me.
He bent his head to kiss my neck, and I scooped up a huge handful of snow and smooshed it against the back of his head.
He howled. I scrabbled out from under him as fast as I could move.
