“Always.” She nodded. He paused for a moment, then looked down at her reluctantly and began to speak.
“If we were going home to the same city after this, would this still end with your final game?”
“This?”
“Us.”
“You’d want to keep on fake-dating after the Olympics?” she asked, knowing that’s not what he meant.
“Datingdating. For real this time,” he said, looking down at her. As she watched a snowflake melt on his skin, she felt a short pang of hope.
“If we were going back to the same city, yes. But we’re going to be on opposite sides of the ocean in a couple of weeks,” she said, reaching out to hold his hand anyway. “So, I guess this will have to be enough.”
It was a beautiful night. The path was lit with streetlights, and the sky was sprinkled with stars. But nothing above them came close to rivaling the moon. It covered everything with a silver, shimmery glow, making an ordinary night dreamlike. Ari was wearing a bunch of layers and thermal gloves. But she’d accidentally left her scarf in the locker room that morning. She spent her whole life on the ice, so she was used to the cold, but therewas a particularly sharp chill in the air that night, and as much as she loved the snow, she could feel herself starting to shiver. Drew must have noticed because he unwrapped his arm from around her shoulders, stopped in the middle of the path, and wordlessly took off his scarf.
“It’s okay, I’m not that cold,” she began. But Drew gently traced his finger against her cheek and looked her in the eye, the sides of his lips curving up.
“Goosebumps,” he said, tracing a small circle at the bottom of her chin.
Ari wasn’t sure if they’d been caused by the snow or the lightness of his touch. So, she stood still as Drew draped his huge blue scarf across her shoulders, lightly grazing her skin as he wrapped it around. The scarf was soft and woolly with the texture of something well loved. It smelled like fresh laundry, firewood, and hot chocolate. When he was done wrapping her up in it, he started walking again. His footsteps left gentle marks in the snow.
For a moment, Ari just stood there and watched him, struck by how much that small gesture had affected her. But then Drew turned around, realizing they’d fallen out of step. He smiled at her, reaching his arm out as if to offer her his hand. The side of his face was highlighted by the moon, and his silhouette was framed by a thousand tiny snowflakes. Against the backdrop of the night sky, he looked exactly the same way he had on New Year’s Eve. Like the boy she’d met on a whim and told all her secrets. She knew there were at least a dozen reasons not to make a move, differences that would make for a rocky journey, and truths she would hold close to protect herself from hurt and hurting. But she decided that if she was only going to know Drew for another eleven days, she was going to do everything she could to stretch them out into the kind of memory she could spend therest of her life replaying. So, she ran across the icy path before she could change her mind.
She put a hand on either side of his face and pressed her lips to his. Fast and urgent, as if he’d disappear like the snowflakes on her skin if she dared to hesitate. She kissed him like she meant it, and he quickly reciprocated. Leaning in and parting. One of his hands slowly slid around her waist, clutched her side, and drew her near with a grip that brought their bodies closer and made her feel a deep pang of longing. His other hand cupped her chin, gently tilted it up, and traced small, delicate circles against her skin as he kissed her, deep and slow. Taking his time, as if she was something to be savored. They were outside in the middle of a snowfall, and she was wearing seven layers of clothing, eight if she counted his scarf. But the way he held her made her body think it was summer, a searingly hot wave of desire washing over her as his teeth met her bottom lip. The delicious dizziness pulling them even closer together.
If the first kiss had been a question, this kiss was a series of answers.
Yes, I like you. No, I don’t think this is a good idea. But yeah… we’re definitely going to do this again.
28Drew
DAY SIX OF THE 2026 OLYMPICS
Drew almost dropped his phone in the middle of the café when he saw the message that had just popped up in his emails. The team at Zeus had been sending him on assignments to photograph the athletes they sponsored all week. And when those emails arrived, he picked up his camera bag, walked out into the snow, and immediately went to find and photograph the next athlete on their list. But this assignment was different. This athlete was different.
MESSAGE FROM:Zeus BTS team
Key people:Harrison Cavendish
Key sports:Snowboarding
Assignment:Harrison was the lead ambassador for our AW 25 campaign. He’s taken a few losses this week, but he’s still a fan favorite. So can you get a few shots of him at practice?
Drew was standing by the pickup counter of the coffee shop,racking his brain to find an excuse to get out of his next assignment. He stared at his phone, wondering if he could find a loophole to avoid having to see Harrison in person. But he knew he couldn’t avoid this, not when his career depended on acing each assignment.
“Double shot espresso?” asked the barista with the tone of someone on their third or fourth time repeating themselves. Drew looked up. He couldn’t figure out how long he’d been waiting there. But from the slightly irritated looks of the other customers, his drink had been called out more than just a few times.
“Thank you, and quick question. How well do you know the Village?”
The barista, who according to his name badge was Jørgen, gave him a knowing look. “I’ve been brewing coffee here since they started building it.”
“So, can you tell me the fastest way to get to the snowboard training center?” Drew asked. He was dreading the assignment that lay ahead of him, but he was in St. Moritz for work. So, he took Jørgen’s directions and rode a shuttle bus to the southwest side of the Village where the training centers were.
He had a brief panic at the security gates when he couldn’t find his press credentials, but he quickly recovered when he realized his lanyard had just found its way to the bottom of his camera bag. He was handing it over to the security guard when he finally spotted the subject of that morning’s assignment.
Harrison was dressed in his Team GB uniform and standing in the middle of a group of people who seemed entertained by whatever story he was telling. In any other circumstance, Drew might have thought he seemed like a nice guy. He had an easy, carefree demeanor about him. The vibe of the kind of person who breezed his way in and out of every room he entered. However, Drew had gleaned enough from his conversations with Ari toknow better than to take Harrison at face value. But he still had a job to do, so he walked across the reception toward the group of athletes. He was about to introduce himself to Harrison when he spotted a familiar face in the crowd.
“Thandie?” he asked, startled as he saw his sister among the group of athletes wearing training uniforms and carrying their kit bags. He noticed a few of her other teammates, too. When Thandie spotted him, she shot him the subtledon’t embarrass melook she’d been giving him ever since she was a little girl.
