“Oh hello, ground. I missed you.” She kissed the snow with her lips. “I’ll never take you for granted, you cold bastard.”
Charlotte plastered herself to the snow-covered grass and sighed long and contentedly. Her jeans hugged her ass, and sure enough, her long socks went to her knees and clashed with her fuzzy black boots. Her curly brown hair sat in a mess on top of her head, anddamn. There was something about her that made me smile. Her unabashed joy. Her quiet confidence. Her goofy spirit that never seemed to break.
Well, that wasn’t true. I had seen her eyes dim and her face contort in shame after I pushed her away that night. Despite it happening years ago, guilt still ate at me. I had had to tell her no, no matter how much it killed me. I shook my head as I continued to watch her on the ground. Why the fuck did she not wear a coat? I hissed at her thin sweater being her only winter gear.
“I’ve seen you throw up in your hands, Porter, so not a word from you right now. I’m reacquainting myself with land,” she fired my way, still not looking at me.
“I wouldn’t dare laugh.” My lips quirked though, and I couldn’t stop staring at her. She looked okay and not injured. No bones were broken or shaped weird. No visible blood. Her neck seemed fine, long and covered with small tattoos I had no idea she had.
Why would you, dipshit?
God, I wanted to know what they were. Were they flowers? Shapes? Lines from her favorite book?
“I’m familiarized with land again. Thanks for waiting.”She pushed herself up onto her knees and stood, and only then did I see her face.
I sucked in a breath, alarm coursing through me. Blood dripped from her forehead, and there were two very large bruises around her eyes. “Charlotte.”
“Oh no. My face is still… here, right?” She smacked her hands on her cheeks and then winced. “Blah, that hurt. Hey! I’m not numb. That’s… good?”
“Let me see.” I closed the distance, hating seeing blood. Her creamy skin held only two freckles, right in the middle of one cheek, and I knew that because I spent way too much time staring at her when I was at their house as a teenager. Those two little dots were so out of place yet fit her perfectly. Adorable, cute, sexy even. I didn’t wait before cupping one side of her face with my left hand and using my other to assess the damage. “Does this hurt?”
She tensed, her entire body stiffer than a block of ice. “Uh, you’re touching me.”
“Yes.” I pushed her forehead gently. She didn’t wince. “I’m trying to see if I need to call an ambulance instead of taking you to the hospital.”
“Oh, none of that. I’m… fine.” Her voice sounded flustered and off, like she very well wasn’t fine. “Great. Dandy. Ready to pretend I give a crap about skiing.”
Our eyes met, and I laughed. “I hate skiing too.”
“Christian is the worst,” she said, but without real venom to her words.
Her brown eyes were dark. There wasn’t a difference between the pupil and the iris. Her lashes were the samerich color, longer than they had any right being, and a guy could get lost in her gaze. There were reasons people wrote songs about brown-eyed girls.
Even my baby girl’s eyes could make me do things I’d never imagine. Dancing to “Baby Shark”? Pretending I was a princess with her? Drinking imaginary tea? Yeah. Gwen only had to bat her big brown eyes at me, and I’d do it.
Women with brown eyes didn’t realize their true power. If they did, our country would be led by them, and we wouldn’t have nearly the issues we did.
“Y’all need any help?”
I jumped, annoyed that I let myself fall into Char’s orbit. A very large man with a huge smile waved at us from outside a semitruck. I removed my hands from Charlotte and shoved them back into my pockets, where things were safer and warmer. “I think we’re alright for now. You the one who skidded off the road?”
“Yeah. About hit this poor woman’s car. Thankfully, I didn’t.”
I shuddered at the thought.I thought I was gonna die.I still hadn’t digested Char’s words and wasn’t sure I could. “I’m thankful everyone is okay. You need anything from us?”
“Nah, might just camp here for the night and wait for the blizzard to settle.”
“Take care,” I said, waving as he got back into his cab. I returned my attention back to Char, who stood frozen, except for her trembling body. “Hey, you’re safe now.”
She nodded but her face was ghostly. Without overthinking it, I rubbed my hands up and down her arms until she looked up at me. Those gorgeous eyes gutted me, again.
“I-I think the a-adrenaline needs an o-out. T-that’s all.”
“Okay, honey.”Shit.The name slipped out. I called Gwenhoney bearall the time. “Sorry, girl-dad oops.”
Charlotte smiled. The first real smile I’d seen from her in… a long time. Seeing her pale pink lips curve up and light entering her eyes had me shifting my weight left to right.
“You’re a good dad, Hop. Gwen is lucky.”
