At one point, Gavin grabs my hand and tugs me outside into the night. The air is crisp, and the snow is pristine on the mountain tops. There’s no less than a billion stars in the sky.
“That’s better,” he says, pulling me against his chest and planting a kiss on my lips. “The party is fun, but all I’ve been thinking about is getting you alone.”
We walk over to the fire, and I hold my hands out to it. Despite being a Colorado native, I’ve never done well in the cold. Gavin comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me.
“That’s nice,” I say.
“You cold?” he asks.
“I’m always cold,” I answer, and Gavin flips me around to face him.
“Maybe I can help with that,” he says, kissing me again. And for a moment we get lost in it…until I hear footsteps behind us and pull away.
“Oh, don’t stop on our account,” Holly says with a big grin.
“Okay,” Gavin says, pulling me back into him.
“No, you can stop,” Ben says, and I press my hands to Gavin’s chest, pushing away.
“We just wanted to thank you two for everything,” Holly says.
“Of course,” I say. “I’m so glad it turned out the way you hoped, even if there were some road bumps.”
“Makes for a fun ride,” Gavin says.
“Or more interesting, anyway,” Ben says, and they both laugh. “But for real. It’s been perfect. And now…we head off to our honeymoon.”
“I was going to say,” I chime in, looking at my phone. “Your flight to Costa Rica is in four hours. You two better get going!”
“And what are you two going to do while we are gone?” Holly asks.
“Oh, we have plans,” Gavin says, and I give him a curious expression. Gavin ignores it, and we all say our goodbyes. It’s crazy to believe the four of us can make this work, but I believe we can.
We watch them drive off, and once they are out of sight, we turn back to each other.
“Now where were we?” he growls, going in for another kiss.
“Hold on,” I say, pushing back again. “What did you mean by we have plans?”
“Oh, right,” he says. “We have a little getaway of our own waiting for us.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“The airbnb. The contest? Don’t you remember?” he asks.
“Contest?” I ask. “Wait. From that travel agency? We won?”
“We won,” he says. “And from the looks of it, it’s not too shabby. But we don’t have to rush. We can leave whenever you–”
“Let’s go,” I say, tugging on his hand. “I have been polite for as long as I can stand. Just because Ben says he’s okay with you and I together doesn’t mean he wants to see the PDA at his wedding. But I’m done holding back.”
“Damn, girl…” he says and we drive off.
* * *
“It’s so big,” I gasp as I step inside the airbnb.
“That’s what she said,” Gavin says. But I am so in awe of the place that I don’t even care that I walked right into that joke.
