“And lean forward, it will help build momentum.” He adjusted himself behind her.
“Yeah, I remember.”
“You two finally situated over there?” Norah called to them.
“Yeah. We’re ready,” Leo replied.
“Are we?” she whispered.
As if they couldn’t get any closer, Leo scooted into her and squeezed his thighs around her body, cocooning her. He grabbed a hold of the strap, his hands over hers, gripping tightly. His balmy breath collided with her face, and a shiver coursed through her as a result.
“I’ve got you, always,” he whispered in her ear, sending a craving zinging to places that had no business being zinged at the moment.
With a heady feeling having Leo embracing her, adrenaline pumping in her blood, and the cold air whipping at her face, she nearly missed hearing Mom holler, “Go!”
Leo pushed them off the teetering edge and they flew down the hill, swishing over the snow almost as if they were flying, the ice-cold wind biting at her bare cheeks. Leo’s words rushed into her mind, and she leaned forward just as she felt his taut chest push into her back. The entire length of the sled ride finished so quickly that she barely had a chance to glance over at her competition. But she and Leo were winning.
Right when she drew her attention back to forward, she could see they were in trouble. A man had walked directly into their path, and they’d picked up so much momentum, they wouldn’t stop before reaching him.
With no time to discuss a plan, the two tugged the strap to the right, veering the sled off course and resulting in them flying off in the jolt. Isabella hit the snow with a thud, landing on her side, Leo tumbled and ended up on his back, lying near to her.
Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession, and she groaned from the impact. But ultimately, she didn’t feel injured.
Leo scrambled to his knees and rushed toward her in a sort of half crawl. He tore off a glove and brushed the hair out of her face, his worried eyes searching her for a sign of recognition.
“Izzy, are you okay?”
Still panting, she began to laugh. “That was…amazing.”
A slow smile stretched wider on Leo’s scruffy face, and he laid back against the snow and chuckled. “See? A little risk is good for the soul. Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and go.”
Isabella closed her eyes and inhaled the crisp air into her lungs, reveling in the thrill and joy of the moment. Leo’s words settled inside her. It felt freeing to do something that had no guaranteed ending.
“You guys okay?”
She opened her eyes, blinking and finding Finn, Norah, Landon, and Ava’s faces hovering over her. “I think so.”
“Well, you won.” Instead of appearing defeated, Finn smiled at her.
“Congrats, sis,” Norah said.
Isabella pushed herself up, leaning back on her hands. She didn’t even care that she’d won. The rush from that one sled ride gave her the kind of thrill she hadn’t felt in years. Not even when she’d been in Europe, conducting interviews. Or when she worked late into the night, turning in a story right before the deadline. Or when Harrison had surprised her with tickets to The Met.
Leo stood over her and held out his palm. She slipped her gloved hands into his and beamed up at him.
“You wanna go again?” He raised a brow at her.
“Yes, please.”
Shoppingfor a gift for the white elephant exchange was one of Isabella’s favorite things. But this was one competition she never won. Finn somehow had an eye for the under-ten-dollar item that everyone seemed to not only want but also fight over. Regardless, it never stopped her from trying to win. She would search for that perfect gift until the last minute possible.
That night, they piled into Landon’s and Leo’s trucks, driving on the freshly plowed streets toward the shopping center in the middle of town. Pineridge didn’t have a typical mall. Instead, their shopping center was outdoors. It never made much sense to Isabella to have an outdoor shopping center when they got snow five months out of the year, but tourists seemed to revel in it.
“Izzy,” Norah called after they climbed out of the trucks. “Where you heading first?”
“I’m thinking Bath and Body Works. A white elephant gift from there would be a favorite for at least half of us, right?”
“I know I’d love it.”
