I look at my phone again, tapping my finger on the table. He’s late. Nearly ten minutes, but honestly, he’s worth the wait. Especially when I see him walk into the room. I know immediately when it happens. Our eyes connecting. A smile on both of our faces because we’re in each other’s presence again. I let out a little contented sigh, thinking how lucky I am. How in love.
And I can’t help but notice how scrumptious Chase looks as he comes toward me. His cheeks are tinted pink from the cold weather. His hair is covered in a stocking cap, which allows me to focus on his beautiful face. Strong jaw. Gorgeous eyes. And don’t get me started on the tall, muscular frame that is evident, even through his heavy winter coat.
He greets me with a deep kiss. One that surprises me. In fact, for a few moments after, I’m rendered speechless. He doesn’t usually kiss me so passionately in public.
But I like it.
“You’re late,” I say, giving him a fake pout.
We’ve only been at school for a week, but it seems like we’ve barely had time to spend with each other. Between his workouts, our classes, and my sorority stuff, this first week has been a whirlwind.
He sits down and kisses me again. “And I hated every minute of it.”
“Of not being with me?” I flirt. And, gosh, I love flirting with Chase.
He gives me a smirk. “Of missing lunchtime.”
I give him a playful swat on the shoulder in return. “You’re in luck,” I tell him. “I already ordered.”
He gives me another deep kiss. “Just one of the reasons I love you.”
I pull his hat off and push my fingers through his now-messy hair. It’s thick and soft and still slightly damp from him showering after his workout.
“Your hair might be one of the reasons I love you,” I counter.
“Out of all my body parts, that is your favorite?” he whispers in a low, sexy-as-hell voice.
Which totally causes me to blush. I’m trying to think of a witty comeback when our food is brought to our table. I expect him to immediately dig in, because he’s constantly hungry. But instead, he just holds the fork in his hand and gazes into my eyes.
I can’t help but grin. “Let’s go with one of my favorites.”
He still doesn’t start eating, just raises an eyebrow in my direction. “What’s another?”
“Hmm.” I slide my hand under the table, placing it on his upper thigh and saying, “Definitely your gorgeous eyes. They were blue when you were a kid, but now, they have that ring of light brown around the pupils, and I swear I could stare at them all day.” While I’m being honest about that, I’m also sliding my hand closer to what he wants my answer to be.
He reaches down and grabs my hand before it gets to his crotch. “Is your roommate, Alyssa, back in town yet?”
She had to drive three hours home this weekend for her little sister’s sixteenth birthday party.
I shake my head and smile. “Not until tomorrow. Too much snow out west for her to get back.”
“Ah, what a shame,” he says, not at all meaning it, before finally focusing on his food.
We eat in comfortable silence, him stopping a few times in between to tell me about his workout. How fast he ran. How much he lifted. The goals he’s set for himself. But pretty soon, he’s pulling me out of the restaurant and heading toward my dorm.
I find myself walking fast, anticipating stripping off his clothes the second we get in the room.
But he slows us down, holding my hand, seemingly wandering aimlessly around campus.
“I love the snow, but I will admit, I’m looking forward to this summer in the Ozarks.” He grins. “You in a bikini all day.”
I grin back at him. “I still can’t believe our parents did a joint venture with Tripp, deciding to build another house on the adjoining land.”
“It sounds pretty cool,” he says. “Like how we’ll not only use it for our yearly vacation, but also how it will be a private compound for other families to rent out for special occasions.”
“I know! Can you imagine how cool it would be to get married there?” I stop and look at him, worried that might freak him out. I mean, technically, we’ve only been dating for a month, as of yesterday.
“Like, us get married there?” he asks, his whole body stilling for a moment before he continues walking.
“I never really thought of it until just this moment,” I say, backtracking a little, “but if it’s anything like what I think it’s going to be, yeah, actually, it would be perfect for us. It is where we started. Plus your mom said for events that people could rent out the whole area. Both houses, all the guest cottages. It could be really intimate.” I give his shoulder a little nudge. “Like the honeymoon cottage was.”
“It’d be cool to go there for our wedding night,” he says, shocking me that he already sounds bought in. “But I’d want to honeymoon somewhere else, I think. Somewhere you could be naked, like, all the time. I wonder where that could be,” he teases. At least, I think he’s teasing.
“Well, if we’re dreaming big, a private island.” I catch his gaze. “But I’d go anywhere with you, Chase, and be ridiculously happy about it.”
“That’s good because if I’m lucky enough to get drafted, who knows where we’ll end up.”
“The answer is still the same. Honeymoon, draft, life. I just want to be with you.”
He stops us in the middle of campus. “Look how gorgeous it is right here, right now. The ice glistening on the trees. The fresh white snow sparkling in the sun.” He turns to face me, grabbing my waist and pulling me close. “Not to mention, how beautiful you look. Your hair is like a beacon against the white, calling me to you.”
I let out a dreamy sigh, thoughts of marrying him happily swirling in my head.
But just when I’m about to kiss him, he lets go of me, takes a few steps backwards, grabs a pile of snow, and tosses it at me.
“Okay, maybe more like calling me to a target,” he says as the snowball hits me right in the chest.
The hit brings me out of my reverie, causing me to duck behind a tree and make three snowballs in quick succession. But the second I stick my head out from behind the tree, I see a snowball in the air, coming right at my face. I turn around, letting it hit me in the back before whipping around and rapid-firing all three of mine in Chase’s direction. Two hit him—one at his waistline, the other skimming the top of his shoulder. The third, he somehow manages to catch then launch back at me, hitting me directly in the face.
The lesson here is to never get in a snowball fight with a quarterback, even when your own throwing skills are pretty darn good.
Next thing I know, Chase is barreling toward me and then tackling me to the ground. He lands on top of me, but it’s obvious he planned it because he is able to keep himself from completely smooshing me. My clothes are instantly soaked by the wet snow underneath, but when his lips find mine, I couldn’t care less.
And when he stops kissing me and pulls me up, I see that we’ve started something. Others are making snowballs and throwing them at each other, ending up in one big snowball fight that Chase and I most definitely join in on.
The fun part is, this time, we’re a team. And we’re a good team. In life and in snowball fights.
We get back to my dorm a few hours later, both soaking wet and half-frozen, but exhilarated from the fun.
And things get more exciting when, the second we’re inside, we start frantically kissing and stripping off our clothes.
It makes me feel hot on the inside, but on the outside, I’m still shivering.
Chase picks me up and carries me into the bathroom, turning the shower water on hot and letting the room get steamy in more ways than one.
We hold each other tightly in the shower, kissing in the tiny space as the hot water trails down us.
“I think I’m finally warm,” Chase says in my ear. “How are you?”
“I’m thinking any part of me that’s not quite warm, you could remedy in my bed.”
He nips at my neck. “Sounds like the perfect way to spend the rest of the day.”
