Love's Second Chance (Second Chances #1)(23)
“Do you remember when we had that big snow two years ago?” I asked her.
“Oh yeah, we were out of power for a couple of days. It was so cold.”
“Well, I thought I would have a little bit of fun and ride my dirt bike out in it. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out too well.” I laughed.
“What happened? Did you break something?”
“Yes, my leg. It didn’t feel too good either,” I admitted.
“I would think not,” she said disapprovingly while turning back to the window. “Stuff like that is dangerous, Galen. You need to be more careful.”
“I always am,” I said softly. I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, bending over to smell the sweet scent of the shampoo in her hair. She leaned into my touch and tilted her head back, gazing at me with absolute contentment. “I never thought I would feel this happy again,” she whispered. “I shut myself off completely when Carson died. I felt so lost, but when you came back into my life it was like I could feel again. Galen, I …” Her eyes went wide and in that instant my heart stopped.
“What were you going to say?” I asked softly. She lifted her head and laughed, but I could tell it was a nervous laugh. I guess she wasn’t ready to express those feelings yet.
“I was going to say that I can’t wait for more snow. We need to go outside and have a snowball fight,” Korinne suggested. Breaking away from me, she walked back to the kitchen to place the eggs and bacon on our plates. I sighed, silently wondering why she couldn’t just allow herself to let go and feel what she was feeling. I knew she cared about me. She wouldn’t go through all of this if she didn’t. The love in her eyes was apparent, but something was still holding her back. Could it be that she was waiting on me to tell her how I felt before she opened up?
“Are you hungry?” she called out. “I know I’m starving.”
“I’m famished,” I said while smiling at her.
We watched the snow continue to fall as we ate our breakfast in silence. To break the mood we needed a distraction. I planned on challenging her to a fight, and a snowball fight was what it was going to be. It was her suggestion to have one, but I was determined to make it a little more interesting. She doesn’t know it yet, but the winner would get all rights to do as they pleased to the other. Korinne might not like the outcome, but it’s a fight I was surely going to win. The walls around her heart were going to break, even if it was the last thing I did.
Korinne’s eyes went wide as I explained the benefits of the winner. “You’re stronger and faster than me! It’s not fair!” she shrieked in protest. “You’ll definitely win.”
I shrugged. “It’s my birthday anyhow. I think I deserve to win.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You sure are taking advantage of the situation, aren’t you?” she teased. Korinne smacked my arm when all I did was smile smugly at her. At least she was being playful and not silent like she was at breakfast. I hadn’t exactly told her how I felt, but I planned on it tonight after I had my way with her.
“Are you ready to go out there?” I asked. She snuggled deeper in her coat and put on her gloves. She came prepared, and didn’t think to warn me before she brought me up here to the frigid cold of the mountains. All I had was a thin jacket and no gloves.
“I’m ready.” She grinned. As soon as I opened the door she took off, circling around the outside of the cabin and out of sight. Her footprints were evident in the snow so I followed them.
“The first one to get ten hits wins!” I yelled. In that moment, Korinne dashed out from behind a tree and hit me square in the chest with a smack. “Ahh!” I roared. The force of it stung, not to mention all the snow that got down in my jacket, chilling me to the bone. “You’re going to pay for that!” I grumbled. “Your punishment will be to have to cook dinner naked tonight!” I knew this would get her going. I picked up a handful of snow just as she appeared around the outer edge to protest. I threw the snow and it hit her right in the shoulder, catching her off guard.
Grunting from the impact, she gave me the evil eye. “You’ll be lucky if I cook you anything now!” she snapped aggressively. I smirked at her and that riled her up even more. She had always had a competitive streak, and every time she’d get angry and fight with me I found it sexy as hell. I love a woman that’ll fight for what she wanted.
After numerous snowball attempts, I was shocked to see that we were actually even at that point. She’d done better than I thought she would. We both had nine hits on the other, only one more and she would be mine. Our steps had marred the snow all across the yard, so it was impossible to track the other. The snow in my hand was making my fingers numb as I walked slowly around the cabin. I paused when I heard a slight crunching sound behind me … it was her. Concentrating on her steps, I could tell she was coming nearer. I waited patiently for her to get closer before I tackled her into the snow. On the count of three I knew I had her. One … two … three! We both went down in a heap of laughter and that was when I got her with my tenth and final hit. Snow littered her hair as I smashed the snowball gently onto her head. She laughed and did the exact same thing to me with the snowball in her hand.
“I won!” I bragged, smiling devilishly at her.