Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale #3) - Stacey Marie Brown Page 0,23

and flipping them before pouring large amounts of liquor into the blender, along with fresh cranberries and other things I didn’t recognize before combining it all. She wiggled to the holiday music playing, placing two cocktail glasses on the counter. She filled them with the frozen liquid, plopping more cranberries on top and shoving them at us.

“There you go, doll. Enjoy.” She winked, her curled lashes fluttering before she started making more cocktails.

“Cheers.” Blaze held up his glass to me.

“Cheers.” I tapped mine against his, shaking my head. This was all so bizarre. Soon I’d wake up and forget this upside-down world and return to normal life, but right now I was just going to go with my twisted dream.

The second drink tasted even better than the first, if possible, and I guzzled it as if I couldn’t get it down fast enough.

“You probably should slow down.” He placed his down, his eyes rolling over me with humor.

“Think I can handle it.” I laughed, my head feeling light and bubbly. Actually, I felt like that everywhere, like I could float away, taking all my stress and worries away. “It’s not like you can get drunk in your dreams.”

“Can’t you?” He leaned in closer, and his fingers touched my arm, trailing down my skin, creating goosebumps in his wake.

“Nooo.” My lips struggled to move properly.

“Still think this is a dream?”

“Theeres no ofer expunzion,” I slurred, my head and body spinning. What the hell? I wasn’t drunk. I couldn’t be so fast, right? “I men eplantion.” My words stumbled again, crashing into the sand, a giggle coming up my throat.

I never giggled. Was I really drunk?

“Looks like it.” He smirked.

Did I say that out loud?

“You did.” He chuckled, his head bobbing, making me feel even more loopy. “You sound more and more like yourself.” His grin widened, his body bending over mine. He reached up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I have really missed you, Dinah. When you left, everything changed.”

I stared boldly at him, feeling a flicker of familiarity stirring in my gut, his eyes pulling at sensations in my stomach.

“You are so beautiful.” Blaze’s fingers glided up my neck, stopping at my jaw. “You always were, but now you are breathtaking, wahine.” He leaned closer, and my heart sped up, shoving more logic out of my head. His mouth a hair away from mine, his gaze lowered to my lips, forcing me to suck in. Nothing in me wanted to stop him. I felt like I had been waiting for this my whole life. I wanted to feel, to never think again, to close my eyes and dissolve into desire.

Just as his lips brushed mine, a little girl’s happy squeal snapped my attention back to the beach. I turned away from him as three kids no older than six or seven ran over the sand, chasing and laughing. Though everything else around me blurred, the kids were crystal clear. I locked on the single girl in the group. I gasped, not believing what I was seeing.

Peppermint frosting!

It was me.

Her hair was down to her waist, her face happy and carefree as she laughed and splashed in the water. Next to her was a happy blond boy with sun-kissed chubby cheeks and bright seafoam eyes. They were fighting against the other boy, who took my complete attention. His hair was black as night, and he had ice-blue eyes. He was thin and taller than the other two. He didn’t smile or laugh, but his eyes glittered with joy as he splashed the girl. He seemed out of place, as though he didn’t belong in the bright sunshine.

Transfixed, I moved closer, damp sand threading through my toes as I stood at the edge of the water. I watched the three kids play, feeling like I was scraping at a thread of a memory. It was so far away that I could only sense an inkling of it.

There was no mistaking it was me. She was wearing the bathing suit I had wanted so badly for Christmas, with Santa hats, reindeer, and gingerbread men on it. I had been so precise in what I asked for my grandmother had ended up sewing it for me because they couldn’t find it in the stores. It was one of a kind. Mom and Dad thought it was so odd, but I remember desperately wanting it. As an adult, I thought back on it as a silly kid obsessed with Christmas. Sadly, it