breathed.
I hoped he was thinking what I was thinking.
He scooted over farther, closing the distance between us. Using his teeth, he pulled a glove from his hands, and it sent my stomach somersaulting. I wondered what his teeth would feel like nipping at my lips, scraping over my skin as he trailed kisses down my neck.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
He pulled me close and did exactly that. My hands went to his shoulders, his head, tugging and tangling in his hair until his stocking cap went tumbling to the floorboards.
He nibbled my earlobe, and I let out a moan. It was like nothing I’d felt before, and I wanted more.
We were hungry for each other, touching, kissing, tasting, exploring what “more” could mean.
He pulled our lips apart but rested his forehead against mine, breathing heavy. “It’s hard to control myself around you, Ginger.”
I bit my lip. “What if I don’t want you to?”
A growl sounded low in his throat. “Don’t do that to me.”
Knowing I had that kind of power over him, that he found me irresistible, was a high I had no comparison for. I dipped my head down and gave him a long kiss, taking the reins. This push and pull between us—the conflict of frustration and longing—raged within me and begged to be let out in any way it could.
We fogged the cold truck windows, and when I noticed them, a giggle escaped my lips.
“What?” he asked, his lids heavy.
“I thought the windows just fogged in movies.” My cheeks flushed more than they already were. It was kind of embarrassing to admit how new I was to all of this, especially when Ray was so good at it.
“You haven’t fogged up a lot of windows?” he asked, a teasing smile on his delicious lips.
Shaking my head, I gave him a nervous smile. “Just with you.”
I hoped he knew what that meant. That I liked him and that I wasn’t going anywhere.
“I want it to be with only me,” he said, claiming me as his own.
He didn’t have anything to worry about. “I want that too.”
After dropping a chaste kiss on my forehead, he got out of the truck and came to my side. I let him open the door, because I liked this—the feeling of being adored and taken care of. Ray was good at it, now that he’d let his guard down.
He helped me to the ground, and then we started walking toward the pickup. The icy air hit me like a wall, and I had to take small sips of air to adjust my lungs to the new sensation. Cold weather was not a favorite of mine. Luckily, it rarely got this cold.
He drove toward the house, and as we got closer, I could see his siblings playing in the yard, throwing snowballs at each other and building a snowman. The smiles on their faces lifted my spirits. I thought of my own siblings. The twins had their callback this afternoon. If they got the role, their lives would change—they’d be reaching the dreams they’d worked so hard for, and they were only eight. Maybe things were working out for all of us.
Not only would I be moving into the dorms next year, I’d have a boyfriend—someone to go on dates with and spend weekends with and hold my books on the way to class. I couldn’t imagine being happier than I was in this moment.
As Ray parked the truck and turned it off, an idea brought an evil smile to my lips. I hopped out of his pickup, scraped my gloved hands over the ground, and clumsily packed a snowball together.
When I had a melting, misshapen ball, I launched it over the pickup at his back—but he chose that moment to look back at me, and it landed squarely on his perfect face.
For a moment, the slushy mass slid down his stunned face, but when it slipped to the ground, his dumbfounded expression was replaced with an evil one.
“You’re gonna get it,” he threatened.
I knocked my knees together and put my hands up. “Ooh, I’m soo scared.”
With a mischievous laugh, he bent to pack a snowball of his own. I did the same and ran. I knew I’d need a head start over his long legs.
His snowball hit me square in the back, and another one came after that, pegging me in the back of the head.
“Hey!” I cried. “You are so getting payback for this.”
From the yard, Laura yelled,