Go put on warm clothes. I’ll meet you back here in five minutes.”
“I don’t wanna.”
He was already walking out the door.
A few minutes later he was back, wearing flannel pajama pants and a thick hoodie. I also wore a hoodie but paired mine with a frown.
“Give me your feet,” he said, coming over to the couch.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
I rolled my eyes and lifted up my foot. He covered my wool sock with a plastic bag.
“Now, the other one.”
“I do believe serial killers are supposed to dice up their victims before they start the bagging process.”
He covered my other foot. “That’ll keep your socks dry.”
I raised a brow. “Impressive.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of teabags. “Put these in your mittens.”
“Are we having a tea party?”
“They’re hand warmers.” He shook them as if activating something.
The second he placed them in my palm heat warmed my hand. Okay, this wasn’t starting out so bad.
“Come here.” He held up a jar of Vaseline, and I drew back.
“What are you doing with that?”
“It’s for your cheeks. It’ll keep them from getting chapped.”
I grimaced as he slathered a thin layer over my face. Next, he gave me lip balm and wrapped my neck in a long scarf.
“Where did you get this?”
“My nana made it.”
Aww, he has a nana. I don’t know what was cuter, his grandmother knitting him a scarf or the fact that he called her Nana without blushing.
“Where are your boots?”
I frowned at my bagged feet. “I don’t have any without heels.”
“What about those wooly things girls are always wearing?”
“UGGs? They aren’t meant to get wet.”
He shook his head. “I’ll never understand women’s clothing. We better double bag your feet.”
Once my sneakers were on, and my coat was buttoned. I felt like the little brother who couldn’t put his arms down in A Christmas Story. As much as I was dreading the cold, I was starting to sweat under all these layers and wanted to get someplace cooler.
Noah faced me and shoved my wool hat on my head. “You’re adorable.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
Actually, he looked hot as fuck in his hoodie and PJs with his duffel coat overtop. He pulled on a black beanie hat and enhanced the look to SWAT team sexy. He was SWawt!
“Let’s go.”
“Wait, I gotta lock up.”
“We’re going right out front. It’s fine.”
I glanced back at my apartment, scanning all my valuable possessions I worked my ass off to own. What if someone broke in when we weren’t looking? What if they stole my laptop—?
A sharp whistle echoed down the hall. “Avery, let’s go!”
I twisted and shut my door, swishing like a fat penguin waddling down the hall as he held the elevator open. Our clothes rustled as we walked through the lobby and I felt like an idiot as we passed the doorman.
“Evening, Winston.”
“Evening, Mr. Wolfe.” He jumped up to grab the door. “Evening, Ms. Johansson.”
I sighed at the doorman, silently informing him that I was being abducted on a midnight, snowy play date against my will. “If we’re not back inside in twenty minutes, send out a search party.” The door opened, and icy snowflakes pelted me in the face. “Oh, yuck.”
The walks were covered with a good six inches of snow. It caked on the front of buildings and street signs and covered the mailbox and the road. A small path was cleared in front of the door, but that was it.
Fat, white flakes mixed with a misting of frozen rain. The damn shit was everywhere, sticking in my hair, flicking me in the eye. Who liked this? And it was eerily quiet for the city.
“This way.” Noah walked to the corner of Delancey, and I waddled after him, our footprints the only proof of human life anywhere. “We’ll start over here and roll it toward the door.”
I wasn’t rolling shit. I stood off to the side while he formed a boulder of snow. With my arms crossed over my chest, I bounced to stay warm, He packed the snow into a tight ball and rolled it down the walk, each turn increasing the size.
“Are you going to help?”
“Nope.”
I squinted up at the light from my apartment, snowflakes catching in my lashes, noticeably dancing in the glow of the streetlamps. A snowball pelted my shoulder, exploding on impact, getting my cheek wet.
“Hey!”
“Help me. This is a team effort.”
Grumbling, I marched over to where he’d rolled the ball, which I supposed formed the body of our snowman. He fumbled with his phone.