nights like this with men like him? This was insane and perfect and… “You’re amazing.”
His grin stretched across his handsome face. “Why, Ms. Johansson, I do believe that’s the first compliment you’ve ever paid me. My, my, I’m all atwitter.”
“That’s not true. I said I liked your cocktail earlier.”
He cupped a gloved hand around his ear. “I’m sorry, did you say you liked my cock earlier?”
“Way to ruin it.”
But he hadn’t ruined anything. He was so outrageously adorable I couldn’t take it.
“You know, you’re prettiest when you laugh. It’s a great sound.”
Something trembled in my chest and, before I realized I was moving, I threw my arms around his shoulders and kissed him, lifting my feet off the ground and making him hold me whether he wanted to or not.
He laughed and stumbled back. “Oh, shit!”
And we fell. So not quite like the movies.
Luckily, we were wearing enough layers that we didn’t get hurt on impact. We rolled to our backs and groaned, staring up at the swirling wind, coated in what appeared the sweetest sugar God had ever made. Under the quiet moonlight, it was … majestic.
My mitten covered hand closed around his, and I smiled, my legs stretching. I tipped my face into the cool flurries and hummed happily.
“Let’s make snow angels.”
Swiping our arms and legs from side to side, we lay in the middle of the street, laughing, making angels in the snow. Maybe I liked snow after all. It had to be a dream because it was too perfect to be real.
25
Avery
I stomped my feet, waiting for them to warm as chips of ice and drips of slush melted onto the hardwood. Noah pulled down pots and mugs as he measured out powdered cocoa and milk. Seriously, what other guy had the ingredients for hot chocolate on hand?
I peeled off my hat, my hair a mix of chilled waves and sweaty kinks. It was nearly two in the morning, and I was too wound up to go to bed. Luckily, Noah wasn’t tired either.
I feared if I shut my eyes this feeling might end and I’d never be able to find it again. So, I decided sleep wasn’t really that necessary.
I glanced at his expensive barstools. “I’m going to go change my pants. These are all wet.”
He shot a smile over his shoulder. “Just take them off.”
I paused, considering it. “Okay.”
He did a double take, and I laughed, stripping until I was in nothing but my T-shirt, thong, and thick wool socks. Noah rounded the island so fast he slipped on a puddle of slush, catching himself before he hit the ground. I gasped, but he seemed fine, and then he was staring at my lower body. No, not staring. Gawking.
“Fuck. You’re so fucking… Fuck.”
I laughed. “You wanna take off yours?”
He yanked down his plaid pants and stomped them into the floor. His briefs were looking a little snug with all that pressure building between his hips. I took a mental picture, never wanting to forget the sight of his exposed thighs and knobby boy knees, pants bunched around unlaced boots and that look of enchantment in his eyes. He was adorable.
“Your milk’s boiling over.”
He frowned, then cursed and grabbed the pan off the burner as it hissed and steamed. I laughed as he carefully transferred the hot milk into mugs and stirred in the cocoa, topping it off with mini marshmallows.
“Cheers.”
We clanked our mugs and—oh, my gawd!—it was the best damn hot chocolate I’d ever tasted. “This is exceptional.”
“Thanks. So many compliments tonight. I can’t wait to write them all down in my diary.”
“You can be such a guy and such a girl at the same time.”
“Guys can be sensitive.”
“I think it’s more of a deep-rooted sarcasm. I don’t buy for one minute that you keep a journal or even have a book in this apartment.”
“I have an old Playboy from the sixties that my dad gave me. Does that count?”
“No.”
I had a slight dairy allergy, but the hot chocolate was so damn good I pretended my allergies weren’t real for a minute. Halfway through my cup, I forced myself to put it down, but it wasn’t easy.
We sat on the kitchen stools, the carols still playing from his den, the world’s greatest snowman guarding the door with Winston downstairs.
I grinned and stole another sip of cocoa. “This is probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
“It’s January.”
“Shh. Don’t spoil it.”
When everyone else disappeared a few weeks ago, I sat in my apartment eating a vat