“I’m pretty sure that costume is in the landfill now.”
“Bummer,” she said, her breath making little cloud puffs with her words. “What I wouldn’t give to see asmilingConnor Greene wearing it.”
Why did that make him want to go out and buy an elf costume?
There was only maybe half an inch of snow on the sidewalks and roads so far, but everything else still had several inches from a previous storm. The new snow softened everything. It reflected the light of the moon, making it feel almost like it glowed from a light within, casting everything in a faint, bluish light.
As they came under the warm golden glow of a street light, Katie stopped and looked up. The light caught each of the snowflakes, highlighting their meandering path to the ground. “It’s so pretty!”
So was his view. She tilted her head up, opening her mouth to catch snowflakes on her tongue. She caught several and grinned, and he just gazed at her, bathed in the golden light, snow falling all around them. Those blue-with-gold eyes held the perfect mix of determination and optimism. Her knit cap was pulled down over her ears, and her light brown hair peeked out just enough to frame her face, showcasing cheeks and a nose reddened by the cold and a smile that could melt an entire rink of ice.
During the hockey season, he never kept his eye out for someone he might want to date. In the off-season, sure. He’d found plenty of people to go on dates with, but none who ever felt right. None who pulled at his heart the way Katie had from that first moment at her parents’ home. Or really, since that moment he had knocked into her at the department store, making them both fall to the ground.
How, when he moved to the one place in the country that he least wanted to go, did he manage to find the one person who would capture him the way that Katie had?
A snowflake fell onto her eyebrow. He pulled off one of his gloves and reached out to brush it away with his knuckle. Another one fell on her eyelash and she blinked a few times, never taking her eyes off of his.
Until her eyes fell to his lips. They came immediately back to his eyes, searching. He moved a bit closer to her, a signal that if she wanted a kiss, he wanted it, too. With everything in him. She leaned in slowly at first, then she slid her arms around his neck and pulled him close, pressing her lips against his.
Her lips were cold from the night air, but as soft as the falling snow. They moved against his carefully as if she was testing for his reaction. He put his still gloved hand at the small of her back, pulling her close, his other hand sliding to the back of her neck, his fingers, still warm from being in a glove, tangling into her hair.
Her lips responded by moving more purposely, more sure, as she pressed against him and the soft snow fell all around them. When she ended the kiss, she did by only pulling back the smallest amount, keeping her body still pressed against his, the warmth of her breath mingling with his, their cold noses touching.
“Oh, my,” she said. “You, Connor Greene, are an amazing kisser.”
He smiled into her lips, then gave her another kiss. “Feel free to make sure that’s still true as many times as you’d like.” He hoped she wanted to take him up on it often. It wasn’t like he hadn’t experienced some decent kisses in his life. But he was pretty sure this kiss just changed his world. Nothing was ever going to be the same.
thirteen
KATIE
Since Katie,Connor, Connor’s teammates, and Emmalee were able to get so many of the wedding floral arrangements done yesterday and after she got back last night, Emmalee was confident that she could get everything set up at the wedding today without Katie.
Which was good, because editing videos was a very time-consuming process, and Katie had so much work to do. She really needed to spend every second of the day doing it.
She was glad that it was work she enjoyed doing. She might even like the editing more than she enjoyed shooting the videos themselves. She got to see everything again when the emotions of the event weren’t currently happening and gauge whether she was able to capture that same emotion in the video.
And if it wasn’t quite there, by cutting out parts and placing other parts next to each other, she was able to pull that emotion through. Especially when she added just the right music. Editing was the part of the process when she could look at it most objectively.
What made it hard to be objective? When you kissed your subject the night before editing all of the video footage he was in. Especially when it was a kiss that took the bar she had set, flung it clear up into the clouds, and stayed there. She had never experienced anything like it and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
Was it because Connor was just so much better at kissing than any other guy she’d dated? Or was it because he, as a person, was so much better? Because she had fallen for him so much more? Because he was exactly what she’d been waiting for all along?
Whatever it was, it meant that, as she edited, her eyes were drawn more to things like his lips. To how she could pause it at any moment and study the exact expression on his face, guessing just how he was feeling in the moment. She was working at her desk today, where she could connect her laptop to a much bigger monitor to have more space to move things as she edited. So she got to see him in crystal-clear, ultra-high-definition resolution on an expansive screen.
She’d bought the monitor earlier in the year to increase her productivity, but she couldn’t exactly say it was helping her today. But stopping to smell the roses was an important thing to do, right? A healthy thing. That was basically what she was doing.
Her phone lit up with a picture of Connor’s face that she’d taken just a couple of days ago, and it made her heart leap and get all giddy just at seeing it. She swiped to answer the call and put it on speakerphone so she could still work while they talked.
“Well, hello there. What are you up to?”
“Oh, just looking at the video of you smiling at the camera on repeat. You?”
He chuckled, and the sound made her smile ridiculously big.
“I am getting my suit on…” there was a slight pause before he continued, “because I need to be down at the team bus in about fifteen minutes to head over to the arena.” A few of his words had sounded a little muffled and she was pretty sure it was because he had just taken off his t-shirt. And now she was imagining what that big, strong, athletic body of his looked like without a shirt.
To stop herself from letting those thoughts continue and distract her even more, she asked, “Are you required to always wear a suit to the arena?”
