He tilted his head down, bringing their noses close. “Listening for Jake and Colt. I saw them go down farther. Make some snowballs. We’re going to ambush them.”
“We should follow them if we’re going to do that,” Maisie said, liking the spot where she was pressed into Nick’s chest a little too much to move away.
“Too easy. Plus, we have to hide ours. Where’s that competitive spirit I adore, Maze?”
She sucked in the icy cold air, her mouth open as she stared up at him.
Oh, sweet Santa on a drunk reindeer. I’m in so much trouble.
A low, husky growly sound left Nick’s throat. “You don’t stop looking at me like that I’m going to drag you back inside and let them think we’re just really good at hiding.”
Maisie bit her lip so she didn’t shout “yes please.” Then she kneeled and started making snowballs. Once they each had a few, they snuck down the row, peeked around the corner of the line of trees, and saw nothing. They hurried down the outer aisle, gazes scanning the edges of the trees for any glint or sparkle of ornaments.
“We’re down to two minutes. Let’s hide this one here,” Maisie said, starting to hang it on the tree.
Nick crowded in behind her, his hand coming over hers to take the ornament and put it up another six to ten inches.
“They said eye level,” she whispered, tipping her head back and to the side so she could see him.
He dropped his gaze, grinned at her. “That is eye level.For me.” Then he closed the gap between them, pressed a very quick, very cold (and somehow still hot) kiss to her lips before tugging her arm farther down the aisle. “Let’s hide the other one in this row, too. They won’t think of that.”
The ten-minute alarm sounded on Nick’s phone and they shut it off as fast as they could. Maisie strained to hear where Colt’s alarm was coming from. Game on.
With Nick at her back, they crept between the rows, scanning for the ornament or the hiders, listening for footsteps. They decided to split up and Maisie was just turning the corner when Colt scared the hell out of her, almost ramming directly into her body, pullingthem both up short. He bent to make a snowball but she already had some, so she pelted him right in the back and took off running.
“I’m hit,” Colt yelled, giving away her location to Jake.
Maisie ran down several aisles and then crouched down, listening while trying not to breathe too loudly.
Maisie squatted, hunched down at the edge of an aisle, listening.
“Psst.”
She turned and lost her balance just as her brother beaned her in the arm with a snowball.
“Jerk,” she yelled. “Nick!”
She heard heavy footfalls, then more. Counting to ten around her laughter, she stood up and went down the aisle to the other end. The air smelled like crisp cold and pine. Excitement kept her warm. She was coming around the edge again when she spotted one of Jacob and Colt’s ornaments. Grabbing it, she tried to decide what to do. Hang on to it until they had the other? Run? If her heart was a camera, it was on burst mode.
Run. Go.Just as she took off, she stumbled over her own feet but two strong hands gripped her and kept her from falling flat on her face. Nick.
“You got one?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to take it back.”
A snowball whizzed past their shoulders. Nick bent, grabbed some snow, and started firing in the direction the projectile had come.
“Go,” he whispered, low and harsh.
Slipping and sliding over the snow, she hustled as fast as her waterlogged pants and heavy boots let her, clutching the ornament to her chest. When she reached the house, Kyle was putting the head on the snowman they’d built and Nat was carrying a couple of skinny branches toward it.
“Nice job,” Nat said.
“Watch out,” Kyle said pointing behind her.
Maisie dropped to the ground, the snowball going straight over her and hitting the snowman.
“Hey! Innocent victim,” Natalie said.
