Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73880 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I didn’t even care what was in them.
I mattered to someone.
I had a family.
“Starla, I swear to God!”
I still flinched a little when he took the Lord’s name in vain.
Old habits died hard.
I took stock of the pile of snowballs beside me. He barely stood a chance. I meant, the guy wasn’t even really wearing a coat but some kind of lined hoodie or something.
I took a few of the smallest snowballs and tossed one about six feet in front of me. It plopped harmlessly to his left. Timeo’s head swiveled around, and my jaw dropped when he reached for his gun.
His gun!
What the hell?
My heart started to beat a little faster.
“Starla,” he began again. “You okay? I need to know.”
For the first time, the playful atmosphere took on a more serious feel. Did he really think I was like… kidnapped or something? Hurt?
A rush of emotion flooded through me.
He cared.
But also… It was time to make my move.
I tossed another snowball to the opposite side, and when he swung around, I threw yet another snowball as hard as I could.
BINGO.
It smashed right in the middle of his back.
“Starla,” he growled, putting his gun away. “Get your ass out here.”
When I didn’t move, he bent and gathered snow in his hands. “Fuck,” he muttered. “Son of a bitch.”
Ah-ha! He might’ve been bigger and faster, but I was the one with gloves. I was the one who’d grown up without the benefit of smartphones or the internet, so I was well schooled in how to play in the snow. Making a snowball with your bare hands hurt.
It was now or never.
I stood, an armful of snowballs gathered to my chest, and pelted them at him, one after another.
The jerk had good reflexes, though, and he ducked damn near half of them.
The other half, though? He was toast.
Snow splattered against his chest and legs, but still he marched on. I had no idea what he would do when he got to me, but he didn’t let the barrage of airborne missiles even slow him down.
“You are in so. Much. Trouble,” he growled, narrowing his eyes as he advanced on me. I stared down at my quickly diminishing store of snowballs. He was too fast, undeterred, and while my plan had a decided beginning, I was sorely lacking an ending or even any type of exit strategy that would get me out of this.
So I did what any much smaller woman in a snowball fight would do if she was at a strategic disadvantage because her worthy opponent was a disgruntled, riled, older man with a chip on his shoulder.
I threw every snowball I had in rapid succession until I had none left, and when the last one landed straight in his face… I ran.
But as I ran, I was starting to see the benefit of being scantily clad in the snow. Whereas Timeo might’ve been freezing his ass off, he’d be light on his feet, while I felt like I was running underwater, bogged down with my puffy coat, hat, gloves, and boots.
I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to get away from him, and he was going to catch me very quickly. I had to make the most of it. So I ran harder, using my smaller figure to duck under tree limbs and zigzag through the familiar woods I knew well, because I spent every day out here.
I stopped when I came up against a wall I hadn't seen before. I was so taken aback that I stared, unsure what to make of this. What the hell was this? A brick wall, right here in the middle of the forest? Why?
I paused just long enough to sink any hope I had of escaping Timeo’s pursuit. Seconds later he plowed into me from behind, knocking me to the ground.
"Hey!" I said, laughing because I didn't have any breath left in me. He didn't hurt me, of course. It was like shoving me onto a pile of pillows, the snow a welcome landing.
I managed to get to my knees and toss more snow at him, which fell in harmless tufts. I knew it was a futile attempt, that there was no way I was going to get past him now.
Still, when I caught him off guard I got back to my feet and made snowballs from the armful of snow I snagged.
When one of my snowballs caught him on the ear, he ducked and started brushing it away, so I tried once again to make my escape. But I slipped, and fell, and before I knew what was happening, he fell…straight on top of me.
Like on top on top of me.
His whole heavy, strong body straddling mine. I could tell by the look of shock on his face that he hadn’t intended for it to happen any more than I’d intended to be pinned beneath him. But my God… How did something that was friendly, and fun, and even childlike, become so… instantly erotic?