“The thought crossed my mind,” I answer honestly. He might as well know what he’s getting himself into.
“I’ll take what I can get. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be considering I don’t know what we’re doing.” I don’t mean to come across snarky, but I’m nervous, and when I’m nervous, my default setting seems to be snarky.
“It doesn’t matter. I have what you’ll need in the Jeep,” he says before turning on his boot and walking down the stairs.
I hurry out the door, tugging on my jacket as I follow behind him. I’m looking down at my right sleeve, trying to shove my hand through it, when I walk right into his front.
“Do you ever watch where you’re going?” he teases, reaching out to steady me.
I blush, taking a moment to get my feet under me. “It doesn’t happen all the time,” I say, glaring up at him. Like I said, default setting. Snarky.
“It’s only around me then.” He grins smugly. “I like that.”
“You like watching me make an idiot of myself?” I ask, arching my eyebrows at him.
“No, I like catching you when you make an idiot of yourself.” He winks and grabs my hand, spinning around to walk towards his Jeep.
It’s starting to get harder and harder to tell myself that this isn’t a date.
Jami opens the passenger’s side door and helps me inside before running around to get in on the driver’s side. When he starts the Jeep, the local country station immediately starts pouring in through the speakers. He moves to turn the volume down, but I reach out to stop him.
“I like it.”
He smiles back at me before backing out of the driveway.
I literally do not have a clue in the world as to what we could be doing. It’s eight o’clock at night in the middle of winter, in the pitch black, on a holiday. Nothing is open.
We drive without speaking for a few minutes, listening to the radio, before he pulls into the parking lot at the base of the local mountain.
“Have you ever been tubing?” he asks me excitedly.
“Uhm… In the river. In the summer,” I answer back hesitantly.
He unbuckles himself before jumping out of the Jeep, still leaving me completely clueless. It’s a little too cold for hanging out in the river. I open my door before he can get there, and I don’t miss his growl when he sees me do it.
“I’ll get it,” Jami says gruffly, helping me out of the lifted vehicle. Then he reaches into the back seat and shuffles around for a minute before he finally finds what he’s looking for. He turns around to face me and I burst out laughing.
“Where in god’s name did you get those?” I giggle and snort. Gee. That was ladylike.
In his hands are two of the ugliest snowsuits I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Did I mention that they are both neon and one piece? Oh yes, one-piece snowsuits.
“They used to be my Mom and Dad’s,” he says proudly, thrusting the neon-pink-and-teal suit at me.
I try to shake off the weight that settles on my chest when he mentions both his parents so fondly. “And what exactly do you want me to do with it?”
“I want you to wear it. We’re going snow tubing.” He grins stepping into his navy-blue-and-neon-green snowsuit. I’m still standing there dumbfounded when he laughs. “Do you need help putting it on?” He shoots a suggestive, cocky smile in my direction.
“I think I can manage,” I mumble, staring down at the monstrosity in my hands. I don’t wear colour ever. And he wants me to traipse around in a neon snowsuit? Ah, what the hell.
It takes us a few minutes to zip into our suits. Jami grabs a backpack from inside the Jeep before locking the door and taking my hand in his. I freeze at the casual show of affection and start to pull my hand away, but he tightens his grip.
“We wouldn’t want your hands to get cold,” he says, looking over at me as we walk towards the mountain.
“Liar,” I tease, sticking my tongue out at him. The panic in my chest has eased and the moment now feels light.
“I’d keep that tongue inside your mouth, Lennon, unless you want to show me what you can do with it,” he growls, and heat pools between my legs.
This man makes me feel such a range of emotions all at the same time. It’s overwhelming. First, I’m scared, then I’m laughing, and then I’m horny as all hell. My neon snowsuit is starting to feel very, very warm.
The smile that spreads across his face when we get to the base of the mountain is adorable. I know he is adventurous and loves the outdoors. Hannah is always complaining about how he drags her to do all these outdoorsy things, but I have to admit that seeing him in his element like this is pretty damn unreal. He looks like an excited little boy trapped inside a hot-as-sin man. The result is cute as heck.