Sleigh Bells in the Snow(52)

All around them was silence, a mysterious magical silence as the snowbound forest cloaked their illicit moment of passion in wintery whiteness.

And then he lifted his head. Slowly, reluctantly, as if he were locked in a battle between willpower and desire, and Kayla opened her eyes, too, dazed and disorientated.

Maybe it was because they were standing in the shadow of a tree but his eyes seemed dark, an almost midnight-blue, and for once there wasn’t a hint of a smile on his hard, handsome face.

And then he gently eased himself away from her and slid up her zip, protecting her from the cold. “So now we have the answer.”

“The answer?” Her lips, still tingling from the pressure of his, could barely form the question. “What answer?” She didn’t have the answer to anything, least of all why she’d done what she’d just done. He’d started it, but she’d been right there with him. The only difference between them was that she wouldn’t have stopped.

“The answer to what happens when you let your guard down. If you feel the need to check your emails, go ahead.” A slight roughening of his voice was the only hint that he was affected by what had happened.

“Emails?” She stared at him dizzily, wondering how a man’s kiss could blitz her brain so completely.

“Yeah. Those things you check when you’re bored by the man you’re with.” He paused long enough to let the words sink in. Then he stepped back and glanced over her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll be relieved to know the moose has gone.”

Moose?

She hadn’t given a single thought to the moose since he’d started kissing her.

In fact she was fairly sure that while Jackson’s mouth had been on hers a whole family of moose could have stampeded right over her and she wouldn’t have noticed. She was surprised to see the snow still thick on the trees and deep underfoot. She’d half expected to find herself standing in a pool of meltwater.

As reality slowly reasserted itself, so did the panic.

She never did this. Never felt this.

But maybe this happened to Jackson O’Neil all the time.

Judging from the way Brenna had hugged him that morning, she obviously wasn’t the only one affected by Jackson O’Neil. The thought cooled her more effectively than the shower of snow.

“Does Brenna mind you kissing random women?”

Those blue eyes narrowed. “I’ve never asked, but I’m fairly sure she’d tell me to go ahead and kiss who I want to kiss.”

Confused, Kayla stepped back, but he locked his hand in the front of her jacket and dragged her back to him. “I’m not with Brenna.”

“I’m not interested in your love life, O’Neil—”

“Yes, you are. You saw her hug me and you wondered, but you don’t need to wonder. You could have asked me straight-out, of course. For the record, that’s the way I’d prefer it, because then there are no misunderstandings. But seeing as you insist on pretending none of this is happening, I’ll answer the question you haven’t asked. Brenna and I are friends. We’ve been friends a long time. If it was going to be more, it would have happened long ago.” His hand was still on her jacket as he held her toe-to-toe with him and the power of the chemistry almost blinded her.

“Fine.” Except it wasn’t fine. None of this was fine. “I just have no idea why you kissed me, that’s all.”

“No?” A slow smile spread across his face. “You’re a clever woman. I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Failing that, why don’t you ask yourself why you kissed me? That ought to give you some clues.” With that, he released her and walked back to the snowmobile, the view of his powerful shoulders leading her to decide that Jackson O’Neil looked as good from the back as he did from the front.





CHAPTER SEVEN



JACKSON ENDED THEIR snowmobile tour at his favorite mountain restaurant.

“We’ll have lunch here.”

Kayla pulled off her helmet. Her gaze was fixed on the view, which could have been because it was spectacular, but he had a feeling it was because she’d rather look at just about anything but him. “I’m grateful for the offer of lunch, but what I’d really like is to go back to the resort and do some work.”

She was running from him.

The kiss had shaken her, and he had some sympathy with that because it had shaken him, too.

For a brief moment in the forest, she’d thawed. Under his hands and mouth, Kayla Green had transformed from ice machine to warm, soft woman, but now she was frozen again, the layer of ice between her and the world thicker than ever.

He wondered what it would take to melt it permanently.