Page 43 of Ski You Later (Alpine Glow #1)

Operation ‘Date Rhodes’ couldn’t have gone better.

This is nothing like the first kiss we shared; all the restraint he previously showed has vanished. As if this whole time he’s been suppressing his feelings, he’s finally allowing himself to take what he wants. It doesn’t hurt that I now know without a doubt that things between us are real.

His grip on me is like iron, holding me in the perfect places that support my suddenly weak body. The second his mouth touched mine, all coherent thoughts went right out the window. His lips urgently press against mine, as his mouth slowly opens for me.

The hand at my hip slithers up, wrapping around my waist and hauling me off my feet. The kitchen wall meets my back a second later, and I waste no time in wrapping my arms around his neck. His body fully presses into me as I tighten my hold on him, and his head slants downward to deepen our kiss.

He kisses like a man starved, never giving me respite as he pushes us further together.

The feeling of his tongue against mine makes my stomach dip, and I can’t help but push myself back against him.

Using confidence, I didn’t know I possessed, I pull my knee up the side of his body so I can cling to him tighter.

The hand that has been cupping my head slowly slides downward, caressing my body until he grips me under my knee. With a gentle but firm yank, my leg wraps around his waist, and we press ourselves closer than I ever thought possible.

As I contemplate wrapping my other leg around him, a loud cough snaps me out of this frenzy. I pull away from Roman, opening my eyes to see a look of confusion and joy on his face.

“Are you alright?” The sudden concern in his voice does nothing but warm my heart.

I place one of my hands on the side of his face, and relish when he leans into my touch.

Just as I’m about to respond, another loud cough snaps us out of our moment, and both of us whip our heads toward the living room.

My heart drops as I see all our friends sitting there, a movie paused on the TV and everyone’s eyes on us.

Ever the coward, I quickly grab Roman’s sweater sleeve and press my face into his arm.

In a move that makes me fall for him all over again, he puts my back to the group and faces everyone down himself.

“Hi,” he says in a bored tone. The emotionless voice is back, and I can only imagine everyone’s seeing the displeased mask he always wears. Peering up and around him, I’m ready to chastise him for his lack of emotion.

My eyes widen as I see him facing the group with a huge smile on his face, the way it lights up his eyes makes me swoon for the boy all over again.

Turning in his arms, I face the group and see their faces all displaying the same shock I had moments ago.

My embarrassment turns to annoyance as I step right in front of Roman. “What are you all doing here?”

I see Charles, Kai, Nico, Isla, and Liam all relaxing on our couch, as if they’re meant to be here.

They go silent at my accusation, and I cross my arms over my chest as I wait.

“Aurora texted us all to meet her here for team drinks. She said we could let ourselves in, and that everyone is welcome,” Charles says as they finish off their drink.

I groan when I hear that, knowing this will be an open invitation for my cousin to waltz into my house with whoever she wants. If Aurora wasn’t my favourite person on this planet, I might have killed her for this.

Speak of the devil, the front door bangs open as Aurora stumbles into the house, with Landon and Xander hot on her heels. Landon’s carrying a half-empty bottle of whiskey, and I can only imagine how drunk they already are.

I should’ve seen this coming. Since training was cancelled this weekend, that just means everyone’s down to get absolutely obliterated tonight. Doesn’t anyone have homework? If I didn’t have the most important date of my life tonight, then I would be finishing my research paper.

The noise draws everyone from the living room, and the bottle starts being passed immediately. Aurora gets the music going, and a mini party forms right before my eyes. Turning around, I see Xander pulling out pong cups while Kai and Nico clear the table.

The very last thing I saw happening tonight was half the team being at my house as soon as I returned from my date, and I can’t help but feel guilty. It’s not as though I expected Roman to hang out the rest of the night, but I know he’s not going to want to stick around for this .

Keeping a smile plastered on my face as my friends mill about, the feeling of absolute dread takes over me. The last thing I want to do is watch Roman leave, but I also don’t have the heart to kick everyone out.

The guys get a honeycomb game started on the kitchen table and yell for everyone to join in. But it’s as Kai and Charles usher Roman over, insisting he plays with them, that I raise a brow. Are they including him?

I glance over and catch the raw emotion that flashes over his face before he can think to hide it. “You should go,” I say and lightly place my hand on his arm, slightly pushing him towards the guys.

He looks over with poorly masked desire, but then brings his gaze right back to mine. “No. This is our date and I want to spend my time with you. What do you want to do, love?” He grabs onto my hand, and loosely intertwining our fingers as he looks at me.

Filling a smile with as much swagger as I can muster, I start to pull him towards the guys. “I want to watch as you get your butt whooped in honeycomb.”

His returning smile solidifies my decision, and I prepare myself to ingest some truly horrid drinks .

After an hour of drunken morons screaming and drinking, the leash I had on my mood has all but snapped.

While the atmosphere around me has skyrocketed, I might as well have my own personal storm cloud.

Everyone has moved on to new ventures after the drinking game era, and I make my way to the couch.

Roman has been bonding so well with the team, smiling in photos, and even getting his name chanted when he did a beer funnel. Really, it all went uphill after he played a prank on the entire team during one of the honeycomb games.

As the cups were being passed around and the tension was at an all-time high, everyone’s phone simultaneously dinged.

The game stopped abruptly, and people slowly pulled out their phones to see the message.

The Training at 7AM appeared on everyone’s lock screen and they slowly looked at Roman’s direction.

I am certain everything would have backfired had Roman not burst into a fit of laughter immediately. The way the energy in the room flipped as his laughs were echoed by everyone around the table.

Seeing Roman fit in with everyone makes my chest melt, and it’s the only reason I haven’t retired to my room yet. Although I also just can’t bring myself to socialize tonight. It took a lot out of me to talk about my past feelings, and now there’s nothing I want to do more than go to bed.

A group of guys walk past the couch and head for the sliding door, but Roman does a double take as he sees me slumped in the seat. Sensing the change in my mood, he says something to the others and then promptly plops down beside me.

Before I say a word, he wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close.

“What’s wrong, Langley?” The concern behind his voice starts to unravel me, and I can’t stop as my eyes start to water.

That concern morphs to fear instantly, and I feel a warm hand at my back as I’m ushered towards my room.

Closing the door behind us, he turns on the lamps and sits on the bed with me.

“Hey, hey. None of that, why’s my girl crying?” His gentle hands cup my face, swiping away the tears as they continue to fall.

“It’s nothing, it’s really so dumb,” I blabber and force myself to laugh it off, as if I am not bothered at all.

“Rhodes. Talk to me.” His strong hands feel so good on my face, and I can’t stop myself from gripping his wrist and falling into his palm.

I look at my bedroom wall, not wanting to meet his gaze in case he thinks I’m crazy. “I was just excited to have a night with you, that’s all. I didn’t even realize how badly I wanted you all to myself until it was ripped away.”

His hand lightly grips my chin, promptly moving my head towards him and causing our gazes to clash. That look is back in his eyes, as if I’m everything on a silver platter and he is a man starved.

Moving into my space, I can’t stop my body’s reaction to the low drawl of his voice. “If you wanted it just to be us tonight, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to ruin anything for you. The team was finally warming to you, this is what you always wanted, and I wasn’t going to ruin it,” I state flatly, but his eyes seem to heat as he leans into me.

“Wrong,” he states simply.

“What do you mean wrong?” I furrow my brow at him as he keeps his gaze on me.

“What you just said. It’s wrong.” He leans on the arm behind me, and our faces are inches apart.

“What was wrong with it?” I can’t help the breathy quality of my voice, as his presence is distracting me more than I care to admit.

He lowers his head, our lips brushing in a shadow of a kiss. “All I’ve ever wanted is you, love.” Leaning in slightly, our mouths meeting in a gentle kiss that seems to last an eternity. I savour every second of contact as I put my hand on his neck and hold him close.

“Would you want to stay over?” I blurt out between us before I can think twice about it.

Hope and joy fill his gaze as he quickly grabs my hands and holds them between us. “There’s nothing in this world I want more than that.” His words hit me in the heart, and I blush furiously.

He gives me another soul-shattering kiss before we both get ready for bed.

Pulling out the makeup wipes from my desk, I plop down on my chair and start getting ready to sleep. “Well, the good news is that no one could possibly think we were faking our relationship,” I say jokingly.

I find him leaning down towards me, wrapping both his arms around my middle, and tucking his face into the crook of my neck. “Langley, I was never faking it.”