Page 18 of Sugar and Spice (Glitter and Sparkle #3)
Mason turns his head toward me. After several minutes of looking at the sky, I meet his gaze. The snow is cold on my flushed cheeks, but the day is warm for winter, even if the sun is now hidden behind dark clouds.
“I haven’t had this much fun in a long time,” he says.
I shift, aware that my leggings are only water resistant, and the snow is already soaking into them.
“Me either,” I say, and I’m surprised to find I really mean it.
He flashes me a boyish grin—one that does funny things to my insides—and groans as he pulls himself up. Once he’s steady, he offers me a hand.
As soon as I’m on my feet, he looks up at the sky. The first snowflakes are coming down, but it looks as if their friends are eager to join them.
“I suppose we should get back to the lodge,” Mason says.
I shiver as a clump of rogue snow slides from my hair down my neck. “All right.”
We trek along, both of us doing well on the flat stretches. The air is crisp, and the scent of spruce surrounds us. It’s peaceful on the hiking trail, far away from the slopes and busy roads. We don’t talk much, so the only noise is the crunch of the snow and the sound of our breathing.
Even though the quiet of my hotel threatened to choke me, the silence is soothing out here. The snow falls around us, further masking the cars on the distant road.
By the time we make it back to Mason’s rental car, it’s late afternoon, and the entire sky is dark gray. The clouds have settled around us, the wind has picked up, and the storm has gone from gentle to harsh.
“I’m going to get your seat wet,” I say after we stash our gear in the trunk.
Mason waves the concern away. “It’ll dry.”
Shivering, too cold to argue, I slide into the car. We’ve been out for hours, so the car isn’t warm, but it’s nice to be out of the snow and cold breeze.
Mason immediately reaches for the heater, cranking up the thermostat as high as it will go.
The snow soaked through his hat, and his hair is slightly damp. I have the strangest urge to set my hand on his neck, see if he’s chilled.
After Mason finishes with the heater, he catches me watching him. He narrows his eyes in a questioning, almost playful way. “What?”
“I was thinking about what you said.” I glance at my hands as I pull off my cold, wet gloves. “About how different things might be if you never joined Forever Now, if we met somewhere normal and boring like a football game.”
From the corner of my eye, I see his expression soften. “Or a grocery store or gas station.”
I look back, meeting his gaze. “Exactly.”
He shifts, angling his body toward me, and crosses his arms. “Tell me the truth. If I were just a normal guy, would I have a better chance with you?”
“Yes,” I admit, not even needing to think about it.
“Why does my job bother you so much?”
“Everyone knows you—of you, rather. You have groupies and paparazzi following you around. It’s a lot. And honestly, Mason, you’re only interested because you’re stuck here for a few weeks.”
I pause, taking a moment before I continue, “And I already know how this will play out. You’ll probably tell me your life is hard—that you just wish you were normal.
I’ll fall for it, and we’ll have this bright, sweet, short romance.
But after this publicity stunt is over, you’ll go back to your normal life, and I’ll go back to mine.
Years down the road, when I’m married and have children, I’ll see you on television and briefly think ‘what if.’ But I’ll fade from your thoughts completely, until one day, you won’t even remember my name.
I’ll just be that girl from your hometown you met on a Christmas baking show one year. ”
Mason’s frown deepens until his eyebrows practically touch, and then he suddenly laughs. It’s a happy, rich sound, and it completely fills the car. “You are incredibly cynical.”
I roll my eyes and let myself smile as he leans forward, giving me a better view of his gray eyes. The color is like smoke, completely mesmerizing.
“First of all—I love my job, and I will never tell you differently. I love performing. I love singing. I love the travel and the lights and the fans. No, I don’t always care for the schedule.
It can be exhausting, and it’s worse when I’m on tour.
I very rarely get a homecooked meal. Sometimes the girls and paparazzi are overwhelming, especially in cities like LA, but there are plenty of places I can go to get away. ”
He pauses to shift closer, and his knee bumps my leg.
“And do I wonder what it would be like to have a normal life? Of course I do. Especially when I met you, and I realized that a normal life might have had you in it. Because there is no way that normal me wouldn’t have seen normal you—at a game, at the grocery store, at a gas station—anywhere—and not found a way to come talk to you. ”
I stare at the curve of his lips, unable to look away. It takes me a moment, but I pull myself out of my trance. “It wouldn’t have worked though.”
His eyes spark with amusement. “Why’s that?”
“Because you probably would have been a geek in glee club,” I tease, “and it would have been social suicide to be seen with you.”
“Let me guess. You were the prom queen type?” he asks, grinning.
“No.” I lean forward, letting my leg press closer to his knee. “Homecoming.”
He shakes his head, and his eyes drop to my lips, sending a jolt through my body. “Well, that settles it. You’re out of my league.”
I shouldn’t let him kiss me—it’s not fair to him. But Mason is balm on an aching wound, and when he’s close, like he is now, Brandon’s rejection doesn’t sting quite so much.
Throwing caution to the wind, I lean forward. Just as I’m closing my eyes, a familiar truck pulls into the trailhead parking beside us.