Page 38 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“You don't have to lookthathappy to get away from my family,” he said grabbing our coats. “Not that I can blame you.”

I took my coat from him and put it on. “I'm sorry, but I'm glad that this night is over.”

“At least it went over well.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I opened the front door and stepped outside to a gust of wind. Ugh, Maine weather. But then I looked up and stopped.

“Is something wrong?”

I took another step forward and turned to beam at Zander. “It's snowing!”

“Uh-huh.” Zander closed the front door behind him. The porch light came on and illuminated the questioning frown on his face. Well, he'd never left Maine. No way could he understand my excitement at snow.

“Try living in LA for a while. You'll be excited about snow then!” Walking off the porch, I raised my arms to the sky as the white flakes danced around me.

“Aren't you getting cold?”

“It's fine! Come join me!”

The house was at the end of the road, but there was a small footpath that led into the woods. We used to play here all the time when we were young. In my excitement, I grabbed Zander's hand and dragged him toward the trees with me.

“Where are we going?”

“Just for a walk, come on! It's beautiful.” And it was. The air was cold, but Zander's hand was warm in mine and the moon shone nearly full in the night sky above us. “There's so many stars out here. I miss the stars when I'm in LA.”

“Are the stars the only thing you miss?”

“Aw, don't be jealous.” I turned to Zander. “I'm sure I'll miss you too when I go back this time.”

An unspoken emotion passed over Zander's face. It was gone before I could decipher it. Suddenly I couldn't help but think of the way he'd kissed me during dinner. But that hadn't been real, had it? This whole evening, everything was fake. I couldn't read anything into it, even if it had been... exhilarating.

For a book nerd, Zander was a damn good kisser. All soft and firm at the same time, with just a little tongue, just enough to make me want more—which was odd because I'd never wanted more before.

Things were different with Zander, though. Maybe he'd learned something from all those romance novels he'd read. Maybe I should read some too. Starting perhaps with the one Zander had given me.

For now, though, I needed to stop thinking. Thankfully, I had a snow-covered forestscape to distract me. It must have been snowing for a while already. Zander and I left footprints in the white, powdery stuff as I led him along the path with me. Genius that he was, Zander had turned on the flashlight app on his phone so we could see where we were going.

“Remember when we used to come here to play?” I asked because my friend had grown even more quiet than usual.

“I remember how you tried to roll down a hill and almost broke your neck.”

“The key word beingalmost,” I pointed out. “I knew exactly what I was doing.”

“I'm sure.”

“C'mon,” I squeezed Zander's hand. “Sometimes you just gotta live a little.” Letting go, I ran toward a small clearing and let myself fall on my back into the snowy grass.

“What are you doing?”

“Having fun! Watch this!” As I spoke, I moved my arms and legs up and down, feeling only the littlest bit silly. Laughter bubbled up in me at the way Zander was juststaringat me, absolutely transfixed. I got up again. “Don't look at me like that. It's a snow angel, you dummy. Did you forget how to make those?”

He shined the flashlight on the figure I'd made in the snow.

“Believe me now?” I asked walking to him and peering over his shoulder at the angel.

A disbelieving chuckle escaped Zander.

“Hah, I got you. You laughed.”