The Twelve Days of Christmas

Chapter 3

I didn’t need encouragement from him to go straight into my childish, mischievous mode. It was something I tried to rein in most of the time, but the slightest trigger and it came out full pelt, leaving me stooping down to gather up a handful of snow. I stared him down as I moulded it slowly into a ball. All the while giving him my best ‘you’re in for it now’ look. Pulling my arm back over my shoulder and throwing with the skill and accuracy of a professional. Then I thought to myself that a professional snowball thrower should really be a job. The well-formed ball hit hard because I had taken the time with it and collided with his forehead.

I couldn’t help the burst of giggles that erupted at the stern look on his face while the snow clung to his brown spikey hair. His eyes narrowed at me and it forced me into full on laughing so hard I was struggling to keep myself upright. He looked so damn serious, but with the sprinkling of snowflakes, it made the most ridiculous image. For a second I thought he was almost going to combust with rage, but instead he gave me the most carefree, light and warm smile. I could have melted the surrounding snow with the heat that spread through my body just from that one smile. He didn’t seem the type that smiled often, but he should have been because it completely changed his face. It was so powerful that he could have been two different people.

As he bent down and grabbed snow, I did the same before heading for the cover of a nearby tree trunk. Hiding behind the grand oak while I got my snowball ready. Coming out just long enough to throw it, except I paused. He wasn’t there. Then I felt the coldness drifting down my spine. “Hey, no fair.” I shook just enough to let the flakes drift out of my jumper before turning on the attack.

“Wait. Before you finish me off, I plead for mercy.” I threw it anyway and caught him on the chest, leaving a circle patch of snow stuck to his woollen overcoat.

“You should have thought about that before,” I joked. “I don’t do mercy.”

“Because all is fair in love and war?”

“I would say so, yes.”

“Then there are no rules to break.” He jumped up without warning and swung from the branch right above my head and snow evicted the tree. It came down in big clumps and I knew he had won the battle, if not the war. I moved backwards as he dropped to the ground again and I could swear the earth moved a little as his slightly giant frame landed. He was so tall, but still slender. I kicked at the snow and sprayed him with it, being slightly impressed that the snow struck him in the face. The way he tried to blow it out of his mouth and shook at the same time was making a fire spark in my stomach.

I looked him over more carefully. Other than being incredibly grumpy, he looked too uptight. The suit he was wearing to stroll in the park made him look out of place. Almost like he didn’t really understand real life. Maybe that was why he was so clueless about playing in the snow? I decided it was best not to push him and headed off in search of my next craziness.

Heading down to the lake, I stepped on it carefully, testing the firmness. It wasn’t strictly the safest activity in the world, but I had done it more times than I could remember. It seemed firm enough, and there wasn’t a hint of movement or any sign of the water underneath. Just as my weight was about to transfer fully onto the ice, I fell. Except that wasn’t strictly true. He had pulled me backwards. “Hey!”

“Hey, yourself. What the hell did you think you were playing at?” As we had landed in the snow, he had landed almost on top of me and had plunged his hand into the snow above my left shoulder to stop himself from crushing me. He might have been laid on the other side of me, but truth be told, he was pretty much half on top of me.

I took a breath, knowing that I needed to steady myself, but all it did was let his scent drift my way. I tried to think of what the smell was, but the only thing I could come up with was masculine. He smelt one hundred percent man. “I’ve done it before. It’s erm… fine.” I stumbled over the words a little too much for my liking.

“You should never do that, ever. You have no way of knowing if it is safe. Not in an uncontrolled environment. Never again do you even consider it.” It was an order, not a request. The flaring in his eyes was all anger, and I didn’t know where it had come from. I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could form my words, his lips were on mine. Soft and sweet. The slight hum was my only sign of appreciation, as I didn’t dare to move. All the blood in my body seemed to rush to my head, and it resulted in my ears ringing. The heat and pinpricks attacking my flesh were unexpected. Even as he pulled away, he seemed to leave a whisper of himself behind. I still couldn’t move. The freezing cold against my back as the snow melted against my skin and the fire engulfing every centimetre of my body that he had touched.

“Hello...” I opened my eyes reluctantly, and he was pacing slightly beside me, phone in hand. “Yes... I’m coming.” He hung up on whoever it was without pleasantries and the mask of grumpiness had already slipped back into place. As he pocketed the phone, his eyes focused on something on the ground. I followed his eyeline and cringed as I spotted the little cupcake case on the ground. TJ had gotten it for me when I opened the shop. He opened it and pulled one of the little cards from the inside. “Well, Noelle, it’s nice to meet you.” He replaced the card rather than keeping it, and I was a little disappointed. The phone started ringing again, and he bristled. Holding his hand out for me and I took it, not really knowing why I was still on the floor.

“I’ve got to go.” He brushed a stray strand of hair from my face idly, as though he needed something to do in order to stay. Moving on to brushing the snow from the backs of my arms. “This was amazing. It has been the most fun I have ever had, but I have to go. I’m sorry.”

He was already backing away from me. “It’s okay. I understand. It was nice to meet you, too.” Except I hadn’t met him because I didn’t even know his name. Not just that, I knew nothing about him at all. I watched as he retreated into the distance, before I turned and headed towards the shop. I could barely feel the ground as I walked, it was as though I was floating along. Holding up two fingers to my lips where they were still red hot from where he had kissed me. It had been so long, I almost thought it would never happen. The longer it went, the more I worried about it and built it up in my mind. Then he had given me my first kiss out of the blue and not given me the chance to overthink it. It was magical. There was no other word for it. I just wished I had gotten his name, at least.