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.
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.
“This is work. You’re getting to know Snow Crystal.” Jackson chose the table with the best view. “Sit down. The specialty of this place is the hot spiced apple cider.”
If they hadn’t been on top of a mountain, she would have argued. He saw it in the way she held herself, tense and poised for flight. But there was no flight because her only way out of here was on the back of his snowmobile, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
So she sat. “If it’s a local specialty I’d like to try it of course, thanks.” It was a signal that she wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. “I’m interested in—” She broke off, her expression frozen, as a pretty girl wearing a red ski jacket and a Santa hat skipped across the deck to them.
“Jackson! I wasn’t expecting to see you here today.” The girl flung her arms around him and Jackson almost drowned in blond hair and perfume. As he gently extracted himself, he saw that Kayla was already on her feet.
“This looks like a good moment for me to use the bathroom.” She smiled her most corporate smile, and Jackson sighed because she was back in hedgehog mode, complete with a full set of prickles. And they were aimed right at him.
“Kayla, this is Dana. Dana is my cousin.” He emphasized the word gently and saw Kayla frown slightly.
“Oh. I assumed—” She stuck out her hand, as if she was making sure she couldn’t be on the receiving end of the same effusive greeting. “Pleased to meet you.”
“Hi, Kayla.” Dana gave a friendly smile, shook hands and then turned back to Jackson. “Guess who I have in my kindergarten class this week. The Foster twins, can you believe that? I babysat them. Now they’re on skis.”
“That thought is close to terrifying. How are they doing?”
“They’re awesome. Overexcited about Christmas, but who isn’t? Hey, Cliff—” Dana leaned back and waved her hand to the owner of the restaurant “—starving to death and dying of thirst here. Any chance of some service?”
Cliff strolled over, eyebrows raised. “You just told me you weren’t eating because you couldn’t afford my shocking prices.”
“I can’t, but that was before Jackson showed up. He’s paying.” She peeped at him and Jackson gave a half smile.
“My debts are so huge one burger isn’t going to make a difference.”
“In that case I’ll have the mountain burger with fries, thanks. Unless I’m interrupting—” Her eyes slid to Kayla, who was still wearing her corporate smile.
“What could you possibly be interrupting? It’s great to have a chance to chat with someone who lives around here. It gives breaking for lunch a purpose.”
She had a smile for different situations, he decided. And he preferred the one she’d given him when he kissed her.
She looked a whole lot healthier than she had when he’d picked her up that morning. The fresh air had whipped pink into her cheeks and added sparkle to her eyes.
Or maybe it was the kiss that had done that.
He pulled off his gloves and put them on the table. “Do you ever do anything just because it’s fun?”
“I find work fun.”
Jackson spoke to Cliff and ordered the artisan cheese board and the charcuterie plate, along with a basket of fresh rolls and Dana’s burger.
Kayla stared at the food. “I’m really not hungry.”
“You’ll be hungry when it arrives. The food is sourced from local suppliers. The quality of food around here is exceptional. It’s a definite draw for the tourists.”
At the word tourist she relaxed. “So what would you say is the special appeal of Snow Crystal, Dana?”
“If I had to pick a favorite, I’d have to say dogsledding, but I’m biased because my parents run Snow and Sled from the farm right next to Snow Crystal. We have a huge network of trails, and when I’m not teaching classes, I help out in the kennels. We have eighteen huskies. Twenty-two if you count the four that are retired.” Dana sat back as Pete delivered their drinks. “I can guarantee it is the most fun you will ever have in your life. If you like, I could take you out. We