Snow Place Like Home

Chapter Eighteen

Shonna

Jason drove them to a place called Crystal Lakes.

When he handed her a pair of ice skates, she looked at him like he had lost his mind. He merely laughed.

She had never been ice skating. Hell, she had never even been roller skating. She preferred to walk on the two perfectly good feet God gave her. It made no sense to get around on thin little blades that you couldn't possibly balance on. And who decided skating around a frozen lake on sharp blades was a good idea when it was the only thing keeping you from plunging into a watery grave?

"Come on, let's see what you got."

For some idiotic reason, Shonna put on the skates and let Jason lead her around a freaking frozen lake. She was wobbling on unsteady legs, clinging to him, trying her best to appear graceful and sexy rather than the way she knew she looked, clumsy and ridiculous.

"The ice won't crack, right?" she asked nervously.

"That's the hope."

"What?" She jerked her body and nearly tumbled to the ground, but Jason caught her and lifted her back to her feet.

He laughed at her. "Relax, kacháwli. The weather is perfect. When it starts to warm up, the ice thins a bit and can crack. But we're good," He rushed to explain. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

Somehow his words were comforting, and she believed him.

"What does cooshiwaly mean?"

He chuckled at her pronunciation. He explained how he was an Inuit, or Alaska Native, of the Tlingit tribe, and sometimes his native tongue came out for certain words.

"Kacháwli means sweetheart," he explained.

"What about what you said to Rigby the other day? You called me ax shoowaydee or something."

"Ax shaawádi," he corrected. "My lady."

That was unexpected. "Is that what you think of me as?"

"At the time, I wasn't sure how else to introduce you. But now—"

"Now what?"

"Ax toowú ilik'éi."

"Meaning what?"

"You make me happy."

When they got back to the car, it was getting dark, and Shonna had no clue where they were headed.

For once, it was nice just to sit back and let someone else take the reins. She was used to trying to control everything, but where had it gotten her? Passed over for partner. Single. Alone. Out in the middle of nowhere, trying to connect with her deceased grandmother.

Soon they had stopped along a dark road. Nothing around for miles.

"We're going to have to walk a bit."

He got out of the car, and she followed suit. He carried a blanket with him and a flashlight. Guess he needed something to roll her dead body in, she thought. She kept up with his pace, but he had a long gait, so she found herself nearly jogging. She was grateful for the ugly brown snow boots now because if she had kept her leather ones, her feet would be throbbing about now.

It wasn't a long walk, but there was a slight incline up the trail, so she was a little winded once he'd stopped. Perhaps she needed to start joining her mother for Pilates. She shuddered at the thought.

"This is the spot."

She waited for him to lay the blanket on the ground, but he just motioned for her to sit.

"You want me to sit on the ground when you have a blanket right there?"

"The blanket is for you to wrap around yourself." He explained and then threw it around her shoulders. "It's cold. I don't want to lose you to exposure."

"Then why are we here?"

"You'll see."

Shonna rolled her eyes and sat down. He sat down next to her and began rubbing her shoulders for warmth. She stopped complaining then, enjoying the sensation of his massive around her, massaging the cold away.

"What about you?" He was wearing a bomber jacket and sweater underneath and jeans like it was a breezy night at the beach instead of a brisk night at the north pole.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Here. We can share."

She opened the blanket for him, and he welcomed the invitation, positioning himself behind her as she snuggled between his thighs. No longer was it bone-chilling. It was like they'd been transported to a furnace. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest, and that's when his musky man smell hit her for the first time. It was natural, absent of cologne or aftershave. Just him. And he smelled heavenly. She'd heard of toxic masculinity, but his masculinity was just intoxicating.

"Here they come," he said.

She broke out of her trance and followed his gaze. Out of the jet-black backdrop emerged a twist of glowing strands. Her breath got whisked away by the effervescent rainbow dancing across the sky. Aurora Borealis, the northern lights, were nature's fireworks. The photos and digital replication on TV couldn't compare to the actual phenomenon.

A tear fell down her cheek at the sight, and she didn't know if it was the sting of the cold or the majestic beauty before her, but she didn't care. It saddened her to think that some people who had never journeyed to this corner of the earth would ever get to see it.

Everyone deserved to witness magic like this. She was fortunate to be the one who did and grateful to the man next to her for knowing she needed to see it.

They spoke no words, basking in the deafening silence and beauty before them. He pulled her closer to him, and she rested her head against his chest. There was no world around them, just them and the lights dancing overhead, and Shonna had never been more content.