Blair shows me to a big room that overlooks a meadow, and just beyond that, a forest of towering pines. The room has double doors that open onto a balcony, a fireplace with a super soft white fur rug before it. The king-sized bed is elevated off of floor enough that there are steps leading up to it like some sort of sultan’s palace. I have to keep from making jokes about king’s harems while the parents are still lingering in the hall, chatting with Wills and Astor about their college plans.
I have a private bathroom that’s even more magnificent than the master bath at the condo—and this is just one of the guest rooms here. I’m pretty sure five-star hotels don’t come this decked out.
Blair has a huge grin on his face the whole time, watching me as I walk around and take it all in. I
shake my head as I check out everything. Blair walks up to me and slides his hands around my waist, gazing into my eyes.
I have to tease him. “I guess this will do. I mean … what, no mini-fridge?”
He laughs at me in surprise. “I can have one installed if you like!”
I laugh hard then too and hug him tight. “Don’t be an idiot. It’s perfect.”
He kisses me long and slow, and murmurs against my lips. “It’s only beyond perfect because you’re here with me.”
I hold his face in my hands. “You’re so sweet. Thank you.”
He looks over my shoulder into the bathroom. “Did you notice how big the bathtub is?”
I giggle and my cheeks warm as I blush, thinking of the first time we made love; my first time ever. “Shut up. Your parents are watching.”
He just glances back at them, and gauging the fact that they’re still chatting with his friends, he risks a quick slap on my butt. “You know, they say practice makes perfect …” He trails off and gives me a wink along with a smile so big that his dimple deepens all the way in.
“I don’t know about that,” I tell him. “It was pretty perfect the first time.”
“I still think we should keep trying to perfect it.” He kisses me again and I have to stifle a soft moan, thinking of what he wants with me, because I want it with him too. We don’t get many opportunities to be alone at the school, but with a house like this … we could disappear for days and barely be missed.
Even though it’s clear Blair wants to take me here and now, we follow the others downstairs, for lunch. Victoria keeps trying to be overly affectionate to Astor at the table, but he keeps swatting her away. It gets so uncomfortable that even Blair’s parents start to pick up on it and suggest we all do something to get out of the house.
“What do you want to do, Teddy?” Blair’s mother, Darla, looks at me pointedly, cutting Victoria off in the middle of speaking. “From what Blair’s told us, you haven’t been up to a cabin like this before.”
“Definitely not,” I say, wondering how much Blair’s really told them about my past. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Darla perks up immediately. “Well then, I’ve got an idea.” She claps her hands and starts ordering the boys to head into the garage for winter gear. “There’s a hill out back that’s perfect for sledding, if you aren’t too grown-up for that sort of thing.”
To her side, Victoria wrinkles up her nose—but it only makes Darla more adamant. I think she and I are going to get along just fine.
She promises to have hot chocolate waiting for the rest of us, and gets up to start right away. She spots Victoria starting to follow the rest of us, but waves for her to stop.
“Don’t worry, Victoria, you can stay here with me and help.”
I have to cover my face so they don’t see my utter delight as Victoria finds herself being wrangled into washing potatoes at the sink. She stares at them like she doesn’t even know what they are. I have a feeling she’s never seen a raw potato in her whole life.
She lasts about two seconds until she sees Astor coming along before she throws the potatoes into the sink and hurries after us. “Well, if you’re all going, I’ll go to.”
Darla exchanges a look with her husband, and I wonder what exactly they’re thinking … but they don’t try to stop her again.
Blair loans me winter clothes and we all get dressed and go out. Every one of us has a great time, except Victoria, but nobody seems to mind it. We’re all too busy shoving snow down the back of each other’s jackets to pay any attention to her constant complaints about the way the cold makes her skin too dry. She keeps saying that it’s too cold, even after we’ve all had hefty servings of spiked hot cocoa, but she refuses to leave Astor’s side so long as he’s here with the rest of us.
I keep hoping that I can nail Victoria with a snowball, but she stays out of the games and huddles under a blanket by the outdoor gas heating lamps with a sour look on her face.
We all head inside once it starts getting dark and Darla tells us that dinner will be ready in an hour and a half. Victoria stalks off to her own room, placed conspicuously at the opposite end of the house as Astor, as I head to my own. The buzz from the hot chocolate has started to wear off, and it’s left a bone-chilling cold in its wake.
I’m halfway through a hot shower, just about to rinse the soap out of my hair, when the steamy shower door opens and Wills steps in with me. I gasp in surprise, but he only smiles and leans in to kiss me as his hands and arms slide around me.
“Don’t worry, I locked your bedroom door behind me,” he murmurs as his kiss leaves my lips and heads down my neck.
“Won’t the other’s notice?” I ask, but my voice is weak and small.