Jessie sighed and nodded. What other choice did she have but to accept this and hope everything went okay? Besides, maybe this would be the slight revenge that April needed to get over Jessie’s hurtful comment. As Harmony pulled away, she casually tossed out, “I’ve been wanting to ask…why’d you say that to her, anyway?”
It was the question Jessie had been dreading. The one she’d managed to avoid answering for weeks. She still didn’t have a good answer for her actions. “I…I don’t know. He’s family…I just didn’t like how she was throwing herself all over him, like he was a toy…or a prize. I thought he deserved better than being treated like a piece of meat.” And she was jealous. Very, very jealous. She didn’t mention that though. Swallowing the knot in her throat, she shrugged. “I just didn’t handle it well, and I have no idea how to apologize to April…”
Harmony gave her a sympathetic look. “I’ll talk to her tonight. This will turn out okay, you’ll see.”
Hoping she was right, Jessie nodded. She pointed at Kai, who still looked confused. “I better go tell him about the new sleeping arrangements.” Harmony nodded and Jessie’s heart started beating harder. God…she was going to be alone with him all night. It will be okay. We’ll be tired from skiing all day. We’ll go right to sleep. That’s all that will happen.
Kai’s eyes drifted up her body as she approached, and Jessie instantly had doubts about her mental pep talk. Just that slight visual inspection made her feel exposed. Even with the multiple layers of clothes she was wearing, she felt naked and vulnerable, and a dull ache inside her whispered that she needed more of him, so much more. Kai looked worried, but even that couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he took in the winter wonderland around them; the sunlight bouncing off his eyes made them twinkle as much as the ice crystals around their feet.
“Everything okay?” he asked. “That seemed kind of tense.”
Jessie sighed. If she’d only handled April differently, none of this would be happening right now. “Yes, no…I don’t know.” Kai’s joy faded as his confusion grew, and she knew she should just spit it out. “April is still hurt about what I said to her. She thought that she could hang out with me this weekend, with all of us girls in the same room, but now…she’s saying she’d rather leave than share a room with me.”
Jessie sighed as the drama of her life wrapped around her. Studying the ground, she muttered, “Harmony thinks she’ll calm down if I leave the two of them alone tonight, and she wants a chance to talk to April, to smooth things out. But in the meantime…I don’t have a room. So…can I…?” God, why was this so hard? She should just ask him, and be done with it. Gathering her resolve, her heartbeat thudding in her ear, she whispered, “Can I stay with you tonight?”
Kai’s eyes darkened in anger. “April won’t stay in the same room with you? Because of what you said to her weeks ago? That’s ridiculous! I told her you were just…” He stopped talking and his mouth hung open, like he’d just realized what else she’d said. Looking thrown, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before the words came out. “But…I’m a guy, you’re a girl…” As his gaze traveled the length of her body, his face lost a little color. “We can’t…they can’t ask us to…”
Looking torn, Kai ran a hand through his damp-with-snow hair. Jessie watched the dark pieces lump together into grooves. It was incredibly attractive. She forced her eyes to only look at his chest. “We’re cousins, Kai. We’re harmless.”
Her smile was rueful. They were supposed to be harmless, but somehow things between them had gone horribly wrong. But as far as Harmony and April were concerned, the two of them sharing a room together was no big deal. And it didn’t have to be. They could control themselves. Tears stinging her eyes, Jessie looked back up at him. “So…can I stay with you?” She swallowed after she asked. Did she want him to say yes, or no?
Kai closed his eyes, and his jaw tightened, like he was upset. Jessie could understand if he was. This weekend had been going to be hard enough on them without her friends dumping this surprise in their laps, but her friends didn’t know what they were really doing. April was asking for space, and Harmony thought Jessie should give it to her. If either one of them knew the truth, they wouldn’t have done this; they weren’t cruel.
When Kai reopened his eyes, he nodded. “Of course. I said I’d be here if you needed me. I’m not going to turn you away. We’ll just keep our distance.” He gave her a tentative smile. “We can do this…right?”
Jessie smiled tentatively too. A large flake fell on Kai’s cheek and she had to physically restrain herself from brushing it away. Sure, they could do this.