Free Branded by Keary Taylor

back into his plate. I wasn’t sure how he had meant for me to interpret this. His tone was innocent and did not imply anything. I tried to ignore how my heart gave a faint flutter before bursting into a throbbing race.
    “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen snow,” he continued casually. “I was thinking it might be fun to venture out into it for a while today. You want to come?” I looked out the window again. The snow would easily come above my knees. “I guess,” I said with a hesitant grin as I continued to look out the window, trying not to think about how cold it had to be outside.
    A boyish grin spread on his face as he turned his full attention back to his plate. He began shoveling his food down at an impressive speed.
    “Whoa!” I laughed as I watched him. “Slow down, you’re going to choke! A little excited, are we?”

    “Not going to waste any time,” he said through a mouthful of food.
    His enthusiasm was contagious and I couldn’t help but be swept up in it as I too scarfed down the rest of the food on my plate. It was too bad; I would have liked to have taken my time to enjoy it. But more than my desire to savor every bite, I wanted to go and have some fun with this pretty amazing man next to me.
    As soon as we were both finished, we sprang from our seats and raced down the stairs, neither of us bothering to even clear our dishes from the table or put any of the extra food away. As soon as I reached my door I froze.
    “I don’t have any snow stuff,” I called to Alex who was already in his room. “What should I wear?”
    “I don’t either,” he said with a laugh. “I’m just going to put on as many layers as I can.”
    I gave a shrug before going into my room and following his advice. A minute or so later Alex entered the apartment and I couldn’t help but laugh at his appearance.
    His legs were bulging and looked oddly swollen due to the multiple layers of pants. I could tell he had on several sweaters under his rain coat and he had a scarf wrapped around his neck and covering half his face. All this was topped with a hunter orange wool hat.
    “How do I look?” he said using a dramatic Spanish accent as he struck a manly pose.
    “Amazing,” I said with a stupid giggle, not being completely sarcastic. I suddenly felt like a fourteen-year-old girl.
    “You don’t look so bad yourself,” he said with a wink as he looked at me.

    I was dressed similarly, with so many layers of clothing it was difficult to move.
    “Shall we?” he said as he indicated the door.
    “Let’s go.”
    As I expected, as soon as the door was opened, a large pile of snow dumped itself onto my floor. After a few moments we had both scooped it up and plowed our way through the wall.
    I had never seen any place more beautiful in the winter than Washington. It did not snow more than a dozen times in the winter but when it did, the effect was enchanting. The way the snow left a soft dusting on the towering evergreens never ceased to stop me in my tracks for a moment and take in its beauty. It was breathtaking.
    The property the house was set on was a fairly steep hill, dropping from the road above down quickly to the lake, the house clinging to the sloping side. One wrong step and it wouldn’t be too difficult to slide all the way from the top toward the frigid waters.
    “This is why I love Washington,” Alex said as he paused on the deck to overlook the view before us.
    “Southern California is nice in its way but it doesn’t have half the beauty of here.”
    “I couldn’t agree more,” I said, watching the stream curl from my mouth, drift upward, then disappear.
    Alex glanced over at me and that sly smile threatened to break through. Just as I caught the mischievous gleam in his eye, I knew it was already too late.
    “Gotch’ ya!” he bellowed just as he dumped a handful of snow on my head.

    By the time I screamed and wiped the snow off he was already half way up the hill, running toward the