After a moment’s hesitation, she accepted it. As she’d known it would, it still held his body heat and smelled of his cologne.
‘You’ve changed your hair.’ His gaze traced the curls over her shoulders. ‘It suits you.’
‘Thanks.’ She touched her hair with nervous fingers. ‘It wasn’t my idea. Jo can be … convincing.’
‘So I’ve heard. I’m sorry about my parents,’ he said. ‘They really wanted to meet you.’
She shrugged to show she understood parents. ‘Your mum is gorgeous.’
‘I’ll tell her you said so. She likes it when people tell her she’s beautiful.’ His tone was wry.
Then it seemed they’d used up all the small talk; an awkward silence fell between them. Allie shifted her weight on to one delicate sandal, digging the toe of the other into the dirt. Watching her, he leaned against a stone pillar.
‘What are you doing out in the cold, Allie?’ His voice was low.
You know what. Or you wouldn’t be here, too.
‘I don’t know … I guess I just needed some air.’ Her eyes challenged him. ‘What are you doing out here?’
His shoulders tensed; when he spoke his voice was low. ‘I followed you.’
She felt the breath go out of her. ‘Why?’ The word came out as a whisper.
‘Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point.’ He recited the French phrase too fast, and Allie shook her head.
‘I don’t understand.’ Not knowing what he’d said left her feeling almost panicked. ‘What does that mean?’
But when his gaze locked on hers the longing she saw there answered her question. ‘It means that I want to be with you. That I can’t get you out of my head.’ He pounded his fist with restrained violence against the pillar. ‘I have tried everything I know how to try, and you’re still there.’
Two breaths in. One breath out.
‘I … I think about you, too.’ She could barely hear herself speak over the thudding of her heart. ‘But …’
Uncontrollably, her thoughts flickered back to the summer ball. She could tell by the way his blue eyes flashed that he knew what she was thinking.
‘I know I did a bad thing. A stupid thing. But people change, Allie.’ His voice was passionate, almost desperate. ‘People learn. If they didn’t, what would be the point of this?’ His arm swept towards the school building they could just see through the trees. ‘What would be the point of life? You’ve changed while you’ve been here – I’ve watched you change. Well, I’ve changed too. And I’m sorry about what I did that night. If there was some way to take it all back …’
Suddenly she didn’t care about the summer ball or anything else. She’d spent so much time worrying about how Carter felt and what Carter wanted. What about what she wanted?
Anyway, she thought, the horrible truth is Carter has Jules now. He doesn’t want me any more.
So why shouldn’t she have Sylvain? No matter what she’d done, Carter thought she wanted to be with Sylvain. Now she could find out once and for all if she did want to be with him.
At least Sylvain cared about her. Sylvain wanted her.
‘You can take it back,’ she said suddenly. Sylvain stared at her with open surprise. Before she could change her mind, she ran across the space that divided them. His jacket slid from her shoulders, pooling forgotten on the frosty ground.
‘Let’s just take it all back.’
She could see the doubt in his eyes, as if he didn’t believe this was really happening.
Reaching up, she traced the outline of his lips with her fingertips. He closed his eyes. Then, sliding her hands around his neck, she pulled him down to her.
At first she was distracted by how differently he kissed than Carter – his lips were softer, more assured. It felt strange. Wrong.
But she wasn’t going to chicken out. Instead of pulling away, she leaned into him and the kiss – which had been tentative at first – strengthened as Sylvain realised she was serious about this. Hesitantly, his hands slid down the silk of her dress to her waist – when she didn’t pull away he drew her more tightly against him. When her lips parted for him, he groaned softly at the back of his throat; her bones seemed to soften and she leaned into him as his arms tightened around her. She was so close to him, she could feel his heart thudding as if it were beating in her own chest.
Allie poured all the loneliness of the last five weeks into that kiss. The pain of Carter breaking up with her. Blaming herself for everything. The long nights with no one to talk to. Longing for something she wasn’t supposed to want.
As if he sensed this, Sylvain cupped the back of her head to kiss her more deeply. Gasping against his lips, she slid her hands up to tangle her fingers in the soft waves of his hair.
Heat radiated from his body as if he had a fever; Allie wasn’t cold any more. She wasn’t alone any more.
There was no logic to this – no plan. Maybe this was a bad idea. She didn’t care any more.
His lips moved down the side of her face to her ear then on to her neck and, breathing in short gasps, she dropped her head back. But something soft and delicate – like feathers of ice – tickled her face, distracting her.
Opening her eyes, she saw white crystals whirling against the darkness, and she straightened with a small cry. ‘It’s snowing!’
Still wrapped in each other’s arms, they looked up into the infinity of snow falling from a night sky. The world seemed to hush around them.