Snowed in with Mr. Heartbreaker (Copper Valley Bro Code #5)

Chapter 13

13

Cash

The power stays off all day, but it’s still the good kind of day.

The best, actually.

Kissing.

Sex.

She pulls out her guitar. She sings for me. I take it and sing for her.

Old stuff.

Bro Code stuff with lyrics changed that has her laughing so hard she cries.

We peek out the windows, and she gets teary-eyed again.

Not because the three feet or so of snow on the ground is trapping us here either.

“It’s even prettier than in the movies,” she whispers.

“You’ve never seen this much snow?”

She shakes her head, and I get the joy of watching her soak in the wonder of something beautiful and new. “I wish I brought clothes for a snowball fight.”

I promise her there’s far more fun to be had in the snow than a simple snowball fight, and I’m not just talking about sex in an igloo.

She teases me about being a big kid at heart.

Not wrong.

Now, once again, we’re snuggled on the mattress in front of the fire as the clock creeps later and later. I don’t want to panic her, but we’re starting to run low on firewood. We can make it through tonight, possibly into tomorrow morning, but not much longer.

If the power doesn’t come back on, we’ll have to try hiking out.

But that’s a problem for tomorrow.

Tonight, I’m soaking up every minute of being with this woman.

Touching her. Tasting her. Talking to her.

Dozing off.

Waking up to put more wood on the fire.

Crawling back into bed with Aspen.

If she has any more nightmares, they don’t wake her, and she doesn’t tell me about them.

She does curl into me and rub my back and squeeze my ass and stroke my cock though.

By the time morning comes, I don’t know if I’ve slept or not, and I don’t care.

For the first time in years, I feel rested.

Bone-deep rested.

Happy .

But that’s before the sound of a chainsaw rips through the air.

It’s muffled—clearly outside—but that is definitely a chainsaw.

Aspen jolts straight upright at the noise. “What?” she gasps.

“Stay. I’ll check it out.”

I grab my pants and head for the window, where I’m equal parts surprised and not surprised by what I see.

It’s Davis, in front of a truck with a snowplow, tackling the tree that fell and blocked the driveway the other night. Even bundled up in a coat and stocking cap, it’s easy to tell it’s Davis.

One, takes a big stocking cap to cover his man bun, and two, that’s definitely his beard.

“Rescue’s here,” I say to Aspen as someone else knocks on the door.

She makes a noise, then ducks under the covers.

I pull on my shirt and head to the door, where I find— shit .

Cooper.

He’s in a big winter coat and snow boots too, though his head is bare.

“Little weather trouble out here?” he says with a grin that I don’t entirely trust.

I’ve been playing hide the sausage with a woman his girlfriend cares about, and it won’t take him long to figure that out.

“Little bit,” I say.

“Power should be back on—now.” He grins wider as a soft pop sounds behind me, and then the overhead light blinks on.

Aspen peeks out from under the covers, sucks in an audible breath, and dives back under the quilts.

“ Shower ,” I hear her whisper.

Cooper looks at me.

Then angles his head toward the interior of the cabin.

“Just you two?” I ask him with a nod to Davis. “Let me grab my coat. I can help shovel.”

Cooper doesn’t move.

Dude takes his time crossing his arms over his chest and looking at me.

“Don’t be an ass,” Aspen calls from under the covers.

“There’s only one woman in the world who can tell me that, and you’re not her,” he replies.

“Does Waverly know you still only take orders from your mother?” Aspen retorts.

Cooper cracks a grin, looks at me, and goes straight-faced again. “Why are you here?”

“Don’t answer that,” Aspen orders.

Cooper’s nose twitches like he can smell what we’ve been up to.

“Cabin’s on a well,” I tell him. “No power, no water. And the chicken almost went bad.”

“That doesn’t answer why you’re here.”

“I’ve been ordered to not tell you.”

We have a stare-down.

“You two asshats gonna keep staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, or are you gonna get out here and help with the snow?” Davis calls.

“They didn’t send a helicopter?” Aspen’s voice is still muffled under the covers.

Cooper half snorts, then frowns like he didn’t consider the helicopter, then finally grins again. “We don’t love him that much.”

“Davis needs to keep himself busy or he gets in trouble,” I add.

“Huh,” Aspen says. “That makes sense. Cooper too.”

The back door of the extended cab with the snowplow opens, and Waverly pokes her own beanie-covered head out.

“Is Aspen in there? Is she okay?”

Aspen sticks her head all the way out of the quilts but keeps her neck and shoulders covered.

“Was that Waverly?”

Cooper leans past me to look at her. “Yeah, she wanted to check on you herself, but she can’t get through the snow yet.”

Aspen’s eyes get shiny. “Then get to work.”

I’m already grabbing my coat and boots.

Davis is alternating between clearing snow off the fallen tree and cutting segments of it to clear the road. I start shoveling a path to the cars. Cooper wades through the nearly waist-high snow to get back to the truck, then returns to join me with a second shovel.

Waverly follows him and heads into the cabin in the path his longer legs made.

I hear a shriek, and then rapid-fire talking, and I can’t stop a smile despite the growing dread in my chest.

We’re getting our rescue.

Power’s back on.

Aspen will be able to get to the store.

She doesn’t need me here anymore.

So is this it?

Is this the end?

Or is this the beginning?

“You didn’t do anything I’ll have to kick your ass for, did you?” Cooper asks me while I shovel.

“Nope.” Yep.

“You know I’m going to take Waverly’s word for the answer to that more than yours, right?”

“I’d kick your ass if you didn’t.”

He pauses with the shovel in the snow and props his arms on it. “Why’d you come out here?”

“Wrong answers only?”

“Aspen’s like another sister to me, except I like her more than my real sister, and most of the time, I like my real sister a hell of a lot,” he reminds me.

Fuck.

I think I owe him the truth.

Especially since he’s out here digging me out as much as he’s digging Aspen out.

“I thought I scared her away from Beck’s party, so I came to apologize.”

“How?”

“By saying I’m sorry.”

“How’d you scare her away, jackass?”

“Turns out I didn’t.” No, I’ve put the pieces together the past couple days, and I realized it was her song.

Not me.

She would’ve kissed me.

She has kissed me.

This attraction isn’t one-sided.

“Why’d you think you did?” Cooper asks.

“More shoveling, less gabbing,” Davis calls.

Cooper picks up a scoopful, still eyeing me.

“She’s fucking amazing,” I mutter.

“Duh. Waverly doesn’t make friends with people who aren’t.”

I eye the baseball player.

He grins, clearly not at all ashamed of his own ego lingering in that statement. I’m awesome too because Waverly hangs out with me .

But then he goes serious. “You like her.”

“I liked her before I ever met her. We started texting when she moved into my pool house.”

Cooper snorts.

Helpful. “What?”

“You’re welcome.”

I stop shoveling and stare at him. “ You’re welcome ?”

“Dude. Do you know how many times Waverly’s like, ‘Oh, Aspen’s texting with Cash again’? Like every day . You think the rest of us don’t know?”

Not just staring anymore. Now, I’m gaping.

He levels me with another be fucking for real look. “Why do you think we invited her to Beck’s party?”

“Quit telling him all of our secrets, dumbass,” Davis says.

“You knew,” I say to Cooper.

“You’re not exactly subtle, my dude.”

I look back at the cabin.

Is Waverly having the same conversation with Aspen?

“More shoveling,” Davis says.

We both put our heads down over our shovels and get back to work.

My friends knew.

All of them knew I had a crush on Aspen.

No wonder Waverly didn’t blink when I said I needed to get Aspen some stuff she left behind at Beck’s house.

Did she know Aspen liked me too?

Having Davis and Cooper here makes the past two days feel like a dream. Not like reality.

But could it be reality?

Were they actually playing wingmen, and I didn’t know it?

Fuck.

This is why I’ve kept shit casual since my short-lived wedding to a fan fifteen years ago. Because I read things wrong.

But I know what I want.

I want Aspen.

I think there’s a chance she wants me too.

So we’ll see where we go from here.

I hope it’s somewhere good. I’d hate to lose one of my favorite friends.