Snowed In With You

Chapter Three

Sara

The words on the page before me were blurring and I was certain I’d missed a big plot point three chapters back.

It was hard to focus with the object of several fantasies I’d recently had sitting right beside me, the warmth of his skin ghosting over me and even the scowl on his face turning me on.

It was more than ridiculous, it was shameful.

This man would not be getting back into my pants ever again.

He was an asshole.

An asshole who listens to Adele?

Okay, well, assholes could still have good taste in music.

It proved nothing and who knew, maybe it was a ploy to make me think he was a nice guy rather than the spawn of Satan.

There were faint dark shadows beneath his sea-blue eyes that made me wonder if he’d been having trouble sleeping.

Maybe he’s been busy screwing more hapless women, I thought snidely and then sighed.

The truth was, I didn’t think Fletcher was like that, he’d made me feel so comfortable I hadn’t even questioned falling into bed with him straight away – it had felt utterly natural.

Then to have that easy confidence ripped away had been… more than hurtful.

So why was I still staring at the cupid bow of his lips and remembering how it had felt to devour and be devoured by them?

My eyes drifted away from my page yet again and I checked the time on my phone absently.

I stifled a groan, how were we only just over an hour into this car ride? It felt like I’d been trapped in here with those big blue eyes and silky, dark cologne for a million years!

The truth was, being around Fletcher was comfortable.

He had a nice smile and his deep voice was charming, relaxing me even when I didn’t know I was tense.

But being in this car felt so far from all of those things, there was nothing between us except heat and regret.

A terrible combination.

I shifted uneasily on the leather seat and continued to ignore the looks he sent me when he thought I wasn’t watching.

I glanced up at the wrong moment and our eyes caught, heat travelled along my neck and up into my cheeks and I cleared my throat noisily as Adele wailed about taking it easy on her.

Fletcher’s eyes were intensely focused on mine and I half-worried about the road as our stare carried on and on.

Just when I thought I couldn’t take it any more, he looked away and confusion rippled through me as my eyes settled on the perfectly straight line of his nose and curl of his lashes.

A sign for a gas station caught my eye through the whiteness of the small snow flurries that had started to gather speed.

Fletcher opened his mouth and I knew that whatever came out was going to wreck me – for better or worse, I wasn’t sure.

So I quickly cut him off, blurting, ‘Can we pull over? I need–I need to get out.’

Fletcher made the indication without a word, but a muscle in his jaw ticked and his grip on the steering wheel seemed a little tight.

I all but flew out of the car as it mostly came to a stop, rushing to the restroom even though I’d rather have died than gone inside.

This one at least had a semi-dry red tiled floor and at least one cubicle had a working lock – small miracles.

I stared myself down in the only non-cracked mirror stuck to the wall, this had to stop.

The sex, the flirting, it had never happened.

That’s what he wanted and it was what I should have wanted too – so why did something inside me want to curl closer instead of running away?

I couldn’t help thinking about the way he’d looked when we’d first met.

I’d been sitting at Rob’s kitchen table, looking through different nail polish colours with Tanya, when my brother had led him in and Fletcher’s wide smile had snared me.

I’d only met a handful of Rob’s friends over the years but none of them had looked like that – not even just Fletcher’s attractiveness, but the open and warm sincerity in every line of his face had taken me aback.

He’d shaken my hand and then laughed bashfully at my surprise, explaining it was a lawyer-habit, and instead brought it to his lips and brushed a soft kiss along my knuckles.

You are not ruled by your emotions.

Or hormones.

Or whatever.

I pushed the memory away and gave myself a stern nod in the mirror before exiting through the heavy door with an elbow to the handle.

I debated running into the small store to grab some milk duds or something but one look at the icy set of Fletcher’s face had me slowly moving back towards the car.

At least I knew I wasn’t the only one upset by the circumstances.

He climbed in and silently put it in reverse, manoeuvring us back out and onto the Alaskan Highway.

‘Thanks,’ I offered, figuring I should at least be amicable.

Amicable was good.

‘For stopping I mean, I–’

‘I needed to get gas anyway.

It’s fine.’

Okaaay, maybe amicable is worse than the silence.

I gave a vague nod and tried to focus back on my novel and not the man radiating heat beside me.

I’d hoped a brief stop might clear the proverbial air but things seemed heavier than ever, maybe they needed an ice-breaker?

‘Do you mind if I…?’ I gestured to the aux and he looked at me in surprise, like he’d forgotten I was there and had just had an unpleasant reminder.

‘Sure,’ he said in a clipped tone.

‘Wouldn’t want to subject you to anything too terrible,’ Fletcher muttered and I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel indignant.

We were only in this mess because of Sir Scrawls-a-lot.

I flicked through his songs, searching for the perfect tension-breaker, and had to fight back a snicker at the amount of Adele and Taylor Swift on his playlists.

I finally found the right song and leaned back into my seat, trying to keep any hint of smugness from my face as the first beats of It Wasn’t Me drifted out.

Fletcher turned to me incredulously and I burst out laughing, eventually he laughed too and the damned sound warmed me, sending tingles right down to the tips of my toes.

Why couldn’t I like one of the good ones?

‘Nice choice,’ he said, a grin pulling at his lips and capturing my attention before I remembered to look away.

‘Yeah, well, it seemed appropriate,’ any tension that had fallen away flooded back and Fletcher looked pained at my words, brows pulled together in concern.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘I didn’t mean for what happened between us to happen and–’

I tuned him out, staring at him incredulously as he continued to speak.

He thought he needed to apologise for the sex, but not the note? I rolled my eyes and his words cut abruptly off.

‘Look, we made a decision, you didn’t just accidentally fall and have sex with me.

We just need to acknowledge it, and move on.’ I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, they sounded so logical, so adult, so absolutely the opposite of all the things I wanted from this man.

‘So,’ Fletcher said, running one hand over his brow before dropping it back to the wheel, ‘Rob said you’d had some sort of bad break up? Were you guys… a thing? At the wedding?’

My eyes flew wide and I spluttered at him inelegantly.

Where did Rob get off shouting about my private business to every friend he had? Plus, as usual he’d come into a situation with little knowledge and thought he knew it all.

I couldn’t have cared less about the fling with Zach, if he thought I was upset then, well, the man sitting next to me was the culprit.

But where did Fletcher get off asking me if I was a cheater?

‘Wow.

Okay, Rob doesn’t know what he’s talking about and I’m not that kind of person,’ I said sharply and Fletcher inhaled a quick breath, as if only just realising what an ass he’d sounded like.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean – Oh shit,’ his gaze flew to some sort of indicator on his dashboard that I couldn’t see and then to the time illuminated on his stereo.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I made a mistake.’

My heart galloped in response to his words, a mistake with me? ‘What do you mean?’

‘I think I put the wrong gas in the truck.’

For a second I could only stare at him, we were half hour away from the lodge at least and in the middle of nowhere.

If we broke down, we’d be screwed until Rob and Tanya drove past.

‘You did what?’

Fletcher let out a groan that had heat rising to my cheeks, ‘I wasn’t paying attention and I just grabbed the one I normally reach for without looking but a light just came on and now I’m suddenly wondering if I used the right stuff.’

As if on queue the engine gave a small rattle and I pressed my hands together in alarm.

‘Surely not, we would have noticed it miles back if you’d used the wrong stuff.’

He shook his head and looked a little embarrassed, ‘I only topped up a little so it would have had to burn through the good stuff before getting to this crap.’

‘Oh God,’ I breathed, so he hadn’t needed gas – no, wait, focus on what’s important, Sara.

‘How did you even manage to–’

‘I was distracted, okay?’ The words sent a stupid thrill through me and I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my jeans.

‘I’ll continue on as far as we can without breaking my car, but then it’ll be up to us.’

Great, pushing an SUV through the snow was exactly my idea of a relaxing break away.