Snowed In With You

Chapter Four

Sara

Within twenty minutes, the whine of the engine had become a deep groan and my eyes were bouncing worriedly between the deepening scowl on Fletcher’s face and the snow pouring down outside.

The GPS said we weren’t far away now but any distance was a little too far when you’ve got to push a car through several feet of snow.

‘Fletcher?’ He gave a grunt which I took as permission to continue.

‘You don’t really think we need to push your car right? I mean, it’s basically turning into freaking Antarctica out there.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly dressed for the weather.’ In hindsight, I should have checked the forecast and prepared appropriately, it wasn’t like me to be caught unawares.

However, Rob had come along and blown a Fletcher-sized hole in all of my carefully laid plans and generally left my head spinning, so it wasn’t entirely my fault that my jeans and long sleeved green cotton top were not snow appropriate.

Hell, they weren’t entirely Anchorage appropriate, I’d had to immediately roll the sleeves down after spending a little while outside and the cold had started sinking in.

Luckily, I did have a winter coat… in the trunk of the car.

‘Oh, trust me, I noticed,’ Fletcher muttered and glanced uneasily outside at the rapidly white-coated scenery.

I could see lights in the distance and gave a happy squeal, choosing to ignore whatever he had been implying with that comment even as it made me ache with want.

‘I think that’s the entrance! Tanya told me that they add lights to the road for occasions just like this.

If we follow it, we should end up right outside the lodge.’

Fletcher nodded, his hands tight on the wheel as he presumably concentrated on not losing traction on the slick roads.

My heart beat a little quicker as the wind picked up, rocking the car and sending a flurry of snow into us, obscuring the windscreen for a moment.

‘Can you not use the wipers? Or go a little faster?’

‘Right now, I don’t want to get my truck to do anything except drive because it’s going to give out any moment,’ he snapped, clenching his jaw and I raised my hands, turning away from him to look out of the window.

‘Sorry,’ he said gruffly, ‘I’m just trying to stay focused on getting us there in one piece.’

‘Yeah well I’m pretty sure that means my head needs to stay attached to my body, so if you could not bite it off for two seconds, I’d appreciate it.’ A low laugh rumbled out of him, surprising me and a faint flush built in my cheeks.

That had been… rude.

I was never rude.

‘You bring out the worst in me,’ I grumbled and he laughed again, just as the engine coughed and then guttered.

‘Fuck,’ he said and well, yeah.

That pretty much summed it up.

We were going to have to get out and push.

In the snow.

‘Okay, here’s what we’ll do.

I’ll get out and push, you need to steer us the rest of the way.

I can see the lodge just up ahead so… try not crash my truck into it.’

I rolled my eyes but nodded.

He’d clearly been talking to Rob – there was a reason I didn’t drive any more.

I wasn’t a bad driver by any means, I just seemed to have terrible luck when it came to cars, case in point.

I’d totalled three before turning twenty-five.

All within a month of buying them.

So, I guess Fletch’s concern was slightly valid, even if it was offensive.

‘Are you ready?’ I called through a mouthful of snow as I stuck my head out of the window and Fletcher gave me a thumbs up.

I took off the hand-brake and steered the car gently as he pushed.

The car rolled forward slowly and I took a moment to be grateful that this road was flat and not on a hill, otherwise this likely would have been impossible.

We rounded a small bend and there was the lodge, the roof and wooden porch covered in snow, then I saw what awaited us and I swore.

I had spoken too soon.

‘Fletch, we’ve got a problem!’ I called and saw his head pop up in the car mirror.

I put the brake on again and he jogged around to me, his breath fogged the air and his eyes seemed even bluer against the white backdrop.

‘What is it?’ he knocked errant snow from his hair and I winced as a few icy drops flicked at my face.

I offered him a scowl and he grinned, making my stomach flip.

‘The driveway is on a slope,’ I said and his grin dropped as he swore.

‘We could just leave it at the bottom?’ I offered and his eyes went wide.

‘You want to leave my car at the bottom of a hill to get snowed under?’ His tone was indignant and I would have thought he was joking if not for the stubborn set of his jaw.

‘It probably won’t get snowed under–’

He was already shaking his head, ‘No, come on, you know as well as I do that this is probably only going to get heavier.’ I sighed and looked up at the sky, it was foggy with snowflakes and my shoulders sagged in defeat.

He was right.

‘So what do we do?’

‘You’re going to have to get out and push with me and then I’ll hold it while you slip on the break again.’ I nodded and slipped out of the car, grimacing at the cold.

‘Here,’ Fletch said, stripping off his shirt, ‘I get too hot pushing the car anyway.’

He kept on his deep blue scarf and I wanted to simultaneously laugh and cry.

Who the eff does that? Something must have shown on my face because he looked at me strangely.

‘Are you okay?’

I choked, ‘You–You’re not– put your shirt back on, are you crazy?’ I shrieked at him, holding the still-warm material to my chest for a second longer before flinging it back.

My traitorous eyes took in his lightly muscled physique with interest, remembering how I’d traced my fingertips over the skin of his chest, my mouth went dry.

I’d never seen someone so ridiculously appealing and I wanted to kick myself.

How could this guy – the one who had just whipped off his shirt and stood standing in only jeans, boots and a scarf in the middle of a snow storm because I’d seemed cold – be the same one who’d walked out on our one wild night with only a crappy note telling me to forget all about it?

I shook my head, it didn’t matter how it was possible, just that it was the truth.

I didn’t want to pursue something with someone who had so easily tossed me aside once before already.

Even if he did strip naked in a snowstorm to keep me warm.

I moved into position next to him at the back of the SUV, sneaking a glance at him out of the corner of my eye.

I’d allow myself that, I reasoned, to look but not touch if it would make it easier.

His muscles bunched, his shirt had been dumped unceremoniously back into the truck and I huffed a laugh, stubborn ass.

Though, I couldn’t say I was sorry for the view as his broad shoulders tensed and he gave a grunt as he pushed that absolutely should not have turned me on but did anyway.

‘Are you actually going to help? Or just ogle me shirtless in the snow?’

I jumped and brought my hands up to the bumper, digging my boots into the snow and trying not to sink.

Fletcher was undoubtedly doing most of the work but I liked to think I was contributing a bit.

He panted as we reached the apex of the hill, face creasing in exertion and a bead of sweat dropped from his face and rolled down his throat.

I blinked and hurried to close my mouth before he could see me gaping… again.

The car reached the top of the drive and I breathed a sigh of relief, mostly because it meant Fletcher’s shirt could now return to his body and quit distracting me.

I ran to the side and pulled up the handbrake, I could hear Fletch struggling to catch his breath as he held the car in place.

‘All good,’ I called and spun to run back to him and check he was alright but instead crashed into a warm chest.

We went sprawling into the snow, my elbow catching him in the chin and my chest pressing firmly against his.

My mouth popped open and I squeaked as I ended up across his lap and a totally different type of heat flooded my senses.

‘Shit, I–’

‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to–’

We stopped talking over one another at the same time and the silence was somehow worse, his eyes burning into mine and his lips turning up into the small smile I both loathed and wanted to kiss.

How could he still be this warm pressed into the snow with no shirt on?

‘Are you part-wolf or something?’ I blurted and then felt myself flush.

His eyes dipped to my lips and I held my breath before pushing away, trying to ignore the way my hands dragged across his bare chest in a way that was uncomfortably familiar.

‘What?’ he chuffed a laugh and I offered him a hand up once I was standing and he took it, holding it a little too long to be accidental.

I raised an eyebrow and he let go abruptly, reaching into the truck and pulling on his sweater.

‘You’re ridiculously hot.’

His head poked out of the top of his knit so quickly he got stuck, ‘What?’

I mumbled a curse under my breath, ‘I mean, your temperature, in like books and stuff werewolves always run hotter than normal humans and they take their shirts off all the time because the cold doesn’t bother them and–’

A hand covered my mouth and I looked up into Fletch’s face in surprise.

It wasn’t fair really, it was beautiful here and he only looked more stunning against the snowy backdrop of fir trees and the lake off in the distance that was frozen solid.

Whereas I was fairly certain my cheeks were fire engine red, my hair had started to freeze and I had just been rambling awkwardly about… werewolves? I groaned internally, it was a good thing I wasn’t trying to get with Fletcher because I had zero game.

Like, zero.

‘Good to know more about what you were reading in the car.

Wolf romances eh?’

‘No, I – they’re actually just paranormal romance,’ his smirk grew and I groaned, ‘let’s just get inside?’

‘Sure,’ he said with a chuckle and playful snap of his teeth, ‘I’ll get the bags.’

I nodded and made my way up the stairs to the lodge, it was made of wood and absolutely stunning, towering way above my head and looking like something out of a brochure against the snow.

There was a keypad in place of a key and I searched in my phone for the code as the faint sound of Fletcher digging for the bags reached me.

God, I hoped Rob and Tanya got here sooner rather than later.

I wasn’t sure how much I trusted myself around Fletcher Harris, it had only been three or so hours since he’d picked me up and I’d already seen him shirtless.

I could only pray the rest of the trip involved a lot more clothing and a lot less of Fletcher.