Snowed In With You

Chapter Eight

Sara

I’d hoped that with yesterday’s early start I would drop off to sleep quickly, instead I laid in bed staring at the ceiling in the dark with Fletcher’s words swimming around in my head.

Every time I would get close to dropping off my thoughts, unbidden, would turn to the way Fletcher’s hands would feel on my body.

The remembered heat of his mouth on my skin, and my eyes would fly open as I took my frustration out on the mattress, beating my fists down on either side of me until I was ready to attempt sleep… only to repeat the process.

My phone had read 5AM by the time I’d finally succumbed to exhaustion, my mind sinking gratefully into nothingness.

Until now.

I’d slept most of the afternoon away, getting up only to open the curtains slightly to let in some natural light and a view of the snow.

It was sunny but I could hear the high winds creaking the lodge and the one leg I periodically stuck out of the duvet quickly chilled from the cold air.

I’d been reading for the last hour or so when my e-reader beeped at me again and the screen went dark.

I guessed that meant it was officially time for me to get up and face the music.

Or… I thought back to the gorgeous main bathroom on this level and the huge bath in it that I had spotted while exploring yesterday.

Wow, had it really only been twenty-four hours ago?

I grabbed a fresh bath towel from the cupboard and my bag of toiletries and poked my head out of my door cautiously.

All was quiet and I breathed a quiet breath of relief as I made my way to the bathroom and turned on the taps for the bath.

It had three, because it was almost the size of a small pool.

Like, seriously, I could have done laps.

Once it was obscenely full of water and bubbles, I cautiously dipped a toe in and hissed in delight at the scalding temperature.

I stepped down two steps and sank in, a little nervous about my additional weight making the bath overflow, but the excess water started to drain away easily and I felt my muscles finally relax as the heat sunk in.

Alaska was beautiful in a distantly cold way a lot of the time, but it was at a time like this when, soaking in a giant, hot bath, I recalled all of the positives that came with living so far away from the rest of my family.

Rob still lived near my mom in California, our dad had passed when I was nine and he was fourteen, but I had opted to move away, needing a change of pace and scenery.

Luckily, my job was pretty flexible and I could do everything from home.

Rob was a doctor and didn’t have the same luxury – frankly I was shocked he was able to have time off for his honeymoon and then this holiday almost back-to-back, the perks of running your own practice I guessed.

I had definite bathroom envy right now, this whole room sparkled.

It was wall-to-floor marble with a walk-in wet-room style shower with a ginormous shower head.

The bath took up the left wall and was set deeply into the marble floor where a ledge and long frosted window ran, I waded over and rested my hands on the ledge with my face atop them.

I would have to face Fletcher at some point and I didn’t know what I was going to say.

What was he expecting me to say? I loosed a long breath and unhooked the window, pushing it open just enough for me to peer outside at the snow as I wallowed.

The sun had started to set and a chill ran across my bubbly forearm, I shivered, but not because of the cold.

I had a decision to make and I didn’t know whether to trust my head or my heart.

What Fletcher had said… made sense.

I mean, it was dumb as fuck, but it had hurt so much when I’d woken up alone because it had shocked me, he didn’t seem like that kind of guy.

We’d gotten to know each other fairly well during wedding prep, otherwise I never would have slept with him.

I wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of gal – Zach notwithstanding as that had been a desperate rebound and had left me feeling gross.

I honestly didn’t believe Fletcher had a malicious bone in his body and his explanation definitely helped – but it didn’t erase the past, or the hurt that came along with it.

I pushed away from the ledge and let myself sink under the water, slicking my long hair back and away from my face as I came up again.

I supposed it was more than just my head and heart, there were also my body and hormones to contend with – both of which seemed to have Fletch’s name branded across them like slutty cheerleaders screaming for his attention.

Begging for it, for him.

My head said logically, he could be making this shit up.

Maybe he wanted to get back in my pants again – which admittedly, was a little big-headed of me – or maybe he just wanted to ease the tension between us for the few days we’d have to spend alone together.

It’s possible I was up here obsessing over absolutely nothing and Fletcher was expecting us to continue with the conversation he’d raised yesterday.

But if I listened to my gut, my heart, I knew he was a good guy – sometimes to the point of ridiculousness like whipping off his shirt in the snow for me, or wading out into a snowstorm to get me soup.

My brain got caught up on that image of him surrounded by white snow, deep blue scarf fluttering in the wind and showing off tantalising glimpses of his chest and the dark hair that trailed across his pecs and down the hard line of his stomach disappearing down to–

I cut the thought off.

It was the hormones.

Zach had been… average in bed.

My aim had been to go out, have fun and forget Fletcher.

If anything, the date had done the opposite as I waited for the spark Fletch and I’d had to appear, waiting for the kiss to turn electric and for my pleasure to build until–

Crap.

If I didn’t get it together, there was going to be a very slim chance of me making it through this trip without making out with the he-devil himself.

What was the worst that could happen? Um, you sleep together, it’s just as good as you remembered and you’re officially ruined for all other men? I scoffed and then grimaced, I wouldn’t tell him so because his ego was liable to inflate, but Fletch was undeniably excellent in bed.

You trust him.

You let him in.

He breaks your heart.

Well, he’d have to have my heart in the first place for that to happen.

I palmed some water and let it run across my skin while I considered.

It was likely though, I wasn’t good at one-time things, Zach had only been my second and I was still paying for my first.

So if I did this, if I decided to trust that what he’d said was true and he’d never meant to leave, then I had to go in knowing I might get my heart broken.

Though I supposed it was a risk everyone took with any relationship.

Rob would probably kick Fletch’s ass though and that thought gave me a little comfort mostly because it was so ridiculous.

My brother was very much more of a lover than a fighter.

My fingers and toes were starting to prune and I knew I needed to get out soon before the water became cold and ruined the relaxation.

I was probably over-thinking all of this anyway.

Fletch and I had slept together once, just over a month ago now, it seemed pretty unlikely that he still wanted to pursue something.

I had no doubt that a lot of women were probably chasing him.

I pressed down on the plug and the water started trickling away with a soothing shush.

I stood up slowly, hooking the window closed again and then climbed up the steps to the edge of the bath.

My toes had just sunk into the deep, soft cosiness of the bath mat when the room was plunged into darkness.