The Christmas You Crash (Going Rogue #2)

Chapter 8

eight

RYDER

My mind is in the gutter.

Here I am, making chocolate chip pancakes and eggs, and all I can think about is Lexi showering a few rooms away. It makes me feel like a creep, but shit. Lexi’s ass in those tight green leggings as she twisted into impressive yoga poses will be burned in my brain forever.

Her body is perfection. She’s strong. Toned, but still curvy. It’s obvious she takes care of herself. I’d gotten a quick glimpse of her naked body when she thought I was trying to murder her, of course, but my eyes were glued to her perfect tits, so I didn’t really see much of the rest of her.

She’s a bit of a contradiction. Prickly and sweet, fiery and sad… I’m not sure which is the real Lexi and which is the mask. I’d like to find out, though. I’d also like to wrap my fist in her pretty blonde hair, press her full breasts into the shower wall, and explore every inch of her. But that can’t happen.

Even if Lexi was interested, she’s off-limits—something I’ll need to keep reminding myself.

By the time she reappears in the kitchen, wearing another pair of ass-hugging red leggings with snowmen all over them and an oversized white Henley that slides off one shoulder, I’ve got a huge stack of pancakes and a pan of eggs ready to go. Lexi closes her eyes and inhales, giving me a moment to study her face. She doesn’t seem to be wearing any makeup, except for maybe a light coat of mascara. Her pale skin is dewy and smattered with freckles across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. Cheeks which are stained with pink as they’re pushed up with a smile.

“That smells so good,” she practically moans. I have to adjust myself.

“Good.” Hopefully, I don’t sound as turned on as I feel, but I know my voice is a bit more gravelly than usual. “Want to get the movie queued up and ready? I’ll get all of this plated.”

“Sure.” The scent of orange and vanilla overwhelms even the sweetness of the pancakes as she flits past me to grab the bottle of maple syrup and a few napkins. She smells amazing.

Ass swaying as she walks, Lexi sets the syrup and napkins on the coffee table in front of the couch, carefully adds a few more logs to the fire, and turns on the TV. I remind myself to focus as I plate up our breakfast. After bringing our coffee and the salt and pepper grinders over, I grab our plates.

We settle down on opposite sides of the couch. The soft clink of silverware hitting ceramic punctuates the opening narration of Elf . I can’t help stealing glances at Lexi as she chuckles around a mouthful of pancakes. A small smudge of chocolate dots her lower lip, and I have to tell myself not to reach over and wipe it away with my thumb.

That would be weird. It would cross a line.

It’s all I can think about.

So, I look past Lexi and focus on the snow-white world outside the French doors leading to the back porch. It’s really coming down now. Heavier than it was yesterday, even. As if it’s noticed my attention, a gust of wind whips the falling snow into a little snow-nado.

Lexi notices the direction of my gaze and sucks in a breath. “Wow. I hope the wind doesn’t pick up any more than this. We definitely don’t want to lose power when it’s this cold outside.”

Eyes wide, I turn to her. “Do you think that’s a possibility?”

“Nah.” She waves a hand dismissively. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

I’m not as convinced. And when I pull my phone out of my pocket to check my weather app, my chest constricts. We’re under a blizzard advisory. It could still shift, so we miss the worst of it, but it could also leave us smack-dab in the middle of a shitstorm.

Worst-case scenarios tumble through my head in quick succession. “Where does your dad keep the firewood?”

“He’s got some in the garage,” she says, like she’s not worried at all. “And then there’s a big pile on the side of the house.”

Lexi gives me a funny look when I set my half-eaten plate on the couch and stand. But now that I’m thinking about it, I need to check how much wood is being stored in the garage. If we lose power, we’ll need to ensure we have plenty of dry wood on hand. Right now, having a fire lit is cozy and gives off extra heat. But if the wind kicks up and knocks out our electricity, it will be the only way to keep warm.

She catches my hand. “Hey. What are you doing?”

“Just checking the garage,” I tell her. “I’ll be right back.”

“Ryder.” She tugs at my hand, and I stumble, my ass hitting the couch. “Hey, it’s going to be fine. Eat your breakfast, and then we can check, okay? You spent all that time making yummy food. At least eat it while it’s hot.” She gifts me a soft, encouraging smile, and some of the tightness in my chest eases. “Seriously. We’re good. Eat your food and watch the movie with me. Then we’ll both get dressed in something warmer and make sure we’re well stocked.”

I’m still itching to get up and take care of it right this second, but I also don’t want to disappoint Lexi. Especially since we’re getting along. “Okay, yeah. You’re right. It’ll be fine.”

She smiles broadly at me when I settle back into the cushions and grab my plate. “This is great. Thanks again for making breakfast.”

“It’s the least I could do,” I reply. We stare at each other for another moment before returning our attention to Will Ferrell and his yellow tights. It takes a bit, but eventually, I relax and laugh along with Lexi. The sound is loud enough that I don’t even notice the wind picking up outside.

“I’m stuffed.” Lexi pats her flat stomach before grabbing our plates and bringing them to the kitchen. She turns the water on hot and squirts some dish soap onto a scrub brush. It’s all so easy and domestic, and something about it hits me right in the chest. “Oh, wow. That’s a lot of snow.”

The thick, white powder has created a drift that would reach above mid-calf against the back door. It has to be at least seven or eight inches of snow, and that’s under an overhang. Without the movie to distract me, I’m right back to worst-case scenarios. Checking the weather app doesn’t help. That blizzard advisory has turned into a blizzard watch. Still not as ominous as a warning, but it tells me we’re in for some serious accumulation.

“I’m going to get dressed in something warm and check on the wood.”

Lexi’s lips pinch into a straight line. “Yeah, I’ll come with you.” She’s no longer feeling so unconcerned.

Five minutes later, we’re both wearing several layers of pants, shirts, and heavy coats. Lexi has a pair of snow boots on, but I only packed my stupid sneakers. She frowns when she notices my footwear.

“I think my dad left a pair of boots here. What size shoe do you wear?”

“A thirteen.”

Her brow rises. “Damn. Okay, well, hopefully, you two are close in size. Be right back.” She disappears into the room off the kitchen. There’s some rustling, a few curses, and the slamming of a closet door, and then she’s pushing a pair of boots into my waiting hands. “They’re twelve and a half, but they’ll have to do. You can’t wear those sneakers outside in this. You’ll get frostbite.”

“Thanks.” I wince when I shove my feet into the boots. They pinch my toes, and they’re not very comfortable, but they’ll do for now. Hopefully, all of this is unnecessary. If we’re lucky, we’ll walk into the garage and find a wall of cut wood waiting to be burned.

“Come on, then.”

We’re not that lucky.

“Shit,” Lexi mutters. Her eyebrows pull together as she twists her lips to the side in frustration. “This is barely enough for the next two days, even if we just wanted to keep the fire going for ambiance.”

Flexing my injured hand, I can only hope Coach Cross has a massive pile of pre-cut wood out there, because chopping firewood is the last thing I should be doing right now. “Where does your dad keep the rest of it?”

Lexi worries at her bottom lip, nodding her head toward an exterior door. “This way.”

Icy wind smacks me in the face as soon as we exit the shelter of the garage. This is no longer the idyllic snowfall of the night before, and I’m glad neither of us had to navigate this weather yesterday on the drive up. The little Civic in the garage that must be Lexi’s wouldn’t have fared any better than my ridiculous sports car.

“Oh my god,” she says, her teeth chattering.

“We should bring in as much wood as we can,” I say to Lexi’s back as I follow her around the side of the cabin. “We don’t want to come out here again tonight after the temperatures drop.”

“No kidding.”

We come to a stop in front of a blue tarp draped over a stack of wood. It’s a large pile—plenty to get us through the week—and I mutter a prayer to the hockey gods that it’s already split before tugging the tarp off.

“That’ll be enough, right?” Lexi looks between me and the wood. Less than a third of it is pre-split. The rest are thick enough pieces that they’ll need to be quartered, at least.

“I hope so,” I say, trying to do the math. There’s not as much split as I’d like, but with my injured hand, cutting more is out of the question, absent an emergency scenario. As long as we don’t lose power for more than a few hours, we should be fine. And hockey gods help us if that happens. I doubt either of us is prepared for something like that.

When I return my attention to Lexi, she’s staring at the wood with a troubled expression. My anxiety has bled into her, and I kick myself.

Keep your shit together, Ryder. Don’t freak Lexi out.

I press a gloved hand to her shoulder. She looks up at me, blinking owlishly, and I fight the urge to wrap her in a hug. I want her to know that everything will be okay, but she doesn’t know me. I don’t think that would go over well. Instead, I say, “I saw a wheelbarrow in the garage. I’m going to drag it out here. We can stack the wood in it, so we’re not making a bunch of trips.”

“Okay.” She nods. She’s still worrying at her full lower lip, and it’s killing me. “Thanks, Ryder.”

Pushing a wheelbarrow through eight inches of snow sucks. I’m sweating, swearing, and grumbling under my breath by the time I make it to Lexi. Her eyes widen as she watches me struggle, and I can tell she’s fighting a smile. Those full lips of hers twitch and curve before she schools her expression into something neutral.

“Do you need help?” She hurries over to me, ready to help me drag the thing, when she loses her footing. Her emerald eyes go wide, her arms flail in a futile attempt to regain her balance, and her lips pop open in an O shape. “Shit!”

I close the distance between us without thinking. My hands grab her hips as Lexi’s latch on to my shoulders, and her face smashes into the puffy down of my coat with a soft oomph . The impact is enough to cause me to slip, and there’s a split second of clarity as her wide eyes lift to mine. We’re going down, and there’s nothing either of us can do to stop it.

Lexi’s not tiny. She seems to be somewhere around average height. She’s thin, but in a fit sort of way. I know she’s strong after watching her do her yoga this morning. But I’m six-foot-five. She’s a pixie compared to me. If I land on her, it’ll hurt. So, I do the only thing I can. I wrap my arms around her and twist my body.

The snow cushions our fall, but Lexi still lets out a little squeak of worry as she lands on top of me. Her hands grip my shoulders, and she’s tucked her face into my neck, so we don’t crack our skulls together. Every single inch of her body is pressed against mine, and for a moment, I don’t feel the snow. The cold doesn’t seem to touch me. All I can feel is her warmth, the rapid puffs of her breath against my neck, and her thigh pressing against the hardening length of my dick.

Shit .

“You okay?” I ask. Hopefully, she doesn’t notice the raspy quality my voice has taken on.

Her lips feather ever so slightly over my neck as she sucks in a few deep breaths, and fuck, if I don’t want to switch our positions, throw her onto her back, and cage her in with my body. If it wasn’t for the snow—and the fact that she’s Coach’s daughter and therefore completely forbidden—I’m not sure I’d be able to restrain myself.

“Lex?”

“I’m okay,” she finally whispers. “I’m okay. Are you? I landed on you. Did I hurt you?”

“I’ve had two-hundred-pound guys land on me in brawls on the ice,” I reassure her with a grin. “You didn’t hurt me.”

“But your hand…”

“Is fine.” I flex it against her back. As we stare into each other’s eyes for a beat, it’s like the world takes a deep breath. There’s a moment of utter silence where Lexi’s attention drops to my lips. Her pink tongue flicks out and wets hers. I don’t think she’s even conscious of the movement. When she meets my gaze again, her cheeks flush a deep pink, and she wiggles in my hold.

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” She pushes off my chest and stumbles to her feet. Losing her warmth knocks the breath from my chest, and I rub my sternum. She tracks the movement before giving me her back. “We should load this up. It’s freezing out here.”

She grabs an armful of firewood. They make a hollow clang when she drops them onto the rusted metal of the wheelbarrow. Normally, the sound would reverberate through the trees. But not in this weather. The snow and wind swallow the noise completely.

I wonder if it would swallow her moans if I pushed her up against the wall of the cabin and fucked her with my fingers?

Not going to happen , I remind myself. She’s off-limits. And she wouldn’t want me, even if she wasn’t.

This is going to be the longest week of my life.