by Joy Avery
“Nah. I’ll still honor it.”
A beat of silence fell between them.
Tressa tilted her head to look at him. After several beats of silence, she said, “Thank you, Roth. For everything. You’re a good friend.”
“You’re welcome.” And before he knew it, he’d pressed a kiss to her forehead. When she reared back, their gazes held.
For the thousandth time, he told himself this had to stop. All of it. Especially this thing they did, this silent, powerful connection. It was too invasive. If it continued, she’d be in a place no one was allowed. Not even her, especially not her.
“What do you see?”
Roth’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“When you look at me that way, like you’re trying to read my mind, what do you see?”
The question was loaded and dangerous. “A beautiful, strong, compassionate, selfless, intelligent, sometimes-stubborn woman, who I wish would have come into my life at a different time. A time when things were less...complicated.” He’d fallen on his own sacrificial sword.
Tressa’s gaze left him briefly. “I see,” was all she said.
Forcing his eyes away from her hypnotic stare, he kissed the inside of her wrist. This was something he had to stop doing, too. But he did it again. Suddenly, her wrist wasn’t enough for his lips.
His mouth covered hers in a slow, cautious manner. Maybe he was giving her the opportunity to pull away since he clearly lacked the ability to do so.
She didn’t.
Instead, Tressa’s lips parted to accept his greedy tongue. He probed every inch of her wet, delicious mouth. For months, he’d longed for this opportunity again, ever since he’d kissed her in her best friend’s kitchen.
Then, just like that, he snatched his mouth away. What in the hell was he doing? She wasn’t available to him. Not yet. Not in the way he wanted and needed her.
Staring into her uncertain eyes, he said, “I should start the stew.” Amid great personal protest, he stood up and walked away, leaving her alone on the couch.
But being the sometimes-stubborn woman she was, Tressa didn’t allow the conversation to simply end there. Perhaps because he’d said a lot, but had left even more unsaid and she wanted—possibly needed—to know what.
How did he tell her that after only a day with her, he was falling harder and faster than he’d ever fallen before, and not sound insane?
“You or me?” she said.
Roth avoided looking at her, despite his confusion by the question. “You or me?”
“Less complicated for you or for me?”
“For the both of us, Tressa.”
“I see. Have you considered the possibility that this is truly simple, but we’re the ones choosing to make it too hard?”
“Poetic, but what’s real—”
“Are your feelings for me real?”
This brought his eyes to hers. His shoulders slumped, defeat fighting its way in.
“I thought they were. Mine are, too, Roth.” She sighed. “Maybe a week here is not such a good idea, after all. You’re right. This is complicated. We shouldn’t risk things getting any more confusing or complicated for either of us.” She stood from the couch. “I’ll be ready first thing in the morning. If you don’t mind, I’ll take the bed tonight.”
He stared at the back of her head as she climbed the stairs. Any more complicated? As if things between them could get any more complicated than they already were.
Chapter 6
The following morning Roth stared out the kitchen window and sipped his coffee. Just when he thought things couldn’t get any more complicated, things got more complicated. His eyes swept over the snow-covered landscape. At least six inches had fallen overnight, and snow was still falling. Six inches. How in the hell was this even possible? The snow wasn’t supposed to have arrived until tomorrow, not today.
Maybe Tressa had asked for a sign. He laughed to himself. Signs. This was a sign, all right. A sign that shit happens. And most of the time for the worst.
He massaged the tension in his neck. This was a complication. A colossal complication. Still, the snow was beautiful.
And speaking of beautiful things...
Tressa ambled down the stairs and he almost laughed at the sight of her in the floor-length grandma gown he’d purchased at the general store. The plaid fabric did little to accentuate her assets, which had been his intent. Since the air was already tense between them, he kept his amusement to himself.
Boy, had she challenged him the night before. And what had he done about it? Not a damn thing. What he’d wanted to do was race across the floor, snatch her into his arms and kiss the hell out of her again. Let her taste and feel him. It’d taken all his strength to fight it. But he had.
Their kiss had left him exposed and put his feelings for her out there. Though he hadn’t confirmed them, he hadn’t denied them, either. Lord, the balls on this woman. Yeah, she was the type of woman who could ruin him or cause him to ruin himself.
“Good morning,” she said, barely making eye contact with him.
“Morning.”
Picking up the Not Before My Coffee mug she seemed to be fond of, she said, “I’m all packed. What time are we getting on the road?”
“That might be a little difficult,” he said.
She eyed him for the first time since she’d come down and said, “Difficult?”
With a head tilt, he directed her to the glass door leading onto the deck.
When she slid open the thermal curtains, she gasped. “Oh. It’s snowing. A lot.”
The hint of excitement that danced in her tone made him smile.
Turning to him again, she said, “I thought it wasn’t supposed to start until tomorrow.”
Exactly what he’d thought, too. That was what he got for falling asleep on the sofa before the weather report aired. He shrugged. “Guess Mother Nature changed her mind. Unfortunately, going down the mountain is not an option for the next few days. Sorry.”
“We’re stuck?”
He couldn’t readily decipher what flashed in her eyes. It wasn’t anger, but not quite elation, either. “Don’t worry. We’re good. There’s plenty of food, water and firewood. And if the power happens to go out, I have battery-operated lanterns.” Of course, he doubted any of that impressed her, especially since she’d clearly been looking forward to leaving. Her words rang in his head. I’m all packed.
“You sound prepared.” Tressa folded her arms across her chest and bit at the corner of her lip. “So, how long do you think it’ll be before we can leave?”
“It’s hard to say. Wednesday? Thursday? But you might luck out and can get away from me before then.”
“I’m not trying to escape you, Roth.”
“Hmm. Really? You seemed pretty determined to get away from me last night.”
“I retreated. That’s what people do when they’re losing a battle, right?” She turned away and focused out the door again.
Well, she was right about one thing; there was a battle being fought, but she was wrong about who was losing.
“Do you have a sled?”
“A sled?”
She shrugged her flannel-covered shoulders. “Might as well take advantage of our situation, right? God, I miss playing in the snow.”
A sled? “No, but I have trash bags. They work just as well.”
For the first time since she’d come down the stairs, she smiled. “My friends and I used to use trash bags when I was younger.”
“So did we.” Mainly because no one he knew could afford a sled. He shuddered at those hard times. He never wanted to know how it felt to go without again.
“Do you want to eat first? I can whip us up something real quick.”
“Later. After sl
edding—trash bagging.”
They shared a laugh.
Okay, this was good. Laughter was good.
His eyes raked over her body. “Are you going to change? Could get a little chilly in places.” Damn. Why had he gone there? He didn’t need to add sexual innuendo to their already-delicate situation.
Tressa smiled in a way that suggested she’d caught the sly remark he’d tossed.
“Give me ten minutes,” she said and left the room.
Roth pressed his palms against the countertop, leaned forward and shook his head. The logical portion of his brain warned him away, while the irrational part kept steering him toward Tressa. Either he stopped, or he would crash and burn.
Moments later, the sound of Tressa descending the stairs pulled him from his thoughts.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said.
Even wearing a black toboggan, black earmuffs, a black mountain jacket zipped up to her chin and black subzero gloves, she was breathtaking. Grabbing his winter gear and the bags, they headed out the door.
Outside, Roth squinted against the blinding landscape. Snow still fell in a steady shower of plump flakes. The crisp air burned his nostrils on inhale. Too long out here and he’d be a Popsicle.
When Tressa slid her hand into her back pocket, his eyes lowered to her butt. That plump rump filled those jeans nicely. His imagination took hold, warming him rather nicely. A stir below the waist forced his gaze away.
Lines of heated air danced like smoke clouds in front of him when he said, “Be careful going down the stairs.” He hadn’t thought to salt them until now, when the risk of Tressa slipping and injuring herself became a factor.
At the bottom Tressa waved him on. “Go ahead. I need to fix my sock.” She knelt and fiddled with the black all-terrain boots she wore.
The second he moved past her, a snowball clocked him in the back of the head. “Ouch.” He turned, nursing the area where he’d been hit.
Tressa covered her mouth and bent at the waist in laughter.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?” When he scooped up a glove full of fluffy snow, Tressa’s eyes widened and the laughter ceased.
“You wouldn’t.”
He stalked toward her like a lion that was seconds from pouncing on its prey. “Oh, I would.”
“But my snowball was the size of a gumdrop. Yours looks like a bowling ball.”
“Don’t fault me for having large hands.” Large hands he wanted to use to explore every inch of her body.
“But...but...I owed you that.”
Roth didn’t bother asking her why she felt she owed him a snowball to the back of the head. Instead, he kept stalking toward her. If they were playing eye for an eye, he owed her, too. Owed her big. Owed her for making him experience all these crazy and confusing feelings.
The snow crunched under her feet as she took cautionary steps back. A beat later she took off running. “You won’t take me alive.”
Aiming, he chucked the snowball, hitting Tressa smack-dab in her left butt cheek. When it wiggled a little, he groaned to himself.
Tressa yelped, then grabbed her behind. “Ouch! That hurt.”
“Oops,” he said. “I was aiming higher. Really, I was.” He’d have probably been more convincing if he’d have said it slipped.
Her face lit with laughter. “I’m going to get you for that, Roth Lexington.”
“Take your best shot.” He did a fake right, then a fake left.
For close to an hour, they ran around the yard like kids, blasting each other with snow. It was the most fun he’d had in years. This was how he wanted to spend his time with her. Having fun, not at each other’s throats about a bunch of feelings.
“Time, time,” Tressa said, forming snow-covered, gloved hands into a T. A blink later she fell back into a pillow of snow, flapping her arms and legs.
“Woman, what are you doing?”
“Making a snow angel. You have to make one, too.”
She was crazy if she thought he was getting down there. “I’m not lying on that cold-ass ground. Have you ever heard of frostbite? Hypothermia?”
“Wimp.”
Roth barked a laugh. “Name-calling won’t force me to change my mind.”
“Pretty please with a cherry on top.”
All it took was one look into those spell-casting eyes. Dammit. “Okay, okay.”
Roth wanted to pretend the idea of making snow angels didn’t excite him, but it did. As a kid, he’d always seen it done on Christmas movies and had secretly wished it were him sprawled out in the snow, enjoying the time with his parents like the laughing children on the television.
“Closer, Roth. I won’t bite.”
A corner of his mouth lifted. Too bad. Biting could be fun.
“What just ran through your mind?” Tressa said.
“Um, how cold the ground is.” His response sounded more like a question, rather than an answer to hers.
“Mmm-hmm.”
She truly didn’t want to know what had raced through his mind, what always raced through his mind when he was with her. Finding the nearest hard surface, and the ground would do to make love to her. By the time they left Silver Point, he’d need counseling.
They moved their arms and legs simultaneously. With angels formed, he made a motion to get up, but Tressa stopped him.
“Tressa, this ground is hella cold, woman.”
“Two seconds.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. “We have to take a selfie.”
A selfie? He was freezing his balls off, and she wanted to take a selfie? “Are you serious?”
“Yes. Lie back and smile, you big brute.”
Tressa positioned her head close to his. He had to admit, onscreen they looked great together. After several snaps—some of them smiling, some of them making silly faces—Roth couldn’t feel his ass.
“Three more and we’re done,” she said.
But before she could press the red dot on the screen, the phone vibrated in her hands. Cyrus’s ugly mug filled the display. Roth snarled at the phone, then caught himself.
“I’ll give you some privacy,” he said. He’d wanted a reason to get off the hard, cold ground, and now he had one.
Tressa swiped her thumb across the screen, sending the call to voice mail. “I don’t need it.”
“Why?” Catching himself, he swallowed his words. After the general store incident, he’d vowed to mind his own damn business. “Can we get up now? I can’t feel my legs.”
“Quit complaining,” she said.
A blink later Tressa smashed a handful of snow in his face. He heaved as if she was drowning him.
“Suck...er.”
She tried to make a smooth getaway, but he was too fast. “Oh, no, you don’t.” He snagged the back of her coat, pulled her back and pinned her to the ground. Miraculously, his temperature rose several degrees.
Tressa squirmed and laughed as if Roth was tickling her. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she squealed, her laughter floating in the cold air.
“Sorry is not going to work. You have to pay for that. Do you see my face? My cold, wet face?” He scooped up a mound of snow and held it inches from her. “I’m sorry. This has to be done. It’s going to hurt me more than it hurts you. But every action has an equal or opposite reaction. Any last words?”
Still rolling with laughter, she said, “Yes, yes.”
“Okay. Spit them out before I exact my revenge.”
Tressa laughed some more. “Revenge is best served cold.”
Roth laughed, bringing the snow closer to her face.
“Wait. Wait. My last words.”
His hand continued to close in on her. “You better make it quick.”
Tressa sobered.
“Kiss me.”
Damn. He hadn’t expected that. The expression on her face was firm, so he knew she hadn’t said it by accident. “You don’t want that, Tressa. If I kissed you, this time I wouldn’t stop kissing you. Not until one or both of us froze to death out here.”
“Death is inevitable. Wouldn’t you prefer to die happy?”
Roth’s jaw tightened. Did she have any idea how much delicious trouble teasing him could get her in? He tried his damnedest to pull away. Unfortunately, he lost all control. Lowering his head, he allowed his lips to brush hers. The heat that radiated through him burned hot enough to melt the snow off the entire mountain. “Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked against their sparsely touching lips.
“Oh, yeah. Kiss me, Roth Lexington. And kiss me like you mean it.”
“And after the kiss ends?”
“We’re both adults, Roth. It doesn’t have to end at a kiss. One time or a hundred. I just want to be with you.”
Roth growled at the implication, his erection swelling. One time or hundred? The thought was enough to make him shudder. He brushed his lips against hers again. “Do you know what you’re asking for?”
“All of you. Now, enough teasing. Kiss me. With the same intensity you did last night.”
“Okay,” he said in a you’ve-been-warned tone. But before he could capture her mouth in the hellish manner he wanted, that damn cell phone interrupted them again. True, it could have been anyone in the world calling her, but instincts told him it was that rat bastard.
“Just ignore it,” she said against his wanting mouth. “Kiss me.”
The intrusion brought him back to his senses. He couldn’t just ignore it. When he slowly pulled away from her, disappointment danced in her eyes. “You’re not ready for me, Tressa. You have unfinished business. And every time you run from your fiancé—”
“Ex-fiancé,” she corrected with unsubtle irritation in her tone.
“Is he really?” Roth regretted the terse response.
“You were there, Roth. You saw what happened, what he did to me. Do you really think I would still want to be with Cyrus after that? He’s no longer a part of my life.”
“Then you should quit avoiding the opportunity to tell him that, because right now he believes he still has a chance with you. And I’m not sure he doesn’t. I’m not sure I’m not just your way of getting back at the man who wronged you.”
