by Erin Wright
“Sticks!” she grunted. “I can’t breathe!” Sticks thumped his tail happily on the floor, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. He looked as content as could be.
Luke looked over and grinned. “Yup, he’s still listening to you as well as he listens to me,” he whispered while laughing.
Deciding that she wasn’t going to get any more sleeping done with Sticks around, she heaved herself out of her sleeping bag, shoving her wayward hair out of her face. Jennifer was still sleeping peacefully, as was Carmelita, but Stetson seemed to have disappeared.
“Where’s Stetson?” she whispered.
“Not sure.” Luke shrugged and stood up from the fireplace, the fire now roaring and popping behind him. He padded over to the windows to look out.
“Oh Bonnie!” he exclaimed in a strangled gasp. She could tell he was trying to keep his voice low but wasn’t succeeding.
She pushed the rest of the way out of her sleeping bag and, snagging a throw blanket on the way to ward off the cold, she tiptoed her way across the room. Sticks lumbered after her, nails clicking on the wood floors as he went.
She stopped short next to Luke, the view before her taking her breath away. It was…gorgeous.
Rolling away from the door and down the small slope to the pine forest that bordered Stetson’s backyard, was nothing but a field of white. Small crests of snow broke up the seemingly endlessness of the snow, until the dark browns and greens of the forest paraded against the background.
And more snow was still falling, quiet, large flakes drifting endlessly from the sky. It wasn’t the whiteout conditions of the blizzard of yesterday, but rather the kind of peaceful snowfall that was depicted on the front of every Hallmark Christmas card.
“It’s gorgeous,” she whispered.
“You…don’t hate it? Or feel trapped by it?”
“Oh gosh no,” she gushed. “I may’ve been lying to my parents about all of the reasons that I wasn’t going to join them in Hawaii, but there’s a reason why they believed me when I said Hawaii just wasn’t Christmassy enough for me. I’ve always been the Christmas child in the family — the first to want to put up the Christmas tree, the first to want to listen to Christmas music, the one who insists that we should celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas just so we can spread it out a little more. Snow, pine trees…this is Christmas to me just as much as the presents and music are.”
He stared down at her, his expression unreadable, and she wondered if she’d sounded like a true idiot there. She’d dated an ass — his name on his birth certificate was Ryan Petersen although really, “Ass” was a lot more accurate — seriously for about six months and at the end, when they were breaking up, he told her that the real reason they weren’t working out wasn’t because he had an awful temper, but because she was a child who just didn’t understand how the world worked.
Which was probably true, but it still hurt to hear. She was a true optimist, and if someone was going to hate that about her, well, there wasn’t much she could do to help them.
Which made her optimistic nature quite sad.
Stetson came in the back door then, brushing his feet against the mat as he entered, trying to keep the snow out of the house. She could see him through the doorway into the kitchen, a door he must’ve forgotten to close when he’d gone outside.
Dammit, and Luke looked like he was finally going to say something — tell me what’s going through that head of his.
Bonnie bit her tongue in frustration and smiled at Stetson instead.
“Hey you guys,” he said, surprised. “Have you been awake long?”
Bonnie shrugged. “Not long,” she whispered back. “But Jennifer and Carmelita are still asleep.”
Jennifer made some noise behind them. “Not anymore,” she said around her yawn. Her pink John Deere t-shirt hugged her gently rounding stomach, still a surprise to Bonnie every time she saw it. It was like seeing a pastoral painting of the English countryside…with zebras grazing in the pasture instead of sheep. Everything looks normal except that one glaring difference.
But pregnancy looked good on Jennifer. Everything looked good on Jennifer — it was a good thing Bonnie loved her or she’d have to hate her on principal just because — but the pregnancy brought out a special glow in her that Bonnie loved to see. Jennifer was going to be one hell of a mother.
Jennifer snuggled up against Stetson, apparently immune to the cold of the melting snow on his coveralls. “Good morning, darlin’,” she breathed, going up on her tippy toes to kiss him.
Bonnie glanced away, not wanting to spy on them during such an intimate moment, and caught Luke’s eye instead. He looked…
Well, he looked like he wanted to do exactly what Jennifer and Stetson were doing. She nibbled her lower lip, trying to control her impulse to give him exactly what he wanted. His eyes were hooded and his eyes seemed to be locked on her lips and she swallowed hard because her self-control was wavering something fierce and—
“Good morning, mis hijos,” Carmelita said behind them. Bonnie whirled around to see the older woman smoothing away the wrinkles in her PJs.
“Good morning, Carma!” Bonnie said, ignoring her disappointment at having a potential kiss with Luke interrupted, instead giving Carma a hug and a kiss. It was so nice to see her up and around after her scare yesterday.
“It is still snowing?” she asked, peering around the group to the backyard. Jennifer and Stetson had moved into the living room, closing the door behind them. Bonnie would’ve swore that raised the temperature in the living room by a couple of degrees almost instantly.
“Yeah,” Stetson said ruefully. “I’d give almost anything to have an updated weather forecast because I have no idea how long this is going to last, but I already tried my cell phone this morning and I have no data access or phone access. The landline is down too. There’s no getting in or out, at least not for a while.
“But the animals are fed and watered for this morning, and we have enough hay stocked up to last the whole winter, so the animals are going to be fine. Heaven forbid we’re stuck here for a whole winter,” he said with a chuckle that didn’t seem to actually hold much humor. Bonnie’s stomach contracted in fear. People only got snowed in for months at a time back in the olden days, right? All of the sudden, one of her favorite childhood books — The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder — didn’t seem quite as wonderful. She loved snow — she didn’t want to be buried by it for months on end. There was a difference.
“We are going to be fine, too,” Carmelita said with authority. “I was not feeling so well last night so I did not think to say this, but I always keep Sterno cans and camp stove in case of emergency. I can still cook for us.”
“You do?” Stetson asked, surprised.
“How do you think I cooked for you last winter when the electricity was gone all day?” she asked, smiling.
“I don’t know — magic?” he said, shrugging.
“I am that too,” she said and winked.
Bonnie laughed, as did everyone else. Damn, it was great to have something to laugh about. She felt a little of her panic easing in her stomach. She might not have the slightest clue of how to handle snowdrifts up to the rafters, but she wasn’t alone. She didn’t have to figure it out on her own.
“Now you should all go outside and celebrate Christmas, for today is Christmas Day, and you should have fun. I will ring the dinner bell when it is time to come in for breakfast.”
The group discussed what could be done outside and quickly decided on sledding. The slope in the backyard that led to the forest at the edge of the clearing was apparently the perfect place to go sledding, according to Stetson. Jennifer and Bonnie hurried to change into their snowsuits from the day before while Luke and Stetson stoked the fire and opened the door to the kitchen, hoping to let the heat seep in there while Carmelita was cooking.
They met up in the backyard, Stetson pulling old-fashioned sleds out of storage in the garage rafters. Bonnie stared at
hers for a moment — it looked old enough to star in a Norman Rockwell painting — and she wasn’t entirely sure it’d hold together. Luke caught her look and said, “Don’t worry, I spent half my childhood on these sleds. Stetson has the best sledding hill in the county, and it’s right here in his backyard. Every kid around knew to come out here after a snowstorm. I promise, it’ll hold up to any abuse you can throw at it.”
She smiled, chagrined that her uncertainty had shone through so clearly.
“C’mon, let’s take a run at this,” Luke said, and held his hand out for her. She took, her heart racing, smiling up at him. God, he was cute. What on earth did the town of Sawyer do to grow such handsome men? Did all of the women take Extra Cute Children Vitamins while pregnant?
“Race you to the bottom!” Stetson hollered, and threw himself onto the sled, barreling down the slope at top speed. Bonnie couldn’t help it; she burst out into laughter.
They began racing each other down the slope, the snow getting packed and faster with each pass of the curled wooden sleds. The flakes continued to fall, sticking to Luke’s long eyelashes and hair and she was laughing and Stetson and Luke were razzing each other and Jennifer was breathless and laughing too, and the happiness welled up inside of Bonnie at the picture-perfect moment. If only it could continue for forever…
The air rang with the striking of the dinner bell. Luke offered to pull Bonnie’s sled back up the hill one last time for her and she willingly agreed. The wooden sleds may be indestructible but they were heavy, and her legs were tired from pushing through the snow that ranged from mid-calf to mid-thigh. It was amazing what a workout it was to go sledding. She mentally gave herself permission to eat whatever Carma was cooking, considering she’d probably just burned off all those calories and more.
They walked into the house, laughing and brushing their boots off, trying to get rid of the egregious chunks of snow before tracking it everywhere in the house.
“You must go to change before you sit down to eat,” Carmelita said from her position over the Sterno stove. “I am not quite done cooking but called you early to have you change clothes now.”
Is there anything that gets past her? She really is magical.
Bonnie hurried to change into her warmest clothing — sweat pants and a hoodie — in the cold of her bedroom. She looked at the fireplace longingly, but knew it didn’t make sense to build a fire just for her room, when they could share the wood and the heat down in the living room.
She scurried out of her bedroom…and right into Luke in the hallway, heading back downstairs after also changing. His dark hair was damp but he’d taken the time to run a comb through it, something that Bonnie realized with a sinking feeling in her gut that she hadn’t bothered to do. She shoved at her hair with her hand. She probably looked like a disaster — a homeless person in sweat pants and wild hair — and oh God, there was just no way he’d still be attracted to her.
Which is when he bent down and kissed her.
Chapter Twelve
~Luke~
He knew he hadn’t asked her if he could kiss her and she probably wasn’t expecting it, but literally running into her in the hallway, her soft curves pressing against his body for just a moment until she straightened and realize who she’d run into…
He couldn’t help himself. Her dark brown hair looked delightfully mussed, as if they were just crawling out of bed after a nice, long…interlude, and he couldn’t help the quick tightening of his body at the sight of her. She was so damn gorgeous.
He pulled her closer to him at the moan she let out, burying his hands into her hair, tilting her head to gain better access to her delicious mouth, his groans mingling with hers, tongues dueling, learning the feel of each other, her lips so soft and delicious under his.
Slowly, he forced himself to pull away. Some part of his mind — the part still functioning — knew that they’d been gone a long time and someone was going to send out a search party for them if they didn’t get their asses downstairs.
Not to mention that Bonnie’s adorable nose — was there any part of her that wasn’t adorable? — was cold to the touch. It was freezing upstairs, although that was helpful when trying to keep certain…parts of him under control.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Hi,” she said breathlessly.
“Hi,” he said, grinning down at her. How was it that being around her seemed to make him perpetually happy? She was some kind of antidote to the harshness of the world he was used to dealing with.
“I think we should go downstairs,” he whispered to her.
“Okay,” she whispered back. “Why are we whispering?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted…while whispering. She burst out laughing, a joyous sound that he loved to hear. She had to be one of the most genuinely happy people that he knew.
Christmas Day passed in a whirl of fun, food, and laughter. They played the Farming Game all afternoon, gathered around the coffee table, while Carmelita watched and knitted from her perch on the couch. In an upset no one expected, Bonnie the newbie actually won.
“That’s not fair!” Stetson protested. “You’re not a farmer!” She just grinned in response while ostentatiously flipping through her stacks of play money on her side of the board. Stetson flopped back on the floor dramatically, which of course Sticks took as an invitation to give him a face bath. Stetson came up stuttering and Luke, laughing so hard his stomach hurt, leaned over and kissed Bonnie on the lips without thinking. She sucked in a quick breath of surprise but then opened her mouth beneath his kisses, allowing his tongue to dip into her mouth.
He finally pulled back and, blinking, turned towards the rest of the group. He felt like he was under the spell of a witch — a wonderful witch who’d made his heart light and his worries few. Stets gave him a “Good for you!” grin while Jennifer had a Cheshire grin plastered across her face. She seemed pretty damn delighted with herself, and even though Luke believed her when she said that they hadn’t set him and Bonnie up on purpose, he also wasn’t naive enough to think that she hadn’t been doing her darnedest to push them together since then.
Bonnie smoothed at her sweatshirt, her cheeks flushed a delicious shade of pink. She was delicious. Luke had visions of scooping her up into his arms and carrying her up the stairs to his guest bedroom and make slow, amazing love to her all evening.
Stetson, who was busy shuffling up a pack of face cards to play Texas Hold ‘Em, caught Luke’s eye and winked. Luke knew that Stetson knew exactly what Luke was thinking. Luke felt his own cheeks flush a little. He knew he was as obvious as a flashing neon sign, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.
Bonnie, who was actually paying attention to what Stetson was doing instead of letting hormones take over her brain, protested that she’d never played that version of poker before. Stetson’s eyes narrowed at her. “Yeah, but you hadn’t played the Farming Game before either, so I’m thinking that beginner’s luck is strong with you.”
She grinned innocently. “I guess we’ll just have to try it and see,” she said with a shrug. Luke knew that this meant that they were on — Stetson was one of the most competitive men he’d ever met, so he knew that beating Bonnie was a point of pride by now.
He smiled to himself. It was going to be fun to see Stetson taken down a peg or two.
Chapter Thirteen
~Bonnie~
Bonnie squealed in triumph as she laid down her four 2’s, and everyone else burst out laughing, even Stetson.
“Are you sure you’re not sandbagging me?” Stetson asked with a wry grin as he gathered up the cards.
Jennifer took the opportunity to stand up and stretch, and light a few more candles. The snow was still continuing to fall outside, and it was growing dark earlier than normal. Luke unfolded his long legs and moved over to the fire to add a few more logs.
Bonnie simply shrugged at Stetson’s question and grinned. “Sometimes, a girl’s got the touch,” she said, wiggling her fingers at Stetson. He laug
hed.
The Christmas music stopped playing — the tape must’ve ended — and just as Stetson opened his mouth to reply, the lights turned on, flickering for a few moments, and then staying lit. Everyone burst into laughter and cheers.
“Good job, Idaho Power!” Luke hollered and everyone laughed.
Bonnie strolled over to the windows to look into the backyard. The signs of their sledding were still evident, but many of the tracks through the snow had filled in, leaving only dips in their wake. She couldn’t remember ever loving Christmas as much as she had this one, and for her, that was truly saying something.
Luke moved to stand next to her, slipping his arm around her waist, and she leaned against him. She had to admit that much of the reason for her loving this Christmas was because of this man. She’d loved spending time around her best friend again and getting to know Carmelita and Stetson better, but truly, meeting Luke was simply amazing. He leaned down to kiss her and then whispered in her ear, “Now I have no excuse to snuggle next to you on the floor again.”
She snuggled further into his arms and whispered back, “Well, we could always take our sweet time going upstairs tonight…”
“I like how you think,” he whispered back.
The furnace whooshed back on, sending heat throughout the house like magic. Carmelita stowed her knitting away in a basket and hurried to the kitchen to get cooking again now that she had electricity. Bonnie’s stomach rumbled, reminding her that food would come in handy about now.
Stetson and Jennifer wandered over to join them at the windows, all staring into the backyard, the snow still slowly drifting down.
“I’ve never seen it snow this long,” Stetson said. “Usually, it comes in fits and spurts. And to think that the weatherman had said an inch!” They all chuckled at the absurdity of it.
