Snowed Over (A Christmas Novella) (8 page)

They lay in silence and watched the firelight dance on the ceiling.
 

“Will Trina be mad that you slept with someone else? Even though we’re only
sleeping
?”

“Trina won’t be mad. She will freak out.”
 

Oh crap
. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not your fault. Trina is the world’s biggest drama queen. She freaks out when she breaks a nail or it’s raining outside. She’s always freaking out.”

“Oh.” Katie couldn’t imagine why he was with a girl like that.
 

“You don’t need to worry about Trina. I’ve got it under control. Or at least I will soon.”

She wondered what he meant. Would they have a big fight? Would he shower her with kisses and apologize? Would he give in to her tantrum? Katie realized she’d finally discovered a trait of Alex’s that she didn’t like, being with a girl who wasn’t good enough for him.

Another minute passed before Alex spoke. “Is it just me, or are our feet higher than our heads? It’s like I’m laying downhill. I think I’m getting a headache from the blood rushing to my brain.”

Katie laughed. “I noticed that, too.”

They looked at each other across the pillows. “Want to switch directions?” he asked, like a little kid on an adventure.

“Yeah.”

They hopped out of bed and tossed their pillows to the floor. Together they pulled the sheets out and slid the blankets and everything down and tucked them in at the sofa end. They tossed the pillows back and hopped in at the foot of the bed. Their heads were closer to the fire now instead of their feet.

“I feel like I’m at a slumber party.” Katie puffed up her pillow and nestled her head down.

Alex turned over a couple times, the bed squeaking with each movement, and settled facing her. “This is the most uncomfortable bed I’ve ever slept in.”

“The fire is really warm.” Katie tossed the top two blankets to the side.

“Hey, I don’t want ‘em! I’m sweating over here!” He pushed the covers toward their feet.

“Sorry.” She sat up and removed her flannel shirt, leaving her in a t-shirt and sweat pants.

“I built the fire up so it would last through the night. I didn’t realize I would be creating a sauna.”

Katie lay on her stomach, watching the fire. She yawned. The flames licked up high. The wood burned with a soft roar and an occasional crackle. Light flickered throughout the room. “That’s okay. The fire looks nice.”
 

Alex rolled over, his elbow brushing her arm. “That is a damn good fire.”

She smiled. “The best I’ve seen.”

“I bet you haven’t seen too many.”

“Nope.” She grew more sleepy by the minute.

“You know, this is the most fun I’ve had in a really long time.” Alex sounded relaxed and happy.

Her eyes drifted shut. “Umm hmm.”

“I think you’re about to fall asleep.” She heard a trace of humor in his voice.

“Umm hmm.”

~
 
~
 
~

Alex awoke the next morning with a chilly backside, but a warm chest. He leaned toward the source of warmth. His face brushed against a soft head of hair. He opened an eyelid and found Katie curled into a ball against his chest. He grinned.
 

All the blankets were pushed to the foot of the bed and other than a few dying embers, the fire was out. He resisted the urge to snuggle closer to his little ball of heat. Instead he moved as quietly as possible from the bed to stoke the fire. The bed creaked loudly, but Katie didn’t move a muscle.
Heavy sleeper, that one.

The floor felt cold as a meat locker, and his breath turned to wisps of white in the frigid air. A glance out the window revealed the fierce storm still blowing. He removed the metal screen and loaded the fireplace with wood. Sparks flew as the wood caught fire.

He crawled back into the creaky bed and pulled all the blankets up.
 
He spread them over Katie first, tucking them around her face, which he couldn’t actually see because her mane of hair covered her like Cousin It. He stretched out on his side of the bed and covered himself. The room was freezing. He looked over at Katie, the hot mess, fast asleep.

He gave in to his desire for warmth and moved closer to her. As if on cue, she snuggled into him like a newborn kitten. Alex smiled, and even though he knew he shouldn’t, he wrapped his arm around her warm little body and fell back to sleep.

A couple hours later, he woke to a warmer room, a tangle of sheets and Katie sprawled across the bed. Her body stretched against his with one arm extended over her head and her elbow in his face. She’d flung her other arm out, hogging the bed. One leg rested against his.

She started making little noises, like she was eating. Alex muffled his laugh. She wiped her hand over her face, pushing away stray hair.

So this was how the beautiful Katie woke in the morning, like a sloppy, noisy bum. Would she fart next? She started to hum. This time he did laugh.
 

Katie quieted and he knew she was awake. She turned her head, only to find his face mere inches away. Her eyes widened. She jerked away and scooted back to her side.

“Someone’s a bed hog,” he teased.

“What? No I’m not,” she growled in a low, throaty voice.

“Yes, you are! I didn’t even have room to roll over.”

She tried to get out of bed, but her legs were tangled in the sheets.

“Need some help?” he offered.

She ignored him and kicked the sheets away.

“Oh, looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the hide-a-bed. Literally.”

She aimed daggers at him and kicked the covers away. With her eyes half opened, she stumbled to the bathroom. He heard her mutter, “crap.” She reappeared a second later and pulled two blankets from the pile. She wrapped them around her shoulders and headed for the door. She slipped into his boots and pulled two tissues out of the box as she went out the door.

Sweet, polite Katie was not a morning person. He rolled on his back and laughed.
 

While she was outside, he put the last of the wood on the fire and placed the pot of water near it to heat. With any luck there would be some coffee in one of the cupboards. When she came back in, he was rifling through the cupboards. “Look what I found.” He held up an almost empty jar of instant coffee.

Katie shivered. “Geez, it’s freezing out there.” She started to kick the boots off.
 

“As long as you’ve already been outside, you mind getting another pot of snow?”
 

She shot him the stink eye.
 

“You’re the one wearing the boots, it makes sense.” He flashed her a bright smile and pushed an empty pot into her hands. “Thanks, you’re the best.”

She pulled the blankets tighter, grumbled and went back into the deep freeze, returning in mere seconds with a heaping pot of snow. She kicked off his boots, took the snow straight to the fireplace and set it to melt. She curled up in the blankets and sat on the hearth.

“Careful you don’t get too close. I’d hate to see you go up in flames.”

“Are you always this chipper in the morning?” she asked in an irritated tone.

“Nope. Only when I’m snowbound in a cabin with a strange girl who snores.”

Her head snapped toward him. “What? I don’t snore!”

He cringed for her benefit and shook his head. “I’m just sayin’.” He loved her look of horror.

Katie stared at the fire, her hair a tangled mess and smudged makeup under her eyes. She mumbled, so quietly he barely heard. “I don’t snore.”

He turned his back and chuckled, then collected a couple mugs, coffee and a metal, camp-style coffee pot. “I bet you’ll feel more human with a little caffeine in your system.”

Chapter 9

Ten minutes later, they held steaming mugs of mediocre coffee as the wind whistled through the tiny cracks in the window frames.

“It’s not Starbucks, but it sure does the trick,” Alex said.
 

Katie sipped her brew and watched Alex. A hint of beard shadowed his face and made him even better looking, if that was possible. His hair stuck up haphazardly in a sexy sort of way. His expressive, brown eyes were filled with humor, especially when he teased her. He smiled a lot and it was getting under her skin. Did he know the effect he had on girls? On her?
 

The snow collected in the corners of all the windows, like on the Christmas shows she used to watch as a kid. “I don’t think the storm is going to let up anytime soon. It looks like it’s going to snow over the entire cabin. I wish I could get a message to my mom. I don’t want her worrying when we’re totally fine.”

“By now my parents will definitely be worried. I hate to do that to them. I wonder if the plow has been through on the road. If it has, maybe the driver saw my truck and will report it.”

“I hope so.” She watched the snow accumulate at the corners of the window.

“On the bright side, think how happy they’ll be when we get out of here,” he said.

Katie pictured her mom hugging her and saying how much she loved her. Then her mom would apologize for making Katie come up north for Christmas when they should have stayed home like normal. Katie pictured a fresh start with her mom.
 

Alex drained his coffee and put the mug by the sink. “I think I’ll go out and
get more wood
.” He retrieved his boots from where she kicked them off. He put them on, along with his coat and hat. “Back in a few.”

He flashed his sexy eyes at her as he went out the door. Katie’s heart skipped a beat, and then she chastised herself.
Stop liking some other girl’s man. Not okay
.

She checked her jeans to find them a little stiff, but totally dry. Quick, before Alex came back, she slipped out of the over-sized sweats and into her jeans. They hugged her close and felt much better. Normal. She retrieved her purse and rummaged around for her make-up bag. Spotting her phone first, she gambled on a long shot and checked it for a signal.
 

Crap
. Not only no signal, but the battery was dead.
 

That was stupid. She should have turned it off. She tossed it back in the bag and pulled out her make-up. She looked in her compact mirror to discover huge smudges of mascara under both eyes.
 

“Oh my god!” She licked her finger and rubbed it under each eye. Better, but she needed a washcloth. She fetched one from the small bathroom and caught a glimpse of herself in the dark mirror and groaned. Her hair stuck up all over. She’d thought Alex’s hair looked funny. No wonder Alex kept laughing at her. Here she was thinking how hot he looked, and he must have been looking at her thinking
what a train wreck
.
 

She washed her face and combed her hair. A couple minutes later, after she’d brushed her teeth and tossed the water outside, she applied some mascara and a flick of blush. Alex arrived with a load of wood. They repeated the pattern from yesterday where she stacked while he went back and forth. Each time the door opened, she swore the cabin temperature plummeted another ten degrees. She added more pieces to the fire.

Breakfast consisted of watery tomato soup. She wanted to make something better, but was saving the last of the bread for that evening, in case they didn’t get rescued. At the rate the snow kept coming, Alex could be right, and they’d be here another day.
 

“No pancakes?” Alex asked, slurping his soup.

Katie wrinkled her nose. “Let me just say that the mice left a little something special in the box.”

“I see. Boy, this soup is awesome,” he said. She might have believed him if it weren’t for the twinkle in his gorgeous dark eyes. She focused on her soup instead.

“I was thinking we should check out the rest of the cabin to see if there’s anything else we can use,” Alex said.

“Like a hidden snow plow?”

“It is Christmas. Aren’t wishes supposed to come true?” He set his empty bowl on the coffee table.

“I don’t know, were you a good boy or a bad boy?” she asked.

“Let me assure you, I am a very good boy.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her in a naughty sort of way.

Katie knew she’d walked right into that one. “I bet you are,” she responded, pretending he didn’t affect her.

After swishing their dishes clean in some warm water, they checked out the two closets off the hallway. The first one held towels, extra sheets and blankets, and a few games. Alex dug through the other closet.
 

“This might be our lucky day!” he called over his shoulder.

“What?” Katie tried to peek past him, but couldn’t see anything beyond broom handles and trash bags.

“Look.” He held out a black snowsuit with reflector tape strategically placed.

She eyed it with skepticism. “And how, exactly, does that make this our lucky day?”