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“Oh. Do you need me to come, too? I can help you—”
“No, no. That’s okay. You stay put.”
“So, there aren’t any problems?” Sam joked.
“No, there aren’t any problems.” My tone was probably a lot more serious than I intended it to be, but I really didn’t need Sam trying to come find me, not when I was purposely trying to keep my distance from him. A few seconds later and I was headed down a nearby hall, intending to find a satellite radio or a flashlight or anything, really, that would explain why I’d needed to leave the living room so suddenly.
Anything that would explain why I just couldn’t be around Sam right now.
3
SAM
Nature’s symphony.
I breathed in deeply as I relaxed against the couch. I’d originally thought Damon was just bullshitting me, back in the car, when he was trying to calm me down. But the longer I watched the storm, the more beautiful it seemed, the more every sight and sound blended together to form something downright poetic.
Honestly, I’d never understood those people who liked to listen to thunderstorms as white noise, at least, not until now.
How was this so soothing when I should’ve been terrified?
Maybe it was the company I was keeping.
I lightly laughed to myself as I shook my head. Even though I’d appreciated Damon managing to calm me down in the car, I knew whatever relationship we were going to have while I was here was going to be one hundred percent platonic. Yes, he was nice.
And yes, he was straight.
Which meant that I needed to let it go and stop filling my head with daydreams that were never going to come true in a million, billion years.
No matter how nice it was to think about sharing a bed with a hunky mountain man.
“Bad news,” Damon started, as he walked back into the living room. He was holding a satellite phone in his hand, with a grim expression on his face.
“Bad news? How? Is there something worse than the storm?” I tried to keep my tone calm, even as my heart was threatening to beat its way out of my chest.
“It’s actually not related to the storm, at all,” he replied, with a light shrug. “But I just noticed that our satellite phone is low on battery. And from what I can tell, we don’t exactly have a way of charging it, right now. Looks like a previous guest may have misplaced the charging cord.”
“Well, that’s not too bad, right? I mean, we still have our phones.”
“It’s more of an emergency preparedness thing. Satellite phones should always be charged. You never know when it’s going to be lights out, which means no charging phones, and no lines of communication."
Just then, Damon’s lips twisted into a small smile. “But… I didn’t come back in here just to freak you out. I have some good news, too.”
“Oh?”
“The good news is that it’s not lights out over at Wild Woods. I was able to get in touch with my team.” He nodded down toward the phone. “We may not be out of the woods just yet, but nothing’s on fire and everyone’s safe. That goes for the whole town, too. No accidents reported. No power lines down.”
“Oh, wow. That is good news.” I smiled back at him. “It’s so bad out there. I’m happy to know it’s not ruining anyone’s day. Or life.”
Damon flashed yet another small smile before he opened his mouth to speak. For a moment, he seemed to hesitate. “There’s… something else I need to tell you.”
“Hold on. Let me keep track. That was bad news, good news. So this… is medium news?”
“Very funny.” Damon playfully rolled his eyes. “Listen, I know I just gave you a whole speech about staying put, but I was thinking I might try to find a way back to the main resort—”
“What? In this storm?” I interrupted him before he could finish talking. “Are you serious right now? Have you looked outside?”
“I have. It’s just—” Damon stopped and started. “It’s not exactly protocol for me to stay here, even if the truck needs fixing.”
