Page 11 of All Snowed Gin

Eventually, she does let go, but not all the way. Leaning back a bit, she pauses, her face mere inches from mine, our eyes locked on one another. There’s power in her gaze, a burning that flashes through me. I don’t know this woman. I want nothing to do with her. But my body doesn’t seem to care. It has a mind of its own and is making a list of things it wants where she is concerned.

As she catches her bottom lip between her teeth, Rose’s irises darken. My heart jumps, my pulse quickening, but the rest of me is not so sure. Is this actually happening? No, she’s just confused. We both are. It’s been a long fucking day and neither of us knows how to react.

But then, Rose leans in a little. I follow her lead, feeling the pull. It hasn’t been that long since I kissed someone, but it’s been a long time since it felt like this, and in an instant, I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience. That doesn’t stop me though. I lean in farther. And then, it happens.

Rose yawns.

5

ROSE

Well, that was unexpected.

Both the yawn, and what it interrupted. The interruption was probably not a bad thing though. Kissing grumpy strangers who have taken you in out of the storm is not high on the Safe Girl 101 list. Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s something they directly advise against in Safe Girl 101.

I cover my mouth, sure my breath is borderline fierce after that stew, and push myself back into the armchair. I refuse to be embarrassed. Because being embarrassed would mean acknowledging what just happened and well, no. We’re not going there.

“Sorry…sleepy. Guess it’s probably bedtime,” I say, trying my best to sound nonchalant.

I have no idea what time it actually is, but at this point, who cares. Getting into bed sounds fabulous. Hunkering down and putting this day behind me is exactly what I need. I even have a couple of cute Christmas stories all loaded on my Kindle, ready to go.

“Yeah, yeah,” Pierce agrees, nodding. “It’s been a long day. I’m sure you’re exhausted and want to rest. So…I…errr…I’ll go get some linens for you.”

He’s on his feet, disappearing from the room faster than I can tell him that I’ll come with him and help. My ankle still hurts, but not as bad as before, and it can certainly bear weight now. We might be stuck like this for a couple of days, but I don’t want him thinking he has to wait on me. That’s only going to make this even weirder.

We need to erase the weird. How, I have no idea. Something else to muddle on while I lie in bed.

“Here.” Pierce holds up a stack of baby-blue sheets, piled neatly on top of a forest-green fleece blanket. They look soft and clean, making my body suddenly crave the feel of a bed. “These should fit the couch just fine.”

Wait…did he just say couch?

“Couch?” My voice croaks, betraying my surprise.

“Where did you think you were going to sleep?”

Where did I think I was going to sleep? Did this man slip something into his dinner and I just not notice? Or maybe there was something in mine and all of this is some wild hallucination. Maybe I’m already asleep, my mind tricking me into thinking that this is real life and the mysteriously sexy grumpopotamus in front of me is implying I’m going to sleep on the couch.

“A bed…”

“I don’t have any.”

“You don’t have any beds? Do you sleep in a hole in the ground? Suspended from the ceiling?”

Actually, that might make sense. I’ve somehow transported into some alternate universe and Pierce is really a bat. He sleeps in some unique contraption, tethering himself to the open rafters of this house.

Okay, Rose…now you’re starting to lose it.

“No, I sleep in a bed. But that’s the only one.”

One bed. One bed. One. Fucking. Bed. He cannot be serious.

I blink a couple of times. Hard. As if intermittently cutting off the view of him will magically make this make sense. He only has one bed. Like this is some sitcom trying to force a laugh.

“Just one? You live in this whole huge house, and only have one bed?”

“It’s just me; why do I need any more?” He furrows his brow at me, as if I just asked the stupidest question ever and he can’t believe he had to answer it.

I balk. And here I thought the worst was done for the day. Apparently not.