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He hadn’t actually given me permission to use his first name, but if the man was staying with me there was no way I was going to keep calling him ‘Mr. Holly’.

“Feel free to come on up whenever you want to. It’s just up the stairs. I’ll leave the door open.”

He stood up abruptly, his arms going over his head to stretch. The movement made the sweater he was wearing rise up, but unfortunately it just revealed a tee shirt below, not any abs. He had the shape of a man who’d have good abs. I stifled my disappointment and chastised myself for looking.

“I’ll come with you now, if that’s okay,” he asked as if it pained him to talk to me. “I could use a break.”

“Suit yourself.”

He gathered his belongings, stuffing them into a laptop bag, and followed me upstairs. After crossing the mezzanine, we reached the door to my apartment. I opened the door and Nathan entered the space and looked around curiously. His sharp eyes took in the comfortable furniture, family pictures, and the Christmas decorations I’d put up last weekend. I loved Christmas, and between the upstairs and downstairs area, I’d used every Christmas decoration I could get my hands on.

“Nice place,” he said stiffly, as if he were speaking from politeness rather than a genuine appreciation for my decorating skills. “Very...festive.”

It was ironic that a guy with the last name of Holly seemed to hate Christmas, but that was certainly on brand with his winning personality.

“I like it,” I responded. “It’s home now.”

Last year just a few days before Christmas my husband had served me with divorce papers. Even though our marriage had died years ago, I’d still been shocked. With how much time he spent working on his business, I wasn’t sure how he’d even had time to meet someone else, let alone fall in love. The divorce had been like our marriage: cold but polite. I’d kept the house in the settlement, partly because once the news got out about his cheating with a barely legal girl he’d become a pariah in town.

We’d sold our business and he used his share to buy me out of the house. I’d promptly sold the house to purchase the building where the café and my apartment were now located. It wasn’t like I needed to rattle around a big old empty house anyway. Not when it was just me now.

I walked past Nathan to the narrow hallway. “You’ll be staying in this first bedroom.”

He followed me into the guest room, which consisted of a twin bed and a battered dresser and nothing else. I resisted the urge to apologize for the spartan accommodations. I’d intended to set the room up for when one of my kids came to visit, but since neither of them were coming for the holiday, I hadn’t gotten around to doing anything else with the space. The café was taking most of my time right now.

I walked to the closet, reaching up to the shelf to grab some clean sheets and a blanket. When I turned around Nathan was right behind me, close enough that I could smell the faint scent of pine. I wondered idly if it was his soap or aftershave.

Our eyes met and the air suddenly felt charged. Yeah, there was definitely a vibe between us, but there was no way I was going to act on it. I mentally shook myself, then raised my eyebrows at him when he continued to stand there staring at me. He stepped back, his hands in front of him, palms facing me in that way people did to show that they weren’t armed.

“Sorry, I thought you’d need help reaching that shelf.”

Ignoring him, I walked over to set the sheets and blankets on the bed. He could make the bed himself. I wasn’t running a hotel here.

“The bathroom is right next door,” I pointed to the wall. “There are towels in the cabinet in there, and you’ll find toothpaste, razors, and extra toothbrushes in the drawer next to the sink if you need them. The bedroom at the end of the hall is mine.”

Why I felt compelled to point that out I didn’t know. It wasn’t like he was going to be in there.

“I’m going to go see what I can make us for dinner. I want to cook now in case the power goes out with all this wind. Make yourself at home.”

When he just stood there staring at me I griped, “You’re welcome,” and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind me.

Nathan

I’d never done well in situations where I felt uncomfortable. I liked structure and order. I liked to know what to expect. It didn’t take a therapist to figure out my rigid personality was a reaction to the chaos of my childhood. Knowing it and being able to do something about it were two different things.

My current situation was so far outside my comfort zone I’d need a map to get back there.

Trapped in a town in the mountains and staying with a stranger who clearly didn’t like me, that was bad enough. But realizing that I’d fallen in love with the stranger the minute I set eyes on her? There wasn’t enough anti-anxiety meds in the world to deal with this. Not that I had any with me anyway.

I spread the sheets on the bed, then pulled the blanket over the top before sitting down and pulling my phone out of my pocket. My sister Stephanie often popped over to my apartment. I needed to let her know where I was so she wouldn’t worry.

Nathan: Hey, I’m going to be out of town for a day or two

Steph: Are you traveling for work?

Nathan: Kind of. I came to this small town called Pine Bluff to do a permit appeal site visit and I got trapped by a blizzard. The only road out of town is closed.

Steph: You must be at a high elevation, it’s only raining down here.