“Maybe he wasn’t in there earlier,” Nathan said, glancing out the kitchen window. “He might’ve made a hole to get in and out.” He peered out into the snow still coming down so thick he could barely see, and then he saw the bear walking away towards the trees. “Yep. There he is. He was probably who was rattling the back door.” Unless there was more than one of them out there, which was very possible. Only he wouldn’t mention that to Aiyanna. She seemed frightened enough.
He turned to the front room and saw her sitting on the sofa, her face buried in her hands. “Hey,” he said as he started toward her. “You okay?” She shook her head but kept her face buried in her hands. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“No,” she said, and he could hear in her voice that she was crying. “Just scared the hell out of me like you did. I swear this has been the most fucked week of my life.”
He sat down across from her, somewhat amused to hear her use the profanity, considering she’d said freakin’ earlier. She didn’t strike him as someone who cursed so effortlessly. So this meant she must’ve really had a bad week.
Normally he wasn’t one to offer a shoulder to cry on to emotional girls he barely knew, but given the circumstances, he figured what else was there to do? “You wanna talk about it?”
She shook her head again but finally looked up, wiping her face with the back of her long sleeve. Her soaked eyes made her appear even more vulnerable than she had earlier when she scurried around the cabin, pointing the frying pan at him.
“I just hope this new year changes things around.”
“Yeah.” He smiled, sitting back and feeling bittersweet. “You and me both.”
Wiping away some more tears, she nodded, still looking so sad he was almost tempted to hug her, but he knew better. She’d already had two good scares tonight. No need to make her worry she had a possible sexual predator to deal with tonight too.
“I got the heater to work,” he offered.
Her eyes brightened slightly. “You did?”
“Yep, not that that old-ass wall heater is going to warm us up too much, but between it and the fire place, I think we’ll be alright.”
She fell back against the sofa, lacing her fingers and bringing them over her head so they rested on her forehead, and exhaled loudly.
“That bad, huh?” He peered at her curiously now.
She sat up suddenly and surprised him when she smiled. “I know.” She stood up. “I was gonna save it for New Year’s Eve, but I brought two bottles, so what the heck? I think my nerves could use it tonight. “She turned to him as she reached the fridge. “You want some champagne?”
Nathan got up and walked into the kitchen. “Sure, why not?”
He hopped on the counter facing her as she brought out the frozen berries from the freezer. “You know what?” she said as she handed him the bottle. “Maybe you should open this. The way my week has gone so far I’ll probably take an eye out.”
Nathan took it from her with a chuckle. After carefully undoing the top and popping it open without any casualties, he poured it into the plastic champagne flutes Aiyanna held out for him. She then added the berries. Nathan held his up, eyeing the berries in the bubbly.
“I’m from Southern California too,” she said, surprising him yet again.
“Really?” For some reason, that made him smile. “What part of Southern Cal?”
“Temecula,” she said with a smile, and he was glad to see her mood had turned around.
“No shit,” he said, smiling even bigger. “That’s San Diego County too, right?”
“Nope, I’m in Riverside County.”
“Ah, that’s right.” He nodded. “But that’s like right on the tip. We’re still practically neighbors.”
“Yeah, I’ve driven through San Diego plenty of times. Which part of San Diego are you in?”
“Point Bliss.”
“Oh wow. Fancy.” She held her champagne flute up. “To being neighbors.”
“To being neighbors,” he said, tapping his flute against hers and taking a sip of his champagne. “What are the odds that two Southern Californians would meet the way we did out here in butt fuck nowhere Colorado?”
“I know, right?” She sipped her champagne before tilting her head and getting comfortable on the single barstool in the kitchen that looked like something from the seventies. “No offense, but how can you afford Point Bliss on a firefighter’s salary? I thought there were nothing but major mansions there.”
He pointed his flute at her, nodding. “Here’s a little fun fact about me for you. You know anything about baseball?”
“The game?”
“The major leagues.”
“Yes! I love my Angels.”
Nathan pinched his nose then gave her a thumbs down, and she laughed, rolling her eyes. “Obviously, you’re a Padres fan,” she said, smiling.
“Yeah, but not just because I live in San Diego County. My brother plays for them.”
She stared at him blankly for a moment as if she was trying to figure out if he was pulling her leg. Then her eyes went wide. Her hand went over her mouth. “Romero?” she asked and he nodded with a smirk. “Rage Romero is your . . .?” Her eyes went even wider. “Oh my God, you look just like him.”
“Well, we prefer to call him AJ,” he said, nodding again. “But yeah, that’s my kid brother, so there is a resemblance.”
He didn’t think those big hazel eyes could get any bigger, but they did, and she got off the barstool. “I hit The-Hottie-With-The-Body’s brother over the head with a frying pan. Oh my God!”
That made Nathan laugh. “The who?”
“That’s what my friends and I call him.”
She put her champagne down and rushed through the front room to what Nathan now assumed was the cabin’s bedroom. Probably the only bedroom, considering the size of this place. She rushed back, holding her phone. “I have to take a picture of you. My friends are never gonna believe this.”
She stopped to look at him, this time a little more dreamy-eyed than she had all night, but instead of embracing it, it irritated him. Now she was feeling dreamy-eyed?
“I can’t get over how much you look like him, and I hadn’t even thought about it. My sister had a Rage poster in her room forever. We called her a traitor. Though we didn’t mind the poster so much. It’s the one of him shirtless, holding a bat over his shoulders and—”
“Yeah, I know which one you’re talking about,” he said, feeling even more irritated by how giddy she suddenly was now, considering she’d been in tears not too long ago.
Once again she surprised him when she hopped on the counter next to him then leaned into him and held her phone up in front of them. “Say cheese.”
Nathan knew his irritation had nothing to do with Aiyanna being excited about his brother. This was typical behavior. Even though AJ was married now, the girls still went wild for him. It’s what this reminded him of that was irritating: a girl he was attracted to, being more into his brother. Though the smell of her hair now that she was so close was distracting him a little.
“One more,” she said, holding her phone up again, this time taking the clip out of her hair and letting her hair down, making the fragrance all the more intense. “I didn’t like the dumb look on my face in the last one, and my hair was up in that messy bun.”
“What’s that I smell in your hair?” he asked when she was done taking the picture.
She turned to face him, and their faces were so close they froze. They were caught in each other’s eyes for a moment, until she cleared her throat and hopped off the counter. “It’s, uh, coconut. I don’t like traveling with expensive shampoo because I tend to forget it in hotel showers and stuff, so I bought a bottle of the cheap stuff when I left this morning. I was so bored being stuck here today, especially after the cable went out. I took an extra-long hot shower and maybe overdid it with the conditioner.” She grabbed a strand of her hair and brought it to her nose. “Why? Does it smell funky?
”
“No, not at all. It smells good, actually.”
Her timid smile made him grin, and she glanced away when he felt himself getting caught in her eyes again. He watched as she poured more champagne in her flute and then more in his.
Nathan was still distracted by the visual of her taking a long hot shower. Aiyanna wasn’t a natural beauty by any means. So far there’d been nothing that really popped out at him other than her big hazel eyes and the surprise of her hair being so golden when she let it down. Of course, under the circumstances, she wasn’t dressed to impress anyone, and she wore no makeup at all. With her being cooped up in this cabin all day in the middle of a snowstorm not expecting to see anyone, it made sense why she’d be in her frumpy oversized sweat suit too. But the longer he was able to scrutinize her, the more he realized there was more to her than met the eye.
“As soon as I can get some reception, I’m posting this on my social media, unless”—she glanced up at him from her phone screen— “you have a wife or girlfriend you think might object.”
Their eyes met again, and Nathan could see now there was definitely more to Aiyanna than met the eyes. Even without makeup, there was something profoundly refreshing about the expressions she made when she stared at him like she was now.
“I’m on my way to spend New Year’s with my buddies in Aspen.” He smiled. “What do you think?”
She put her phone down and got back on the old barstool. “Tell me about having such a famous brother.”
Nathan shook off the unreasonable irritation and told her about him. They spoke of AJ for a while and what it had been like growing up with such a talented brother. The bottle of champagne lasted much longer than Nathan expected with Aiyanna explaining she wasn’t much of a drinker, so she sipped very slowly. Since Nathan wasn’t big on champagne, he sipped just as slowly.
Nathan made her promise she wouldn’t tell anyone about the inside scoop he gave her about AJ’s heavily publicized feud with Bigsby—a catcher from a different team. Seeing her eyes go so wide was something Nathan had quickly become a fan of.
It pleased Nathan how fast he’d been able to turn his pan-yielding enemy into an entertaining companion for the night. She’d gone from threatening to hit him over the head again to crying to now laughing.
Granted, the champagne probably had a lot to do with how easily and wholeheartedly she was cracking up now. She wasn’t lying when she said she was a lightweight. But another thing about her had instantly grown on him—her laugh. It was the sweetest most contagious laugh he’d ever heard.
Aiyanna was in the middle of trying to get through a story, but she kept laughing so much she couldn’t do it. The power went off, and the laughter was replaced with a gasp. They were quiet for a few seconds, and then unbelievably, he heard her laugh again. “Can you believe the week I’m having. Oh my God!”
“Hey, it’s late, right?” he said, trying to say something positive before she got down about her week again. “We were probably going to shut everything down soon anyway.”
He hopped off the counter, feeling his way around, and pulled his own phone out of his pocket. Using the light from his phone, he illuminated the kitchen, reaching out for Aiyanna’s hand to help her off the stool safely. Instead of letting go of his hand, she squeezed it tightly as she followed him into the front room, which was still somewhat lit up by the fire.
“I take it this is a one-bedroom cabin.”
“Yes, but there’s a bed and bunk beds in that little bedroom. According to the online description, they claim it’s a queen. I sleep on a queen at home, and I slept on that one last night. That is no queen bed.”
“And you’re cool with me sleeping in the same room with you?” Nathan asked as they walked to the bedroom. “Because I could sleep out here on the sofa.”
“Are you kidding me? Between the rattling of the back door, the bear, and now the power going off, I would’ve been dying here tonight by myself. I want you in there with me.” She sighed. “I don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I thought I’d be okay by myself for one night.”
It shouldn’t have, especially because her new boyfriend would be here tomorrow, but that pleased Nathan just a little too much. They walked into the bedroom and it felt like an icebox.
“Oh, I forgot about that,” she said, holding her own phone up as Nathan took in the tiny space and the beds jammed in the room. Her ex meant to impress her with this dump? “It was freezing in here last night too, but I thought maybe because you got the heater on it wouldn’t be so bad tonight.”
Nathan frowned. “I guess that shitty heater only warms the front room.”
One of the other things he’d noticed when she first illuminated the room was that neither one of the bunk beds had blankets. Just a pillow each.
“I used all the blankets from both bunks last night,” she explained. “But I’ll split them with you now.”
“No, that’s cool,” Nathan said, remembering his snow jacket he’d hung by the fireplace.
He’d also hung his jeans when he changed into a pair of basketball shorts. But he’d since changed back into his jeans because they were much warmer. If his jeans had dried, so had his jacket.
“My jacket’s probably dry by now. I’ll just wear that to bed.”
“No,” she insisted, already moving blankets around on her bed. “Don’t be silly. I don’t need all these.”
“You needed them last night. And it probably wasn’t nearly as cold as tonight. I’ll wear my jacket. You keep the blankets.”
She tugged his hand, refusing to let him walk back into the front room. “We could also just share this bed if you can get past any weirdness,” she said, spiking his heart rate suddenly. “We’re both fully dressed, and isn’t body heat the best thing for hypothermia, Mr. Rescue?”
He didn’t say anything at first; then he remembered something. “Your boyfriend won’t have an issue, knowing we shared a bed?”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
Unlike earlier when he attempted to refrain from smirking at her mention of switching New Year’s dates so quickly, he didn’t bother to now. Mostly because he was fairly certain it was too dark for her to see his expressions. But also because, even before he’d gotten to know her, she hadn’t struck him as one of those girls. Yet, here she was proving him otherwise.
“Alright, whatever you call the guy coming to spend a romantic New Year’s with you here. Won’t he mind?’’
“Who said anything about romantic?” she asked, letting go of his hand finally to fix the blankets she’d begun to separate. “He’s just my friend.”
Nathan almost laughed. So she was one of those girls. Nathan wasn’t sure which was more amusing. “So your friend agreed to spend the holiday alone with you here, and you really think he’s not expecting to sleep with you?”
“He probably will if it’s as cold tomorrow as it is tonight, but I’d never sleep, sleep with him. He’s my best friend.”
Not sure if he should laugh or be disappointed, Nathan stared at her. After getting to know her a little more tonight, he would’ve never pegged her as one of those naïve girls. Did she honestly think a guy—friend or not—would choose to spend a holiday like New Year’s Eve away from his family or other girlfriends he might get lucky with if he didn’t think he’d be getting lucky with her?
Before he could respond to that, she added something even more eye-opening. “Technically, I have two best friends, Scott and Sam.”
Nathan stared at her in disbelief. Everything about her up until now had said nice girl. Did she collect guy friends? She had to be joking about the best-friends thing. Maybe that was code for fuck buddy or something? As surprising as this was, who the hell was he to care what she did after he left tomorrow?
Even in the dimly lit room she must’ve seen the utter incredulity in his eyes because she smirked and added, “Samantha that is, but Scott and I go back way longer.”
That made a little more sense.
Nathan still didn’t buy for a second that Scott wasn’t coming here without at least hoping he might get lucky. But if Nathan was right about the fuck-buddy thing, then it made absolute sense that the guy would be willing to spend the holiday alone with her. “Well, if you don’t think Scott’s gonna mind, I don’t have a problem sharing the bed with you.”
“Good,” she said, taking his hand again and tugging him in the direction of the other room. “The dark sort of freaks me out, and I need to brush my teeth.”
“Oh, yeah, let me grab my bag to get my stuff.”
Once again, she didn’t let go of his hand. Instead, she followed him out to the front room. She yelped then giggled when they walked into the front room, explaining at first glimpse she thought his jacket hanging by the fireplace was the bear again.
It was almost disappointing that they’d be parting ways tomorrow. But no way would he even consider sticking around and hanging with her and her best friend.
They brushed their teeth, and Nathan took off his shoes, the only part of his clothing he’d be taking off. Aiyanna took her shoes off as well but nothing else, and they climbed in under the heavy layer of blankets she’d fixed for them.
At first, they each kept to their own side of the bed. But within fifteen minutes, even the heavy stack of blankets wasn’t doing much about the bone-chilling cold. Nathan was sure there was a draft in one of the old-ass windows. He was beginning to consider getting his jacket and sleeping with that even as he shared a bed with her, until he felt her cuddle up next to his arm.
“N-not trying to get frisky or anything. I swear,” she said as her teeth chattered. “I just need body heat. It is way colder tonight than it was last night.”
This was ridiculous. It was freezing, and if she didn’t mind, he sure as hell didn’t. He turned to his side. “Turn that way,” he said, bringing an arm under her neck as she did what he asked.
As soon as her back was to him, he brought his arm around her and pulled her even closer to him. It felt too damn perfect, and with her hair in his face, that heavenly scent he’d smelled earlier might be the end of him. Feeling what was underneath all those layers of clothes, might also drive him a little nuts.