Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

K ira was less than pleased that she had to untangle herself from her blanket pile to go answer the door. She was all hunkered down in front of the fire, ready to sit out the storm. She’d already called Iris and the few farm hands from Logan’s and told them not to bother coming today. So who could possibly be at her door?

She pulled it open to find a scowling Bennett on her porch.

‘Uh… Hi.’

‘Here.’ He pushed a rusty old snow shovel into her hands, like he was either mad at her or the shovel. She couldn’t tell.

‘Thanks? Bennett … what are you still doing here?’

His frown deepened. His cheeks were red from the cold and his pants were soaked up to the knee. What the hell had he been doing since she left him over an hour ago?

He blew out a long sigh. ‘I … well … the book club showed up.’

‘The book club?’

‘Yeah.’ He shook his head, sending clumps of snow tumbling off his hat. ‘I just wanted to make sure you had a shovel for the morning.’ He winced like this whole conversation was killing him.

‘Oh.’

‘And I brought some salt, too.’ He glanced down at the bag by his feet and then clearly noticed the shovel and bucket of rock salt that was already next to the door. The one she’d bought yesterday on her trip to the hardware store. ‘Christ. You already have one…’ He huffed a brittle laugh.

‘Yep. My first one. Bought it yesterday.’ She gave him a smile, but he still looked like a man in pain. ‘I even called Logan. He’s going to clear the parking lot for me tomorrow once he digs himself out.’ She probably didn’t need to tell him all this and she definitely shouldn’t feel as proud of herself as she was, but she was . She was figuring shit out and … apparently, she wanted Bennett to know about it.

He nodded, still frowning, still not celebrating her ability to buy her own snow shovel. Rude. ‘That’s good. Uh … I’m glad you have it under control.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I should go.’

Kira’s heart sank. ‘You can’t go.’

‘I really should.’ He gave her a grim smile. ‘You don’t need me here.’

‘So?’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘What do you mean, “so”?’

‘So, what if I don’t need you. What if I just want you to stay?’

‘You want me to stay?’ Why did he sound so damn incredulous about that? Like she couldn’t possibly want him to stay if she didn’t have odd jobs for him to do? Did he really think she was that shitty of a person?

She was a reformed shitty person! Or trying to be, anyway.

‘For safety,’ she said, still wanting him to stay. Wanting to show him that she wasn’t a shitty person anymore.

She gestured around them, the snow swirling past the porch. ‘The storm.’

‘It’s not that bad.’

‘Look, Buffalo Man, just because you’re not scared of snow doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. I can’t in good conscience let you drive off in this.’

His gaze met hers and she didn’t know why he was so torn about this decision, but he clearly was. This man, who had pushed his way into her house to check her heat just a handful of days ago, now couldn’t seem to convince himself to cross the threshold.

Kira huffed. ‘You’re getting snow in my house. At least come in and have this decision-making crisis inside.’

Bennett blinked. Kira ignored the snowflakes glistening on his long eyelashes. Details like that were absolutely not helpful at the moment.

‘Sorry.’ He left his shovel next to hers and stepped inside. Not that it was much warmer in the drafty entryway, but Kira had solved that problem.

‘Leave your boots and coat there and follow me,’ she said, leading the way to the cozy nook she’d made in her living room. She pushed back the blanket she’d hung in the doorway separating the living room and the front hall. She had another one tacked up in the door between the living room and the kitchen. They helped keep the heat from the fire in the room. It was actually quite toasty.

Bennett stepped in after her. He looked around, taking in the roaring fire and the blankets— the clear lack of smoke or freezing temps, obviously throwing him for a loop. His mouth opened and closed in an attempt to speak but nothing came out.

Kira couldn’t help her smug smile.

See. She could do it. She could take care of herself.

‘Okay, take your pants off,’ she said, turning to him.

Bennett coughed. ‘Take my … what?’

‘Take. Your. Pants. Off,’ she said slowly, like he just hadn’t understood her and not that he was horrified at the suggestion. ‘They’re all wet. I’ll throw them in the drier. Probably your socks, too.’ She glanced down at his holly-printed socks.

When she looked up, a blush had crossed Bennett’s cheeks. He blushed?! Ugh, just when she’d decided not to seduce him, he had to go and blush like that? Unfair. Absolutely underhanded move.

‘I can’t just … sit here without pants on.’ He crossed his arms over his chest. ‘I’m fine like this.’

‘You’re not fine. You’re wet, you stubborn ass.’

A flare of excitement went off in her gut at his surprised expression. Why was it so fun to tease him?

‘I’ll get you something to put on,’ she said, hustling out of her grown-up blanket fort and up the stairs. It was a good twenty degrees colder up here, so she didn’t waste time grabbing something for Bennett to wear and heading back down again.

He still had his pants on when she reappeared. Disappointing.

‘Here. To preserve your modesty.’ She stuck the old bathrobe out between them, but Bennett just stared at it.

‘You want me to wear that?’ he said at last, taking in the very fuzzy pinkness of the whole thing.

‘It’s all I have that will fit you. It’s this or…’ she raised her eyebrows suggestively, ‘… or nothing.’

Bennett snatched it from her hand, his cheeks turning an even brighter red.

She laughed, tempted to stay and torment him a bit further, but she didn’t want to scare him off quite yet.

‘I’ll go make us some coffee while you change.’

The freezing temperature of her kitchen sobered her slightly while she waited for the coffee to brew. What exactly was she doing with this man? If she was trying to be a better person, it seemed important to examine her motives. But, like, quickly, because she was freezing her ass off out here.

She reached for two mugs and poured them both fresh coffee.

‘How do you take it?’ she called.

‘Milk and too much sugar for a grown man,’ he replied and she bit down on a smile.

Damn it. At some point, she started liking him.

What would her old self have done in this situation? If she could figure that out, she could just do the opposite and that would probably be what a decent human being would do.

Hmm. She didn’t actually know what her old self would have done in this situation, because her old self probably wouldn’t have invited the nice man in in the first place.

‘Do you need help out there?’ His voice came through the blanket again.

‘Nope, all good. Be out in a sec.’

Right. Okay. What were the facts here? She went over them as she poured milk into Bennett’s mug and heaped in two teaspoons of sugar.

Facts: It was snowing out. Probably dangerously so. There were actual safety concerns here.

On the other hand, she had very inconveniently started admitting to herself that she found Bennett attractive, and she’d managed to get him out of his pants. That sounded kinda manipulative. Kinda like something her old self would have done, decided she wanted something and then just taken it.

On the other hand, she hadn’t lured him in here under false pretenses or to do things for her.

She just liked him and didn’t want him to get hurt.

Holy crap! She was doing it! She was being a good person.

Kudos to me , she thought as she carried the mugs back through the blanket door. I’m being a better person and I get a buddy to sit out the storm with. Karma was finally back in her corner.

She looked up, half expecting Bennett to still be stubbornly wearing his wet pants. He wasn’t.

Any thoughts about being a good person, or being ‘buddies’ with him immediately left her brain at the sight of him sitting on her couch wearing her robe.

He looked … well, he looked absurd wrapped in pink fleece, but he also looked … ugh, he looked damn good. His hair was damp from the snow and curling slightly around his ears and his furious blush had lessened to a rosy glow. His eyes when they met hers were a stormy gray, but he was smiling again.

He’d taken off his pants and sweater and was left in a white T-shirt under her robe and whatever other undergarments he might be sporting that Kira definitely wasn’t thinking about.

She thunked the mugs onto the coffee table, sloshing hot liquid over the rim.

‘What’d you do with your clothes?’ she asked, ready to take another little break to put them into the drier.

‘I remembered where the drier was downstairs, so I just threw them in.’

‘Oh. Right. Good.’

‘Are you going to sit down?’ he asked, that little smirk returning. Apparently, whatever internal crisis he’d been having earlier had been resolved. But she was still hovering over the coffee table trying not to look at his legs or think about his underwear.

‘Uh … yep.’

She shoved some of the blankets away from the end of the couch and curled up in the corner. She’d taken to sleeping down here in her warm nest and the blanket and pillow situation had gotten a little out of control.

‘Where are the dogs?’ she asked once she was settled as far away from Bennett’s naked legs as she could get. It would help to have a few furry bodies between them right now.

‘I sent them home with Jacob.’

‘Jacob? Oh … yeah. Why exactly was the book club here?’

Bennett rolled his eyes like he was just as befuddled by the Dream Harbor Book Club as she was. She’d run into them once at the bookstore and had avoided them ever since.

‘They came for Christmas trees, but you were closed so they went by the honor system.’

‘Honor system?! Did they steal my trees?’

Bennett laughed at her outraged tone. ‘No. Here you go,’ he pulled a wad of cash from the pocket of the robe. ‘They left money.’

‘Oh, well in that case…’ She smiled. ‘I hope they had a lovely experience.’

‘They seemed to enjoy themselves.’

‘And you stayed to…?’

He smiled ruefully, shaking his head like he was disappointed in himself. ‘I thought I should. Just to make sure…’

‘To make sure the book-club party didn’t trash the place?’ she asked with a teasing smile.

He laughed. ‘They seem like they can get wild.’

‘I believe it.’

He held her gaze. ‘And I wanted to make sure you were okay. With the storm and everything.’

‘I am.’

‘Clearly.’

‘But I’m glad you’re here anyway.’

His lips curled up, that beautiful, perfect smile directed right at her, and the room got warmer. ‘Me, too.’

‘So you’ll stay?’

His gaze slipped and landed on her mouth for just a breath before tracking up to her eyes again. She had been right, after all. He did feel it too.

‘Yeah, I’ll stay.’

And now that they were stuck here together for as long as this storm lasted. Kira found herself hoping the weather wouldn’t clear up anytime soon.