by Anthology
“What do you mean?” Winnie asked.
“You said he was making bedroom eyes at you. What did you do next?”
“Well, it might have taken me a minute or two to catch up.” Winnie grinned. “But then I did what any woman would do when a guy like Brian makes bedroom eyes at you: I made them right back.”
Hannah laughed. “So step one: make bedroom eyes. What’s next?”
Winnie’s eyes lit up. “Are you going to take notes on this? Because if you want to come up with a plan for Li—”
“Hey, I think your phone is beeping.” Perfect timing in Hannah’s opinion.
Winnie lunged for her discarded coat to hunt for her phone. “Hopefully it’s Brian letting me know he finally made it home.” Biting her lip, Winnie studied her phone for a second before looking up. “It’s just my brother asking if I need anything.”
Hannah hadn’t realized how worried Winnie was about Brian making the twenty-five minute drive home from work; she hid it well. Hannah said, “I’m sure Brian is fine. It’s probably just taking longer to get home because he’s being really careful and driving very slow.”
“You’re probably right,” Winnie said.
And if she didn’t sound very convinced, Hannah couldn’t blame her. Her own fingers itched to call Liam and make sure he was safely inside somewhere. It’s the reason she’d turned her phone on vibrate and left it in the other room—to remove temptation.
A determined smile on her face now, Winnie continued, “How about dinner? I can whip up—”
Thud.
They both froze at the loud sound that came from the part of the house open to guests, toward the front.
“What was that?” Hannah strained her ears, listening for another sound but all she heard was the howling of the wind outside.
“Probably just something falling over.” But Winnie didn’t say anything else, as if she was listening for another sound, too.
“Then why are we whispering?”
Winnie just shrugged.
They sat in silence for a minute before Hannah shook her head. They were being silly. “Were you about to offer to make something delicious for dinner?”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
They both jumped at the loud knocking sound, and Winnie let out a small shriek.
Hannah laughed. Silly indeed. “It’s just somebody at the door.”
Winnie, however, did not look relieved. “Yeah, but whoever is out in this weather has to be crazy.”
“Or just in need of a place to stay? This is a bed and breakfast, after all.” Hannah started to get up.
“Oh, all right. Don’t get up. I’ll go answer it. But I’m taking…” Winnie looked around before grabbing the fire-poker. “This with me.”
“Wonderful. ‘Welcome to Callie’s B&B, where we always greet our guests as if they’re serial killers.’”
“You said it, not me.”
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Winnie grumbled, “Ok, ok. I’m coming.”
But maybe Winnie’s suspicion had rubbed off on Hannah some, or the isolating feel of the impending whiteout had gotten to her, or the howling of the wind was creeping her out, because Hannah carefully stood up and said, “I’ll hop along with you. Strength in numbers.” She sent Winnie a weak smile.
“If I need help from a gimp, we’re really in trouble.” But Winnie slipped her arm under Hannah’s and helped her hop out into the hallway, fire-poker in her other hand. “I’m pretty sure this is the part of the movie where the audience is shouting at the characters not to do whatever it is they’re about to do.”
“You watch too many movies. We’re just being silly,” Hannah said, as much for herself as she did for Winnie.
“Maybe. But Brian was yammering on and on this morning about crime statistics and snow storms.”
“I’d think there’d be less crime, not more. What did he say exactly?” They were making slow progress toward the front door. In the dim hallway light, Hannah could see when Winnie’s cheeks flushed.
Winnie said, “Well, I don’t know exactly. I know he was talking about that kind of stuff, and my brain linked criminals and snowstorms together, but honestly, I just…spaced.” At Hannah’s look, Winnie continued, “I couldn’t help it! He was drinking coffee without a shirt on and a girl can’t concentrate with all that muscly goodness twinkling at her.”
Hannah bit back a giggle. “Twinkling?”
Winnie snickered. “He’d just gotten out of the shower, but yeah ok, maybe don’t ever tell Brian I said that part. And just you wait until you’re faced with the naked, ripped chest of the man you love. I bet your brain will leak out of your ears.”
Hannah wasn’t going to touch that thought for a variety of reasons. Mostly because that last bit was just gross.
They were almost to the front door when whoever it was banged their fist against the door a third time. Hannah hopped faster. “Whoever it is, they’re probably frozen solid.”
Winnie opened the glass door to the vestibule and Hannah winced at the smack of cold air as they crossed the ten feet or so to the front door.
“Hold on a second.” Winnie walked over to the side window next to the door, cupped her hands around her eyes and peered out, before stumbling back. “Dude, I don’t want to alarm you or anything, but Bigfoot’s on the front porch.”
“Now why would that possibly alarm me?” Hannah hobbled forward and reached for the doorknob before the poor person out there froze to death. She’d barely turned the knob when it blew open, knocking Hannah back into Winnie, who staggered at the impact.
Heavy snowflakes were swirling around as fast as the wind could blow them. If the full brunt of the storm hadn’t hit yet, it wouldn’t be long now. And there was a big, hulking creature at the doorstep, covered in white.
At least that’s what it seemed like until the creature raised its head, its hood falling back some, and stared at Hannah with glittering, green eyes. Eyes she would recognize anywhere. Eyes that had invaded her dreams recently.
“Liam!” Hannah gasped.
And then she and Winnie did their best to yank Liam inside because he seemed incapable of moving. Winnie struggled to shut the door against the wind and Hannah hurriedly brushed as much snow off of him as possible.
“Why didn’t you use your key?” Hannah asked as she peeled his soaked gloves off. His skin was freezing, and she chafed his large, rough hands between her own.
“Dropped ‘em,” he said through gritted teeth, as if he could hold back the shivers that Hannah could see slightly shaking his tall frame.
Winnie pulled off his coat and glanced down at his pants. “You’re clothes are soaked. What’d you do, fall into a snowbank?”
“Yes.” He crossed his arms over his chest and clamped his hands under his armpit. His shivering increased.
Hannah wanted to help him strip, snuggle right up against him, wrap her arms around him, and see what kind of heat they could generate between their naked skin.
But this was nothing a lukewarm shower couldn’t fix, so she shut down any wayward sexy thoughts and made herself take a step back.
Well, a hop, anyways.
And there wasn’t really anything less sexy than hopping like a bunny on an ankle the size of a grapefruit, was there?
“Winnie? He needs to get in a shower. And I can’t… ” Hannah gestured toward Liam. She couldn’t help him with that, couldn’t go there. And it wasn’t because of her ankle.
“Right.” Winnie’s tone said she had an idea of what Hannah meant. Turning to Liam, she tugged on his arm. “Come on, I’ll help you up to the shower. And let’s not tell Brian that this act of charity involved another man, naked, ok?”
But at that, Liam lurched away from Winnie’s grip. “I’m fine,” he ground out, and with that he made his way somewhat unsteadily across the foyer to the staircase, Winnie and Hannah following slowly behind.
Stopping at the foot of the stairs to watch him climb, Winnie said quietly to Hannah, “H
e’s going to be fine. His male pride didn’t freeze over.”
Act of charity, indeed. “At least you stopped short of telling him you’d help him into a bath. Like you would your grandmother.”
They both laughed at that.
And then it hit Hannah that now she’d be stuck with Liam in the B&B for as long as the storm raged. No leaving, no avoiding him, no preserving her sanity.
Hannah decided she would rather it have been Bigfoot on the other side of the door.
Chapter Two
Winnie gathered up Liam’s things and went to go hang them up, before making a trip upstairs to grab his soaked clothes so she could throw them into the dryer. Meanwhile, Hannah made her way back to the family room in the back of the house. She settled on the couch, grateful to be off her ankle again, and refused to think about Liam upstairs in one of the bathrooms, stripping off his clothes, getting into the shower, the water hitting naked skin and sliding down his body…
Nope, she was not going to think about that at all.
She and Liam were just friends, she reminded herself. That’s all they could be. She’d worked too hard to rebuild her life here in Bliss Harbor after her divorce, to find balance and contentment, and forge friendships she counted on. And there wasn’t a friendship she counted on more than her friendship with Liam. She wasn’t going to risk any of that to change things.
But things have already changed.
Hannah tried to ignore that frequent whisper in the back of her mind, but it was getting harder and harder to. She hadn’t wanted things to change.
Just over three years ago, she’d arrived in town determined to start anew and carefully hide the emotional bruises from the life she’d left behind. But her sister hovered and worried, and her new friends carefully avoided the topic of Hannah’s failed marriage. The real healing didn’t begin until one day when Liam O’Callaghan had stopped by the B&B to have coffee with his aunt, but she was out and he ended up having coffee with Hannah instead. They were virtual strangers, but they’d ended up talking for hours.
Also recently divorced, Liam understood what Hannah was going through more than anyone else in this town. He understood the frustration of trying to make a floundering marriage work, and the feeling of failure when you just couldn’t. He understood how hurtful it was to live in a house with someone who, day by day, became a stranger and the life they built together broke down. And he, more than anyone, understood that it would be quite some time before she was ready to let someone in and trust herself enough to think she could make it work the next time.
If she ever was able to trust herself again.
Neither one of them was ready for another relationship, it hadn’t been something that even occurred to Hannah at the time, and they settled firmly into the friend zone. One chat turned into two and two turned into three, and then three chats turned into grabbing lunch here or going to a movie there. He’d dragged her fishing and she’d taken him jogging. She’d started keeping the beer he liked in her private fridge at the B&B and he’d started keeping her favorite bottle of wine at his place. She’d prodded him to open up about his own marriage and why it hadn’t worked, and he’d spent hours listening to her talk about hers. The hints from family and friends that they should be dating each other grew increasingly less subtle, but it wasn’t about that.
It was about friendship, about building a connection with someone you could trust, about feeling safe with them without any of the uncertainty or drama that comes with romantic relationships.
And for almost three years, that’s all it was. And everything was great.
Until last month.
In the time Hannah had known Liam, he hadn’t mentioned any other woman besides his ex-wife. If Hannah thought about it at all, she figured maybe he met a woman here or there closer to where he worked in Watertown. But then last month, Liam had gone on a date. In Bliss Harbor. Where Hannah couldn’t escape the knowledge.
She spent three whole days afterwards sick to her stomach, unable to sleep, and inexplicably angry at him, before it finally hit her—somewhere along the way, without meaning to, Hannah had fallen in love with Liam. Her heart didn’t want him dating anyone but her, but her mind knew that the friendship they had was too special to mess with, especially with her track record. So she didn’t say anything.
And after that, if she made sure she was busy when he stopped by, or if half the time she didn’t answer when he called her, he didn’t say anything either.
Everything would be almost like normal if she could just stop thinking about what he’d look like naked.
Just then, Hannah heard Winnie race down the hallway toward the front door, followed by a squeal. Hannah hopped out into the hallway to make sure Bigfoot hadn’t gotten in after all, and pulled up short at the sight of Winnie and Brian in a passionate embrace.
Sighing wistfully, Hannah gave them a few minutes to be alone and then limped down the hallway to say hello. She smiled at Brian, who obviously had managed to stay out of any snowbanks because he didn’t look nearly as frozen as Liam had. She said, “I told Winnie you’d be fine. How bad was the driving?”
“Well, it’s not great, but I don’t think the worst of it has hit yet.” Brian glanced down at Winnie, who was attached to his side like she never intended to let go. “I’m just glad I didn’t get stuck in Watertown.”
“Me too.” And Hannah really was glad. Winnie and Brian would be the only buffer between herself and Liam—the only way she was going to survive this. “Why don’t you get out of your coat and boots and stuff and we can take this party to the kitchen and figure out dinner?”
Winnie, who’d been content to snuggle against Brian’s side, a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth, straightened at that. “Actually, now that I know you won’t be alone here during the storm, Brian and I are going to head home.”
“Wait, what? I thought you were going to stay with me during the storm? Remember, friend of the year and all that?”
“Yeah, but that was before Liam showed up. You don’t need me now that he’s here.”
Oh, yes she did. Winnie had no idea how very much Hannah needed Winnie to be here. She could not, absolutely could not, stay here alone with Liam. Hannah said, “But what about the weather? You can’t go out in this.”
“It’s three blocks, and plus, like Brian said, the worst of it hasn’t even hit yet. We’ll be fine.” Winnie turned to Brian. “Let me just go grab my stuff.”
Hannah stared helplessly after Winnie before turning back to Brian. “You guys can’t leave. It’s dangerous!”
In more ways than one.
Brian rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, and didn’t meet her eyes. “Ah, well. When Winnie gets it into her head to do something, it’s almost impossible to stop her.”
True. But… “Can’t you put your foot down or something?”
Brian laughed. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that. Are you sure you know Winnie? At all?”
Before Hannah could answer, Winnie was back, wrapped snugly in all her winter attire. “Alright, let’s go while the getting’s still good.”
Desperate now, Hannah grabbed Winnie’s arm. “No! You can’t. I…um, I recently discovered that I’m…” Hannah paused, racking her brain, and Winnie raised an eyebrow in response. “Um, I’m…deathly allergic to Liam’s cologne.” Hannah tried not to wince at herself.
Winnie just smiled and pried Hannah’s fingers off of her arm. “Oh, Hannah. I don’t think you’ve known me nearly long enough because you would have tried for something better than that. I think his nice, long shower will take care of that, erm, problem, don’t you?”
Thinking about Liam in that nice, long shower was the problem.
“Wait! Winnie… please.” Hannah didn’t think Winnie looked like she was going to give in. “Brian?”
But he just held up his hands and said, “I’m staying out of this one. But if we’re going, we need to go now. I’ll go out and start the truck just in case.�
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Looking back to Winnie, Hannah said, “I need you to stay.”
“No, you don’t. I think you’ll be in very good hands.” Winnie winked at Hannah and walked to the door.
Hannah was not going to think of just how very good she imagined those hands to be. No, she was definitely not thinking of that. She said, “Then I’m coming with you.”
Laughing, Winnie turned and hugged Hannah quickly. “No, you’re not.” Winnie pulled back, serious for a moment. “My guess is you won’t want Liam asking why you’re so desperate to leave him behind.”
Hannah swallowed. Despite Winnie’s occasional joking and teasing about Liam, Hannah had thought she’d kept the true extent of her feelings for him well hidden.
Apparently Hannah would have to work on her emotional camouflage. Especially if she had any hope of getting through this storm with her friendship with Liam intact.
Winnie smiled. “Hey. Cheer up—you look like you’re marching to the guillotine. But someday you’re going to thank me. For all of it, I promise.”
Because of course Winnie was doing this on purpose. The matchmaking rat.
“If by thank you, you mean remember this until I think of suitable revenge, then yes. You’re right, I will,” Hannah said. “But drive home safely first, ok?”
Winnie grinned. “Sure thing. And remember what I said.”
“Bigfoot’s on the front porch?”
Winnie rolled her eyes. “The other thing I said—start with the bedroom eyes.” With that, Winnie was out the door and swallowed up by the swirling whiteness outside.
Hannah closed the door and hopped a few steps before leaning against the wall in the foyer, unsure what to do next or where she should be when Liam reappeared. Maybe she could tell him she was exhausted and she needed to go get some sleep.
At six o’clock in the evening.
Groaning, Hannah wondered how she was going to get through the next couple days stuck here alone with Liam without embarrassing herself or, worse, suggesting they go find a bed and get very naked together.
That would be a very bad idea. Just friends. She repeated the reminder.