St. Elmo

by Skye McNeil

  Since she was using miles from her credit card for the flight, her seat wasn’t first class like Jessie and Asher, but it did give her a disturbing view of Jared and Erin. She jammed earbuds in her ears and cranked up the sultry sound of Justin Timberlake. Sure, she liked Jared, but they wouldn’t work. And yet…

  The airplane attendant pushed his cart on wheels down the aisle and stopped beside her row. After receiving the small glass of tomato juice—her usual when flying—she opted for a bag of cheddar flavored chips and a bag of chocolate candy. It wasn’t a Twinkie, but she packed plenty of those in her checked bag.

  The man wearing a blue uniform with the airline’s name on the left breast smiled then kept on his route toward the end of the plane. He was cute, but not stop everything and stare at his ass while he walks away cute. Bobbi shrugged and opened her treats. She wasn’t sure when she realized she harbored more than anger toward the dapper Ranger, but she did want to make his Christmas list, even if just for this year alone.

  Diving into the bright red page decorated with holly and sleigh bells, she read,

  Step 1: Make his favorite food.

  She frowned. Though they spent time together, she didn’t know him very well.

  Step 2: Make him laugh.

  She smirked. Psh, easy. Next.

  Step 3: Be a little hard to get. Make him jealous, but not crazy.

  Bobbi’s index finger tapped against the armrest. If she resolved to do these, it’d mean treading water alongside the soldier with a hint of a beard on his face. It was obvious he meant to shave earlier in the morning, but she wouldn’t get out of the bathroom in time. Jared’s deep chuckle drifted above the song. The sound made her shiver. It was too sexy to be legal. Yes, JT, he’s bringing sexy back even more than you.

  Step 4: Be vulnerable—let him protect you.

  “Should be easy enough in the mountains.” If the weather didn’t make a person vulnerable, the wildlife would.

  Step 5: Wear his clothes— by accident.

  She didn’t think it’d be difficult. The man shed layers like candy wrappers. Bobbi swung her eyes up to Jared’s spot and smirked at the sweatshirt resting on the back of his seat. Case and point.

  Step 6: Be adventurous.

  “Well, we are going to Colorado. Plenty of adventures waiting there.” It was then that she was glad there wasn’t another person in the seat beside her. At this rate, they’d think she was crazy from all the talking she’d done with herself.

  Step 7: Eat junk food.

  “Done and done.” She popped a potato chip in her mouth. Junk food was one of her more favorite vices. It was also the one keeping her from being a twig like her sister. She didn’t care though. Her body was perfect, whether Victoria’s Secret models thought so or not.

  Step 8: Walk around in just lingerie.

  The tomato juice slid through the wrong pipe, and she sputtered, dabbing her mouth with the tiny napkin. Lingerie? As in sexy stuff?

  Jared poked his head over the top of the chair, a concerned expression written on his face. Bobbi waved him off and was grateful when he didn’t linger. She cleared her throat and went over the items she packed for the trip. Yeah, there wasn’t anything that could be classified as lingerie or sexy in her suitcase. We’ll just skip it.

  She quickly read the last two points in the article and wished the flight attendant had put a bit of vodka in her cup.

  Step 9: Be your fabulous self and smell good!

  Step 10: Give him freedom, but let him know you want him.

  Fanning her face, Bobbi ignored the facial expression on the woman across the aisle. No doubt, she thought Bobbi was coming down with something the way she choked on things and had sweat lining her brow.

  “Ten steps to Jared. This will be easy-peasy.” Her eyes dipped on the list, and she felt her hands clam. “Or not.”

  The airline crew picked up trash, signaling their descent. Pits sweaty and heart pounding, Bobbi wasn’t certain if the Ranger was worth all the trouble. Hell, she barely knew if she would go through with it all. Stupid Clara and her cockamamie ideas.

  Jared stood and spun around. His brilliant green eyes found hers within seconds. Almost as if she was all he wanted to see. He offered a lazy grin her way and then sat back down.

  “Hot damn.” Bobbi let out a long, steady breath. “Yeah, he’s worth the trouble and some.”

  The lady across the aisle chuckled. “They usually are.”

  Bobbi’s lips forced a smile but didn’t respond. She promised Clara to be gutsy again when it came to her life. Interviewing in New York City got the ball rolling. Now she’d focus on her dysfunctional love life. What could go wrong?

  »»•««

  Snow capped the log cabin with wintry delight, and Bobbi beamed at the sight of it. The trek up the gravel roads took longer than usual, thanks to the fresh snowfall. Despite five people crammed in a blue sedan, she couldn’t complain. Too much. The drive from Denver meant she was forced to converse with Erin since the in-shape princess was smashed in the middle spot. It made sense. Erin was the slimmest and shortest. A part of Bobbi wanted to cram her chatty cousin in the trunk so she could talk to Jared all alone and sidle up to him, but she figured it wouldn’t be popular with everyone else.

  Asher joked with Erin about their love of traveling abroad, which piqued her interest until the car shut off and they tumbled out. Her legs ached to run around the Timberline community until it hurt to breathe. At this altitude, it wouldn’t take long.

  “We’re here!” Jessie beamed a smile at her and scurried away as fast as her swollen legs would carry her. It was rather cute the way she wobbled since the tall drink of water never had an inch of fat on her before Asher knocked her up.

  At a more leisure-filled pace, Bobbi grabbed her bag from the hatch and closed her eyes. Inhaling, the tangy smell of spruce and pine trees enveloped her body. It was one of her favorites. The fragrance shot her mind to memories held in those very woods. “If these trees could talk.”

  “I’d bet they’d tell quite a few stories.”

  Flicking open her eyelids, she stumbled forward when she noticed Jared a mere three feet from her position. His intense eyes never shifted from her face, though mostly hinged on her lips and then back to her eyes. His full lips held more words prisoner, and she suddenly wasn’t sure how to respond to his attention.

  “The, uh, mountains are behind you,” she pointed out.

  “A guy can’t appreciate his surroundings?” His boots moved close. “Because I rather like this view.”

  A chilled wind drowned out any response she could think up. Instead of tossing him to the snow and kissing him until their fingers grew frostbite, she pushed her legs toward the cabin. More curse words than she cared to admit flooded her mind at her sudden muteness.

  Accepting momentary defeat, Bobbi clambered up the recently swept steps and opened the side door. Her vision blurred at the family within the warm interior. Grandma Jane relaxed in a rocking chair near the fire, her face aglow with happiness. Bobbi had adored her grandmother for as long as she could recall. The spry woman was full of surprises and always snuck her extra sweet treats. Now that she thought of it, Grandma Jane was probably the reason her childhood was a bit chubby.

  Her mom, Dawn Davis, was currently rubbing Jessie’s belly as if it was a Buddha doll, while her father, Dennis, gently massaged his eldest’s shoulders. The Whitaker crew huddled together in the kitchen, Asher pouring out the old coffee to make his own signature secret recipe.

  Plopping her luggage off to the side, Bobbi was grateful the rest of the Davis cousins hadn’t arrived yet. She loved them all dearly, but her head pounded in time with her heart. She couldn’t get Jared off her brain, and it was a bad thing since he would be in the same cabin for the foreseeable future. The plan to sneak off, take a couple ibuprofen, and then slip into a dreamless state came crashing down within seconds of hatching it.

  “Hey, Bobbi, you remember my parents, Stella and Steve,”
Asher called, roping her into their group.

  “Yes, of course.” She smiled at the retired soldier and equally retired kindergarten teacher. “Nice to see you guys again.”

  She moved to the kitchen sink and started washing dishes. Her suave move to escape hadn’t succeeded, not that she expected it to. This was Asher, after all. The guy could convince a squirrel to buy his book, so getting her engaged in their chat was just as difficult to ignore.

  “Do you want some coffee? Should be brewed here in a minute.” Asher pointed to the coffee pot, but she and turned her attention back to the suds. To her relief, her brother-in-law started gabbing about the apartment renovations.

  “I told them all about our New York adventure,” Jared’s low voice advised, startling her.

  “Oh, you don’t say?” She rinsed a bowl. “It was quite the experience.”

  He moved closer, grabbing the dish from her and setting it in the strainer. “And how we stayed at Asher’s place.”

  He purposefully let the rest hang out there, inviting her to fill in the blanks.

  Swinging her eyes around the group in the kitchen, Bobbi wiped her hands on the nearby towel. “Um, yep. Asher was a big lifesaver. I doubt I could’ve afforded those crazy hotel fees.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know your apartment had two bedrooms, Asher. When did you add another?” Stella piped in, interrupting their side conversation.

  Jared and Bobbi exchanged glances.

  “He slept on the—"

  “I slept—” they said at the same time.

  Asher chuckled and brought over two coffee mugs. “The couch. Jared slept on the couch.” He filled in when neither of them could complete the sentence. He grabbed the pot of coffee and poured them each a cup. “Anyways, Bobbi interviewed with a big hospital in New York, so we may be neighbors someday soon.”

  “Not unless I win the lottery,” she mumbled under her breath.

  Jared smirked as the mug with a Navy emblem reached his mouth.

  “Well, we’ll cross our fingers and toes for you,” Stella promised with a pat on Bobbi’s hand. “Anyone would be blessed to have you.” The last part was said in Jared’s direction, and Bobbi’s gut lurched. The scowl on the Army man’s face told her all she needed to know. He wasn’t interested in her in a romantic way anymore. He was cozying up to her cousin, after all. It sickened her even then to think about Erin and Jared together. It made sense, though. Her cousin was crushing on the younger Whitaker at the wedding. She made her move, and this time, he relented. Great. Nothing felt worse than losing out to family.

  Heart sinking, she waited until the conversation turned to something else before slipping away into silence. She snatched her bag, and just as she put one foot on the stairs to the bedrooms, a voice stopped her.

  “Singles get the cabin up the road.”

  “What?”

  Grandma Jane leaned closer and waved her finger toward the front door. “All you single people aren’t staying here. There’s not enough room.”

  Bobbi perused the enormous cabin, boasting five bedrooms and a huge living room in the basement on top of the one on the main level. “There’s an entire basement, Grandma.”

  “Nope. Too cold this time of year.”

  Holding herself together, she gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to stay at another cabin. She wanted to get to the safety of her family cabin where she knew she’d be safe from Erin’s glorious body and Jared’s masculine scent. She’d never been jealous of her cousin before then. It didn’t sit well with her. “Fine. I’ll get first dibs then.”

  The crafty woman grinned and shooed her from the stairs. “Go on now. The Petersons are out of town and offered their place. You remember their cabin, right?”

  Nodding, Bobbi dragged her feet to the door and clutched the key ring hanging from the peg. The Petersons were a nice couple from Arizona. Her grandparents were close friends and their families often meshed when she was growing up.

  “It might be cold. I doubt your father started the fire up there and the Petersons always have the furnace set to sixty-six degrees when they’re gone,” Grandma Jane called as the door closed between them.

  “Super. No warmth and a trek in the snow to start it all off.” She stomped to ground level and then smiled at the snowmobiles by the garage. They were waiting patiently for someone to take them out for a spin. “Borrowing one of these.”

  After securing her luggage, she jumped on and whizzed through the woods. If she could figure out what the hell to do with herself before she saw Jared again, her chattering teeth would appreciate it almost as much as the longing in her bones.

  »»•««

  It should’ve been easy. Ignore Bobbi and the way his pants got tight when she brushed by him. It didn’t work. No matter how much he resisted staring at her bouncy red curls, she drew him in, and he loved it. Erin managed to jab him in the gut not once but twice when he all but drooled at her cousin. He couldn’t help it, but Erin was right. He needed to play it cool if he wanted any chance at winning Bobbi back to him.

  When the cinnamon and vanilla perfume wafted to him from Bobbi’s recent departure, his mind blanked. It blanked so much that when his dad asked about work he’d replied, “She’s good. Great, actually.”

  “Are we still discussing the Rangers or the woman who walked out the door a minute ago?”

  Jared swept his eyes up to his father’s. The similarly green ones almost smiled in merriment. “Sorry, I don’t know where my mind went.”

  Steve pointed to the door. “I do.” He led them away from the rest of the group. “You want to explain why you and Bobbi’s cousin are so chummy? Last I checked, you weren’t interested in crossing any family lines since you obviously have feelings for Bobbi.”

  Shifting his weight, Jared stuffed both hands in the back pockets of his jeans. “I’m not. And Erin is helping me with Bobbi.”

  “Mhm, well don’t fall for the wrong woman.” Steve eyed the blonde. “Because it could be very easy to do.”

  Stepping to the couch, Jared took a seat, and his dad followed close on his heels. “No, not happening. Erin and I want the same thing.”

  “Which is?”

  “Bobbi and I together again. For good this time.”

  Steve pulled off his glasses and cleaned the lenses with his shirt. “Well, if you think it’s a good idea, I’m all for it.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Anything to see you boys happy.”

  Jared glanced over to Asher and Jessie. The duo was canoodling under the mistletoe. He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t be too disgusted. All he wanted to do was sneak Bobbi under the damn weed and do the same thing. Somehow, he’d mix it into his to-do list with the redhead.

  “Jared?”

  “Huh? Yeah?” He shook his head to clear his thoughts from Bobbi. Easier said than done.

  “How’s your career treating you? What’s the plan there? Another contract or maybe settle down perhaps?”

  Rubbing the base of his neck, he sighed. His dad was known for steering the conversation toward work and the future. “I haven’t made a final decision, to be honest. My plan was to move up the East Coast. I was thinking the New York area.”

  “That’s wonderful news. How does it fit in with Bobbi though?”

  “It doesn’t.” If he was completely honest, he hadn’t done much thinking about the next step. His goal was always the Rangers. He didn’t see any other path in his future. Whether or not Bobbi fit in was another question.

  “Son, you can lie to yourself, but I saw what happened between the two of you at Asher’s wedding. It reminded me of when I first saw your mom.” Steve adjusted the pillow behind his back. “I knew within seconds she’d be the lady to change my life even more than she already had.”

  Jared nodded. He was very aware of their story. It was the same one Asher made millions from, and he couldn’t blame the public for eating it up. Growing up, he’d heard it more times than he cared to count. It was sweet, in al
l honesty. One of those romance movie settings. His dad was her pen pal during the war, and they fell in love despite an ocean between them. At the time, his mother was in school and not looking for any kind of man. Once his dad returned from overseas, the world disappeared for Steve and Stella. Five years later, the duo had sons named in remembrance of the man who’d saved his life. Hell, Jared was surprised Asher’s agent hadn’t gotten a movie deal yet. In his opinion, it should be in the works. Without a doubt, it’d be an Oscar winner.

  “It doesn’t happen like you and Mom for everyone, Dad.”

  “Oh, I’m confident it doesn’t, but you’re purposefully steering clear of Bobbi when you should be colliding with her instead.” Steven patted his thigh. “Enough chit-chat. Why don’t you go put your luggage in the guest cabin? I’ll bet the rest of the family would appreciate a good card game right about now.”

  Standing, Jared didn’t want to obey, but his heart willed him to move. “Bobbi’s already there.”

  “Alone, if memory serves me,” his dad pointed out with a dashing smirk. “Go get her.”

  He didn’t bother to look over at his mom. Without a doubt, she’d give him her favorite gestures, two thumbs up.

  “If I leave, will you stop harassing me about Bobbi?”

  Steve locked his fingers together. “Sure.”

  Not believing him for a moment, Jared snagged the bags and keys from Asher before stepping into the cool night.

  Chapter Four

  “Brr! It’s freaking freezing in here.” Bobbi flicked on the lights, and a slow glow filled the cabin. It looked the same as last year when she visited. The A-frame log cabin boasted a fourteen-foot ceiling with a brick fireplace tucked in one corner of the living room. Piles of fresh cut wood were stacked near the couch dotted with roses circa 1986. The open main room held the dining and living area plus a cozy kitchen. Everything about the place screamed wilderness lodge. The ten-point buck head above the front door didn’t sway her opinion much.