by Em Petrova
“We’re in the Rockies, sweetheart. We’re going to be up here a while. Don’t worry, I’ve driven this pass before, and it’s very safe. Things at night can look a little spooky.”
“If by spooky you mean there’s a terrifying million-foot drop on my side of the road, then yes.”
“Trust me. I’ll get you to Seattle in one piece.”
She reached for another blueberry bar and ate it in four bites. The Wyntons had given her a lovely family dinner before they left, but years of late-night cramming sessions in college turned her into a snacker. She found nibbling on something during the night kept her more alert. Maybe it was the sugar rush.
Ross geared down and then slowed more to pull off the road into a wide spot. He put the truck in park.
“What are you doing?”
“Putting chains on.”
“Oh. Do you need help?”
He shrugged into his coat, which he drove without while she sat bundled beneath a blanket. “I can manage alone, but if you’d like to see how it’s done, grab your hat and gloves.”
She’d never need to put chains on her own tires, as she had no plans to cross the Rockies alone in the future. But she disliked being helpless, so she slipped on her hat and gloves and followed him outside.
The wind hit her like an icy wall. She braced herself against it for a moment, instantly shaking with cold. She couldn’t even hear the clink of the chains Ross removed from the truck.
When she rounded to his side, she found him squatting by the rear tire draping the chains over the rubber. She squatted next to him and screamed to be heard above the howl of the wind. “Why didn’t we do this earlier at the truck stop?”
“Wasn’t sure what we’d get into, and I have good tires. We’ll make it without the chains, but this will make our drive a bit easier.”
She watched his quick, easy movements as he applied the chains the way he did everything on the ranch, with a natural ability she was always impressed with. As a girl, she loved watching Ross saddle a horse, and once she’d stood at the fence watching him break a yearling. Her girlish heart pounded out of her chest.
Now parts other than her heart were affected by his closeness and the manly work.
He looked at her, hat pulled down against the wind. “Can you get behind the wheel and drive forward a little? A slow roll forward, enough to get the chain in a position to link it on the backside.”
She nodded. Anything to get out of this snow and wind.
She jogged forward and jumped in the truck. Snow coated the windshield, and she had to switch on the wipers before she could see to roll forward even an inch. She didn’t want to take a chance she’d drive off the ledge.
A shiver rolled through her, and she set her teeth in her lip as she put the truck in gear and slowly crept forward. After she stopped, she opened the door to look back at Ross. He waved her ahead a little more. Then he gestured for her to stop, and she hopped out again to watch how he clipped the chains and then tightened them using a long metal bar.
They did the same for the other three tires and when she settled in the heated truck under her wool blanket again, she couldn’t be more grateful for the warmth and comfort of the vehicle.
While he drove, the silence made her sleepy. She switched on the radio and found nothing but static.
“Even satellite radio isn’t working in this storm,” he told her.
“What about cell service?” She grabbed her phone but Ross was right that everything had been knocked out by the storm and the mountains blocking signals at this elevation didn’t help.
“Nothing.” She dropped her phone into her bag again and downed another blueberry bar to keep her attention from wandering to his big hands. He’d removed his heavy leather gloves and his long fingers latched around the leather wheel.
Even with the flavor of blueberry in her mouth, she could almost taste the man who sat a foot away from her. He’d taste like he smelled—musky with a clean hint of soap.
Her gaze dropped to his hands again. The backs of his knuckles were lightly dusted with dark hair and veins snaked upward to disappear into the cuffs of his shirt, as he’d removed his jacket again.
A new kind of shiver ran through her from head to toe—a need to feel those big, capable, rough hands on her.
The truck slowed to a crawl through the deepening snow. Wind rocked the vehicle. Soon they were traveling so slow that she hardly felt them moving at all.
“Ross, do you think we should stop? We’re not making any progress.”
His mouth tightened, which created a bracket in his cheek. “I was thinkin’ the same. The thought of stopping doesn’t set well with me, but it might be best. We’ve got plenty of gas to keep the truck running and warm. As soon as the sun comes over those mountains in a few hours, we’ll have better visibility.”
“Plus, you’ve got to be exhausted.”
When he turned his head, she saw no trace of fatigue lining his face. Instead, some other emotion lived in his eyes.
Something that had her insides trembling.
“Pretty sure the pass widens up ahead. I’ll find a safe spot to pull off and we’ll wait out the storm. I could kick Josiah’s ass for giving me this route.”
“Why is it Josiah’s fault?”
“He’s our details guy. He does most of our research and gets us from point A to B.”
“And he failed to be a meteorologist too, I guess.”
He huffed a breath through his nose. “That’s right.”
Long minutes later and a few miles down the road, Ross located a place off to the side to pull over. He parked and within minutes the windshield grew covered with snow, leaving her with a feeling of being buried alive.
She issued a low sigh. “I’m sorry for being so much trouble, Ross.”
Across the expanse of the truck, he looked at her hard. “I told you it’s my job, Pippa.”
“I don’t want to be a job,” she rasped in a whisper.
His throat made a noise as he swallowed. “You’ve had a hard few days. Let’s talk.”
“What do you want to talk about?” She angled in the seat to face him.
“Tell me your hopes and dreams. Your goals.”
She smiled. “We really are diving back in time. I want to be a soccer star and doctor in some warm climate and you want to run a horse ranch and fight fires part time.”
His deep, rumbling chuckle provided instant heat to the truck cab. “I forgot about that talk we had with my brothers and your little sister on the patio. Seems like a thousand years ago.”
Her insides clenched in an unmistakable display of arousal. Of all times to be turned on—on a mountain during a blizzard, stuck inches away from her childhood crush.
“You don’t run a horse ranch or fight fires,” she said.
“And you aren’t a soccer star, unless you haven’t given me the whole story.”
She gave a throaty laugh. “No. That dream died when my legs got too long for me to control them.”
He eyed her. “Seems as if you figured it out.”
Why did his tone and the glimmer in his eyes make her want to wiggle in her seat? No, more than wiggle—strip off her clothes and invite him under her blanket with her.
She shivered.
“Maybe you should climb in the back seat and sleep.”
“You’re just as tired as I am.” Now visions of both of them tangled up, her thighs around his hips and his mouth moving over hers, blasted her mind like the wintry wind.
He gazed at his hands for a minute, fisted on his lap. Her stomach plummeted—could he be thinking the same things she was?
Impossible. Though she didn’t consider herself bad looking, she wouldn’t win any prizes for beauty. Besides, Ross didn’t see her that way.
“If I cut the engine, the cab will stay warm about an hour.” He spoke in slow syllables as though measuring their meaning.
She held her breath.
Another minute passed.
He turned his head and pierced her in his stare. “I’ll climb in the back and you follow, Pippa.”
Her stomach fluttered uncontrollably. He set his hat on the center console and then opened the door. Wind rushed in, and she gasped at the icy blast before he slammed the door. A moment passed. Several, in fact. What was taking him so long? Had he slipped and fallen on the roadside?
She was about to get out and check, when he opened the back door and settled inside.
Twisting in her seat, she met his stare. Snow lay on his shoulders and created sparkles on his white hat.
A heavy beat hung between them.
Then she did what she really wanted to and climbed over the console, dragging her blanket with her.
Ross grabbed her hips and eased her to the seat next to him. She had to curl her legs to keep her boots off the water and other supplies. For a moment, her innate awkwardness took control, and she sat stiff on the seat.
Until he shifted around to stretch his legs and propped his boots on the case of water.
“Here, you’ll fit in this space next to me.” He patted the seat.
She’d be wedged between the leather and his big, hot, muscled, good-smelling body.
Right where she wanted to be.
Drawing a deep breath, she squeezed in beside him. Her back rested against his chest—he took up too much room to give her much.
“How are you so warm?”
He chuckled and reached for the blanket, tucking it around her. “I’m hot-blooded.”
His statement made her own blood run ten degrees warmer and warmth slipped low between her thighs.
A long minute passed with nothing but the thud of her own heart.
Chapter Five
Don’t get out of the seat, he’d told himself.
Sitting at that wheel became a battle complete with the clash of steel will against steely need.
If he climbed in the back of the truck with Pippa, he didn’t know if it’d be possible to hold back.
He had to hold back. He’d sit here till dawn, till the storm broke, till hell froze over, but he wouldn’t get out of the truck.
In the end, he got out.
Then he stood in the howling fucking gale force wind with snow and ice pelting him, dragging in deep breaths and fighting the strongest urges of his life.
Now she pressed against his side, warm and soft with her curves giving him balls so blue they might as well have frostbite.
Worst goddamn idea of his life. But at least Pippa was warm.
She also smelled like blueberries and honey and apple blossoms.
Getting her scent out of his nose proved impossible with her snuggled up like a sweet kitten. Her shivering stopped and her muscles relaxed, sinking bit by bit into him.
“Ross?”
“Hmm?”
Christ, her voice drove him crazy. He wanted to heal the rasp, but it threaded through him and left him aching.
“Do you think we’re being followed?” The question came out with a quiver, like a child voicing her fears in the dark after she heard a noise.
He slid his arm around her and drew her closer to him. “No.” The word rumbled past her ear he wanted to suck and nibble until she gasped. “And if they were, let’s hope they’re more unprepared than we are.”
When she nodded, her head rubbed on his shoulder.
“When was the last time you saw your family?” He aimed his question to take her mind off their immediate troubles of being stopped by the storm, huddled together in the back seat, and now the more disturbing fact that his cock was starting to swell.
“Thanksgiving.”
“Nearly a year.”
“My mom reminds me of that often enough.”
“It can’t be easy, living clear across the country without family.”
“I do miss them a lot. I actually heard about your company at Thanksgiving.”
He pictured the Hamlins sitting down to dinner together, the table set for four including her sister Holly, and the topic of his business venture coming up.
“That’s how you knew to call me.” Everything made sense now.
She lapsed into silence for several minutes. He knew she wasn’t sleeping by the energy that seemed to flow through her body. He swore he could hear her brain whirring. He definitely heard the snow falling, shrouding the truck.
“I have to admit you surprised me with your martial arts skills. My jaw still hurts. I think you bruised it.”
She twisted in his hold to peer at him as if she could see through the darkness. He studied her eyes a moment before she dropped them to his jaw. “I can’t see anything with your five o’clock shadow.”
Her voice sounded throatier than before, and he ground his teeth against a dark clutch of desire.
He only needed a second to have her stretched out on top of him and his mouth on hers. But there would be no turning back from such an act. No more innocent, easygoing banter at family barbecues. No more fly fishing without a hell of a lot of tension underscoring every interaction.
Hands off, Wynton.
Did that mean lips off too? How about his cock?
Pippa’s off-limits.
“Ross?” Her voice sent another shock of need to his groin.
“Yeah?”
“You scared the fuck outta me at that truck stop.”
A smile spread slowly over his face, until he felt his eyes crease with it. God, she could drive a man crazy. Her drawl a perfect imitation of his.
His chuckle pulled a soft giggle from her too. The closeness he felt in that minute… It rocked him.
He started to reach toward her face—to cup it and pull her lips to his.
Something vibrated against his thigh, jolting him back to his senses just in time.
“It’s your phone,” she said.
Shifting to remove the device from his pocket without her seeing his bulging erection proved to be a challenge. He brought his phone to his ear on the third buzz.
“Ross.”
“Hey. The storm looks bad on the radar. Where ya at?”
“We had to pull off. We weren’t making any progress. It’s a whiteout.”
“So you’re just parked along the mountain?”
“Pretty much. Did you call to give me a weather update?”
Pippa turned her head at his rough tone.
“No, a calf update.”
He waited to hear they’d lost it.
“Dad and Corrine got it warmed up and managed to get some milk into it. It’s hangin’ on. The storm’s heading our way, so the ranch hands went out with lights to track down the momma and bring her back. Such a lot of trouble for a calf.”
“But it’s our responsibility.”
“You’re preachin’ to the choir, Ross. I was raised a rancher too. Now, about the information you need. Did you get a chance to read over those emails?”
“Not yet. I was driving.”
“Well what are you doing now?”
Ross hoped to hell Pippa couldn’t hear Josiah speaking, but she sat close enough, practically in his lap, that he wouldn’t be surprised if she could. How to respond to his brother? Tell him he and Pippa were curled up together in the back seat?
“I’ll get to the emails.”
Pippa gave him the side-eye.
“Thanks, Josiah,” he added so he wouldn’t sound like a complete ass.
“I’m surprised I got you on the phone. I called four times.”
He hadn’t thought of it when his phone rang. “Service is spotty. You must have caught a signal between snowflakes. If you don’t hear from me, don’t send out a search party for at least a couple days.”
A smile leaked into his brother’s voice. “You think I give a damn about your ass freezing in the Rockies?”
Pippa’s smile told Ross that she could, in fact, hear.
“Bye, dickhead.”
“Bye, you old fuck.”
He ended the call and slipped his phone into the pocket on the back o
f the driver’s seat.
“Why did Josiah call you an old fuck?”
He damn near groaned. Hearing the prim little rule-follower scientist cuss twice in the same hour made his attraction to her spike.
“He thinks I’m older than my years.”
She grew quiet, but he was getting used to these spells. In fact, they were growing on him. He was the first to admit he liked to talk. Discussing every small detail of the ranch and protection company came as second nature to him. While he might be extroverted in this manner, Pippa was not.
Isolated in the middle of a blizzard with the woman gave him a new respect for her. He also felt an urge to extract every single secret from her.
Such as did she date? What was her type?
And did she slide her fingers into her pussy at night and pleasure herself?
She snapped her head to look at him. “Am I crushing you? I can move to the other end of the seat.”
Confusion pinched his brows. “No, why?”
“You groaned.”
Fuck, did he?
“Just thinking of that calf is all.”
“I’m sure it’s worrisome, being away from the ranch. I’m sorry I dragged you off.”
This time he couldn’t resist cupping her cheek and tilting her head to meet his gaze. Christ, her skin was silky and more tender than he imagined.
“Pippa, let’s get it straight now that you needing help is not something to apologize for. Even if I didn’t work as a protection officer, I’d still help you. Got that?”
Her eyelids fluttered. For a moment, he thought he’d gone too far, been too harsh with her. As a young girl, she’d run off to the house with a red face whenever he or his brothers took the teasing too far.
But then she tipped her head against his palm and shut her eyes.
His heart slammed his ribs as he cradled her face, staring at the peaceful expression she wore. In the darkness, he couldn’t make out her freckles. And he wanted to see them up close.
Instead… He stared at her lips, a plump shadow of enticement and torture. His balls clenched.
He never realized he was moving in to kiss her until her eyes popped open and she pulled free.
Dropping his hand, he fought to cover the moment. He grabbed his hat and stuffed it down on his head again, centering the brim low on his eyes. “You should get what sleep you can, Pippa. I’ll start the truck in a little bit and warm it back up.”