“You’re supposed to ask a woman to stay with you, not tell,” she said.
“And normally I would ask,” he said. Maybe. “But you’re not taking your car over the summit in this.” He tugged her in a little closer because she seemed more than a little pale—except for her nose, which was bright red. Leaning in, he kissed her cold lips until she relaxed into him.
“Not fair,” she whispered, slipping her frozen arms under his clothing to touch her even-more-frozen fingers on the bare skin at the small of his back.
He grimaced. “Holy shit, woman.”
“My parts are cold.” She paused. “Some more than others.”
He manfully sucked it up and let her fingers stroke up and down his back. “Can’t have you suffering from cold parts,” he said. “I’ve got a hot shower and an even hotter bed only ten minutes from here.”
“Hotter bed?”
“It’s got a heater in it.”
She narrowed her eyes. “It does not.”
“Hand to heaven,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes. “Does this ‘heater’ run on electricity?”
“Nope.” He grinned. “Animal magnetism.” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms and met her gaze, his amusement gone. “I’m serious about the roads, Bay. I want you to stay. If you’d rather, I’ll call and see if there’s any employment housing open tonight. Or you can have my place and I’ll bunk with Aidan. No pressure.”
She touched his face lightly. “I wouldn’t mind a little… pressure.”
He smiled and turned his face to press a kiss to her palm. “Come home with me. I’ve got all the pressure you’ll need.”
They’d just gotten into Hud’s truck when Hud took a call on his Bluetooth. Bailey could hear Gray’s voice, tinny, through the phone.
“Alarm just went off at the cafeteria,” he said. “I’m two hours out, in Denver with Penny at some fancy dinner for her work.”
“On it,” Hudson said. He hung up and sent Bailey an apologetic look. “I’ve got to go check this out. I’ll drop you off at my place—”
“Just go straight there,” she said. “It’ll be faster.”
When he started to shake his head, she put her hand on his arm. “You don’t have time to deal with or worry about me, so just get there. I’ll stay out of the way.”
In the end, he dropped her off in the resort offices, refusing to leave her in the dark in his truck because she would be alone in the parking lot.
Lily was in the office as well, having been similarly dropped off by Aidan. They sat at Hud’s desk in front of the radio and listened unabashedly.
Two local high school kids had broken into the resort’s cafeteria and set off the alarm. Surveillance cameras showed them carrying fistfuls of candy bars out of there with their snowboards strapped on their backs.
“High as kites,” Lily guessed, shaking her head. “Going to be a long night.” She helped herself in the supply closet, coming out with a bottle of Jack.
Bailey went brows up.
“I’ve had a long day,” Lily explained. “And now our significant others are on the mountain in the dark looking for two walking DUIs.” She stuck her head into another closet and came up with Dixie cups.
“What happened today?” Bailey asked as Lily poured them each a drink. “I mean, if it’s not too personal.”
“Oh, it’s personal.” Lily tapped her cup to Bailey’s. “It’s also a long story. Drink first.”
They each drank and Bailey promptly choked.
Lily too. “Holy shit,” she wheezed.
Bailey nearly coughed up a lung and pounded her chest.
When they could breathe, Lily spoke. “So I had a… scare,” she said.
Bailey involuntarily gasped and clasped a hand to her heart because a scare to her meant a health scare, a bad one.
“Oh no,” Lily rushed on when she saw Bailey’s reaction. “Oh, my God, I’m so insensitive! No, nothing like that!” She grimaced and then rolled her eyes. “It’s just that I thought maybe I was pregnant. Accidentally.”
“Oh,” Bailey breathed. With all the treatments she’d had over the past ten years, she wasn’t at all sure she’d be able to have babies, though she wanted them. Someday. She didn’t feel her biological clock ticking or anything, but when she pictured her future—which was something she actually did now, and often—she liked to think there was a man in it, one who’d promised to love her forever. And a baby. Or three. “I see.”
“No,” Lily said. “I don’t think you do.” She paused. “Aidan and I aren’t married. We’re not quite there yet. I mean I know he’s the one for me and I know I’m the one for him, but we aren’t rushing anything, you know? There’s no need to rush. I was never the woman who dreamed about babies, or a husband. I just…” She shook her head. “I always buried myself in work and never went there. Now I’m not buried in work and I’m… enjoying us. A lot. I like being a twosome. A tight little unit, just us.” She paused and then laughed. “Well, us and the rest of the Kincaids.” Her smile faded. “But then I didn’t get my period and I got scared.” She let out a breath. “More like terrified.”