Page 5 of Rock with You

“Sure. Can I get you anything to warm up and dry off? Coffee? A towel?” He paused and smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “Scotch?”

That earned him a small smile. “A towel would be nice. I don’t want to drip all over your floor.” She’d already shed her soaked jacket, but the rest of her didn’t look much drier.

“You got it.” He went down the hall to the guest bath and grabbed two plump towels. He rubbed one over his head and settled it on his shoulders, then padded back down the hall toward Carly. After she’d nearly slid off the road into the trees, it had still taken him several minutes to convince her to give it a rest and come inside until the weather let up.

Now she was here, and neither of them was quite sure what to do about it.

“Thanks.” She took the towel and wrapped it around her shoulders as she pressed her cell phone to her ear.

To give her some privacy, he went onto the front porch to start bringing the bakery boxes into the kitchen. There sure were a lot of boxes, and it all looked and smelled as good as Carly herself. He grabbed an armload and carried them into the pantry, then headed back for more.

Carly stood in the entrance hall, her back to him. “I can’t believe it either,” she said in a hushed tone.

He paused in the doorway to the kitchen. Was she talking about him? Bragging about being at his house?

“I can’t. My car’s stuck,” she said, running a hand through her soggy hair.

She’d known they were expecting ice. Had she driven up here hoping this would happen? His hands clenched at his sides. Damn, this industry had made him a cynical bastard.

“No,” Carly was saying. “I’m okay. I’m…I’m at a friend’s house.”

What now? Sam rubbed his chin, confused.

“Let’s just hope it fizzles out so I can get home sooner than later.” She paused. “Will do. Thanks, Mom.”

As she ended the call, he walked into the living room, feeling like a total scumbag for eavesdropping on her conversation with her mother. And for doubting her. She hadn’t sold him out, hadn’t even told her mom that she was at his house.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Word is the roads are a nightmare and only expected to get worse. I might be, well…stuck.” She pressed her lips together and looked away.

“I’m real sorry about this. I feel terrible I made you drive up here.” He’d been holed up on the covered porch all day with a notepad and his guitar, trying to finish the song he’d started in her shop. He’d never thought to check the weather.

She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. I should have had plenty of time to get home before the rain turned to ice, or I never would have come. Mother Nature is having a laugh at our expense, I suppose.”

He grinned. “Fickle creature, she is. So what are we looking at here? Are you stranded overnight?”

Carly grimaced. “I think I might be. I’m sorry?—”

He put a hand out. “No need to apologize. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve got plenty of space here and several empty guest rooms. I’m pretty well stocked with food, too, and you’ve brought all the sweets the two of us could ever want.”

She glanced around, her brow bunched. “What about your party?”

“No party.”

“So it’s just you and me?” She stood in the middle of the living room, arms clasped around her waist, looking confused and maybe even a little bit wary. It was laughable that, just a few minutes ago, he’d questioned her motives in coming here when she’d clearly rather be somewhere else.

“Just you and me.” And he couldn’t bring himself to mind. Being stranded with a beautiful woman, let alone the woman who’d given him his first musical inspiration in almost a year, couldn’t be anything but good. “How ‘bout you get settled in the guest room while I finish bringing in the boxes and get a fire going? You don’t happen to have any dry clothes in your car, do you?”

She shook her head, glancing down at her soggy clothing. Her bottom lip shook. Hell, she was soaked and shivering.

This, at least, he could fix. “Well, it’ll probably swallow you whole, but I can hook you up with a T-shirt and some sweats if you want to throw your stuff in the dryer.”

Arms still clasped around herself, she nodded. “I hate to impose, but that does sound great. Thank you.”

Of all the millions of women around the world who wanted to throw themselves at him, he’d gotten himself stranded with one who seemed horrified at the thought. But he wouldn’t want it any other way. There was something about Carly that appealed to him in a way no woman had in a long time. “You like burgundy or blue better?”

She gave him a questioning look. “Burgundy, I guess. Why?”

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