Page 25 of Wren's Winter

The clothes she had clutched to her chest were soaking through the blanket. “Your girlfriend. The woman who called you and you scurried away for? The one you went to see last night?”

“Penny?” The scoff I let out was ruder than I intended. “Penny is the farthest from a girlfriend…”

“Fuck buddy, friends with benefits, lover. Whatever you want to call her.”

“She isn’t any of those things. She’s a friend. My closest friend’s wife, actually. A pipe burst in their basement, and Tam was in Seattle picking up his mom from the airport. I went over to help her.”

“So, your friend’s wife called, and you just went over there?” She repeated the story back, her tone disbelieving.

“I mean, I consider Penny my friend, too. I met her through Tam, and obviously, Tam and I are closer, because he’s more like a brother, but Penny is my friend, too.”

“You drop what you’re doing to help a friend?” she asked, shifting under her blanket.

I nodded. “Don’t you?”

She nodded. “Yeah, of course. But I haven’t seen a guy do that kind of stuff for a friend, especially not a female friend.”

“Sounds like you need different guy friends.” I took the empty coffee mug from the side table, bringing it to the sink before returning to stand in front of the fire. I might not have spent as much time in the water as Wren. But the river’s icy grasp wasn’t letting me go as quickly as I would’ve liked. “Well, what would your ex do?”

“Buck?” Her nose scrunched up in distaste. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a friend call him for help before. Isn’t that weird? If I had to guess, he’d tell them to call a plumber or something? Buck wouldn’t know what to do with a broken pipe anyway.”

One less point for this loser who let her get away.

Her eyes snapped to me. “So, she really isn’t a girlfriend or anything like that?”

I shook my head. “There’s no girlfriend, friend with benefits, or—what was the last one?—lover? I haven’t been with a woman in almost a year.”

“A year?” she repeated. “You expect me to believe you have this gorgeous cabin in the mountains, you look like that”—she motioned to my body and face—“and you haven’t slept with anyone in a year?”

How did we go from her falling into the river to discussing my sex life? Or lack of one. Clearing my throat, I glanced away from her. My eyes caught on a framed photo of my grandparents on their wedding day. “Maybe I wasn’t interested in anyone around—”

“No one for a whole year has caught your attention?” She dropped the clothes on the floor and stepped closer to me. The blanket fell off her shoulder. I could see the thin white strap of her bra contrasting against her golden skin. Her curls drying wild around her face.

“I didn’t say that.”

Lines and snow filled yards and rivers crossed and crossed again. I wasn’t going to step back from this. “And I can assure you, when I am interested in someone, I make it known.”

She stood, the blanket falling down on the floor. It took all I had not to stare down at her body, my eyes glued to her face. “I’m not cold anymore.”

“I see that.” I allowed myself a quick glance down her body. Umber skin, smooth and delicate. The small bow of her white bra between her breasts. Her underwear was pink with blue stars—cotton and no nonsense. Having her before me, she was sexier than any lingerie model I had ever seen in a magazine. “You seem warmer.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Maybe I will take a shower here.”

“Here?”

“Are you going to watch me there, too?”

I grimaced. “I shouldn’t have watched you. It was wrong of me. Depraved.”

“It truly was.” Her voice was husky. Her hand drifted to my arm, the now warm fingers tracing a line from wrist to elbow. “But maybe I’m a little wrong, too. I saw you. You caught me earlier.”

Damn how I wanted this woman, but I wasn’t going to push her too far. I’d give her the out if she needed it. “You saw half my ass cheek for a few seconds. I watched you…um.”

“Yes, you did.” She stepped closer, her damp bra brushing against my chest. “Yesterday morning, you knew I was watching you. I could tell.”

I nodded at her. “I could feel your eyes on me.”

“Last night, I didn’t know you were watching me, but…” She hesitated. “If I had known, I’m not sure I would have stopped.”

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