Page 44 of Snowed In with the Rancher

“But not all the time, right?” Oona’s thick brows bobbed.

Triss’s face grew warm and she could see in her tiny picture on the bottom of the screen that her cheeks were getting pink.

“Ooooh, girl, get some Christmas booty, you deserve it,” Oona cheered, lifting her glass in a toast before taking a big sip. “I expect at least one picture, though. I mean it. It didn’t happen unless there is proof. Preferably a naked picture, but I’ll settle for shirtless.”

“I’m not taking a picture of him naked and sending it to you.”

“I said I’d settle for shirtless, you prude.”

“Have you talked to mom and dad?”

Oona nodded, tucking a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear. “Yeah, they’re having a blast with Aunt Georgina in Florida. Dad was wearing a Hawaiian printed shirt and mom was drinking from a Tiki torch-style mug. I’ve never seen them that relaxed. It was weird.”

Triss’s brows scrunched. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like them at all.”

Oona scrunched up her face. “I know, right?”

“I went to Baltimore for one night before I flew out to Colorado. One night in my old childhood bedroom is one night too many. Next time I go, I’m going to get a hotel room.”

Oona nodded. “Let me know the next time you go and I’ll fly down, too, and we can split a hotel room. Also, that way I don’t have to visit them alone.” She shuddered.

Triss could nearly feel her sister’s shudder across the miles. Or maybe that was just a shudder of her own. She definitely wouldn’t be going back to visit her parents without sibling reinforcement, that was for damn sure. And a hotel where she could drink after the visit, since her parents didn’t keep alcohol in the house.

“Can you imagine if that Tiki mug has booze in it and Dad is actually getting sloshed?” Oona said with excitement.

Triss scoffed. “I bet it’s water, or at the very most ginger ale.”

Oona frowned. “You’re probably right. God, our parents are such squares.”

“Is Mieka somewhere where I can call her,” Triss asked, eager to get off the topic of their parents.

Her sister shook her head. “Tomorrow she will be, so try her then. She’s off partying in like Martinique or something.” Her eyes rolled. “That bitch.”

Triss chuckled. “I mean, she’s got no ass, so …”

“Right, that flat-ass bitch. Fuck her and her amazing life. I love her though, but still fuck her.”

They both laughed and chatted a bit longer, but then Oona, who was in Montreal had to sign off since the people at her party were starting some white elephant gift game.

Smiling and with a full heart, Triss set her tablet down on the bed and went back out into the main part of the house.

Asher had classic rock playing softly through speakers hidden in the living room and he was humming as he rubbed oil on the baked potatoes.

“Have a good chat with your sister?” he asked, startling her that he knew she was there. She hadn’t made a sound. But then again, the man was former military so he could probably hear a mouse fart in the walls.

“I did,” she said, sidling up next to him at the counter.

He tilted his head to a decanted bottle of wine. “If you’re interested.”

“I’m very interested.” She grinned and poured herself a glass, then one for him. Bringing the glass to her lips, she studied his profile.

Damn, he was handsome. Strong jaw, long, but not too long of a nose. It was a little crooked, like he’d broken it once or twice. He also had that thick white scar on his chin. But that only added to his rugged appeal, if she did say so herself.

His eyes were a deep midnight-blue and the speckles of white reminded her of stars on a twilight sky.

“How’d you like your steak?” he asked, interrupting her ogling.

She had to shake her head and blink a few times. “Sorry?”

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