Page 7 of Next to You

My lips shifted up in a grin. “Hell yes, we are. Come on. Get out on my side so I can help you. I don’t want you to fall.” I opened my door, stepped down, and held my arms up to help herhop down. I steadied her when her feet slipped on icy ground, freezing in place when I realized I had inadvertently grabbed two handfuls of her rounded hips.

“Off to a good start already,” she muttered.

I quickly removed my hands, wrapping my palm around the back of my neck as I glanced away.

“I might end up having to carry you at some point. I don’t know how deep the snow will be when we get close.”

Her eyes widened as she peered up at me with a trusting smile.

“Are you okay with that?” I asked her.

“Yes.” Her cheeks pinkened as she gave me a jerky nod. “I mean, yeah, I’m fine with whatever gets us to safety. Of course it’s okay.”

“Good, alright. Let’s move out. We can do this, Lucy. One foot in front of the other, that’s it. Follow behind me, and I’ll clear a path for you. If it gets to be too much, please tell me.”

“Okay. I’ll tell you.” I was not convinced.

“I’m serious. Promise me. If you get home and lose your little toes to frostbite, I'll never live it down, and I’m not into being the town pariah.”

She laughed. “Well, now I’ll actually tell you. I was going to try to tough it out.”

“I had a feeling.” I grabbed my flashlight, pocketed my keys, and shut and locked the door.

I lifted her over the tree, then took her hand and the lead, stretching my arm behind myself for her to follow me. I didn’t want to risk us getting separated.

The cabin was close, but the road was treacherous even on a good day. It was a private road, and we kept it graveled, but bad weather made it hard to navigate. The ice and snow made it significantly worse, not to mention the darkness pressing in onevery side. Lucy was counting on me getting us to the cabin in one piece. And I’d be damned if I let anything happen to her.

Chapter 3

Lucy

Ishivered as the cold went straight down the neck of Spencer’s coat, chilling me to the bone. The scarf had slid out of place, but my hands were just too cold to fix it. It was big, the neckline gaped, and my hoodie was insufficient to keep the icy draft out.

One foot in front of the other. I could do this.

If—when—I got home, I would have a good talking to with myself. Maybe I’d never leave the house again unless it was the middle of summer. I mean, as far as I knew, Oregon had never had a surprise summer snowstorm.

The spiky tops of the evergreens stood tall like dark sentries against the night sky, and as it sometimes does here, the hail only lasted a minute. The snow, however, had decided to return to the party and was now falling in fat blobs, pelting us in the head as we trudged through the crispy, ice-covered mud.

I could tell there was a road here, but it was a mess—slippery in spots and covered with fallen branches and wet leaves.

The light from Spencer’s flashlight was almost worse than being in the pitch dark. It created shadows that my overactive imagination ran wild with.

I was scared out of my mind.

I gripped Spencer’s hand hard. I didn’t want him to worry, so I kept my thoughts to myself. The idea of getting separated terrified me, so I held on tight.

The reassuring grip of his hand comforted me, but I was starting to doubt my ability to make it to his cabin without my feet freezing and falling off. My shoes were soaked and caked with mud, and the treads were packed with ice.

Like, I’d always wanted to hold his hand, but not like this. I couldn’t even get a proper thrill out of it because I now knew what it felt like to be an ice cube, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“Spencer,” I called and tugged on his hand. I couldn’t make it. I couldn’t feel my feet anymore.

He stopped and turned. After one look at me, he raised his eyebrows. I nodded, and without a word, he picked me up and slung me over his shoulder.

I started making a quick mental list of every part of my body he was touching so I could think about it later, like when I was alone in a bubble bath at home or whatever. But I stopped when I realized it was practically all of them, since I was plastered across his shoulder with my line of sight trained straight on his gorgeous ass.

His arm was banded around the back of my thighs right below my booty, and my breasts were flattened against his upper back as I held on to his waist and tried not to stare too hard at his spectacular butt as he walked.

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