Page 62 of Major Love

Then he stands upright and glances down at me, tugging me under his biceps.

“You did a good job with the digging. What’d you use?”

I gesture vaguely toward the backseat of the truck. “One of my snow-boots,” I rasp.

Jason nods, then presses a gentle kiss to the tip of my cheekbone.

And my heart explodes.

“That was smart, baby. It won’t take long to remove the rest. I’m gonna grab a shovel from my truck and then, after a couple of shoves, we’ll get her moving.”

Then he squeezes those large palms over my shoulders.

“You’re gonna put the heating on and wait in my truck, okay?”

“I don’t want to kill your battery,” I rasp, feeling worried.

“Sunday, you already did all the hard work. This won’t take long, I promise.” Then, with a gentle smile, he asks quietly, “You tried calling me?”

I breathe out an embarrassed laugh, grateful that he’s distracting me with his tender flirting, and we walk as carefully as we can to his truck as the snow falls even heavier.

He pulls open the driver’s door, grips my waist, and helps me jump, blocking the cool air from streaming into the cab with the large expanse of his strong shoulders.

I curl up on his seat, trying to ignore how unbelievably good it smells in here.

Like pine and cedar. Inviting and deeply masculine.

He looks down at me for a second, his eyes heating before he flicks them away.

“Gonna grab my stuff from the tail-bed. Dig around the tires and then shove some weight against the bumper.”

I try not to shiver at the knowledge that byshove some weighthe’s referring to using his giant hands to lift Casey’s car.

“Thank you,” I whisper up at him.

He shakes his head. “Don’t mention it.”

He closes the door and I watch in the mirror as he pulls on a pair of heavy-duty gloves, before dropping a shovel over his shoulder. Then he’s disappearing into the pines with a surprising amount of grace for a man so broad.

With the key already in the ignition I flip it on and turn up the heat, climbing carefully over to the passenger seat so that I can make out his movements through the trees.

Barely three minutes later I hear the heavy sound of a vehicle groaning, and I instantly kill the engine, hopping down and following the sound.

I watch Jason as he braces his thighs and shoves Casey’s vehicle forwards, the entire truck lurching as he releases it from the grip of the snow.

He grunts, gives it a final push, and then swipes his hands against his snow-soaked pants as he stands upright, his gaze instantly meeting mine as he catches me waiting by a pine near the forest border.

He stays silent as he makes his way toward me, tugging off his gloves as he looks me up and down. So calm, so confident, no matter the situation.

An unfazed soldier, through and through.

He wraps his palm around my hip, pulling me toward him as he watches me, and the blazing warmth from his touch sears through my thermal pants to the skin of my thighs.

“You okay to drive?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” I rasp.

Although after this, I never want to drive again.

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