Page 2 of Snowed In With You

I groaned as I tried to brush the memory away, why did he have to live so close? How had I not known? Well, actually, his surfer-boy tan and blue eyes screamed California, and I had just never questioned it.

Was I even swimsuit appropriate at the moment? I frantically thought back, trying to remember my situation down there when I’d put on panties this morning – I couldn’t remember anything too wild and it looked like headlights were approaching outside, so I just had to trust that I’d kept up some form of maintenance downstairs. It was a little risky because I hadn’t slept with anyone since Zach, who had been a rebound fling that had fizzled almost as soon as my ass had hit his bedsheets, and I didn’t always bother to shave if it was only me, myself, and I heading to orgasm-town, population… one.

I dropped my duffel to the floor and ran to my bedroom to search for some sort of swimwear before the devil himself knocked on the door. It was times like these that I was glad for the lack of stairs in my house, everything on one floor and easily accessible. It made rolling to bed after an ice cream fuelled crime documentary binge so much easier.

I rummaged around in the top drawer of my vanity, pushing aside tights that I hadn’t worn in forever and a vibrator that had run out of battery, until I found the one swimsuit I owned. It was a questionable shade of black that had mostly faded to gray, at this point I supposed I just had to hope it didn’t disintegrate the second I stepped into a pre-sauna shower.

Oh god, I was going to be showering. With Fletcher. Getting sweaty in a hot sauna,with Fletcher. It was hard to forget someone when they kept popping up uninvited into your life. No, it was going to be fine. Fletcher didn’t want to be around me anymore than I wanted to be around him, we would find an amicable way to avoid each other, take turns in the sauna and have a great (or at least not terrible) trip with minimal interaction.

How worried did I really need to be? Should I be treating this like seeing an ex for the first time? I glanced into the large mirror hanging in my hallway as I made my way towards the front door. My green eyes looked a little bigger than usual and spots of colour had flared to life at the tops of my cheekbones, this often happened when I thought about Fletcher and our night together. Which wasn’t frequently, damn it.

I raised my arms and gave my pits a quick sniff, rummaged in my bag and slicked on a little extra deodorant for the inevitable nervous sweats I was going to have. Being trapped in a car with a man who was so ashamed of our night together that he’d left before I’d woken up was not going to be good for my nervesormy self-esteem.

I pressed my hand to my face and breathed into it just as the doorbell rang and I whipped it away so fast I almost caught myself across the cheek. He was here. Would he look the same? Maybe he wasn’t as gorgeous as I remembered, all long-lashes, golden skin and floppy blonde-brown hair that I’d run my hands through while we–

No.I wasn’t going there. I needed to open the door, smile and say hello, and then sit in silence for the three hours it would take to get to the cabin in the middle of nowhere that Rob and Tanya had booked.

I hadn’t even had the chance to do my last minute packing checks, too distracted by anxiety and last-minute swimsuitrummaging. Well, if I hadn’t already packed it the likelihood was that it was something I could live without for a week or so.

There was a blurry silhouette showing through the frosted glass of my front door and my body trembled all over.Don’t be ridiculous,I thought to myself,he’s just a man.

I flung the door open and Fletcher jumped. Maybe he was just as nervous as I was trying not to be.

His cheeks were flushed from the cold and his lips parted as he took me in and well,fuck.He looked just as good as I remembered. He had on blue jeans, boots and a thick knit sweater and scarf. His hair looked soft, free of the gel he’d worn at Rob’s wedding, and the lines by his eyes crinkled when he gave me a strained smile.

‘Hi,’ I said and Fletcher’s smile instantly dropped like just the sound of my voice was enough to offend him.

‘Hey,’ he said evenly, voice empty of any emotion and the small flame of heat still burning inside me tried to gutter out, but the tightly balled fists at his side gave some idiotic part of me hope. For what, I had no clue.He’s an asshole,I reminded myself,don’t forget about the note.I held on to that thought, trying to keep it at the forefront of my mind as my eyes travelled over his broad shoulders and the planes of his chest, visible even through the chunky sweater. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked, a small bite of impatience in his voice and I nodded, lifting my duffel and moving to step out of the house but found myself blocked by a well-muscled arm. I breathed through my mouth, trying to keep the scent of his cologne out of my nose and my head as I looked up at him with raised brows.

‘I think you’re forgetting something,’ Fletcher said, a small smirk twitching over his lips and vanishing as quickly as it came.Hell yes,I thought, I was trying to forget a whole damn lot – namely,him.He nodded behind me and I turned to look at whathe was pointing at, my face burning a thousand shades of red as I saw my bikini bottoms lying on the floor by the shoe rack, apparently having fallen from my hand before I could shove them in my bag.

‘Thanks,’ I muttered as I bent to scoop them up and stow them away. There was something odd in Fletcher’s eyes as I moved back to him, something that took me back tothatnight once more. I focused on my breathing, gesturing Fletcher to move out of the way as I stepped out of the house, locked the door and strode over to the shiny black SUV in my driveway.

Don’t be stupid.He didn’t want me. He’d made that abundantly clear when I’d woken up at 11AM to cold sheets and a hastily scrawled note half crumpled on his pillow.This never happened.

Damn right it hadn’t and I was going to do my best to pretend exactly that.

Chapter Two

Fletcher

When your best friend calls you and asks if you’ll pick up their baby sister and spend three hours in a car with them as a favour, you can’t really say no. Especially when you went behind their back and fucked said sister. At your best friend’s wedding.

I’d put up a bit of a fight, but not enough to make Rob suspicious, though right now I really wished I’d managed to find a good enough excuse to avoid this horrifically awkward encounter. It was my own fault. Not only had I slept with my best friend’s sister, I’d also run away in the morning when I realised what I’d done… and just how much I wanted to do it again.

I wasn’t sure how Rob would react, would he be horrified at the betrayal? Happy for any happiness I might have found with Sara? I’d been friends with him since we’d met in college as fresh-faced first years, but this wasn’t a situation where I could really predict Rob’s feelings. Well, it was a moot point now – there was no way she would give me another chance after I’d crept out of bed and scrawled her a note whilst still drunk.

Now I had to spend the entire car ride to Kachemak with her, likely in excruciating silence while memories of that night played on a loop in my head – as had been the case every night since the wedding. It had been a month. I hadn’t been able to be with anyone else. The two dates I’d been on had felt like pulling teeth, they justweren’t her. Not that it mattered, I’d fucked everything up before I’d been able to do even half of what I wanted to her.

Even worse than the car ride from hell, I now had to spend a week with her and her brother, acting like I hadn’t made her scream my name. My dick hardened again just remembering it and I swore softly. The only way I was going to make it through this week was with my hand on my dick every night because there was no doubt in my mind that my bed would be remaining empty.

Rob had sprung Sara’s invite on me, I’d already told him I would come by the time I found out that Sara would be coming too. He’d acted like it was the best thing ever and I hadn’t known whether to be elated or nauseous. I would get to see her! But… I would get to see her.

Then my stomach had fallen through my ass when Rob mentioned some guy she’d been dating that hadn’t ended well and so he had thought the trip might cheer her up. My hackles had immediately risen, I’d been losing sleep and she’d been sleeping her way through Anchorage? Maybe I didn’t need to worry about this trip at all, maybe I was as unmemorable to her as she’d been intoxicating to me.

When she opened the door, her perfume hit my nose, just as light and fruity as I remembered. I was immediately transported back to our one night together, the way her lips had looked swollen from our kisses and the way her eyes had glazed over with lust. God, she looked good. Her heart shaped face peered up at me, green eyes pinched and her lip between her teeth as she assessed me. The next few moments were a blur, did she speak? Did I speak? I had no clue, all I could think about was how she was here in front of me, so tantalisingly close I could smell the mintiness of her breath.

I was fighting back a smirk as she picked up what looked like underwear from the floor and shoved it into her bag, but my anxiety returned as Sara walked towards my car. Now came the hard part.

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