Page 114 of Not Your Average Vixen
“Tell me, Bridget?” he coaxed, completely enthralled and powerless to resist.
She gripped the fabric of his coat. “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never let myself dream. I’ve never taken the leap and just gone for it.”
The leap. The letting go. Putting it all on the line and rolling the dice.
He’d never allowed himself that luxury either.
But none of that seemed to matter when she was locked in his embrace.
All the bullshit faded away, muting the grating pain that dwelled deep in his heart.
He inhaled her vanilla scent as their breaths mingled together. They inhabited this space, this place where time stood still. The anticipation grew palpable—the air buzzing with a delicious expectancy.
“Who are you, Bridget? The angel or the vixen?” he whispered.
She trembled in his arms. “I—” she breathed as the sharp ping of an incoming text sliced through the cabin, severing their connection.
She sank from her tiptoe position, then took a step back, and broke free of his embrace.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket. “It’s a text from Lori. Everyone’s wondering where we are.” She glanced up at him as the light from her smartphone illuminated her face. “I’ll tell her not to worry and that we’re on our way.”
He took a step back as well and ran his hands down his scruffy jaw. “Yeah, we should get going.”
They threw snow on the last of the dying embers, extinguishing the last glimmers of orange light, and he propped the door closed with a few logs. With the intimacy of their exchange interrupted, a heavy silence stretched between them.
Did she regret sharing her past with him?
Bridget held the flashlight as they followed their boot prints, passing evergreen after evergreen, neither uttering a word. His mind spun with not only the events of the evening but the events of the last four days.
Four days!
He’d known this woman for ninety-six hours, give or take, and he could not for the life of him remember who he was before he’d fallen victim to her infuriating charms.
They entered the mountain house to find the main gathering room empty. Lit only by the Christmas trees twinkling in the corners, he followed Bridget down the hallway toward their room. She reached for the doorknob when another door a few rooms down swung open, and Lori poked her head out into the darkened corridor.
“Are you guys okay?” she whispered.
He stared at her. This was the first time he’d seen Bridget’s sister since Tom dropped the pregnancy news, and all he felt was emptiness.
“We’re fine. Is Cole okay?” Bridget asked.
Tom joined Lori in the doorway. “Yeah, he’s fine. He was out like a light the minute Denise put him in bed, then everyone decided to call it a night.”
Bridget’s shoulders slumped a fraction. “I’m so glad he’s safe, but I’m sorry for ruining your evening. I should have kept a better eye on him.”
Tom wrapped his arm around Lori. “Don’t sweat it, Birdie. Everyone’s fine. That’s what matters, right, Scooter?”
He nodded in a daze. “Yeah.”
It was like living in some strange alternate universe. There was his best friend. They’d been inseparable for years, and now, they were on the cusp of the ultimate separation. Lori had replaced him, and a child would further widen the gulf.
“Is everything okay, Scooter?”
He blinked to find Lori staring at him.
“What do you mean?”
The woman cocked her head to the side. “You have a strange look on your face.”
