Page 58 of Hold Your Breath
She swallowed. “Thanks. I’m happy to be with you, too.”
Their eyes met across the counter. Her breath caught in her chest, and she couldn’t stop her hand from reaching toward his. When she was just an inch away from touching him, though, she lost her nerve.
Before she could retreat, Callum caught her fingers.
Her gaze bounced from her trapped hand to his face as he started to lean toward her. She froze, her lungs burning with the need for air and her muscles tight with anticipation, watching him move infinitesimally closer, closer…until the sound of the sleigh bells made her jerk away.
Biting back a swearword, Lou gave the trio who’d just entered a smile that was more gritted teeth than welcome. “Hi.” Why did her voice sound like she smoked a pack of cigarettes a day? Clearing her throat, she tried again. “What can I get you?”
Chapter 11
By the time her last customers left, it was time to close the shop. Callum had retreated into his corner, his expression as closed and unreadable as the very first time she’d met him, and she couldn’t help glancing at the tight slash of his mouth with a pang of regret. The last hour would’ve been very different if the three local teenagers hadn’t decided to walk the four blocks from their house to the coffee shop for dinner. Instead of making stilted conversation with Callum in front of their adolescent audience, she probably could have been kissing him. The thought made her smile.
“Ready?”
Lou jumped. “What? Oh! Right. Um…just a second.” She grabbed the tray from the cash register, almost dropping it in her flustered state, and then practically ran to the back where the safe was located. She took a few moments just to breathe, to calm her silly heart.
“Stop,” she commanded her brain.
“Did you say something?” Callum called from the front.
“No,” she yelled back. “I mean, yes, but it had nothing to do with you.”
There was a pause. “Okay.”
Squeezing her palms against her temples, she took another deep breath. It didn’t help. Her heart was still hopping around in her chest. Letting her hands drop to her sides, she gave up. It was time to accept the fact that she was going to behave like an idiot in front of Callum. It was unfortunate but, at the same time, inevitable.
Blowing out a shaky sigh, she went to grab the mop bucket.
* * *
Driving on the snow-packed highway finally got her brain off of Callum and his unbearably sexy mouth. At a crawl, she led their mini-convoy of two through the swirling snow. Even going impossibly slowly, she still felt the tires slide sideways as she maneuvered around a curve. There weren’t many other vehicles on the highway, for which Lou was grateful, since oncoming headlights reflected against the snow and blinded her for a few panicky seconds.
When she finally reached the turn-off onto the county road, she relaxed her tight shoulders and stretched her fingers, sore from clutching the wheel. Although the snow was deeper, the gravel beneath allowed her tires to grip the surface. Lou reached her driveway without any issues and guided her pickup into the ruts she’d already created in the frozen drifts. The new snow hadn’t filled her old tire tracks in completely—at least not yet.
After stopping in to feed her woodstove that morning, she’d left the gate open, since drifting snow had been predicted, and Lou had figured it would be better if the gate was stuck in the open position. Finally reaching her cabin, she backed into her usual parking spot with a relieved exhale. She felt as if she’d been holding her breath for the entire drive home.
Callum backed in next to her truck, maneuvering his pickup through the snow with a confidence she envied. Hopping out of the truck, she landed shin-high in a fresh mound of snow.
“If Mr. Stalker makes a visit tonight,” she said as Callum rounded the hood of his truck, “we’ll definitely see his boot prints tomorrow.” She glared at the flake-filled sky. “If this snow ever stops, that is.”
“If he does try to visit tonight,” he responded grimly, “he’ll end up in a ditch instead.”
“Hopefully.”
Moving to pick up an armload of wood, she was stopped by Callum’s hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get it,” he said, giving her a gentle push toward the door.
Her independent side wanted to protest, but it was overruled by her tired-and-lazy side, so she just thanked him and unlocked the front door.
As she held the door, he carried in a huge armload of the split logs with ease. She narrowed her eyes at him.
“What?”
She closed the door behind them. “That’s the second time in five minutes I’ve coveted your abilities and/or strength.”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Are you jealous of my wood-hauling skills?”
“Yes,” she admitted, kicking off her boots before heading for her bedroom. “And your driving-in-snow acumen.”
