Page 20 of Snow Balled

Carter gave Tristan a noncommittal shrug. “Aren’t you going to change?”

Tristan stood and pulled off his shirt. Now there were two incredibly ripped men right in front of me. Out of desperation, I located Drew, who was sitting on the couch, his feet up on the coffee table as he worked on his laptop.

“We work out every day at three,” he said when he caught my eye.

“Helps keep us from going stir-crazy,” Tristan added. “You’re welcome to join us.”

“Thanks, but I’m just going to keep working.” My voice was faint, but what did they expect when they looked like that?

Drew set his laptop on the hearth of the fireplace and then effortlessly picked up the coffee table and moved it out of the way. “Okay if I go get my workout clothes?” He pointed at the small bedroom.

“Sure. It’s your bedroom.”

He shot me a wink. “Not anymore.”

He and Tristan left to change, leaving me with a man who was hard enough to talk to when he was fully clothed… which apparently wasn’t often. But he ignored me, moving into the space Drew had just cleared. He dropped to the ground and started doing pushups with military precision.

Which had nothing to do with me. I was a professional—sort of. I could keep writing no matter what the guys were doing.

Except soon, there were three shirtless men there, stretching, jogging in place, doing jumping jacks and burpees. Even if they hadn’t been so good-looking, it would’ve been distracting.

Drew was the biggest surprise, and the one I currently couldn’t keep my eyes off of. I’d had no idea how well-built he was. His biceps were practically the size of my waist. I’d overheard the others talking, and I’d gotten the impression that Drew was their IT guy. But what kind of IT guy looked likethat?

A casting director would never have hired someone like him for a computer nerd role. No way in hell.

Biting my lip, I continued to sneak peeks at him while my fingers hovered over my keyboard, uselessly still. I couldn’t believe that I’d thought Drew had boyish charm and looks. Nothing about him looked like a boy right now. He was all man. All three of them were.

My face flushed, and I was tempted to take my hoodie off as heat spread across my chest. God, the way the muscles on Carter’s back moved was mesmerizing. When I tore my gaze away, I got caught up in the efficient way Tristan did jumping jacks.

Nothing sagged. Nothing jiggled. His entire body was made up of tightly packed muscles.

My gaze moved on to Drew. He had some heavy-looking free weights, and his biceps bulged as he lifted them.

The three of them seemed to take up a lot more space when they were exercising, and it felt like there wasn’t enough air in here.

And then Carter switched up his pushups so that he lifted his hands off the ground and clapped at the height of each one. Except that’s not the only sound he made. He also grunted with exertion, a noise that was annoying but hit me at a primal level and seemed to enter my bloodstream.

The way they were flexing their bodies reminded me of the way male actors did exercises to pump up their muscles before filming a shirtless scene. Their goal was to appear as masculine, macho, and ripped as possible. These guys weren’t doing it for that reason, but still, it reminded me of it. And also brought back a flood of not-so-great memories of working with men like that.

I hopped up so quickly that I nearly knocked over my stool. But I had to get out of here. There was too much testosterone. Too much bare flesh. Too many hot-as-sin men.

Squeezing past the guys, I dashed into the laundry room. Without giving myself time to get squeamish about it, I shoved my feet into the ski boots we’d found. They were tight, but they fit—thank God. Now I could at least go out for air every once in a while.

Drew’s winter coat was still hanging there, so I pulled it on, figuring that he wouldn’t mind. “I’m going outside for a bit,” I announced as I made my way around the men. There was no response except for more grunting.

I quickly donned my scarf and hat and pulled open the door, causing a light swirl of snowflakes to blow into the house. A few more steps and my getaway would be complete—except I was followed.

“Stay, Zeus. I’m going out.”

Oops. Apparently, the dog knew and thoroughly approved of the word “out.” He danced around my legs, looking up at me as if waiting for me to go first. “I’m taking the dog,” I said loudly, figuring that someone would stop me if that wasn’t okay.

No one said anything as the collie and I walked out into the winter wonderland.

Once the door was closed behind me, I took a deep breath. The cold bit at my face, but I didn’t care. The fresh air smelled great. There was no scent of aftershave or masculine sweat. Just clear, fresh air.

Zeus was already exploring the tree line, and I took a few tentative steps toward him. My foot slipped once, but I didn’t go down. The boots were a great improvement over my slippers, which were now ruined anyway. Plus, the snow had partially covered some of the hard, unforgiving ice.

Slowly, I made my way to the front of the cabin. It was only then that I was able to look down the hill.

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