Snowbound With The Boss

His life would have been a lot easier if only he’d been able to escape Wyoming and put several hundred miles between himself and Kate. That wasn’t going to happen, though, so he had to find a way to survive this enforced closeness.

“Why are you staring at me?”

He came out of his thoughts and focused on the woman now looking at him. “Just thinking.”

“Now I’m worried,” she said, a half smile curving her mouth. “Thinking about what?”

Well, he wasn’t going to tell her the truth—that he was thinking about how soon he could get her out of her clothes—so he blurted out something that had been on his mind lately. “Wondering how you became a contractor.”

Her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed and he had the distinct feeling she didn’t believe him. But then she shrugged and answered.

“My dad is the easy answer,” she said, shifting her gaze back to the fire snapping and crackling just a few feet away from them. “He’s a master carpenter. Started his own business when I was a kid.” She smiled in memory, and Sean noticed how her features softened. “I used to work for him every summer and he and the guys on his crew taught me everything I know about construction.”

“Funny, I worked summers for my dad, too,” Sean said, remembering how he had tried desperately to get out of work so he could go surfing instead.

“What’s your dad do?”

“Lawyer,” Sean said, bracing his hands on the floor behind him. “He wanted my brother and I to go to law school, join his firm.”

“No interest in being a lawyer?” she asked.

He shuddered. “No. When you worked for your dad, you were outside, right?”

“Usually, yeah.”

“Not me. Dad had us shredding old documents, sweeping, mopping and in general doing everything the building custodians needed us to do.” He shook his head. “Hated being locked up inside, so I promised myself that I’d find a job where I could take off and go surfing when I wanted to.”

She laughed. “Not many employers allow surfing breaks, I imagine.”

“Nope.” He grinned and added, “Just another reason I like being my own boss. You’d know what I mean by that.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

A moment or two of silence, broken only by the snap and hiss of the fire, stretched out between them. It was almost companionable, Sean thought. It was the first time since he’d met Kate Wells that they’d gone so long without an argument. It surprised him how much he was enjoying it.

“So,” he asked, “who’ll run things for you while you’re stuck here?”

“With a blizzard this heavy, the guys will just hole up at their homes and take a few days off. They won’t be expecting to work through it,” she said, then looked around the room.

It was filled with shadows that moved and shifted in the flickering light. “As soon as the snow stops and the roads are clear, we’ll get started on the renovations. The structure’s sound, but for needing some new shingles on the roof and some of the porch railings replaced. We’ll be working on the inside for now, of course, and move to the outside when spring finally gets here—”

“And we’re talking about work again,” Sean interrupted her. He’d noticed that whenever their conversations threatened to get personal, she “ran home to mama” so to speak and turned to talk of the job.

“Your fault this time. Besides, work is why we’re here,” she pointed out.

“No,” he argued with a wave of his hand toward the closest window that displayed a view of swirling white, “snow is why we’re here. We’ve talked about the job enough for today.”

“Well then,” she said abruptly, “what do you want to talk about?”

“Who says I want to talk at all?” he asked and gave her a slow smile.

She stiffened and her features went cool and dispassionate. What did it say about him, Sean wondered, that her reaction only fed the hunger gnawing at him? This woman’s obvious reluctance to admit to what was simmering between them only intrigued him further.

So maybe, he told himself, the secret to surviving close quarters with Kate was to go ahead and give in to the sexual tug happening. If they tried to ignore it, the next few days were going to be misery.

“Yeah,” she said, “that’s not going to happen.”

“Never say never,” he told her with a careless shrug. “We’re stuck together and I’m pretty damn charming.”

A hesitant smile twitched at her lips briefly. “I think I can control myself.”

“We’ll see, won’t we?” He was a man who loved a challenge. And Kate Wells was surely that.

“Right. I think I’ll bring in more wood.” She pushed herself to her feet and looked down at him.

“Thought we had enough.” He glanced at the high stack of split logs he’d already carried in and set beside the hearth.

“Can’t have too much,” she said, pulling her jacket on.

He knew a displacement activity when he saw one. She was trying to get some space, some distance from him, and damn if he was going to let her. “I’ll get it.”

“I can do it,” she said and left without another look at him.

Muttering under his breath about hardheaded women, Sean grabbed his jacket and followed. He walked through the mudroom and stepped out onto the wide, covered back porch in time to see Kate grabbing several big logs. “Let me get it.”

“I said I don’t need help,” she countered.

Sean came up beside her just as she whirled around to face him. Her elbow caught him in the chest, and he took a step back and hit the edge of the top step. Off balance, his arms windmilled as he felt himself falling and knew he couldn’t stop it. The fresh snow cushioned his fall and puffed up around him in a cloud. He was flat on his back, staring up at still more snow falling out of a steel-gray sky.

“Oh, God, are you okay?” Kate dropped the wood she held and reached out one hand to him. “I didn’t know you were there, really.”

Sean only stared at her. Snowflakes gathered in her hair, on her lashes, on the collar of her coat. Her hand was out toward him, and he grabbed it. But rather than take her help to get out of the snow, he gave a hard yank and pulled her down to join him.

She gave a half shriek when she landed on top of him, then immediately struggled to push herself up again. But having her body pressed along his felt so good, Sean was in no hurry to release her.

“What’s the rush?” he asked, mouth just a breath away from hers.

“It’s freezing.”

“Cuddle up, we’ll keep each other warm.”

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