tip. “Those thirty-two days damn near killed me. Never again. Besides, you’re way too touchable. Even if I start out with good intentions, I’ll soon be defeated.”
“Hmmm. We’ll just have to do something about that-and I know just the thing.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
“It’s a surprise.” She waggled her brows. “To go along with another surprise I have planned for you.”
“Perfect. Because I have a surprise for you, too. One that involves a bottle of champagne and a picnic in front of the fire.”
She lightly pinched his butt and rolled her eyes. “Way to ruin my surprise.”
He smiled into her shining eyes, and she grinned back, creasing the dimples in her cheeks that he loved. This is the way he loved seeing her. Smiling. Happy. Relaxed. Eyes filled with love and mischief. Not with her face tearstained, eyes bleak, looking sad, weary and defeated as she had when he entered the cabin. Seeing her like that made him feel as if he had a hole in his heart, and it was something he intended to do his damnedest never to see again.
After dropping a quick kiss to each shallow indent, he eased off her and stood. Holding out his hand, he said, “Why don’t you hop in the shower while I get the fire going? I’ll join you in a minute. Help you wash your back.”
“Just my back?”
“For starters.”
“Are you trying to make me say yes?”
“Absolutely. Is it working?”
“Absolutely.”
They exchanged a light kiss, then he watched her head toward the bathroom. Whew. No doubt about it, the woman had the sexiest, most incredible walk he’d ever seen. If there was an Olympic medal for Most Scrumptious Ass, Jess would bring home the gold.
Feeling more relaxed than he had in weeks, he quickly got the fire going, then pulled his picnic supplies from his gym bag-blanket, which he spread before the hearth, bottle of champagne, which he popped into the cabin’s already filled ice bucket, plus the assortment of goodies he’d brought from the restaurant. Satisfied, he headed toward the bathroom where he heard the shower running and Jess singing. A grin tugged his lips. Just another quirky thing to love about her-the woman was completely tone-deaf. I’ll have to sing the lullabies to our kids. He was fond of teasing her. You can sing to them if we’re mad at them.
Kids…just another bright spot shining in his future with Jess, and something he’d never been able to see clearly with any other woman. But looking into Jess’s eyes, he saw it all and a few years down the road, after they’d settled into married life, they planned to start a family. Two, maybe three kids. She was going to be an absolutely fantastic mom.
She hit a particularly bad note and a half groan, half laugh escaped him. Yikes. He needed to get into that shower and give her something else to do besides sing before the people in the other cabins called the main lodge to complain.
Heh, heh, heh. He knew just the thing to keep her occupied.
Smiling, he’d just started toward the bathroom when the phone rang. He shot a frown at the instrument and gave himself a mental slap for not requesting that all calls go straight to voice mail. If this was anyone other than Helen or Roland Krause calling to check on their accommodations, he was going to be seriously pissed off. It sure as hell had better not be one of his sisters or Jess’s family. He reached the phone in three quick strides and snatched up the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Eric, it’s Kelley. I wanted to tell you-”
“Hold it right there. Is anyone bleeding?”
“No, but-”
“Anyone on their way to the hospital?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t want-”
“But that’s the point, Eric. No one’s on their way anywhere. With the severity of this storm, travel conditions are hazardous and getting worse. The airport has canceled all flights and most of the secondary roadways are already virtually closed. There’s also been a ten-car pileup on the interstate.”
She made a short, impatient sound, then continued. “So the bad news is I’m stuck. Here. At the Happy Wedding Lodge. Yippee. I just finished registering and I’m in cabin number twelve-two down from yours. And before you complain about it, just know that I’m not any happier about this than you are. Based on the weather reports coming in, I’ll probably be stuck here all day tomorrow and maybe Monday as well.”
“Is there any good news?”
“Nope. In fact, it just gets worse. In case you haven’t connected the dots yet, this means that Carol and Marc are stuck here, too.”
Eric pinched the bridge of his nose. Damn. His and Jess’s romantic getaway plans were sinking faster than a bowling ball tossed into Mirror Lake. “You’re right. That’s worse.”
“And just to put a cherry on top of this crappy snow-covered dessert, I just dropped fifty bucks in the lodge gift shop on essentials.”
“What essentials? Your cabin should have all the shampoo-type basics.”
“Chocolate. Chocolate bars, chocolate truffles, chocolate-covered pretzels, dark chocolate fudge and homemade triple-chocolate brownies. If ever there was a time that required chocolate, this disastrous outing is it.”
He frowned. “I thought chocolate was your cure for man problems.”
A few beats of silence followed his words. Then she gave a quick laugh that sounded somewhat forced. “Man problems, wedding problems, family problems-chocolate helps solve them all. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I’m here. I’ll try to keep out of your hair, but with so many plans to finalize and me being trapped here, the effort is really going to cost me.”
“Well, bite the bullet. Cover your mouth with duct tape if necessary. I love you, kiddo, but I really don’t want to hear from you.”
“I know. And I love you, too. Most of the time. I’ll just feed my chocolate addiction and try not to cave and call you.” Her voice softened. “I know I can be a little…”
“Overbearing?” he supplied in a teasing tone.
She laughed. “Yeah. Sometimes. But believe it or not, I only want you happy. And Jessica, too.”
“I know.”
“I already said this at the lodge, but I’m sorry Jessica got so upset. I’ll put on my halo and say that the fault was mostly Carol’s, but I can see I didn’t help matters. When it comes to overbearing, that woman makes me look like a preschooler.” She hesitated. “And speaking of overbearing…how did things go at the bar with Marc?”
“I think ‘overprotective’ describes him better. Culling him from the Hayden brother herd was…enlightening. I think he may actually be human.”
“Oh? Are you saying you…like him?”
“Like might be a bit too strong a word at this point, but I do think he’s a decent, hardworking guy who cares about his family. Obviously he’s misguided where I’m concerned, but as much as that irks me, it stems out of love for his sister, and being a brother, I can relate. I don’t agree with him, but our conversation gave me some hope that things might turn around.”
“I…see. Well. That’s…interesting.”
“You okay? You sound weird.”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. In that case, I’m hanging up. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
“Words I’ll try to live by. But be warned-Carol and Marc might not be so accommodating. You better lock your door and take the phone off the hook.”
“Good plan. Bye.”
He disconnected then switched off the phone’s ringer, although with his sister literally only yards away and his future in-laws not much farther, he wasn’t sure how helpful that would be. Note to self: next romantic getaway will
