“Abby, are you all right?” he asked.
My teeth were chattering so hard, however, that I couldn’t even answer him.
“Abby.”
I slowly turned toward him, and I could see he had flipped the blanket up off the bed.
“Come get in bed,” he said. “You’re freezing. You’ll get sick like that.”
My eyes rose to his before I ran and dove for the bed. All I had was a towel wrapped around me while my hair dripped onto the bed, but I didn’t care. I hunkered down into the blanket while I tried to take deep breaths, but my jaw was already aching, and my abdomen was already starting to cramp.
“So cold…”
Suddenly, I felt an arm drape around me. I looked over at the man lying next to me, with his gray t-shirt and his flannel pajama bottoms, with his arms outstretched to guide me in. I knew I needed to keep my distance from him. I knew I needed to keep a level head. But his body looked so warm, and I already couldn’t feel my toes.
It would just was just be until I got warm. Then I’d put on my pajamas, and we’d both fall asleep.
I scooted into his arms, and he draped his long, muscular appendages around my body. I moaned into his chest, an involuntary reaction to the warmth he provided. I scooted my leg in between his while I breathed down his warmth, sucking every last bit of it from him until he began to shiver as well.
I didn’t understand what drew me to him. I had no idea why I felt so comfortable with him physically. Even though my mind was telling me to back away, my body was perfectly comfortable caving into him. It frightened me, to be honest. I wasn’t going to be with this man past tomorrow evening, and the last thing I needed was to be getting attached. Whether he was a rebound, a little bit of fun, or just a random hookup that wouldn’t mean anything in a few days, it would grow into more than it needed to be if I got attached.
But my gosh, did his chest feel good against mine.
I closed my eyes and sighed, just as another whirring sound occurred. It reminded me of the sound the vending machine had made earlier, except we weren’t anywhere near a vending machine. I heard Colin grumble as I peeled my eyes opened, and that was when I realized what had him so upset.
The power had gone out.
“What in the world?” Colin asked.
I sighed.
A resounding knock came at our motel door, and Colin pulled away from me. I instantly went back to shivering, longing for his warmth as he opened the door. I had no idea what was going on now, but I was finding it harder and harder to keep a smile on my face. This innocent road trip was turning into one of the most frustrating and confusing things I’d ever been a part of, and the longer it extended, the more I just wanted to be home.
“Yes?” Colin asked.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Front desk, ma’am,” the woman said at the door. “We’re making rounds to let people know that the backup generator isn’t kicking in yet. We’ve got someone looking at it, so it should be up and working in a few minutes.”
“Like that water heater issue?” Colin asked.
If I wasn’t shivering so much, I would’ve actually laughed at his statement. A little because it was funny, but mostly because he was right.
“We’re working on that as fast as we can, but we think the main water heating source has a faulty part,” she said. “That requires someone to travel, which is taking a while in this weather.”
“I take it the heat’s a separate problem?” he asked.
“What?”
“The heat. It wasn’t working before the power went out.”
“Really?” the woman asked.
Colin actually groaned, and I rolled over onto my back to try and move away from the wet spot my hair had created.
“Do you guys at least have extra blankets we could have?” Colin asked. “Since there’s no hot water and no heater to run?”
“I’ll see what we’ve got,” the woman said.
“Thanks.”
He shut the door hard, and the only thing I could hope was that the woman had already been walking away. I could tell by the way he was huffing and grumbling that he was pretty pissed. I’m sure they were doing the best they could, despite this freak storm that had built up over us, and even through my chattering teeth, I tried to deliver some sort of hope.
“I’m sure they’ll have it back on soon,” I said.
“Of course, you’d think that,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“Your optimism is showing again,” he said.
“I thought you liked the shape of my optimism.”
I tried to grin at him, but I was pretty sure it came out like a lopsided grimace of pain. He immediately got back into bed with me, peeling his shirt off before he gathered me back up into his arms. At first, I was reluctant. I knew if I felt his soft skin against mine that I’d melt into him and never want to come back up. His body was magnetized in a way I’d never experienced with another man. With his clothes on, I could write him off as a cold, icy Grinch who wanted to ruin the holidays for everyone around him.
But with his clothes off and his body burning the way it did, I could only see him as a virile, passionate man who had no outlet whatsoever for his carnal desires.
“Deep breaths, Abby. Concentrate on my body heat.”
Oh, I was concentrating on much more than that.
“I’d rather live my life happy and optimistic than upset and mad at things I can’t
