“I know damn good and well about where your company is sitting, because I work there. But I’m not about to risk my life to P.R. a conference. I think you should pull over.”
“If I felt our lives were in danger, I would. But they aren’t. This is why I didn’t want you driving. I knew we would hit the storm and I knew it would freak you out.”
“Oh, you just knew this, right? After spending, what—eight or nine days with me?”
“And Christmas,” he said.
“Oh. Right. Because you got to know my personality on Christmas,” I said.
Silence fell in the car as the traffic picked back up, and this time we were starting to cruise at a decent speed.
“Whatever part of you I did have over Christmas, I enjoyed getting to know it,” Colin said.
I flicked my gaze back over to him and saw how hard his eyes were locked onto the road in front of us.
“Me, too,” I said, murmuring.
“But we’re not stopping. We’ll be okay. And if we hit a point where we are not okay, you have my word that I’ll pull over.”
“Whatever. But if you complain about the hotel because you put yourself in a scenario where you can’t choose, I’m punching you in the dick.”
“I’m your boss. I could fire you for that,” he said.
“Whatever.”
The car ride was silent and my worry was increasing tenfold. The farther into the storm we got, the worse it became. Sleet started beating against the window, obstructing our view even further. The mirrors on the side of the car got so cold in the sinking temperatures that ice started to accumulate on them. I kept refreshing my phone, trying to figure out where this storm ended.
But it was laid out over the entire state of Iowa and over much of Kansas.
“Please, Colin. This storm is massive. It’s covering the whole state of—”
“I don’t want to hear any more about it,” he said sternly. “I’m trying to concentrate on driving. If you want to fill your ears with noise, I’ve got headphones in my bag in the back. You can climb back there and dig them out.”
My jaw clenched at his words as I drew a deep breath through my nose. I was trying my best to keep my fear at bay, but it was hard. The sky was completely darkened and the mirrors were becoming caked in ice. The snow was whipping around the car that was teetering on the highway because of the swirls of wind knocking around the fresh powder. We were riding the bumper of this massive truck just to keep its red tail lights in our view, and my body was shaking with fear as I pressed my forehead against the window of the car.
I bit back a yelp as I pulled my head back.
The window was freezing cold. So cold, in fact, that the part of my forehead that touched the window was throbbing with pain.
Raising my hand, I let my fingertips dance over the spot. I wasn’t bleeding or anything, but it was very sore. I chanced a glance at Colin one last time and saw his focused gaze connected with the world he could see out of our windshield.
I guess it was a good thing I wasn’t driving, because I couldn’t see a damn thing.
“I’m sorry,” Colin said. “For getting upset like I did.”
“I don’t care about your apologies,” I said. “I only care about keeping us safe.”
“And I’m not doing that?”
“No, you’re not. You’re traveling in a storm you’ve got no business traveling in because you’re holding yourself to some imaginary timeframe. Well you know what? Your timeframe’s gonna get us killed in this storm. Hope you can explain that to my father.”
“How is he, by the way?”
“My father’s fine. And my mother says hello.”
“Well give them my best.”
“I will,” I said.
“Good.”
The man was out of his damn mind. I looked over at him and saw this cheeky little grin on his cheeks. What in the world was so funny? What type of amusement did he get out of trying to kill us? His eyes lit up with his grin, and at any other moment in time I would’ve reveled in his beauty.
But right now he was just a pain in my ass.
“Looks like someone else is the Grinch now,” Colin said.
“I am not.”
“Yes, you are. It’s not as fun to be annoyed by someone when the tables are flipped, is it?” he asked.
“I’m sorry if me not wanting to die makes me a Grinch.”
“It doesn’t make you a Grinch, but not getting your way does make you upset.”
I could hear the chuckle in his voice he was trying to stifle.
“I’m glad you’re getting pleasure out of my misery,” I said.
“Isn’t that what you did to me over Christmas?” he asked.
“No. I was just trying to open you up to the concept of holiday cheer. I was trying to make you more relaxed and keep you from being such a stick-in-the-mud.”
“And I’d say it worked, at least in part. I’m a man who can admit he was bested when it happens.”
“I wasn’t trying to best you. I was just trying to—”
“Improve me?” he asked.
I sighed as I looked out the window and I had to close my eyes so my nerves wouldn’t get out of control again.
“Just trust me,” he said. “Trust that I know you well enough to know this was how you were going to react, and trust that I will
