Tuck pulled onto what I hoped was the gravel drive, but who could really tell in this mess of white. “There’s a bed and breakfast at the base of this road. Hopefully, they’ll have rooms open.”
Tuck made his way down the mountain road at a painfully slow pace I was grateful for as I held my hands up to one of the heater vents and rubbed them together. “Sorry I made you stay out longer.”
“It’s not your fault. It doesn’t usually come down this heavy this early in the season.” Tuck’s shoulders seemed to ease a fraction when we pulled into a parking lot outside what looked like a large log cabin. “Come on.”
I grabbed my pack and hopped down, wading through the snow until I reached Tuck’s side. We made our way towards the cabin, pausing to knock powder off our boots by the front door. Tuck pushed it open, and a curvy woman with red, curly hair wearing an apron greeted us. “Oh, you poor things. Come in, come in. Get out of that dreadful snow.”
Tuck pulled off his hat. “Good evening, ma’am. Would you happen to have any vacancies? We don’t feel good about driving on these roads.”
“Well, you shouldn’t. I just heard they closed the pass because there was an avalanche.”
I blanched. Geez, this was worse than I’d thought.
The woman ushered us forward. “You lucked out because I have one room left.”
Tuck eyed me.
“It’s fine,” I whispered. I was a grown-up. I could handle sharing a bed with Tuck for a night without jumping him or performing another striptease. At least, I hoped.
“That would be great, ma’am.”
The woman started down the hall. “Follow me. My name’s Trudy, by the way. This is my place. Usually, we just serve breakfast. But given the storm, I’ve put sandwiches and drinks in everyone’s mini-fridge and a whole lot of snacks. There’ll be something warm in the morning.”
I hurried to keep up with her and Tuck. “Thank you so much, Trudy. I’m Jensen, and this is Tuck. You wouldn’t happen to have a gift shop, would you? Somewhere I could get some fresh clothes? Something to sleep in?”
“No gift shop, honey, but I’ve got robes in the rooms, and if you leave your clothes in a bag outside your door, I’ll have them freshly laundered by morning.”
I paused next to Trudy as she stopped in front of a door. “That would be amazing.”
“Of course, dear.” She unlocked the door. “Here you go, home sweet home. I’ll see you both tomorrow morning. Just give me a holler if you need anything else.”
Trudy was already headed back down the hall before I had a chance to make it through the doorway. When I did, I gasped.
Tuck let out a snorted chuckle. “Think she likes flowers?”
I’d never seen anything like it. Some form of flower adorned every surface in the room. The wallpaper, the bedding, hell, even the mini-fridge was covered. “At least it looks clean.”
“Can’t have her shrine to flowers getting dirty.” He opened the mini-fridge. “Fridge’s stocked. You want to hop in the shower?”
I glanced at a phone by the queen-sized bed. “I need to call my parents. You can go first.”
Tuck nodded and headed for the bathroom. I picked up the phone and began to dial. By the time the water shut off, I had assured my parents that we were fine and would keep them updated when we could.
The bathroom door opened, and steam billowed out. “It’s all yours.” Tuck emerged wearing a fluffy white robe. “There’s a bag on the floor for clothes.”
I swallowed. Hard. “Okay.” My voice cracked on the second syllable.
“Noah okay?”
“He’s fine. My parents are worried but glad we found somewhere safe to stay.”
Tuck gestured towards the fireplace in the corner with wood stocked beside it. “Even if the power gets knocked out, we’ll be fine.”
I nodded. “I’m going to get clean.” I darted past him and into the safety of the bathroom. A wet and naked Tuck was not what my sex-deprived self needed. He was my friend. Probably the best one I had. I needed to keep him in that box. It was safe. I quickly shed my clothes, stuffing them into the laundry bag, and then stepped under the spray. The hot water was everything I needed in this world.
I took my time washing up and even gave my hair a cursory blow-dry before steeling myself to step back into the room.Get ahold of yourself, Jensen. He’s just a good-looking man. You’ve resisted making a total fool of yourself in front of him for most of your life.
I pulled open the door and made a beeline for the hall to set our laundry outside. I could sense that Tuck was on the bed, but I couldn’t get myself to look quite yet. I dropped the laundry on the floor and retreated back inside the room. Turning, I took in Tuck. He was sprawled cozily as could be across the mattress, a beer on his nightstand, and a paperback in hand.
