“Uh-huh. Uh-huh.” Delaney nodded almost compulsively. “Smart thinking. The not-driving part, I mean. And that explains the, ah, the lack of truck noise.” His nostrils flared. “I’dexpectedsome truck noise.”
“Oh…” I wrinkled my nose. He sounded angry about that, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Sorry?”
As he waved away my apology, his ping-ponging gaze found the wine bottle he’d left on the floor. He grabbed it by the neck and set it on the mantel. “Actually, I was drinking, too. God, yes.Superdrinking! Wine, though, not beer. And I… I can’t even remember if I ate, that’s how tipsyIam.” He forced a laugh. “Definitely… definitely feeling the effects.”
I nodded, not surprised and only slightly disappointed. Delaney had to be a little buzzed, kissing me back the way he had. And I’d tasted the wine on his tongue?—
Not thinking about his tongue.
I cleared my throat. “I guess Hen was right, huh? He predicted we’d get at least a foot.Never bet against the leg,” I quoted.
Delaney scowled fiercely, a perfect blend of disbelief and exasperation, like he took Hen’s leg as a personal affront.
“What century is this?” he demanded, though the word came out more likeshenshury. “Have people in Copper County never heard of science?”
“They have…” I remembered my cousin and Kel’s definition of science, and despite everything, I grinned. “In a manner of speaking. I heard Hen say it’s about a microclimate in the area and a drop in barometric pressure affecting him.”
“Oh. Well. That’s…” He gazed out the window thoughtfully for a moment, then scowled more fiercely. “Fucking annoying.”
My laughter erupted unexpectedly. “It’s annoying because there might actuallybea scientific explanation?”
“I meant it’s annoying because I still haven’t bought a fucking shovel.” He shot me a sidelong glance. The light from the flames reflected in his glasses. “But yeah, that too. It’s annoying, having to reshuffle the way you think about things.”
It was hard not to find Delaney adorable at the moment… because of the beer, naturally.
His hair stood up in places where my fingers had slid through it, his lips still slightly swollen from our kiss, and something about the disheveled, firelit version of him made my chest tighten.
Belatedly, I nodded, and my tongue darted out to lick my lips. “Or,” I suggested, “you could just not think. For tonight. I mean, since you’ve been drinking. Probably not the best time to… think.”
Not about Copper County. Not about our kiss. Not about how he looked with my shirt hanging down his thighs?—
“Yeah,” Delaney said finally. He blinked like he was trying to bring me into better focus. “I agree.”
I was so distracted by all the things I wasn’t supposed to be thinking of it took me a second to remember what the fuck we’d been saying. When I did, I nodded again.
I’d become a throat-clearing bobblehead.
“Good.” I rubbed at the back of my neck, feeling the full weight of the awkward tension between us. “Should I—? I mean, I should probably take Teeny upstairs for the night.” I shifted a thumb toward the garage, like Delaney might have forgotten where I was staying.
Teeny, who’d stretched out in front of one of the bookcases flanking the fireplace, heard her name and lifted her head inquisitively.
Delaney chafed his arms. “But… if the power’s out, the heat won’t work, right? Won’t she be cold?”
My eyebrows rose. He was right, of course, and I should have thought of that.Wouldhave, if I hadn’t been so back-footed. But since when did he care about my dog’s comfort?
His jaw set stubbornly. “What? I’m not an asshole. I feel for other creatures, Brewer, even if I don’t entirely trust them. Besides, we reached a… a detente.” He darted a glance at Teeny. “Tell him.”
Teeny panted happily, big eyes fixed on Delaney with unconcealed adoration. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth, and though I couldn’t see it, I knew a small pile of drool was collecting on the floor.
“So all I’m saying,” Delaney continued, not looking at me, “is that if you—and Teeny, obviously—wanted to stay here, by the fire, with me, that would be… that would be acceptable.”
I took a deep breath. It hadn’t just been for Teeny’s sake that I’d wanted to retreat upstairs. Like a genie that had escaped its bottle, the sexual energy between Delaney and me was harder to push down now that it had had a taste of freedom, and every goddamn time Delaney moved, I had to suck in a breath as pure want surged under my skin.
But Delaney was right; with no electricity, the boiler wouldn’t be working. There was no need to start the generator now. Not when we didn’t know how long the power would be out and when the fireplace could keep this room comfortable. It was the practical solution. The reasonable choice.
Besides which, Hayes’s voice was still in my head, accusing me of retreating when things became difficult.
“Okay,” I said at length. “Let’s grab some blankets and things. I’ll get the sleeping bag I’ve been using. You can get… whatever you need.”
