“Tell me more. I like hearing you talk.”
He looked surprised. “My mother made sure all her sons could fend for themselves at an early age.”
“You really love her, don’t you?” Sarah liked the fact that Cullen loved his mother. Nothing about him screamed momma’s boy. Instead, she sensed a genuine affection for his mother and brothers, no matter how many times he swore at them on the phone when they called at night.
“I do. What about you? Your mother’s gone now, isn’t she?” he asked softly.
Sarah’s heart dropped. “I loved my mother more than I can say. She’s been gone for eight years, and I still miss her. Car accident.”
“Sorry,” he said gruffly.
“Sometimes I think I smell her perfume, like she’s watching over me.” She refused to cry in front of him. “My friend Julia and I sometimes talk about her.”
“Julia?”
“She’s a red fox. She works for Gerald Winters, the town attorney.”
Cullen shrugged. “I don’t go into town much, outside the diner. Just work up here in the mountains, carving wood.”
“All of you do it?” she prodded, pleased he hadn’t yet clammed up on her.
“Micah and I do most of the work. Ian’s our business guru. Mom works advertising and PR.”
“Nice. A family business. It’s a good thing you all get along.”
He grunted. “Mostly.”
“What about your other brother? What does he do?”
“Sean irritates me for a living,” Cullen growled.
She grinned. She’d heard Cullen use a few choice words when talking to Sean just last night. “From what I hear, every family has one.”
“A black sheep?” he asked.
“A pain in the ass,” she answered, grinning like a fool when he laughed with her.
“You surprise me, Sarah Duncan.” Cullen took their empty plates to the sink and joined her once more.
“Why’s that?”
Cullen didn’t say. He nodded at a bottle of wine sitting on the counter. “Want some?”
“Sure.”
He poured them both a glass, and then nudged her toward the living room, where a glorious fire blazed while it continued to snow outside. The weather had ceased being pretty and turned viciously dangerous last night, when pelts of ice rained on the rooftop.
“You’re herding me like a dog,” she muttered.
“Someone has to.”
“Excuse me?” She turned to face him, startled to find him so close.
Before she could say anything else, he took the wine from her hand and placed it next to his glass on a side table.
“Shut up, Sarah.”
She opened her mouth in shock, only to blink as he covered it with his own. Hot didn’t begin to describe how he made her burn.
