Then the fucker shifted, leapt from his jeans, and bounded over to the backdoor, only to realize that he hadn’t thought things through completely and was unable to open the polished brass knob with his paws.
Chuckling, I watched him bat at it and even try to open it with his teeth before sitting on his haunches and shooting me a forlorn look, ears and whiskers drooping.
“Uh-huh. Someone tried to be a naughty kitty, and now look what’s happened,” I cooed.
“Murph!”
“I guess I should go ahead and open the door for you since you were so sinfully sweet to me a moment ago,” I said as I shambled across the floor on shaky legs, gaze never leaving those brilliant blue eyes of his. “But you really should plan your escape better next time.”
“Murrrrrr.”He rumbled, shooting through the gap as soon as the door was open wide enough for him to fit through.
I followed, stepping naked onto the porch to pull the door shut behind me. He was already rolling on his back in the snow, paws waving in the air like an overgrown kitten, blissfully basking in the sunrays that slashed across his belly, when I shifted to join him. With our vacation already off to one hell of a start, I flopped down in the snow beside him, eager to see how the next two weeks turned out while simultaneously wishing they would drag on forever.
Chapter 2
Leo
Finally!
I heaved a sigh of relief when my cabin came into view, grateful to reach my vacation destination after three long hours on the road, two hours and forty-five minutes of that spent chatting through my Bluetooth headset with my best friend Tyson, trying to calm him down in the midst of his latest meltdown. This one was centered around a particular plus-one that one of his dinner guests intended to bring to the holiday party he was throwing.
I’d warned him not to put plus-one on the invitations of his single friends, knowing that a few of the names on the list he’d showed me lacked basic common sense and decorum, like, oh, thinking it was a good idea to bring one of the host’s exes along just because you happened to be dating him.
First of all, dating a guy who’d treated one of your friends the way Tyson had been treated was just tacky as hell, and secondly, thinking he’d be tolerated, let alone welcomed, just seemed asinine as fuck. Of course, Tyson could have preventedall of this by listening to me in the first place, but I was not the kind of friend who said, 'I told you so,' even if I happened to think it.
“Just tell George he isn’t welcome, period, point blank,” I declared as I pulled midway down the driveway and parked in line with the front porch.
That should make unpacking everything easier.
Quaint and rustic, with frost clinging to the corner of one of the windowpanes, it looked even more enchanting than the photos I’d scrolled through online. Ty’s voice sort of faded into the background as I took it all in, imagining myself curled up in a chair beside the window, sketching by lamplight, with the fireplace crackling and soft music playing from one of the many playlists on my phone.
I’d feared I was going to have to go out and chop wood or something when I’d seen that the cabin had a fireplace, but the receptionist had just giggled and explained that all the fireplaces were electric and could be easily operated by remote control, just like the television. Talk about relief. While a cabin in the woods was my absolute dream getaway, I’d never pictured myself here alone. In fact, I’d always envisioned myself taking a trip like this with my significant other, perhaps even on our honeymoon, not that anyone had ever proposed marriage to me. I’d never even come close to being engaged. One needed a long-term boyfriend first, and I’d never been very lucky when it came to love.
Wasn’t very lucky in the job department either. My latest one was turning into as much of a calamity as all the others. As much as I hated to consider yet another change, it might be time to see what was listed in the classifieds when I got back home.
Right now, though, the only home I wanted to think about was the one I was still staring at through the window of my car.
“Gotta go, Ty,” I said, cutting off the tirade I’d tuned out several minutes before. “I’m here, and I need to get everythingbrought in and put away so I can get settled in before it gets dark. I have popcorn and a trio of movies that I intend to watch this evening.”
“Tell me you don’t intend to have popcorn and beer for dinner again?”
“Fine, I won’t tell you, though that is exactly what I plan to do,” I replied, grinning when I heard him grumble through the phone about me telling him after I’d said I wasn’t going to tell him, right before he ended the call.
Too bad. If he’d just learn to grow a spine and stand up to people who were shitty to him, he wouldn’t constantly be in meltdown mode. The way he let people stress him out all the time couldn’t be good for him, though my methods of handling issues weren’t much better. I’d been told that I had all the tact of a rampaging moose and the diplomacy of a honey badger. It wasn’t just that I spoke my mind; it was that I wasn’t afraid to push back when I felt like someone was disrespecting me. It was just how I’d been raised. My pops was an MMA fighter, and my dad fought fires for a living. Growing up with two dads had been more than enough to put a target on my back.
The result was that I looked like a complete badass and had the heart of a golden retriever. I just wanted to be loved and did my level best to please those who appreciated the effort I put in, but I’d bite the hand off a son of a bitch if they fucked with me.
Talk about a whiplash-inducing contrast. That was me. Leather and lace all rolled up in one pale, tatted-up package, since I couldn’t tolerate the heat in the slightest.
Yet another reason I’d driven out here to the middle of nowhere.
Alright, Leo, get your ass in gear and get your stuff inside before your ass grows roots.
Sleeping in the car was absolutely not on my list of things to do, not when I knew there was a king-sized bed waiting justbeyond that ornately carved front door. I popped the trunk and shoved the door open, greeted by a blast of cold that drew a content sigh from me as I stepped out beneath a stunning blue sky riddled with bright, fluffy clouds.
I grabbed the wooden case containing my art supplies, sketch pads, storyboard notebooks, and the outlines I’d been working on for the past month and carefully placed it on top of the stacked cases of ramen noodles and canned goods that made up the bulk of my kitchen supplies. I had a brown paper sack filled with TV dinners that could be cooked in either the microwave or the oven, depending on how long I wanted to wait to eat, but that was pretty much it since my cooking skills were severely lacking.
Well, more like nil, if I was being honest with myself. It was a good thing I wasn’t a foodie, or I’d have been in seriously rough shape; my attempts were that inedible.
