But will he?
“Damn it,” I hissed.
Chapter Seven
Remi
Iwiggledmytoesinsideof my boots, attempting to gauge how close I was to losing one of them.It had only been awhile since I locked myself out, and I had at least twenty more minutes before I’d knock on Alicia’s door.Pulling my phone from my pocket, I sent out yet another text to everyone I knew in this town asking for someone to take me to Ol’ Mr.Miller’s house to grab a spare key or bring me a ladder—at this point I’d be happy if someone would just let me sit in their warm car for a few minutes.Today had been an emotional roller coaster that deserved a hard drink or two to put it to rest.
Debating if I should jog to town, I wondered if it would keep me from dying of hypothermia.
Alicia’s door had only been closed for about a minute before it opened again.And there she was all flesh and bone standing in front of me and stopping my heart at just the sight of her.Her hair was pulled into a ponytail that swung around her shoulders as she spoke.And her amber-colored eyes pinned me like an insect to a board.My memory had at once inflated her vibrancy and came nowhere near it at the same time.
Recovering from the day would be impossible.
“Can you boost me?”she asked, her shoulders back.
It took too much of my focus not to glance down at the way the V-neck of her sweater dropped between her breasts to comprehend what she had just said.Distractingly beautiful tits.
“Can you boost me to the window?”
Initially, I wanted to argue and tell her she didn’t have to, but I was a little concerned about frostbite.My nervous system had been shocked so many times in the past few hours, what was one more traumatic event.It’s not like I’d be touching her.She might place her hands on my shoulders for a few seconds, but I’d just be holding her shoe.
Accepting defeat from the worst day, I said, “I mean, yeah.”
“Okay, let’s go.”She took the stairs down from the porch leading the way to my carport.The sway of her hips as she walked was a familiar rhythm, and her jeans clung to her hips and ass in a way thatreallyworked.It was impossible to keep from overlaying the Alicia I used to know with this new Alicia.The way she had changed might not have been my preference when I was twenty-eight, but I’d be goddamned if it wasn’t now.
In the first stroke of good luck I’d had in the past twenty-four hours, I looked up from her ass just before she turned around.
“That one?”She pointed toward the window, and she had a point that I probably wouldn’t have fit.
My teeth clattered together despite how I tried to stop it.“Yeah.”
“Oh my God, Rem, you would have died out here instead of just knocking on my door.”
“No, it’s just gotten worse in the past couple of minutes.”I moved around her to swing my hand up to break a hole into the screen covering the glass.When I turned, she was running her hands up and down her arms, fighting a losing battle against Michigan winter.“You don’t even have a coat on at this point.”
“And I have a better understanding of how bad it was for me to leave you out here.”
“But you didn’t.Come on, you’re starting to shiver.I don’t like this.”I presented my entwined fingers for her to step in.“I’ve got you, Alicia.”
I’d spoken her name innumerable times over the years, but it felt new in my mouth.
Her eyes flicked to mine, but I couldn’t see past the steel wall she’d built between us for me to filter out any of her thoughts.Not like when we were at the clinic and her emotions flashed across her face completely unguarded—anger, accusation, affection.Each one had hit me like a physical blow.
“So, I just—” She lifted her hands within a foot of my shoulders and dropped them.
I swallowed, and heat rose up my neck and cheeks.I bent at the knees to make it easier for her to place her foot.My voice came out strained.“Just step there and grab my shoulders for balance.”
“Right.”
Neither of us moved.I waited for the pressure of her fingers, but when they didn’t come I glanced at her face and this time her apprehension was right there.
“Come closer.”
She shuffled forward her hands still hovered a few inches too far away.
Straightening to my full height, I got a better grasp of just how close we were standing.There was a crease between her eyebrows, and her lips were pinched in a tight line.Burying my hands back in my pockets to resist running a hand down her arm, I said, “You don’t have to do this.If you’ll just lend me a blanket, I’ll be fine.”
