Are you kidding me?
I knock. Bang. Rattle. Nothing.
The towel is still holding, barely. My robe’s open at the thigh, my toes are going numb, and snow is now actively falling down my spine like nature’s version of a cold shower.
There’s only one option.
The inn.
Sebastian’sinn.
I groan into the night sky. Consider hypothermia. Then bolt.
The snow bites at my calves. I sprint, slipping and swearing, robe flying. My towel slides a little too low, and I nearly lose it rounding the corner. But I make it. Up the stairs. Across the porch.
I bang on the front door like my life depends on it.
Footsteps thump inside. Heavy. Fast.
The door swings open.
Sebastian Ford fills the doorway. Flannel. Muscle. Pure, startled silence.
His eyes drop.
To the towel. The bare legs. The robe clinging to damp skin.
Then snap back to my face like he’s trying really hard to remember what manners are.
For a second, we just stare at each other. A full-body standoff between caveman instinct and common decency.
"I—uh—hi," I manage, panting. "Funny story."
He doesn’t blink. Just stands there, one hand gripping the doorframe so tightly his knuckles go white.
I clear my throat. "So... I may have locked myself out. In a towel. At night. While chasing hot water."
He exhales through his nose. A muscle ticks in his jaw.
"Jesus, Willa."
"I swear I’m not always this much of a disaster."
His voice drops, low and rough. "Get inside. Now."
I slip past him into the warmth, every inch of me tingling as the heat rushes in and the door shuts behind me.
"Come on," he says. "You need heat. And towels. Clothes."
I follow him through the inn, heart hammering. His boots are heavy on the hardwood. My feet are bare, wet, tracking melted snow behind me. He leads me past the kitchen, toward a private hallway, and pushes open a door at the end.
It’s his room.
Clean. Warm. Big enough for a bed, a fireplace, and a dresser and very few distractions.
He walks to the small en suite bathroom, opens a cabinet, and tosses me a thick, dark towel.
"Thank you," I murmur, wrapping it around me, while carefully removing my own towel and the robe, both freezing cold.
