Austin obviously wasn’t meant to be but would I ever find someone that was?
A crash sounded upstairs, breaking me out of my thoughts. I followed the sound to hear Jordy cursing, surrounded by assorted makeup strewn about the floor.
“Is everything alright?”
“I was moving things around to find the jewelry case, and knocked over my sister’s makeup tray. She said the jewelry should be out in plain sight, but I can’t find it.”
I surveyed the countertop and agreed that there wasn’t anything to suggest the jewelry was there. “I don’t see it either. Is it possible she misremembered where she left it?”
Jordy sighed. “Anything is possible. I’m going to clean this up and then call her.”
“I’ll get this mess. Go call her and find the jewelry. That way we can get out of her sooner.”
A glance out the window confirmed it was snowing heavier now, covering the tree branches outside. The wind whipped,blowing snow across the yard and creating near whiteout conditions. I wasn’t looking forward to the drive back to town.
Jordy pulled out his phone, the relief on his face morphing to panic when he remembered his phone wasn’t working. “Shit. I forgot about my phone. Can I use yours?”
“Sure, my bag is in the car. I’ll run and get it.”
I hurried to the front door, pulling on my boots as quickly as possible and trudging through the quickly accumulating snow to the car. My bag was in the passenger seat and I rummaged through it frantically knowing time was of the essence. This storm was coming in quick and the drive back was going to be treacherous.
Panic gripped me when I couldn’t locate my phone. I pulled everything out of my bag to no avail—the phone was missing. Thinking back to my haste to leave the house earlier, I realized I’d left it charging on my nightstand. Fuck.
It was bad enough to be stranded out here, but without phones?
This night was quickly becoming a nightmare.
Returning to the house, I updated Jordy on the situation. In the time I’d been gone looking for my phone, he’d located the jewelry pouch on the master bed, where his sister must have set it while packing.
Reality dawned that while we’d retrieved what we came for, it wasn’t safe to return to town tonight. Even in the time I’d been outside, the snow had intensified and the car was covered, along with the driveway and road beyond. Plows were unlikely to make until tomorrow morning so it seemed that the best course of action was to wait out the storm.
Jordy and I were snowed in together—completely cut off from the outside world. Just him and I and the heat that simmered between us.
CHAPTER 5
Jordy
I couldn’t believemy luck that I was stranded in a snowstorm with Courtney. I thought she’d be stressed about our predicament, but after the initial freak out she accepted our fate and was currently rummaging through my sister’s cabinets in search of snacks.
She pulled out a box of fancy crackers and a jar of olives. “Perfect.”
She set them on the counter and opened the door of the large fridge built into the cabinetry and stuck her head inside. A moment later she dropped a wedge of Brie and a jar of apricot preserves on the island.
The array of items made no coherent sense to me but before long she’d arranged a charcuterie tray on a platter she’d dug out of a cabinet. Another cabinet produced a bottle of red wine, which she thrust at me with instructions to open it and find glasses.
I was familiar with my sister’s kitchen, having visited her house many times before, yet it took me longer to find the wineopener and glasses than it had taken Courtney to put together an entire tray of snacks.
Once we had our tray and glasses, she led us to the family room, where a flick of a switch produced a fire in the gas fireplace. At my glance, she shrugged. “We may as well enjoy the evening as it seems we’re stuck here for the night.”
Her words lingered between us as the implications sank in. We were indeed stuck here for the night and while we didn’t lack for amenities, we were forced to either avoid or acknowledge this tension between us.
Because there was no doubt that the thread of tension that wound itself around us was not letting up and only strengthening the more time we spent in close proximity to each other.
As if sensing my thoughts, Courtney’s eyes clashed with mine as she settled onto the sofa. I sat a polite distance from her, determined to keep the chemistry at bay.
As much as I was interested in her, I knew she’d only accepted my invite on a whim. She hadn’t signed up for a night alone with me. “I’m sorry you’re stuck with me.”
She shrugged as she poured the deep red wine into our glasses. “It’s okay. I told my parents I was spending the night with a friend. You’re just not the one I had meant.”
