“What are you wearing?” She burst out in laughter as she saw the pajama pants he now sported. Between their loud pattern and the fact that they ended a good six inches above his ankles, he could not have looked more ridiculous.
“Hey, they might not be pretty, but they’re warmer than no pants at all.” He grinned as she giggled helplessly. “I can see why someone abandoned them. I’m just glad they’re clean and stretchy.”
She wiped away a tear of hilarity as he came close. Her laugher came to an abrupt halt as she realized the loosened belt of his robe now allowed his brawny, muscular chest to be much more on display.
Chase’s chest had been an object of Harper’s lust for years, and it had become even more tantalizing once he turned pro. She was mesmerized by the swirls of dark hair that were peppered over his pecs, the hair thinning as it ran down his abdomen and tapered to a single black trail that signaled the way to a good time.
Or so she imagined.
Harper cleared her throat, tearing her eyes away.
His voice seemed deeper when he spoke again. “It’s still pretty early. There are some games here, if you’d like to play something.”
He moved to the ottoman in front of the small L-shaped dark blue couch and lifted the top. “Ticket to Ride, Scattergories, Monopoly, Scrabble…”
“Scrabble.” Ticket to Ride and Monopoly would take far too long, and Scattergories required more brainpower than she was sure she had at the moment. Too much pressure with that ticking timer.
“You got it.” Chase grabbed the box, closed the lid of the ottoman, and set up the game board on top of it. The two of them chose their tiles and settled in to play.
Despite being tired from their travel and the ordeal of getting to the cabin, Harper’s competitive streak sparked to life, and she was ready to take Chase down. If only her tiles would cooperate.
H-I-G-H. “A whole eleven points, whoopdie doo,” she said as she added it to her column on the score sheet.
Chase added a T at the beginning and an S at the end, forming THIGHS and getting a double word bonus as he grinned at her, the bastard.
Harper played off the S to spell SIRE. Even with the triple letter on the E, it was a whopping seven points.
In turn, he added D and E at the beginning.
Her heart began a nervous patter as she stared at her tiles in disgust. The only word she could think of was ROT. A whole three points.
Harper’s mouth turned dry when she read the word Chase had formed off of ROT. EROTIC. “Sixteen points for me.” His smug grin was even wider.
Fine. That was how he wanted to play? She searched her tiles and the board, barely restraining a smirk as she played O-C-Koff off a C, ending on a double word space. “Twenty four points, suck it, Connelly!”
There was a gleam in his eyes and he played off of the second C with L-I-T.
Harper stared at the word for a moment before shooting to her feet, her knees hitting the board and the tiles sliding off onto the floor. “Um, it’s getting late. I think we need to get some sleep.”
Chase nodded solemnly at her but his twinkling eyes gave away his amusement. “Probably a good idea. Tomorrow we’ll either be getting under way to Lake George, or we’ll need to get the rest of our things from the car.”
Somehow it hadn’t occurred to her that they might be beyond tonight. “You don’t think we’ll be stuck here another night, do you?”
He shrugged, looking completely unbothered by the prospect as he gathered tiles and put everything back in the Scrabble box. “Hard to tell. The snow was coming down pretty hard earlier, but if it warms up enough overnight, the roads might clear up enough for us to get through.”
Harper found she didn’t mind the thought of being here with Chase a little longer. Until she remembered her family was waiting, and hadn’t heard from them.
CHAPTER 6
“Shoot!”Harper said, running for the bedroom.
Chase sprang to his feet and followed her, trying not to panic. Was she sick? He skidded to a stop just inside the doorway, watching as she searched through the overnight bag she’d slung over her shoulder and worn to the cabin. “What is it?”
“I forgot to call my parents and let them know we won’t be arriving tonight! They’re probably worried.” She pulled her cellphone triumphantly out of the bag. “Dangit, the battery died.”
“It’s okay, I texted Jackson after my shower and told him what happened. I knew you’d want your family to know. I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you.”
The hand holding the phone dropped to Harper’s side. “Oh. Well, thank you for doing that.” Her shoulders eased back down as relief moved through her body.
