CHAPTER ONE
Cedar
“Look Daddy!I got it to stand!” Auggie, my seven-year-old son, cheered. His four walls were intact and glued together by royal icing, just like I’ve shown him.
“Wow buddy! It looks great! I’m so proud of you!” Pride burst through me like a firework. It was his first year gluing the walls himself.
“Thank you. La, do you want me to help you?” Auggie asked his five-year-old sister, Lola, her house not standing as well. It looked like the icing spilled and Lola just went with it.
“Please Auggie!”
Just like his kind and caring soul always did, he jumped into action, rushing over to help his sister. I had a feeling I might need to step in, but for now, I’d let the two of them work on it.
Every year, my family had an annual gingerbread house building party. It wasn’t competitive but for fun and my parents, my brother, and I always made one. We’d prep the houses the day before and get together the next day for a decorating party. Then we’d display the houses for the rest of the holiday season.
It had become an annual tradition and one we treasured. I promised my parents to keep it alive and pass it down through the generations.
“I’m not so sure about my roof. What do you two think?” I held up the roof piece and placed it on the house, noticing how it was about an inch off on one side.
“You have a hole, Daddy!” My sweet Lola said, and I chuckled.
“Oh no! You figured it out! What should I do?” I clapped my hands together, my eyes wide.
“Get the back up!” Auggie called as Lola jumped on her tiptoes, both of them giggling.
“You two are so smart!” I grabbed the other roof piece I made from the tray. “What would I do without you?”
Peanut, our family’s golden retriever, suddenly started barking his head off, which made me look over towards the front door. He rarely barked that way unless someone was at the door.
“Keep building kids!” I said as I wiped my hands on a towel and threw said towel over my shoulder. Strolling over to the door to check my ring camera, I saw two bright blinking yellow lights at the end of my driveway. Hazard lights.
What the hell?
Is someone stuck out there?
I hurried back into the kitchen and tossed the towel down. “Stay here kids. Peanut needs to go out.” I grabbed my jacket, hat, and the dog’s leash before sliding on my boots and walking outside. I clipped Peanut onto the lead in the driveway and walked the rest of the way alone. As I got closer, I saw the car half sticking out of the snow, the front half buried deep in a snowbank.
Uh oh.
As I opened my mouth to shout, a woman popped out of the car, her eyes wide, her hat slightly crooked, panic written allover her face. It was endearing, adorable, and she was downright gorgeous. “I’m so sorry! I crashed right into your driveway. Stupid snowbank ate like half my car! Do you know of any tow trucks I could call in town?”
My heart jumped into my throat, and my body pulled towards her like a magnetic. Who was this woman and why was she making me feel this way? “Sorry, love, but no tow trucks are coming this far up the mountain in a storm like this. Best chances will be in the morning.”
“Oh no. Looks like I’m sleeping in my car tonight. My rental is another mile up the mountain. Why didn’t I check the weather?” She paced back and forth in front of her car, and I couldn’t help but drag my eyes down her body, taking in her gorgeous curves and voluptuous body I wanted to sink my teeth into.
Her blue eyes sparkled in the snowy evening, and I imagined what she might look like underneath her clothes, my mind instantly going to places it shouldn’t.
“Not from around here?”
“No. I drove in from the city. Kind of stupid of me not to think about a snowstorm. Ah well. Sorry to bother you. I’ll just wait here until I can get a tow.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you spend the night outside in the freezing cold snow.” I said. Her pink cheeks, reddish nose, and ruby red lips were too hard to ignore. I wanted to rescue her and then make her mine forever.
“My car has heat. I’ve got a full tank of gas and plenty of snacks. I even brought a pillow and blanket from home. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“How about you come inside and warm up? I’ve got plenty of space here for you to crash and then in the morning, we can call a tow and?—”
“Wait, don’t get me wrong, you seem very nice, but I’m not going to sleep at a stranger’s house. Seriously, it sounds like the start of every horror movie ever made.”
