Why would sweet, curvy Tessa Cruz come to my place at three in the morning? Images of what I would do to her if she showed up at that time start to float into my head. One after another, fantasies I’ve had throughout the years bombard my mind’s eye. Each one has my body reacting. Coming alive.
“I guess she was dropping off your muffins early today.”Muffins.Of course, that’s why. “But her car got stuck.”
“More like death trap,” I mutter as I toss on an old yellow and black buffalo plaid flannel.
“Yeah, well, you know how attached she is to that car,” he answers, and I frown. I have no idea why. The thing breaks downall the time and is not the most ideal car to use for deliveries when it’s snowing.Or ever.
“I thought you had a delivery van for shit like this?” I briskly say, not hiding how pissed I’m growing.
“I do.” He sighs, and then the phone is muffled. I can hear Stella saying something in the background and hear my brother be surprisingly sweet back.
“Hello!” I call out, not hiding my own frustration.
I’m tired and annoyed.
Annoyed I wasted so much goddamn time thinking that Eli and Tessa might have something going on, so I never made a move. But Eli found his one. His other half. Tessa is available, but I haven’t done shit about it.
But how could I just jump in? I’ve had feelings for Tessa Cruz for longer than I want to admit. She’s literally the woman of my dreams.
She is a fucking riot. Funny and outgoing. It always feels like she has a beam of sunshine surrounding her. And I do not. We’re complete polar opposites, and because of that, I haven’t done a damn thing.
She deserves someone just as bright and outgoing as her.
Not some asshole who prefers staying in on a Friday night and somehow dampens that lit she carries inside of her.
So, I haven’t done a damn thing.
Not one move the last couple of months at making her mine. Just watched her from afar. Ordering more baked goods than I needed from the bakery. Two deep freezers are almost filled to the brim with them. All in hopes she would be the one to deliver them and I would have a moment of her time to talk to her. Try and make her smile.
And every night, I pray some other man doesn’t come along and take what I know in my gut is mine.
“You gonna go, or what?”
“I’m going. Chill,” I mumble. No idea how I am keeping my cool. “I’ll text you when I have her.”With that, I end the call. I get my boots on and grab my jacket and my keys and head out.
This is a sign.
It has to be. I open the front door to my cabin and stop in my tracks.
“Holy shit,” I whisper to myself, dread and worry heavy in my gut. The snow didn’t look bad from my window, but now that I’m out here, I see the gravity of the moment.
Eli did not kid about the snow. It’s falling in heavy clumps. The ground is already covered by five fresh inches.
Shit.
She’s stuck in this.Tess is in that piece-of-shit car I’m pretty sure doesn’t have heating. She’s been in this for how long? I hurry to my truck and get going, my eyes peeled for my girl as I pray she will be okay.
2
TESSA
Bone-chilling cold fills every single inch of my body.
No matter how much I try to ignore the chill, my body can’t seem to stop shivering. I’m freezing, and as I look out the rearview mirror of my little car, the glass getting covered more and more with snow, I try not to let my thoughts get the best of me while I ignore the icy cold cut through my bones.
What was thinking trying to deliver Owen Woodman his stupid muffins so early?You were trying to avoid him, a voice in the back of my head perks up. I rub my arms. Not that it helps. My fingers are almost frozen numb.
I was totally trying to avoid him.
