“Where are you?” she asked, her heart suddenly warming at the idea of not having to be alone at her mother’s that night.
“One more block,” he said. “I’m almost there, baby doll.”
She liked how he called herbaby doll, and she wanted tokeep him distracted so he wouldn’t panic while he drove. “Did you find a house you like?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “This one here in Dog Valley, actually. My realtor is going to put an offer on it, and I’m hoping to move in only a couple of weeks.”
“Wow,” she said. “A couple of weeks?”
“I’m paying all cash,” he said, and Joey felt certain he would not have disclosed that had they been hunkered down in a warm, homey booth about to order dinner. “We’re going in under asking,” he added. “It’s a really great place. I mean, way too big for me, but I mean, I think it’d be great for a family.”
He finally stopped talking, and Joey could not stop grinning. She’d found one of Adam’s weaknesses—he said too much when he was nervous.
“I’m making the turn,” he said next. “Oh, boy, my wheels are spinning.” She heard the engine of his luxury SUV grunt and groan and growl, and then he yelled, “Oh my heck, I’m going. Oh boy, now I’m goingtoofast.”
Joey certainly wasn’t a driving instructor, nor that great in the snow herself. So she simply said, “You’ve got this, baby. Turn into the slide.” She knew that much, because her father had told her that.
“Okay, I’m okay,” he said, and he panted a little bit. “I’m all right. It looks like it’s just down here.”
A few moments later, headlights cut across the front lawn as Adam turned into the driveway and parked behind her pathetic tan sedan.
“I think I’m here,” he said. “Two cars in the driveway?”
“Yes, I see you. I’m hanging up now. I’ll have the door open.”
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll be right in.”
Joey ended the call so that he could handle whatever he needed to with his car. “He’s here,” she called, and then moved to unlock the door and open it. She pushed open the screen door as well, letting in the iciness of the Wyoming storm.
Adam hustled down the sidewalk and up the stairs, hunkered down in only a thin jacket. He kept his head ducked low against the wind pushing the snow sideways, and he hurried straight into the house and past her.
“Holy horses and cows,” he said, as she closed the door and locked it behind him. He turned to face her and brushed his hands through his hair to dislodge the snow.
And just like that, Joey had never seen a sexier man in her whole life.
As Adam stood there in his black slacks, the wet jacket, wearing such an intense look in his blue eyes, and his hair all messed up and wet….
“That was touch and go,” he said, no smile in sight.
Joey was so happy to see him, and the tension inside her demanded to be released. She stepped over to him and brushed her hands across his shoulders, sending water droplets flying. “I’m so glad you made it,” she said.
He hooked one arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Me too.”
She tipped her head back, and Adam looked down at her. “I left my cowboy hat in the car,” he murmured.
Nothing else seemed to exist except for the two of them.
“That’s okay,” Joey said. “Because now you won’t have to take it off when you….” She trailed off, but Adam tilted his head.
“When I what?”
Joey couldn’t get herself to say the words, but she let her eyes drift closed, and Adam seemed to get the hint, because the next thing she knew, his lips had touched hers.
Her whole body caught fire, the hottest part where his mouth touched hers. He pulled away a moment later, growled, and then kissed her again, this movement stronger and deeper and absolutely filled with tension. It released with every stroke of his mouth against hers, and Joey forgot completely that she stood in a living room where her mother and her grandmother could come around the corner at any moment.
She was kissing Adam, and that was all that mattered right now.
CHAPTER
