“I do,” I said as warmth burst through my chest. “It might not make sense to you, but I love it. I don’t get paid well, but I have free room and board, free meals, no bills, and I get to know these amazing, incredible, inspiring young women.”
A line appeared between his eyebrows, and he did his head-tilt thing again. “Why wouldn’t that make sense to me?”
“Uh, well, every time you see me doing something with the girls, you always give me this look like you can’t believe what I’m doing.”
He crossed his arms over his knees and leaned a little closer toward me. “What do you mean?”
“Just… never mind, okay? I didn’t sleep well last night because of the cold. I’m going to try and nap if that’s okay.”Yes, avoid him. Avoid his cute facial expressions and the charming way he tilts his head when he’s confused. And above all, avoid all feelings.
“Sure, get comfortable.”
I turned my back to him and snuggled closer into the back of the couch. As my mind raced, his footsteps grew closer. I stilled, holding my breath, as he grabbed the blanket and tugged it up to my face.
Harrison tucked me in. “Rest, Becca. Then we can talk about that comment.”
CHAPTER FOUR
HARRISON
Icould add being a creeper to my list of less-than-redeeming qualities. Watching Becca sleep was the last thing I should be doing. But here I was, staying warm in front of the flames and admiring the innocent expression she wore as she slept on my couch, wrapped in my blanket, her golden hair cascading in every direction.
Becca Fairfield slept on my couch.
I’m an idiot.
An idiot who was now stuck with her until the blizzard passed. Why did I do this? Ask her to stay here?
Right. Her safety. That huge house without power. The damn woman suggested burning kitchen chairs for warmth. She would have frozen to death or burned the entire house down. Either was plausible for her. Here she was at least safe. Sure, having a woman in my house freaked me out. I never dated. Since getting divorced three years ago, no woman besides my sister visited. Marrying Vivian ended up being the worst mistake of my life, and I had no plans of repeating that mistake again.
And yet, my beautiful but slightly annoying neighbor lay three feet away from me, her mouth parted as she snored softly. Her full, soft lips caught my attention. Even when she rambled on about nonsensical things like sleeping positions, they drove me crazy.
Her previous description of how I slept caught my attention, though. Was I a risk taker? Open? Maybe I was before the divorce and the losing team. When had I stopped being adventurous and going after what I wanted? When did I become so damn unhappy?
Becca shifted in her sleep. My lower gut tightened, and a wave of lust hit me, warming my skin despite the freezing temperature.Stop thinking about her mouth.
Great, I now had conversations with myself inside my head. Must be the cold getting to me.
I warmed my hands over the fire, rubbing them together. With one more glance at her sleeping figure, I walked into the kitchen. Enough natural light shone through the various windows, making it easy to cook some eggs and bacon on the stove. Thankfully, I had a gas stove. I turned it on and grabbed a lighter, carefully lighting a burner. It had been a while since I cooked for two.
The thought of eating canned beans and bread for the week made me cringe. I spent hours in the gym staying fit and planned my meals down to my snacks. I required a certain number of calories per day or I’d get really hungry—and that tended to make me hangry and more unpleasant than normal. Or so I’d been told. My ex-wife’s complaints skewed my perception of myself, and I never cared enough to learn the truth.
I switched on my battery-powered radio to a low volume and set it on the counter next to the stove. I hoped there’d be an update on the power situation or something else of value to help us out. Last I checked, the front stretched from Illinois to New Mexico—so it could last days.
The familiar static and muffled voices brought me back to a million summers spent in the basement, waiting out tornado warnings. The memories made me smile. Times were simpler then, back when my siblings and I built forts and never fought. Now was so different. Blair and I were close still, but the divide with Hank grew each year. I was an easy scapegoat for him, and I wasn’t sure if it was out of jealousy or anger. He was smart as hell and learned early on that blaming me, with or without truth, meant my parents would side with him. Even as an adult, he fell into the same trap. We were at the point that it wasn’t worth trying to fix, and it hurt. I didn’t enjoy not liking my brother.
It’s Aaron Hodge with the National Weather Service, and thousands are without power, but until the gusts of forty-mile-per-hour winds stop, power companies are not cleared to work on the electrical lines. We advise not going outdoors for any reason. Stay warm and inside. Reserve power on your phone for real emergencies. We’ll be back with reports on the latest soon.
“Shit.” I rubbed my hands over my eyes. Not good. If the gusts were that strong, the house could be damaged. Hell, windows could shatter. I squinted through the window facing the sorority house and could barely see the north side through the flurries.
What if Becca was still there, alone?I shivered at the thought and cleared my throat. We were safe, for now.
While the eggs sizzled, I chopped peppers and mushrooms. My open floor plan allowed me a view into the living room, but I focused on the food. Becca rolled over, making a cute groaning noise as she sat up on the couch. Hair escaped from her ridiculous holiday hat and indentations from the pillow were on her cheek—she shouldn’t look that good, but damn, I liked her just-woke-up face.
She sniffed the air before her gaze landed on me. “Mm, you’re cooking.”
“Yes. I made some eggs for you, too. Do you like peppers or mushrooms?”
She yawned loudly and nodded. “I eat everything besides zucchini, eggplant, Brussels sprouts, and salmon.” She counted off each item on her fingers.
