“I know,” he said. “I didn’t expect you to go all the way after him.” He chuckled to show he wasn’tmad.
“It just happened,” Imuttered.
“These things do,” he said, hands inching farther down my back. “So, a poly relationship,huh?”
I propped myself up on my elbow. “I’m open to it. But I’m not boinking anyone else, not until we make some boundaries and get to know each other a little more.” The hell, I thought. My whole life philosophy was no drama, and I’d seen more drama the two days of my stay with them than I’d seen in years. Too bad I had no idea how much more drama was tocome.
“What do you think is taking them so long?” Iasked.
“They had to go out to the generator shed behind the house. We have a safe path to it, but it can take awhile.”
“They went outside? In this?” I was outraged. In all their safety training, they didn’t think it was dangerous to go out with a lunatic on theloose?
“They’re fine.” He tried to soothe me, but I wasn’t going to be consoled until I saw themreturn.
I jumped up to peer out the window. It faced the front yard and wouldn’t help me find them. “Where can I look out and seethem?”
Chandler still lounged by thefire.
“Come on, I’m really worried.” I pleaded with him to get up and helpme.
He groaned but stood. “You can see the shed from my bedroom.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Would you like to join me in myboudoir?”
His misuse of the word boudoir had me fighting laughter. I didn’t want to correct him, in case he really didn’t know he was referring to a woman’s bedroom. “Lead the way,monsieur.”
He placed my hand in the crook of his elbow and walked us to his room by the light of his flashlight, chattering along the way. I didn’t have any clue what he was talking about. I wanted to see for myself that they were out there fiddling with thegenerator.
Once we entered his room, he pointed out thewindow.
I pressed my nose against it. “Turn out the light, I can’t see,” Idemanded.
He flicked off the flashlight, and I gave my eyes a moment to adjust. Sure enough, I saw the top of a shed. “I can’t seethem.”
“Do you see lights?” I did see a flickering, indicating the movement of a flashlight. I sighed inrelief.
“Okay, I’m happy now. But they really have been out there a long time. Should we gohelp?”
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Chandlersaid.
He was trying to be stern, and it was cute. As if I’d pay any attention to him if I set my mind to gohelp.
Movement out the window caught my eye, and I jerked my gaze back toward the shed. Two bundled figures were making their way back to thehouse.
“Are they hanging on to a rope?” Iasked.
“Yeah, it’s an ancient way to make sure you can get around your properties during a blizzard. Tie ropes from one building to another. If you don’t, you end up turned around and lost in seconds.” Chandler flicked the flashlight back on. “Come on, let’s go put some hot cocoa on the fire to warm for them. They’ll befreezing.”
We made our way back into the kitchen to get milk. He used long tongs to put a rack close to the flames, almost in them. Then he placed a cast iron pan full of milk on the rack. “It’ll be warm in no time. This is the best way to make hot chocolate. It’samazing.”
I was more than a little excited to try it. Chocolate and I had a long-standing love affair. Griffin and Ellion came from the direction of the garage as I was stirring cocoa and sugar into the milk with a long-handled spoon they seemed to own for thatpurpose.
“Are you twookay?”
“Yeah, but the generator isn’t.” Griffin wasnothappy. “Someone slashed a bunch of thewires.”
“You only have one generator for this entire house?” I asked, having no idea how generators worked or how much they couldpower.
He sat beside me, and Chandler handed him a mug. “Yeah, it’s a big one. We had to specially ventilate the shed because of all the carbon monoxide it putsout.”
