Page 7 of Snowed in with my Best Friend

I didn’t realize that I had made an audible sigh until he narrowed his gaze at me.

“Good morning. You all packed?”

“Oh.” I shook myself out of my reverie. Or fantasies. Whatever. “Yes. I’m all ready to go. Let me just grab everything.”

“I’ll help. You don’t need to lift it into the back of the truck.”

“I wasn’t sure how much space you had, so I tried to stuff everything into my small suitcase.”

“You didn’t need to do that. I put the cover over the bed, and everything’s padded in there. I have gifts for my siblings too, so thankfully playing Tetris is my pastime.” He winked as he said it and lifted my over-packed suitcase as if it weighed nothing.

No, I wasn’t going to stare at my best friend’s muscles. I was just going to get over it and maybe drink some wine as soon as I got to my parents’ home.

“All locked up?” he asked as I walked behind him, tote and purse in hand.

“Yes. Thank you for this by the way. Seriously.”

“It’s really no problem, Posy. Plus, you get to deal with my music. After all, I’m driving, I get control of the music.”

“I’m not quite sure that’s how it works,” I said as I opened his passenger side door. I lifted one leg up onto the runners but slid forward as I hadn’t realized that they were still icy.

“Whoa, I’ve got you.” Cullen put his hands on my hips, keeping me steady, and I froze, blushing so hard I was afraid he could feel the intense heat radiating from me.

“Thank you. Icy, I guess.” Yes, maybe if I used longer sentences, I wouldn’t sound like such a dork.

“I have to lift into this truck, and I’m over six foot. But it helps with work.” Then he proceeded to lift me into the cab of the truck with ease, setting me down softly onto the seat.

I just stared at him wide-eyed, wondering why I was reacting like this. I had known him for a long time now. Why was I acting as if I was just meeting this man for the first time?

But when his hands lingered for a second on my side before letting go, maybe this was a first.

I shook myself out of that once again, as he closed the door behind him and moved around the front of the truck and hopped into his side.

“I forgot to ask if you wanted coffee or anything, so I got it anyway.”

I grinned down at the familiar coffee cups from Latte on the Rocks, as well as the bag of pastries.

“I have my water bottle and a few snacks for the road.” I dug into the tote and pulled out my container.

“A variety of cookies because I was bored, and then I have this too.” I lifted another smaller container. “Tiny sandwiches that don’t need to be in the cooler.”

“How many Mary Poppins things are you going to pull out of that tote?” he asked as he turned on the engine.

I blushed, shaking my head. “You don’t ask questions about a girl and her tote.”

“With all my sisters you think I would’ve learned that already. Oh, you dropped this.” He leaned forward, and I could feel his breath on my knee as he lifted the small silver-wrapped present.

“Oh, thank you.” I chickened out as I grabbed the present from him and shoved it into the tote along with the containers.

“Anyway, I guess we should head out? I know you texted the address to me and I put it into the GPS, but can you double check?”

I nodded, aware that we were both leaning towards each other, before I turned abruptly to the GPS and smiled.

“Looks right. Thank you for this again.”

“If you don’t stop thanking me, I’m going to open the window as we’re driving through the snow and make you deal with it.”

“You wouldn’t.”