because he sounded so hopeful. “Not likely. This looks like a big one. I figure we’re stuck here for a couple of days. Maybe more.”
He sighed, nodded and looked at her. “At least we have each other.”
And that, Kate told herself, was the problem.
* * *
They decided to ration what food they had, so an hour later, the two of them split a sandwich and shared a few crackers. Sitting in front of the fire, with the wind and snow pelting the windows, Sean glanced at Kate beside him. They’d pulled the old leather couch closer to the hearth, and now each of them had claimed a corner of the sofa for themselves.
Kate stared into the blaze, and firelight danced across her features and shone in her hair. Her eyes were fixed on the flames, as if looking away from the fire would mean her life. Her behavior told him she was nervous around him. He liked knowing it. Made his own unease a little easier to take.
He frowned to himself as that word reverberated a few times in his mind. Unease. Hell, Sean hadn’t been uneasy around women since freshman year of high school. Dana Foster—her red hair, green eyes and wide, smiling mouth had turned Sean into a babbling moron. Until he’d kissed her for the first time. That kiss had opened up a world of wonder, beauty and hunger that Sean had enjoyed ever since.
The women in his life—most of them—had come and gone, barely causing a ripple. Of course, there’d been one woman, years ago, who had affected him, changed him. But he didn’t allow himself to think about her or what had happened between them. Ancient history that had nothing to do with who and what he was today.
Now there was Kate. And what she did to him was so much more than that long-ago woman. Admitting that really bothered him and acted as a warning bell. Kate had him tied into knots, and he didn’t appreciate it. She made him feel nearly desperate to have her. And while his body clamored for him to go for it, those warning signals continued to ring out in his brain, telling him to keep his distance and to get the hell away from her as fast as he could. But that wasn’t going to happen, thanks to this blizzard.
He’d avoided any kind of entanglements for years and wasn’t looking for one now. But logic didn’t have a lot to do with anything he was feeling at the moment.
He wanted her. Wanted her badly enough that his mind was filled with images of her all the damn time. When he was with her, his body was tight and hard, and the longer he was with Kate, the worse it got. That need clawed at his insides, demanding release. Still, sex with her would only complicate matters, and Sean was a man who didn’t like complications.
His life would have been a lot easier if only he’d been able to escape Wyoming and put several hundred miles between himself and Kate. That wasn’t going to happen, though, so he had to find a way to survive this enforced closeness.
“Why are you staring at me?”
He came out of his thoughts and focused on the woman now looking at him. “Just thinking.”
“Now I’m worried,” she said, a half smile curving her mouth. “Thinking about what?”
Well, he wasn’t going to tell her the truth—that he was thinking about how soon he could get her out of her clothes—so he blurted out something that had been on his mind lately. “Wondering how you became a contractor.”
Her brow furrowed, her eyes narrowed and he had the distinct feeling she didn’t believe him. But then she shrugged and answered.
“My dad is the easy answer,” she said, shifting her gaze back to the fire snapping and crackling just a few feet away from them. “He’s a master carpenter. Started his own business when I was a kid.” She smiled in memory, and Sean noticed how her features softened. “I used to work for him every summer and he and the guys on his crew taught me everything I know about construction.”
“Funny, I worked summers for my dad, too,” Sean said, remembering how he had tried desperately to get out of work so he could go surfing instead.
“What’s your dad do?”
“Lawyer,” Sean said, bracing his hands on the floor behind him. “He wanted my brother and I to go to law school, join his firm.”
“No interest in being a lawyer?” she asked.
He shuddered. “No. When you worked for your dad, you were outside, right?”
“Usually, yeah.”
“Not me. Dad had us shredding old documents, sweeping, mopping and in general doing everything the building custodians needed us to do.” He shook his head. “Hated being locked up inside, so I promised myself that I’d find a job where I could take off and go surfing when I wanted to.”
She laughed. “Not many employers allow surfing breaks, I imagine.”
“Nope.” He grinned and added, “Just another reason I like being my own boss. You’d know what I mean by that.”
She nodded. “Yeah. I do.”
A moment or two of silence, broken only by the snap and hiss of the fire, stretched out between them. It was almost companionable, Sean thought. It was the first time since he’d met Kate Wells that they’d gone so long without an argument. It surprised him how much he was enjoying it.
“So,” he asked, “who’ll run things for you while you’re stuck here?”
“With a blizzard this heavy, the guys will just hole up at their homes and take a few days off. They won’t be expecting to work through it,” she said, then looked around the room.
It was filled with shadows that moved and shifted in the flickering light. “As soon as the snow stops and the roads are clear, we’ll get started on the renovations. The structure’s sound, but for needing some new shingles on the roof and some of the porch railings replaced. We’ll be working on the inside for now, of course, and move to the outside when spring finally gets here—”
“And we’re talking about work again,” Sean interrupted her. He’d noticed that whenever their conversations threatened to get personal, she “ran home to mama” so to speak and turned to talk of the job.
“Your fault this time. Besides, work is why we’re here,” she pointed out.
“No,” he argued with a wave of his hand toward the closest window that displayed a view of swirling white, “snow is why we’re here. We’ve talked about the job enough for today.”
“Well then,” she said abruptly, “what do you want to talk about?”
“Who says I want to talk at all?” he asked and gave her a slow smile.
She stiffened and her features went cool and dispassionate. What did it say about him, Sean wondered, that her reaction only fed the hunger gnawing at him? This woman’s obvious reluctance to admit to what was simmering between them only intrigued him further.
So maybe, he told himself, the secret to surviving close quarters with Kate was to go ahead and give in to the sexual tug happening. If they tried to ignore it, the next few days were going to be misery.
“Yeah,” she said, “that’s not going to happen.”
“Never say never,” he told her with a careless shrug. “We’re stuck together and I’m pretty damn charming.”
A hesitant smile twitched at her lips briefly. “I think I can control myself.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” He was a man who loved a challenge. And Kate Wells was surely that.
“Right. I think I’ll bring in more wood.” She pushed herself to her feet and looked down at him.
“Thought we had enough.” He glanced at the high stack of split logs he’d already carried in and set beside the hearth.
“Can’t have too much,” she said, pulling her jacket on.
He