After pulling Kelli’s car out of the ditch and towing it back to the cabin, Cole was on his second pot of coffee and was frying bacon when Kelli came out of the bedroom the next morning looking deliciously warm and tousled.
“I’m sorry I overslept.”
“It’s a vacation,” he said. “You’re supposed to sleep.” Which didn’t explain the lavender circles appearing like bruises beneath her eyes.
She glanced out the window. “You’ve already rescued my car?”
He shrugged. “I was up, so I figured I might as well. Want some coffee?”
“I’d love some.”
“Great. I was just making breakfast.”
“I don’t usually eat breakfast.”
“You should. It’s the most important meal of the day.”
“So I’ve heard, but—”
“Besides, you’ll need your energy.”
“Oh? For what?”
“We’re going snowshoeing.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Well, we could just wade through thigh-deep snow. But I figured it’d be easier to bring the tree back if we’re on snowshoes.”
“We’re cutting down a tree?”
“I suppose I could call Brian to deliver one from your family farm. But it is, after all, their busy season, so it only makes sense that we should forage for ourselves.”
“It’s snowing.”
“Which makes it more romantic,” he countered. “Trust me, Kels. You’ll love it.”
If he’d been alone, as planned, there was no way he would’ve gone traipsing out into the woods to cut down a Christmas tree. But the idea of decorating it together, while carols played on the CD player and flames crackled merrily in the fireplace—and God knows he had enough firewood piled up to last into next year—was proving vastly appealing.
He put the bacon in the oven to keep warm and moved on to the hash browns.
“I suppose I might as well get some exercise,” she muttered as she crossed the room into the kitchen area. “If I don’t want to weigh as much as a moose by New Year’s.”
“I think you look terrific,” he said as he handed her a mug of steaming-hot coffee. He couldn’t wait to get her out of those clothes and taste every bit of lush, fragrant flesh.
Patience, he reminded himself. Keep your eye on the mission.
Easier said than done when she smelled like a spring meadow and looked good enough to eat.
“Flatterer,” she complained without heat.
“It’s not flattery if it’s true.” Because he couldn’t be this close to her without touching her, because raging sexual need had forced its way even into his nightly insomnia and tangled in his mind, he fisted his hand in her hair, holding her as he swooped down and took her mouth in a hot, hard, hungry kiss that instead of easing the ache, resulted only in a more powerful slap of lust.
Cole’s heart hammered against his rib cage, and his pulse surged. Despite his vow to take things slowly, he was on the verge of lifting her onto the counter or dragging her to the floor—either one would do—and taking her now. Before he went totally insane from the temptation she offered.
“Cole.” The coffee sloshed over the mug as Kelli pushed against his shoulder.
“Just a minute more.” His hand slid between them to untie the robe, giving him access to her breast.
“No. Really.” She pushed harder. “You have to stop now.”
“Soon,” he promised as he cupped that rounded flesh and struggled to resist ripping the flannel polar bear top off. Which, on the plus side, would mean she wouldn’t be able to wear it anymore.
He dragged his mouth back to hers, swallowing her protests, until he belatedly realized that the clouds of smoke surrounding them weren’t from the flames scorching through his body.
But from the forgotten hash browns burning in the frying pan.
“Shit.” He released her, grabbed a lid, and covered the pan to cut off the oxygen, then opened the windows, letting in a blast of frosty air as he began trying to wave the smoke out with a dish towel.
“I tried to tell you,” she said, retying the robe.
“So you did.” He sighed and shook his head as he took her in. Shadows like bruises darkened the skin beneath her eyes, her dark honey hair was a wild tangle around her shoulders, and there was a coffee stain down the front of that pink robe. None of which stopped her from looking hot as hell. “I guess you’re off the hook for the hash browns.”
“But not the snowshoeing.”
“Not on a bet. I promised you a Christmas tree hunt and that’s exactly what you’re getting.
“Or,” he suggested, with a wag of his brows, “we could stay here and spend the day in bed.”
“You want me.” She was obviously pleased by that idea.
“Nah. I’m just horny as a goat and you’re the only female I happen to be snowbound with.”
She laughed at that, as he’d meant her to. Then held her mug out to him. “Get me some more hot coffee, and you should know that I take my eggs scrambled with my bacon. I’ll be back as soon as I change into something more suitable for trudging through the snow.”
“You’re going to wear that pink parka, right?”
“Since it’s the only one I brought, yes.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because I like it.” He decided, since they were getting along so well, to go for broke. “When I saw you wearing it at the pier the afternoon of the boat parade, I thought you looked like a sugarplum.” His smile was quick and wolfish. “Good enough to eat.”
As pleasure flooded into her unguarded eyes, Cole decided that when he got back to town, he was going to send his grandparents on that Greek cruise they’d always talked about. Because he figured he owed them. Big-time.