“Why are you so cold?” he asked on a laugh. He wrapped his arms around me and drew me into his heat. “The fireplace was on all night.”
We’d let the wood-burning fireplace downstairs burn out before moving our escapades upstairs to the enormous king-size bed. The room had a gas fireplace, which regulated the temperature better than central heating. It didn’t, however, account entirely for the below-freezing temperatures and snow accumulation.
“You have to warm me up.”
“I’m going to do more than that,” he said with a laugh.
“Breakfast first though,” I murmured with a yawn. “Our late-night activities have me famished.”
“I can make you pancakes. I know they’re your favorite.”
“Pancakes are always a yes from me.”
“All right,” he said, pulling away to get out of bed.
“But wait!” I said, throwing myself on him again. “I’m not ready for you to leave yet.”
“Food or more snuggles?”
“Yes!” I cried.
He chuckled and wrapped me up again. “You’re a conundrum.”
“I want both, dammit!”
“You can have snuggles as long as you want, but I’m going to feed you. Otherwise, you get hangry.”
“Don’t act like you know me.”
His face warmed. “Oh, but I do.”
I put my hands to his stubble. “I guess you do.”
He kissed me one more time and then pulled out of the bed. He slid warm clothes back on, then tossed me his Yale sweatshirt, which I pulled back over my head as he headed out. He stopped when he looked out the window.
“Holy shit!”
“What?” I asked.
“The snow is insane. I wonder if we’ll even be able to get out of here to get you back to the lodge.”
“That doesn’t sound like a hardship.”
Chase reached for his phone and clicked around. “Yeah. Winter weather advisory. No one is supposed to leave. Guess you’re stuck with me.”
“There are worse things,” I said as I reached for my phone and scrolled. Yep. There was a winter advisory in my messages, too. “Sounds serious.”
“Good thing the house is filled with staples.”
“Yeah,” I said, clicking over to my email.
And then I stopped breathing.
“Oh,” I whispered.
“What? Everything okay?”
“Um…”