Page 16 of Rock with You

“On it.” Sam grabbed the wood carrier and walked to the back door.

She watched as he crossed the back deck and filled the carrier with firewood. Thank goodness this place was stocked with plenty of it. They could have made do without a fire in the fireplace, but having it had made things so much more comfortable.

Her gaze fell to a stack of board games on a shelf beside the door. Grinning, she crouched beside it for a closer look. There was everything from Trivial Pursuit to Charades, and oh, this could be fun.

Sam stepped back inside with a basket full of wood. “This should last us until morning.”

“So should these,” she said, carrying an armload of games to the coffee table.

He glanced over his shoulder as he stacked wood in front of the fireplace, eyebrows raised. “You sure about this?”

Her grin widened. “Better bring your A-game, hot shot.”

“Never leave home without it.” He rummaged through the stack, coming up with a game called Battle of the Sexes: Blind Date Edition. “Sounds appropriate.”

“So it does.” She sat on the floor opposite him while he dumped out the cards.

The game proved to be pretty silly. It was based on stereotypical gender norms that she wasn’t too fond of, testing their knowledge about the opposite sex with various trivia questions, but Carly hopped up for a victory dance after she correctly identified a photo of an Allen wrench, winning the game.

“Rematch,” Sam declared.

They played another round of Battle of the Sexes—which got a lot more interesting after they started drinking—before moving on to Jenga, then Sorry. By then, they’d polished off two rounds of rum and Coke, and there was a whole lot of trash talk as they maneuvered their way around the board, bumping each other’s pawns. After she crushed Sam in Sorry, he held up Twister, an evil grin on his face.

“Oh, you’re asking for it now.” She jumped to her feet, swaying slightly.

“This is where I get my revenge,” he said as he spread the mat out on the floor.

She couldn’t stop giggling. “I haven’t played this game since I was a kid.” And she had an idea it might turn out very differently as adults.

It started out innocently enough. Left hand on a red circle. Right foot on blue. When she spun right foot on yellow, he purposefully reached his body over hers so that she’d have to crouch.

“Is that the best you can do?” she asked, stooped awkwardly beneath him. Then inspiration struck. She straightened her legs, bringing her ass solidly against the fly of his jeans.

“Now you’re fighting dirty,” he said.

“Am I?” She wiggled her hips against him, causing him to suck in a breath.

He reached over her to spin. Left hand on green. Soon they were completely entangled and laughing like crazy. When Carly hit the mat, Sam crowed his victory. She went into the kitchen for a glass of water while he put Twister away and pulled out a deck of cards.

They played until their eyes hurt from squinting at cards by firelight. Sometime past midnight, Sam put the games back on the shelf. Carly was tired and still a little tipsy. Her cheeks ached from laughing so much. She followed Sam into the kitchen to get her cell phone while he rummaged in the pantry for a midnight snack. She’d used his portable charger earlier so she could check the local news and weather reports.

“Temperatures are supposed to rise tomorrow,” she said, leaning against the countertop.

He nodded. “Might thaw enough to get you out of here.”

“It should,” she said, looking at the forecast on her phone. “Might be days yet before we get power back, though. Sounds like most of the town is without.”

Sam shook his head with a smile, leading the way back to the living room with a box of cookies in his hand. “This kind of shit doesn’t happen where I’m from.”

“Where are you from?”

“Grew up in Birmingham.”

Ah, so that explained the Southern twang in his voice. “Does your family still live there?”

“Bought my parents a place in California a few years back. Still have extended family in Alabama, but I don’t get out there too much.”

“It’s nice that you have your parents nearby.” She sat in front of the fire.

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