Page 9 of Whiteout

“Hard to say.” He glanced back at her. “A few days, maybe.”

How in the world would she survive being trapped in here with this man for that long?

With the soup heating on the wood stove, Sinjin gathered their discarded clothing, setting them on a rack to dry near the fire. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be up at Dalton House in time for the big Thanksgiving spread.”

Breanna shrugged. “Wasn’t planning on staying that long.”

“No? What’d you come for then?”

“Grandmama summoned me.” Holding the blanket closed, she sat up in the bed. “Well, it was her lawyer, actually.”

Was she worried about her? Valerie Dalton had to know she was due to arrive today. Would she call the police? Send Derek St. John out looking for her? Probably not.

“Sounds like you don’t like her very much.”

“Couldn’t say.” Breanna snickered. “I don’t even know her.”

“I bet you like her money, though, don’t you?” Twirling her panties around his finger, he winked. “And she’s got lots of it.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Right. And how’d you get that pretty princess car of yours, hmm?”

Presumptuous asshole.

“I bought it with my own money, thank you very much,” she informed him, nostrils flaring. Pausing briefly, her lips pursed to the side with a shrug. “Well, mostly mine. My parents helped some.”

“Okay, okay.” Chuckling, Sinjin put her underwear on the rack with her clothes. “Where do you live, Breanna?”

She liked the way it sounded when he said her name. “I’m going to school in Portland, but home is LA.”

“You drove here from Portland?”

“Yeah.”

His brows cinched together briefly before cocking his head. “For an old woman, you don’t know?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

Hadn’t she been asking herself the very same thing?

“I’m not sure. Maybe because she wants to see me.” Licking her lip, Breanna picked at a pulled thread on the blanket. “Could be she’s just curious, and that’s okay. I am too.”

With a brief nod, a look of sympathy seemed to wash over Sinjin’s face. Pressing his lips together, he took the soup off the stove.

“Eat.” Placing a warm mug in her hands, he sat beside her on the bed. “You like Portland?”

“Yeah, I do,” she said, blowing on a spoonful of the hot soup. “It’s a pretty cool place. Eclectic, you know?”

“Hmm. Yeah, but there’s plenty of really good colleges closer to LA, so what made you go there?”

Not bothering to use his spoon, Sinjin intently gazed at her, seeming to drink her in, along with the contents of his mug. Breanna couldn’t help but stare, mesmerized by the muscle sliding up and down his throat as he swallowed.

“Uh…well, because I got a partial scholarship, so I could afford the tuition.” She clinked her mug with his. “And it wasn’t close to home.”

He leaned back against the iron headboard, stretching his arm out behind her. “You don’t like LA?”

---