Page 3 of Baby, It Snowed Outside

I scurry alongside him as he stalks off to the car. It’s a lot colder out here than I expected it to be hours ago, before all the delays. When we are close enough, I push the remote start. It’s not going to do a lot of good, but every extra moment the car runs before we get in means the warmer it will be for us. I follow Zane to the trunk and help him load the luggage in the back, then hand over the keys to him after sliding into the passenger seat.

“Are you ready to see how bad the roads are?” Zane asks, with a boyish grin that ignites all the strange feelings in me all over again.

“Zane, my dad will kill us both if anything happens to his beloved Jeep.” I hiss.

“I know, I know. It was only a joke. I promise I won’t screw around in the snow, no matter how tempting it will be.”

I slant my eyes closed and glare harder at him. “Do you remember the last time you promised that, and then you got us all stranded when you snapped the suspension in the truck?”

“Are you ever going to let me forget the day you almost froze to death?” He teases me in a dramatic tone.

“Hey, we could have lost toes.” I argue.

He rolls his eyes again, then puts the car in reverse, saying nothing more and backs out of the parking space.

Chapter two

Zane

The roads are awful. There’s well over another three inches, easily, and that’s just by the airport. The closer we get to our neighborhood, the more snow there is. Typical. The airport is so far east it never gets the worst of the weather. I should have known better than to think any differently. My mind has been reeling since Aspen told me about Breck being stranded in Arizona. It’s like the universe is giving me exactly the sign I’ve been searching for. After leaving for Yale four months ago, I’ve only thought about her more and more. I’m not sure how to tell Breck though—or what to tell him, for that matter. Maybe the question is really more of an if I tell Breck situation. He’s my best friend. We all grew up together, and I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to fall in love with my best friend’s little sister. I don’t even know when I fell in love with her. Maybe it’s because I think I’ve just always been in love with her. I don’t have the guts to tell Breck. He’ll kick my ass. I just know it.

I can’t deny the feelings though. Seeing her like this has ignited the burning desire inside of me, begging to drag my fingers across every last inch of her body. Knowing what it feels like for her skin to respond to my touch, rolling into each soft caress as I feel her beneath me the way I’ve longed to so many times before.

Aspen gasps as the Jeep slides on a drift of snow, forcing me to shift my attention back to the roads and the weather. She clutches the handlebar on the door nervously. Her knuckles are just as white as mine are from the death grip I have on the steering wheel.

She looks at me doe-eyed. “The roads are getting worse. Do you think we can make it?”

Unable to handle the way fear laces her voice, I reach for her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. I want to do more to comfort her but if I don’t stop thinking about those things, I’m going to end up acting on my feelings.

“We’re going to make it just fine. I haven’t even kicked in the four-wheel drive yet. Before we pull into the neighborhood, I’ll probably need to.” I glance over at her with a reassuring gaze, and she smiles.

God, I love that fucking smile. I’ve always obsessed over the way she smiles when you make her feel better. She has movie star teeth. I swear to God, that woman is blessed with the most perfect fucking smile. I shouldn’t be thinking like this. Especially without Breck here to question my intentions, or catch me I am headed down a path of no return. If I don’t keep myself under control, then things could get out of hand quickly. Who am I kidding? Aspen would never go behind her brother’s back like that, and there’s no way she could ever be interested in someone like me. She’s far too perfect. She deserves someone who can offer her more than I can. I’ll have a great career. It’s not that I am worried about providing for a woman. I just can’t offer her a family like the one she has. She deserves an extended family and I have nothing to offer in that department. There are no siblings, my parents have pretended I don’t exist pretty much my entire life; both sets of my grandparents are gone, and both my parents were only children, leaving me without aunts and uncles to depend on. I may have Yale going for me, but I’m far from good enough to be with her.

Aspen, on the other hand, loves her family with all her heart, no matter how toxic they actually are. She would give someone the shirt off her back without thinking twice. I’m too much of a realist and I know my parents are fake ass, rich assholes who have never given a real shit about me outside of their social appearances. I was always just a business investment, not a real child. I’ve spent so many holidays alone or with the Carters. I give Aspen’s parents this much. They may be selfish and toxic in their own ways, but they’ve always been there for their children. I can’t say my parents have ever been there for me. The Carters really are good people who mean well. They just put way too much pressure on their kids to be great. I mean shit, they’ve made me an unofficial member of their family and have taken care of me every single time my parents failed. It was Mr. Carter who insisted I apply to Yale. He even helped me fine-tune my application essay. It feels like a betrayal to their entire family to allow myself to ruin their daughter’s future.

The Jeep slides again as we round the corner into the neighborhood. The gates, thank fuck, are open, so I throw it in park and jump out in the freezing blizzard to lock in the four-wheel drive. It’s colder than the North Pole out here. I clap my hands together as I move around to the other side, stomping my way through the large drifts of snow piling up everywhere like dollops of whipped cream. My fingers burn from the cold as I work quickly to lock the four-wheel drive in on the passenger side. When I climb back in the Jeep, I’m happy to find Aspen has cranked up the heat for me. Neither of us says a word as I thaw my fingers, then throw the car back in drive slowly inching our way down the neighborhood streets.

It takes us nearly thirty minutes just to make it to my street. Ahead, the road is packed with stranded cars blocking the drive to her house. I turn toward my house instead, stealing a quick look at Aspen. Her face is emotionless. She focuses her gaze on the snow swirling all around us, threatening to swallow the Jeep into its white abyss.

“I’ll walk you home in the morning. I’m sure we can find the old snowshoes out in the garage from the year it snowed all winter. Remember? The one when we thought it would be fun to learn so we could walk between our houses in the blizzards.”

Aspen scoffs, then shakes her head.

“Are you mad?” I ask, worried about what she’s thinking.

“No, I’m not mad. I was just thinking about how pissed my mom will be if neither Breck nor I show up for the annual Christmas Eve party. But if he doesn’t have to deal with her tonight, why should I?”

I grin, but only for a moment. I can’t risk her catching my celebration, or is it torture?

“Can you disable the tracking device in the Jeep GPS?” She blurts out.

I nod my head. I’ve been disabling tracking devices for all of us since middle school. “I’m insulted you’re even asking me this.” I snap, playfully.

She laughs. “It was too good of an opportunity not to pass up.”

“What opportunity is that?” I ask, cocking a brow, turning in toward her playful banter, and wondering if it means more than implied. Did Aspen just suggest she wants to come back to my house alone? Fuck, I’m losing control. Pull it together, Zane.

I pull as far into the driveway as I can get before the Jeep gets stuck. I’m not sure what has come over me, but I want to make sure she’s stuck here. Shit, that feels a little creepy. My hand runs a quick pass through my hair before I replace my baseball cap and mentally remind myself I need to keep it in the friend-zone. I disable the tracking in the Jeep and give Aspen a thumbs up. Aspen tosses her phone at me and I barely catch it.

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