Page 14 of Snowed in With My Small Town Billionaire

Reminding herself that this was supposed to be his Christmas present, she plastered a smile on her face. “What’s up kiddo?”

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“I ruined everyone’s Christmas. Grandpa is upset and doesn’t want to come out of the cabin and you hurt yourself.”

Gwen’s heart melted and she put her arm around her nephew. “Honey, none of this is your fault. Your grandpa gets irked sometimes and you didn’t push me.”

“But I wanted to come here and the mountain is cursed.”

“Every place worth its salt in this country has some kind of legend, story, or haunting associated with it. This place is no exception. Do you want to play a game? I brought someUnocards.”

His face brightened.

Audrey smiled at them. “Can I get in on this game?”

“Sure. Do you think we ought to ask Dad?”

Audrey looked at the closed door. “It can’t hurt to ask.”

To everyone’s surprise, he came out of the room and took a seat at the table. They played a game and then Audrey and Brent went to get dinner. After they ate, they played a couple more games and everyone seemed to have a good time – even her father.

It had been a very long day and Gwen was grateful when she could slip between the cool sheets.

Her ankle throbbed and even though the evening had been pleasant, she was over the vacation. Except for hanging out with Brent, it had not been fun. Even on the slopes, she had beenacutely aware that Sawyer was somewhere nearby, even if she didn’t have eyes on him.

She stared at the ceiling, her eyes wide open despite the fact that she had been so tired.

Okay, fine. I used to have a crush on Sawyer, she admitted to herself.

He probably knew although he never treated her like anything other than a little sister. When he was younger, Sawyer was more of a skinny, gangly nerd with a mild case of acne. He had grown and was hot while he was in college. Sawyer seemed to be like a fine wine and got better with age. He was sexy enough to turn almost any woman’s head.

Stop that. You aren’t doing yourself any good. Go to sleep.

She took a couple of acetaminophen PM and finally fell asleep.

Gwen was in a deep sleep when a loud explosion ripped through the night, jolting her awake. She jumped out of bed, ignoring her ankle, and stared out the bedroom window trying to figure out what happened. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw a solid huge snow tsunami rushing toward their cabin, moving quickly and consuming everything in its path.

Her breath caught in her throat and icy fear squeezed her heart. “Shutter the windows. Everyone shutter the windows,” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Gwen closed the shutters on her bedroom window and then dashed into the living room to close the wooden planks over the glass. She ran toward Brent’s room, her stomach knotted, when she realized he hadn’t joined them.

“Brent,” she yelled, bursting through the door as he fumbled with the shutters.

His hands were shaking and he was trying hard to maneuver the latch. “Aunt Gwen, help me.”

She wasn’t quick enough. In a split second, the window shattered with a deafening crash, sending shards of glass and a massive load of snow into the room. The force of it knocked Brent back. Gwen lunged toward him, grabbed him, and pulled him close to her, trying to use her body to shield him from the rest of the flying glass and snow.

The snow rushed at the cabin and the force of it was so great that it packed tightly against the window, keeping more snow from coming in.

Gwen dragged Brent into the living room. She held him tightly as the cabin shook violently and groaned as the snow continued to bombard it. She was terrified that the entire place was going to collapse on them, burying them beneath the weight of the wood and the snow. Finally, after several minutes, the onslaught of snow stopped and an eerie silence filled the air. They were in complete darkness since they had lost electricity.

“Aunt Gwen, are we going to die?” Brent asked, his voice trembling with fear.

“No, Honey, we aren’t. We just have to assess the situation and figure things out.”

Jerome walked over to the front door and cautiously opened it. A little bit of snow fell inside the cabin and he closed the door again quickly.

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