Page 22 of The Christmas You Crash

Why does he have to be so sweet and thoughtful? It would be a lot easier to keep my distance if Ryder Hanson was a self-important asshole, like so many other hockey players I’ve known. All I can do is remind myself of myno hockey playersrule. It’s there for a reason, and not just because of my dad. I can’t forget that. Even though I don’t think Ryder is anything like Garrett Trace.

“That’s okay. You can finish it if you want.” I twist my fingers together, unsure of how to end the night. Somehow, a simplegood nightdoesn’t feel like enough, but what am I going to do? Hug him? I want to. He dragged me out of my funk. But that’s stupid. I’m overthinking this. Tucking my hair behind my ear, I offer him a sleepy smile. “Night, Ryder.”

“Good night, Lexi.”

My mind is a muddled mess as I go through my nighttime routine in the bathroom. Thoughts of my dad and Ryder and all the things I wish I could say to my father swirl around in my head with the same ferocity as the snow whipping around outside. Utilizing my yoga training, I slow my breathing, making it deliberate and deep. My reflection’s tension noticeably ebbs. This is fine. All of this is fine.

The lights flicker as a loud hum surges through the walls, and then I’m plunged into darkness.

“Shit,” I shriek as thick, oppressive black pushes in on me from all sides. I’m not afraid of the dark, per se, but who in the hell feels great about being shut in a small, windowless room without a speck of light? No one, I’d argue.

I need to get out of here. With my hands in front of my face, I make my way to where the door should be. Then I trip on the corner of the fuzzy rug in the middle of the floor and fallsideways, bashing my hip into the corner of the vanity. “Ouch! Oh my god, that hurt.”

Thundering footsteps draw close from outside the door. “Lexi? Lexi, are you okay?”

“Fine,” I lie. My hip is throbbing. No doubt, there’s already a nasty bruise forming. “Just tripped. I can’t see a damned thing in here.”

The knob jiggles. “Are you decent?”

“Yeah.”

The door swings open a moment later, and I’m blinded by the flashlight on Ryder’s phone. Shrinking away from it, like some deep-sea creature who’s never seen the light, I throw my hand in front of my eyes. “Ow.”

“Sorry,” he says with a chuckle. The light dips to the floor as Ryder takes a step into the bathroom. “Are you all right?” His attention drops to where I’m rubbing my hip, and his mouth pulls into a frown as he reaches for me.

I suck in a breath as Ryder’s long fingers trace gently over my hip. The sound seems to break him out of whatever trance-like state he’s in, and he shakes his head as if to clear it and pulls his hand away. Pink floods his cheeks as he meets my gaze.

“I’m okay. Just bumped into the corner of the vanity with my hip.”

“Ouch.” He winces sympathetically.

“Did the power go out in the whole cabin?” It’s a stupid question, and I know it, but I need to get the subject off my minor injury. Plus, I’m trying not to freak out. It’s freezing, we’re in the middle of nowhere, and there’s a full-fledged blizzard happening outside. Losing power isn’t good.

We leave the bathroom and move into the bedroom, so we’re not in total darkness.

Ryder nods. “Yeah. Sounded like a power surge, so my guess is, whatever transformer is feeding power to the cabin blew.”

Well, shit.

“Hopefully, they’ll get it fixed quickly.”

We both turn to stare out the wall of windows. The howling of the wind is even more pronounced now that we’ve been plunged into complete silence, not even the hum of electricity to break up the night. Snow whips through the air outside in a violent dance. It’s heavy and wet, and there’s over a foot of it by now. I know very well it won’t get fixed quickly. Not in this weather.

It’s going to be a long, cold night.

“Are you going to be warm enough in here? It’s already chilly with this many windows, and the heat just turned off.” Ryder’s attention moves from the wintry wonderland outside to my bed, which is piled with blankets.

Will they be enough to keep me warm? I guess they’ll have to be, because what other options are there? “I’ll be fine. We can always steal some blankets off the beds in the unused rooms if we need to. Or I could switch rooms, though I doubt the others will end up being all that much warmer.”

Ryder’s jaw ticks, but he just nods. “All right. I may sleep on the couch tonight and keep the fire going.”

It’s probably the smart thing to do. “Okay. Will you be comfortable?”

He shrugs. “It’s a pretty big couch. It’ll do for one night.” We stand there looking at one another for a few beats before he runs a hand through his dark waves. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair and let you get some sleep.”

“Thanks for coming to my rescue with your flashlight.” I grin, and he returns it.

“Any time, Lex. Night.”

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