Page 25 of The Christmas You Crash

“Come here,” Ryder says after glancing at me half a dozen times over the course of the scene.

“Hm?”

“You’re shivering, OTG. Come here. We’ll share body heat.” Ryder stands and unwraps himself from his blankets. Meanwhile, I’m staring at him like he spoke in a foreign language.

With a quirked brow and the reappearance of those damned dimples, Ryder guides me to my feet. He waits for me to pull the blankets away from my body, but when I just stand there like an idiot, blinking up at him, he chuckles and pries the edges of them from my fingers. “Let go, Lex. We need to get you warm. I promise I won’t bite.”

Great. Now I’m picturing him biting me. In a sexy way. This isn’t good.

The sound of gunfire plays through the laptop speakers as Ryder tugs me down beside him on the couch. Pressed against my side, he arranges our blankets around us. He’s so warm. I melt against him, despite myself. It’s hard not to when my whole body is stiff from the cold. As I thaw, I can’t stop myself from letting out a happy hum.

Ryder wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer. “That’s it. Just relax, Lexi. I’ll keep you warm.” He gently applies the slightest pressure to the top of my head, encouraging me torest my head on his shoulder. I should protest. I should sit up straight and put space between us. But I don’t. Because this is the first time I’ve felt warm in about twelve hours. So, ignoring my better judgment, I let Ryder guide my head to his shoulder and sigh happily.

“You’re so warm.”

His arm slips down around my waist, and he squeezes. “So are you.”

We fall into a thick silence. I don’t know what’s running through Ryder’s mind, but mine is a stormy sea. This isn’t me. I don’t melt into hockey players or random guys I met two days ago. I’m strong and independent. And hockey players? Of all the men I could be interested in, hockey players are the worst for my heart.

My mind wanders to my ex, Garrett. To the sweet lies he told me. To the imperious way he looked down on me the day he broke things off.

But Ryder isn’t Garrett, and nothing will ever happen between us, so what’s the point of dwelling on this? He’s right. We’re just sharing body heat. That’s all this is for both of us. So, I try to tell my brain to shut up and enjoy the feeling of his arm around me and his strong body beside mine. We’re only sharing heat, but that doesn’t mean I can’t secretly enjoy the feeling of having a massive man hold me. I’ll tuck this away as something to look back on when I need self-care material to get me going.

We only break apart when Ryder adds more logs to the fire. Halfway through our second movie of the day, my legs are draped over Ryder’s thighs, and he has one arm around my waist while his other hand rests on my knee. His thumb rubs slow circles over my leggings, and I’m so relaxed, I doze off for a few minutes with my face pressed into the crook of his neck. At least I think it’s only a few minutes, because the movie is still playingand Ryder startles me awake when he barks out a laugh at the Griswolds’ hijinks.

“Oh, shit. Sorry, Lexi. Didn’t mean to wake you.” He chuckles when I jolt upright.

“Hm? I wasn’t sleeping.”

“Right. And you don’t snore.” He gives me a shit-eating grin. I level him with a scowl in return.

“I donotsnore.”I don’t, right? I would know if I snore.

His grin widens as he reaches over and wipes some drool from the corner of my mouth. I suck in a breath as his thumb brushes over the side of my lower lip. He leans in close. So close, our noses almost touch. “Do too. It’s cute.”

“How is snoring cute?” I’m completely mortified, and I try to push away from Ryder’s side, but he grips my hip and holds me in place.

“It is the way you do it. Your mouth hangs open slightly and you make these soft little snores. You sound like a kitten purring.”

He’s got to be shitting me. I do not sound like a kitten purring. I don’t snore. Narrowing my eyes at him, I cross my arms over my chest. “You’re full of shit.”

“I’ll take a video next time, if you don’t believe me,” he says with a twinkle in his eye. His smile grows wide, and he flashes straight white teeth at me. I bet a few of them are fake. Stupid hockey players and their missing teeth. No way all of those pearly whites are originals.

“There won’t be a next time,” I growl.

“Unless the power comes back on in the next few hours, I think there will be. In fact, I was going to suggest we drag a mattress out here tonight and sleep closer to the fire.”

My mind skips like a scratched record. “I’m sorry, what? You want me to sleep next to you tonight?” Oh, that is a bad idea. Bad, bad, bad. I’m already too comfortable with him. I fell asleepwith my legs in his lap, for crying out loud. Who does that with a man they just met? Not Lexi Cross. Lexi Cross has learned her lesson. Men like Ryder Hanson cannot be trusted.

I blame my hussy of a vagina.

“I want us to share body heat,” he says, rolling his pretty blue eyes.

Wait, what? No. Not pretty. Stupid. His stupid blue eyes.

“It’s really not a big deal. Are you worried your dad will find out and get mad?”

Well, I wasn’t worried about that, but I am now.“No. Of course not.”

---