Page 22 of His Wood Her Fire

“You don’t have to wait for me,” Gloria muttered from the other room before joining me.

She looks like a hot mess in mismatched pjs and one of my hoodies I must have left in the place who knew when.

My mouth went dry at the sight of her.Sure her curls were mussed, and her teeth were chattering, but goddamn, she looked good in my clothes.

Fucking gorgeous.

“Well, you can walk yourself, but what will you do if you come across a black bear or a coyote?”I asked, satisfied when she squeaked and hustled to my side.

“There are wild animals out there?”

“You’re in the mountains, Slick.Of course there are,” I chided her gently.

“Fine,” she grumbled and handed me her bag.

“Next thing you’ll tell me you need to sling my fat ass over your shoulder and carry me there.”

“Hey, your ass is perfect, and if you want me to, I’ll carry you there.Sure, no problem.”

“No, I didn’t mean that,” she replied hastily.“Sorry.I’m grumpy when I’m tired.”

“Obviously,” I replied, grinning at her.

“Well, if you could carry my suitcase that would be great.I, uh, made you something and I need to grab it off the counter.”

“You made me something?”I asked, and damn if my heart wasn’t trying to beat right out of my chest.

“Yeah.It’s no big deal.Just some fudge and edible cookie dough.”

“Thank you, Gloria,” I said, meaning every word from the bottom of my under-used heart.“And for the record, it is a very big deal to me.”

“Okay, then,” she whispered, tucking a golden curl behind her ear.

Light glowed from my phone as I held it up for her to see where she was going.I watched in awe as she walked to the kitchen and grabbed two plastic containers, one from the counter and one from the fridge.

“I was going to give this to you as a thank you?—”

“You don't have to thank me,” I said at the same time as she finished her sentence.

“—before I left.”

“Gloria,” I begin, but she is still going strong.

“No, I do have to thank you.You did me a solid, Bo.You rescued me after I nearly burned down your cabin, and I still owe you an apology for what happened after.”

“Don’t say you're sorry for that,” I growled, angry and so fucking sad I wanted to howl with it.

“I don’t mean that part,” she replied, blushing and looking away.“I mean after that.It was my fault for reacting to you reacting, and well, I'm sorry I gave you the impression I was some sort of high maintenance brat.It was just one of those things and I read too much into it way too quickly.Not your fault and not the big deal I made it out to be.”

Gloria waited a breath, but of course, I was too slow.I just stood there while she turned to the open front door with both containers in her hand.

“It’s still snowing!”She gasped and my attention temporarily diverted to the big, fluffy flakes falling outside, obscuring the lane from this cabin to mine.

Belatedly, I hurried after her, finding my voice about halfway to my front door.

“Stop,” I called out.

“What?Why?It’s freezing—oh my God—is it a bear?”she whispered, looking back at me with her pale eyebrows raised.

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