Page 42 of Snowbound with the Santas

Reality is clawing me back and I don’t want to go. Not even for a second.

“Well, I still think we should decorate,” Nick says with a smile. “You can leave a little of yourself here with us before you go home.”

I force my smile wider as I pull the tinsel from my shoulders. Each pulse of anxiety in my chest makes the walls draw in a little closer, and the air is suddenly thicker.

I need to get out of here just to breathe.

“Yeah,” I say, swallowing hard when my voice trembles. “I’m glad.” Setting the tinsel down, I clench my fists to hide the shakes and quickly excuse myself from the kitchen under the guise of taking a shower.

Fuck.

Fucking hell.

I knew I couldn’t stay here forever. I knew that, but each moment here has been so sweet that I’ve tried to cling to it with all my strength.

But there’s no stopping time.

I hurry to my bedroom and make it just in time for an impulsive gasp to escape me. I clutch at my waist and force a calming breath as Ashton’s slimy, smug face bursts into my thoughts.

“Rayne?”

I spin around with a gasp, not having heard anyone following me. Archer stands in the doorway.

“Rayne. What’s wrong?”

15

ARCHER

She stands in front of me, the picture of gentle beauty, and yet there’s sadness in her eyes. A sadness from a deeply hidden secret. I know this because I see the same sadness in my own eyes every time I look in the mirror.

Rayne has a past. One she doesn’t need to share, but I know the shadows of trauma. I’m just not sure what it was exactly that triggered her during the conversation in the kitchen. Was it the decorations? Or her family?

“I’m fine,” Rayne replies. A well-practiced lie if I ever heard one.

“You’re not,” I say simply, keeping the pressure out of my words.

“I am. Really. I’m just… I don’t know, a lot happened today.”

“You saved my life.”

Rayne flaps one hand at me and shakes her head, shifting her weight from leg to leg as she stands there. “Hardly. It probably would have missed you. I think I overreacted.”

“Is that what you really think?” Her reflexes at the tower took me by surprise, but she did save my life. Seeing that shard of metal protrude from where I’d been standing not a secondearlier had been chilling. She extended my time and I can’t repay that, not directly.

But I can help her. If she lets me.

“You’ve been in the mountains for years, right?” Rayne says with a small smile. “You had it all under control.”

“Your deflection is impressive.”

“I’m not deflecting.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong. I can help you.”

“Can you?” There’s a challenge in her eyes, and perhaps fear, too. Ever since she arrived, she’s played on my mind for various reasons, but my instinct tells me there’s something more serious at play here—something that creeps up every time we talk about reuniting her with her family. The call I made to the rescuers didn’t provide any serious information, so I’m certain she’s not a criminal.

But there’s something else.

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