Page 56 of Cold Foot Komodo

He blew out a breath and narrowed his eyes at the road ahead, thinking. “Was it those sexy purple ones with the cartoon cats on them?”

“Chhh, I wish. They have a rule that only solid-colored scrubs are allowed at this hospital. I’m saving the kitty scrubs for one night when I want to seduce you.”

He belted out a laugh and dragged her hand to his lips, pressed a kiss on her knuckles. “You make me feel happy, Sasha.”

“Aw, really?” She didn’t know why, but that felt like such a deep compliment coming from him. He’d been through so much.

He nodded, and glanced over at her quick before pulling his focus back to the road.

“You make me happy, too.”

“Truth,” he murmured low.

He lifted his arm up to show her the chills that were covering his skin in gooseflesh. “Anytime you want to say those words, feel free. That was a damn good feeling, hearing that.”

And that part made her happy, but also sad. He’d really been through it with his last relationship, and he’d taken the fall for his entire Bank’s awful behavior. She couldn’t imagine the mental work it had taken him in Cold Foot to clear his head of all that noise.

He was a very tough man, and she admired him for it.

By the time they drove up to the clearing of the Cold Foot territory, the others were already tubing. On the drop-off near Reed’s cabin, Cash’s truck was parked, facing the downward slope, and Timber and Katrina were waiting a turn with a big two-person inner tube clasped between them. Timber turned and waved as they got out. “I was wondering if you were going to show up!”

“I just got off work,” she called, tromping through the deep snow toward Reed’s cabin. He was carrying her bag, and jogged to catch up. “Oh, I forgot my bag,” she said with a laugh. “I got too excited.”

“I don’t mind carrying it,” he murmured, holding her outstretched hand instead of handing her the bag.

Heat flooded her cheeks, and she bumped up against his shoulder as she intertwined her fingers with his.

“Be right there,” she called as she followed Reed up his front stairs and past the outdoor furniture on the sprawling porch. By the looks of it, he had never used the miniature firepit that sat in front of a snow-covered outdoor couch. “Can we have a firepit night?”

“Tonight?” he asked, opening his front door.

“We could break in your front porch and make a memory.”

“Sure. Whatever you want,” he assured her as he held the door open for her to pass by.

She stopped in the entryway and looked around. His furniture was simple and black, and the walls were a light gray with white trim. The living room had a towering ceiling from theA-frame shape of the cabin. The fireplace was a simple fireplace with white brick that traveled up the entire length of the wall. A gray rug adorned the floor. As she made her way through the living room toward the kitchen, she noticed his taste matched in here too. The cabinets were a rich gray, and the countertops were white. Open cabinets showed off his black-and-white dishes. Even the abstract pictures on the walls were black-and-white.

“I don’t like a lot of color where I sleep.” He’d said it almost apologetically.

“I love it,” she said softly. “Is your bedroom up there?” she asked, pointing up to the loft above.

“Do you want to see it?”

“I want to see everything.”

He took her bag up with him, leading the way up the wide wooden stairs along the wall opposite the fireplace. Up in the loft, it was a simple space with the king-sized bed up against the wall with the huge picture window behind it. There was another gray rug up here, covering most of the floor. There was a closet up here, and two bedside tables, and a simple dresser.

Everything was in its place.

“This home looks so expensive. I feel like we are on an episode of Cribs, cabin edition.”

He chuckled and sat on the edge of the bed. “Damon put a bunch of money into this place, but this cabin is actually about to be paid off. I won’t owe the blue dragon any payments here in a couple weeks. It’ll be mine.”

“Wait what? Are you rich? No, don’t even tell me if you are. I don’t want to know.”

He reached for her, and pulled her between his legs. “Damon hired lawyers to go after Cold Foot on my behalf. They did a settlement for not releasing me. It happened really fast, like Damon had it lined up before our escape. The prison is settlingon a lot of stuff, and trying to do it fast, before the public catches wind of it all. I got enough to pay off this place, and put a little extra in a savings account. Just got the check the other day. I want to own the house. It’s kind of a dream.”

“Holy shit, Reed,” she whispered, running her fingers through his hair. “Congratulations.” She looked around with new appreciation. This place belonged to him. She was so freaking happy for him. “You deserve good things to happen to you.”

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