Page 19 of Winter Ends
“What do you mean?”
Panic. Sheer terror and panic.
Shawn didn’t answer me. He just sank back into his spot on the couch. It was only then that I noticed the bottle of beer in his hands. Fuck, a beer sounded good right about now.
My feet carried me to the fridge, where I yanked the door open. The contents rattled with the force and I pulled a bottle out. Once the cap was off, I chugged half of it back, letting out one of the grossest belches I’d ever expelled.
“Did they leave too late? Jesus, Shawn. Tell me what the hell is going on.”
He only sank further into his seat. No, fuck that. I wasn’t about to let him get away without talking. This wasn’t a funny joke. Had he tricked me into coming up here?
“SHAWN!”
He jolted back up and spun to look at me again. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared. He lifted his beer bottle to his lips, and I tried not to focus on the way his lips wrapped around it as he took a drink.
When the bottle lowered again, and he swallowed, he finally answered. “They were supposed to come up tomorrow, but as of twenty minutes ago, the passes are closed.”
My stomach dropped to my feet, and the room spun. There was no way the beer was hitting me that quickly, but I set it on the counter, regardless. It was hard to steady myself as the ringing in my ears intensified.
Stuck.
That’s all I heard.
I was stuck in a cabin in the middle of the fucking woods with Shawn fucking Stevens, and there was no telling how long it would be until someone else could get here.
“Are you going to hide out in there the entire time?”
I rolled over and faced the wall. After getting the news that I was trapped with my worst enemy, I’d dragged my ass back to the bedroom and collapsed on the bed.
“Leave me alone.”
He sighed in the doorway. “Don’t be like that. Try to look at the bright side? Maybe we can work on trying to get along, or it’s going to be a hell of a couple of days.”
I shot up in bed. “Days? Fucking days? Is that what they said? It’s going to takedaysto get out of here?”
Shawn’s eyes were wide as he held up his hands like he was trying to calm a wild animal. In his defense, he probably was. I felt feral and out of control. I hadn’t even wanted to come on this trip to begin with.
“I didn’t know this would happen.”
“Bullshit.”
“I swear to God.”
And I was out of the bed. Shawn backed into the hall as I advanced on him, finger pressed firmly into the center of his chest.
Gah, why was his chest so hard?
My palms flattened against his pecs as he hit the wall. It was impossible not to notice how good his muscles felt beneath my palms.Don’t flex your hands, please for the love of God…
“Are you feeling me up?” Shawn raised an eyebrow in question, and my hands dropped to my side. Heat raced down my cheeks, neck, and shoulders. What the hell was happening to me this evening? I wasn’t supposed to touch him—or like it.
“You’re obnoxious.”
He was also in the hall and out of the room. Without a second thought, I spun on my heel and slammed the bedroom door behind me.
Shawn was pounding on the door in a flash. My back pressed into the wood as I scrambled with the lock. I needed space, or I was bound to do something stupid. But what the hell was I going to do? I didn’t even like the guy, so why the hell had I reacted to touching him? It wasn’t like I hadn’t shoved him in the past.
Memory after memory slammed into me with every single touch. The little sparks and zings that would pass between us. Nope, there was no way I could entertain it. Not even for a minute.
