Page 93 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
“Only pretty good?” He feigned insult. “You mustn’t have been paying proper attention. Here, let me show you again.”
She giggled, and he captured the sweet sound with his mouth, sinking back into another long, luxurious kiss.
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Dahlia couldn’t stop smiling.
Honestly, it was becoming a problem.
“Well, Ms. O’Sullivan?” JJ leaned forward over the table with a little grin that made her heart dance. “What do you think of this fine cuisine?”
She just barely managed to squelch a giggle before it escaped.
Goodness, she didn’t recognize herself right now.
She eyed her oatmeal dinner with feigned thoughtfulness. “This might be the finest bowl of oats I’ve ever eaten.”
He leaned back in his seat, his grin widening. “Bet you say that to all the men you’re stranded in snowstorms with.”
She couldn’t have stopped the smile that split her face if she’d tried. “Only the ones who rescue me from fallen tree limbs.”
He chuckled, and the sound was warmer than the fire that still crackled and popped in the fireplace nearby.
All afternoon it had been like this. Smiles, laughter, and easy chatter as they tended to the fire and sorted through the food options.
Dahlia would have thought that spilling all her deepest, darkest fears and insecurities would have made her wary around JJ. She’d expected to be embarrassed. To not be able to meet his gaze.
But the exact opposite happened. The way he’d responded, the way he’d kissed her after seeing all her worst flaws on full display…
It was cathartic. She’d felt reborn by the time they’d reluctantly ended their make-out session.
Both of them knew full well where it would lead if they’d continued, and that wasn’t what this was about. What was happening between them now was a different sort of intimacy. One she’d never experienced before.
It was the giggling, fizzy joy of a first crush. It was the much deeper connection of a newfound friendship. It was attraction and respect and reveling in each other’s company and…
Oh gosh, she didn’t know what this was.
As she grinned around the next bite of bland oatmeal, her chest felt like it might explode from happiness.
Whatever this was, it was a first for her…
And she didn’t want it to end.
She shoved the thought aside. It would end. It had to. But she didn’t want to think about that right now. These moments they had together felt precious. Maybe it was being cut off from the rest of civilization with no access to phone or email or even a way back into town, but this day had felt like a moment out of time.
They’d been cast in a spell where the clock had stopped and the world ceased spinning. It was just the two of them in a perfect little bubble.
“What are you thinking about right now?” he asked, his voice soft, his gaze tender.
She swallowed hard.Reality. How this is going to end.
Once more she shook off the thoughts. Of course she knew this time together had an end, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy every second while she had it.
She’d drown in this happiness while she could, and when she was back in her apartment in New York, alone and stressed out over work, she’d have these memories to call upon to keep her warm.
The thought was bittersweet, but it helped her shove aside that worry of it ending once and for all. She leaned forward, making a show of thinking over her response. “What am I thinking about? Hmmm…” She tapped her spoon to her lips.
He’d asked her that several times already. Every time she went quiet or got lost in her head, he’d gently draw her out again. And he’d watch her, just like this, while he waited for a response… with his gaze and his attention riveted on her, like he really wanted to know. Like he needed to know each and every thought that crossed her mind.
