Page 2 of Christmas Escape
“Mom!” a man’s voice called from somewhere down the hall. “Is that you?”
“Uh, no,” I said, dropping my stuff into a chair and shedding my coat. “She’s back at the office. Why is it so hot in here?”
“Can you come give me a hand?” he asked, his voice sounding…stressed. Oh no. Had he gotten hurt? I’d go check on him, but first aid was outside my limited wheelhouse.
I hurried down the hallway, looking into rooms until I saw a pair of legs stretched across the floor in the bedroom. The top half of the man was buried inside the closet.
“Are you okay? What are you doing?” I asked. Since I highly doubted they kept the generator in a bedroom closet, I could only assume something else was wrong. Not really a good sign on the day before Christmas.
“I’m fine. But I’m breaking your cabin,” he answered. “Can you go out to my truck and grab my socket set from the bag on the front seat? I’d go myself, but if I don’t hold this thing in place, you’re gonna have a water leak on top of the heat issue.”
“Yeah, sure.” I ran back outside and found the well-used workman’s bag in his truck. Hoping for the best, I dug through the bag. Unfortunately, not being a handy girl, I had no idea which box of random tools was the socket set he wanted. Knowing he was holding a pipe and waiting for help, I just grabbed the entire thing and dashed back to the bedroom.
“I’ve got your bag,” I told him. “Which box do you need?”
“City girls,” he muttered before huffing a breath. “It’s the yellow and black box with the ratchet and the silver cylinders with a diamond cuts out in the middle.”
I found the box he was talking about and flicked it open.
“I take it the ratchet is this stick thingy?” I asked, putting some valley-girl into my tone. “Us city girls don’t know nothing about tools andboysuch.”
“You couldn’t recognize the socket set,” he reminded me.
“There are three different socket sets in there,” I snapped.
“Can we do this later? I’m kind of trying to keep from passing out or flooding us out.”
“Sure. Sorry. What do you need out of here?” I asked. Sweat dripped down my neck from the heat. I imagined it was worse for him.
“Put the ten-millimeter socket on the ratchet and slide it to me, please.”
I located what he asked for, glad they were labeled. Who the hell used millimeters in the US? Then I walked over to the closet and crouched down. I slid the tool around him on the floor and held it until his hand pulled it out of my grasp.
When I stepped back again, I realized the half of him I hadn’t been able to see was completely naked. I tilted my head to the side and studied his abs and the way they jerked when he ratcheted whatever he wasratchetinginto place.
If I hadn’t already been sweating, I might have begun to perspire from just the sight of all that rippling muscle. I’d had no idea real men’s bodies could look like that.
“Done,” I heard him sigh. He started to crawl from the closet, and I averted my gaze, my cheeks flushing as I realized I’d been ogling him.
What the hell was wrong with me? But…wow.Was it even hotter in here now?
“Thank you,” he said, holding out his hand. “Caleb Hollister.”
“Melody Baker,” I answered, shaking his warm hand. “Is that fixed now? I could bake cookies on the coffee table.”
“Well, that’s a separate problem,” he said. “The bracket is fixed on this one now, so it won’t give way, let the pipe break and flood the bedroom while you sleep tonight. As for the heat, I can’t get it to stop running. I have to run into town and pick up some parts. And I still need to fill your generator. I only put in enough fuel to get it running.”
“Your mom said you werefixingthe generator.”
“Nah, just filling it.”
He grabbed a thermal shirt I hadn’t noticed was on the bed and pulled it over his head. Honestly, I hadn’t noticed much about the cabin yet, since I’d dropped immediately into emergency mode.
I looked around as he packed up his tools. This room was flooded with light due to the windows on two sides, one of them overlooking the frozen lake. A cheery red and white patchwork quilt covered the bed that had a curved dark-wood headboard.
“Should I try to find somewhere else to stay? You know, with this heat problem?” I asked as I followed him from the bedroom to the main living area, which was just as homey as the bedroom. A comfortable-looking couch and a couple chairs faced the fireplace there, each sporting a crocheted blanket and throw pillows. All of it had a slightly rustic vibe, and I liked it.
I hoped he wouldn’t say yes. I honestly would move into the adorable cabin if I could. But I didn’t know if I could stand the heat for too long.
