Page 50 of More Than Words
That was the big one.
What happened between us had been amazing and perfect in so many ways.But also totally unplanned.And as amazing as it had been to wake up in his arms with the heat of him wrapped around me—and it had—we didn’t have a chance to talk about what happened.Or what it might mean.
It did mean something, didn’t it?
It had to.
At least for me.I didn’t sleep with men without—no.
I forced myself to stop spinning out of control and focused once more on the task at hand.
Coffee.
Ethanwascoming back.He’d told me so.I had no reason not to believe him.
I set the water on to boil and moved to the front window that overlooked the plaza.
A thick, white blanket coated absolutely everything.Huge drifts had blown up against the doors and windows of the shops.From where I stood, I couldn’t even see the gazebo at the far end of the plaza.
I saw a flash of movement below.
Ethan.
He was bundled up in his parka with a shovel in hand.
He tackled the massive amount of snow in front of his shop before he moved to do mine next.He’d just started on what looked to be a never-ending task when a little snowplow appeared around the corner, along with a few other men I couldn’t recognize in their winter gear.
As if Ethan could sense me watching, he looked up and smiled.
I lifted a hand in a wave, a smile of my own taking over my face.
He was definitely going to be a bit longer still, so I turned my attention to making coffee and trying to find something besides leftover stew for us to eat when he returned.
I was curled up on the couch with a book when, almost an hour later, I finally heard a knock on my door, followed by Ethan’s voice.“I’m back.”
My heart skipped at the sound.“Hey.”I set my book down and turned to see him still wearing his puffy jacket with a knit tuque on his head and a brown bag in his hands.“How was it out there?”
I felt a flash of guilt for not helping out, but given that I only had a very small, and totally inadequate shovel, I probably wouldn’t have done much more than get in the way.
I left the couch and moved across the room.
“There isa lotof snow out there.”He laughed as he slipped out of his coat and hung it on a hook before pulling me in for a kiss.“Mm,” he murmured when he pulled away.“But that was very nice.”
He reached to pull me in again, but I laughed and reached for the bag as my stomach growled.“Don’t tell me this is from the Bean Bag.”
“Then I won’t tell you that.”He winked and moved into the small kitchen where the pot of coffee was waiting for him.“But Dale managed to make it through the snow to whip up some scones for the snow removal crew, and I convinced her to sneak me a few extra.”
My mouth watered as I slid the fresh pastries from the bag onto a plate.
“It was either that or we were going to be trekking through the snow to the inn where Reid and Avery are serving up pancakes, but I thought this would be better.”
He gave me a heated look, and my stomach flipped.
“This is much better.”
We settled on the couch—mugs of coffee in hand, the plates of scones on the coffee table—and just like that, all the worry, doubts, and stress that I’d let sneak in, even a little bit, evaporated.
Being with Ethan like that was quiet in a comfortable and easy kind of way.There was no need to speak or fill the moment with conversation.It was quiet in a way I hadn’t realized I missed.
