Page 13 of Snowed In with her Mountain Men
I glanced down at my smooth, brown arms. They weren’t as deeply tanned as before, but two full decades of soaking up the sun didn’t exactly wash off, even in a place as overcast as this.
“Daytona Beach.”
“Florida?” He looked surprised. “And you came all the way here? Inthatcar?”
“Talk about extremes,” mused Ryder.
“Why?” I asked, crunching down on some bacon. “Should I have taken a different car?”
“No, but—”
“It’s the only car I have,” I went on. “It got me here, and it gets me into town. That’s all I really need it for.”
“Alright,” he conceded. “What made you come here, then?”
I looked up at them, waiting for my answer. I could’ve made something up. I was always a little defensive when it came to what I was trying to do, because people judged. And right now, protecting my dreams was all I had.
Still, these men had rescued me. They’d taken me in. They’d filled my hungry belly with delicious, salty bacon.
“I’m writing a novel,” I said stalwartly. “My first one, actually.”
I expected all kinds of reactions. What I didn’t expect, was Jaxon to actually set his fork down with a clatter.
“Youwrite?”
He asked the question with genuine interest, and oddly, zero judgment. There was something in his expression that also put me at ease.
“Yes. Fiction, mostly. Right now I’m working on a mystery novel.”
His tattooed arms came together; as he steepled his finger over his plate. I watched as those chestnut eyes studied me carefully. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he was thinking.
“Hmm,” he merely nodded, before going back to his eggs.
The others seemed similarly impressed, but with Jaxon, I got the distinct feeling something in the way he’d seen me had changed. There was a shared connection between us. It happened quickly, but it was there.
“So you drove all the way up here?” asked Ryder. “Just to write a book?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I sighed.Good question.
“Because the book takes place in a cold climate,” I admitted, “and I thought it would be easier to write in one.”
“Oh,” chuckled Oakley, “well you’re definitelyinone.”
“Besides,” I added without thinking. “I’ve… I’ve never…”
I stopped, worried that what I was about to say sounded foolish. But there was no way in hell they were letting it go.
“You’ve never what?” Ryder pressed.
More silence. More contemplation.
“She’s never been in a cold climate,” Jaxon said, without looking up. The sound of his fork scraping his plate was like nails on a chalkboard. “This is her first time seeing snow.”
The others swiveled to look at me like I’d grown three heads.
