Page 26 of Snowed In with her Mountain Men
I was clean, warm, and cozy in a sweatshirt I’d borrowed from Oakley, and my cutest pair of sleep shorts. I had a roof over my head, a comfortable place to sit down and write, and a soft bed to sleep in. Not to mention a trio of ridiculously hot roommates, walking around in shorts and muscle shirts. Two of whom, I’d already kissed.
So yeah, life, as compared to a mere twelve hours ago, was pretty damned good.
“You hungry, Daytona?”
Oakley’s smile preceded him sliding a big bowl of steaming pasta into the center of the table. I licked my lips in response.
“Always,” I replied.
“Good, because we’re starving,” chuckled Ryder. He shot me a wink identical to the one he’d given me just after committing our shower caper together. “Let’s eat.”
There was a dirty plate already in the sink, courtesy of Jaxon. He’d showered, eaten, and left for work, all in the time it had taken me to set up my laptop and get dressed. Of course, I’d been a little slow coming down. Mostly because I couldn’t get the events of our shared shower out of my spinning, daydreaming head.
As simple as dinner was, it turned out the boys could cook. We had spaghetti with homemade meatballs, along with a wedge salad that I suspected was little more than a head of iceberg lettuce cut into quarters. The three of us ate hungrily, then tore straight into some defrosted, but still delicious, chocolate cake.
“Listen,” I said, once I’d scraped the last of the frosting from the fork onto my tongue. “I’d say thank you, but the words don’t even begin to cut it. I need you both to know how grateful I am for letting me stay here.”
“It’s not a problem,” smiled Oakley. He stood and grabbed for my empty plate, but I was way too fast.
“Which is why,” I said, swinging the plate deftly away from him, “you have to at the very least let me clean up dinner.”
Oakley looked hurt. It was kind of adorable. But Ryder only leaned back in his chair, regarding me thoughtfully as I stood up.
“Anddo the dishes,” I added quickly.
“But—”
“And also cook breakfast tomorrow morning,” I finished sternly, as I gathered their plates.
I continued clearing the table, heedless of protest. When I caught Oakley frowning, I leveled a finger at him.
“Sorry, there’s no room for debate here,” I insisted. “You guys are putting me up. You’re feeding me. You’re keeping me warm.” I tugged at the loose-fitting sweatshirt around my shoulders. “You’re even clothing me now, too. At least until I can get my car, and do a little emergency shopping.”
“Yes, but we like doing those things.”
“And that’s fine,” I shrugged. “But let me pitch in. Allow me to do even a small part, so I feel a little less guilty.”
With that, I took everything to the sink. I could feel their eyes on me; as I spun the hot water knob and got to work. Or maybe they were looking at other things, too. If so, I didn’t care. All I knew was that it felt good just to be doing something again.
I heard mumbling over the running water. The two of them, talking in low tones, followed by the scrape of a chair on the floor.
“Fine,” said Oakley, eventually sidling up beside me. “You really want to do something for us?”
His words were low and husky, and perhaps full of promise. A wave of heat rolled through my stomach.
“Yes?”
“We’re going to watch a movie before bed,” he breathed, somewhere over my shoulder. “When you finish cleaning up in here, microwave some popcorn and come join us.”
I froze as he leaned in, and pointed at a cabinet. His other hand, once again, was on my hip. Or was it my ass? I couldn’t tell, really. It felt a little like half and half.
“O—Okay,” I said, past the lump in my throat. “Sure. Sounds good.”
“See you in there then,” Oakley said, before spinning away. He gave me a playful squeeze, as he pushed off.
“In case you can’t find us, we’ll be the ones on the couch.”
~ 13 ~
