Page 32 of Hot Winter Nights (Bear Mountain Rescue 1)

Giving her the helmet, he waited until she was on the back of the snowmobile with her arms wrapped around him before he started the engine. As he blazed out of the parking lot and up the road toward home, she held on tight, the wind in her face like a thousand needles piercing her skin. Finally, she laid her cheek against Dex’s back and closed her eyes. The ride was bumpy and long, and by the time he pulled into his garage, she was shaking so badly she could hardly stand.

“Why don’t you come inside and get warmed up?” he asked.

“No, thanks, I’ve got to let Kermit out.”

“I can get Kermit—”

“It’s not going to happen,” she said harshly. Taking a deep breath, she tried again with a little less bite to it. “Thank you very much for the ride. Good night.”

She turned and made her way out of the warm garage and up the hill toward the cabin, the snow blinding her. Finally, she burst inside and flipped on the light so she could see Kermit, but nothing happened. She continued fiddling with the switch, and finally groaned in frustration. She could hear Kermit whimpering and realized how frigid it was inside.

As if the heat had been off for hours.

The dark and the cold were beginning to cause a claustrophobic tightness to wrap around her. She had always hated the dark, because her imagination always w

ent to what might be lurking there. Fumbling in her purse for her phone, she called Dex, trying to make her way toward Kermit’s cage by feel.

“Change your mind about coming over?”

“No, but my power is out and I can’t see anything. Can you bring a flashlight and flip the breakers for me?”

She could hear his heavy sigh through the phone. “Why don’t you bring Kermit and wait out the storm with me? I have a backup generator and a fireplace—”

“God, can’t you just, for once, do something nice without acting like it is an inconvenience to you?” Her voice came out shrill and panicked. Silence on the other end had her checking to see if the call had dropped, but no, he was still there.

Way to go. Insult the only person who can help.

“I didn’t mean that, I just…I don’t like the dark.”

After what seemed like forever, he finally spoke. “I’ll be right there.”

As Dex came through the door, the snow slid down his neck and under his collar, making him shiver. Or maybe it was the freezing, dark room. No wonder Allie hadn’t wanted to go searching for the breaker box.

Turning on the flashlight, he shone it around the room until he found her sitting on the couch, holding Kermit.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t find my flashlight or I would have gone out and tried to flip them myself,” she said.

“Well, come stand at the door and let me know if anything happens when I try the breakers. The less time I stay out in the cold, the better.”

Allie stood up and he could hear the tread of her feet behind him as she followed him to the door. He went around the side of the cabin and yanked the box open. He started pushing the breakers back and forth. “Anything?”

“No, nothing.”

“Shit.” Closing the box, he hurried back into the house, as if it would be any warmer there than outside.

“You can’t fix it?”

“No, not in this weather. You’re going to have to stay at my place tonight, so why don’t you go grab a few things—”

“Honestly, I’ll be fine. I’ll build a fire and add some extra blankets to my bed.”

He tried to hang on to his temper, but she was being so pigheaded it wasn’t easy. “Damnit, woman! It’s only going to get colder out there, which means the temperature is going to drop considerably in here as the night goes on. So, why don’t you stop being stubborn and make this easy on all of us, including Kermit. You don’t want him to freeze just because you don’t like me, do you?”

He could tell she was fighting the urge to tell him to go to hell, just from the expression on her face.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’ll let him snuggle with me. We’ll be good.”

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