Page 36 of Hot Winter Nights (Bear Mountain Rescue 1)

One glance out the big bay windows made her heart sink. She wasn’t sneaking out, at least not in tennis shoes. Outside was completely white, with several feet of snow covering the ground and still more coming down in a dense whiteout.

“Good morning,” Dex called from the kitchen, startling her.

“Hi. Any idea when this is supposed to let up?” Allie tried to look anywhere but Dex’s bare chest, but was losing the battle. It was just so defined and chiseled.

“My weather app says it’s going to continue through tomorrow night. I hope you don’t have to work.”

“No, but if there is a break in the weather, I’ll have to get my phone in case there is an emergency at the hospital.”

His deep chuckle rose gooseflesh over her skin as he approached in just a pair of sweats and his bare feet. “Not sure what kind of break you’re expecting. It’s only going to get worse from here. The only good thing to come out of heavy snow like this is the winter tourists who show up to snowboard, ski, and snowmobile.”

Allie loved to snowboard when she was a teenager, but she hadn’t been in years. With Bear Mountain Ski Resort just up the road, she supposed she’d get a chance to pick it up again. “I guess that means things pick up for you again, huh? Having to rescue people from snowdrifts or avalanches?”

“Not very often. I was actually hoping for a little peace and quiet.”

“Don’t you need to make a living?” she asked.

“Well, between acts of heroism, I work for the National Park Service as a ranger. I patrol the area, make sure people aren’t being stupid and trespassing.”

“A jack-of-all-trades,” she said. “Why search-and-rescue?”

“Because I enjoy it. Most people who get lost are found cold or hungry, but relatively unharmed. But when they see me coming, they are damn happy I’m there. I can say I do it for the adrenaline rush, but that’s only part of it. I want to help people, to feel needed. Useful. I do it for that look on their face that says I’m the guy they’ve been waiting for.”

Allie paused and stared into Dex’s eyes. She understood that. Allie had become a nurse to help people, and an administrator to make a difference. And even though her job function required that she make things better for the hospital system as a whole, she did it because she was helping individuals get the care they needed.

Suddenly, she and Dex were looking a hell of a lot more similar.

Dex made coffee, wishing that he could read Allie’s mind. He couldn’t imagine she was happy to be stuck with him for at least a day, but she seemed content enough. She’d just curled up on the couch with Kermit, staring quietly at the falling snow outside.

“The coffee should be ready in a minute. How would you feel about some breakfast?” he asked.

“Sure, that would be great. Thanks.”

He went about the kitchen, pulling out eggs, potatoes, peppers, onions, and cheese. “Do omelets and country potatoes sound good?”

“Like heaven.” She was snuggling Kermit, Bluebell dogging her steps as she walked into the kitchen. “Will she hurt him if I put him down?”

“She might lick him to death, but that’s about the extent of her viciousness,” he said.

As Allie set Kermit on the ground, Dex was pretty sure she called him an ass under her breath, but he let it go. Maybe it was because she was actually talking to him, or that he had her all to himself for another twenty-four hours, but he started whistling joyfully.

“Do you have family?” she asked.

&n

bsp; He stopped whistling. “Sure. My parents and my little brother live in Philadelphia.”

“Why didn’t you go home to visit them for Thanksgiving?”

Beating the eggs with his whisk, he shrugged. “We’re not exactly the warm-and-fuzzy type. I love my family, but I’m a bit of an odd duck to them.”

“How’s that?”

“Mainly because I preferred camping and fishing to studying.”

“Ah,” she said. “My parents don’t understand me, either. Thought I would have been better off marrying a man with an education than getting one.”

“That’s too bad.” Dex started cutting up the ingredients. “I like that you’re smart.”

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