Page 10 of Snowed In with My Best Friend's Dad

She started up the embankment. “None of your business."

I followed her up to the road. "All right, then. I'm just going to head home, then." I started for my SUV. It was cold, and I figured I'd wait there to make sure that she got in her car and headed wherever she was planning to go. I might be an asshole, but I wasn't the type of man to leave a woman stranded on the side of the road, no matter how irritating she was.

I'd made it about halfway across the street when she called, "Wait. I'm stuck. I hit black ice and slid into the ditch and I can't get out. Maybe when you get home you could call me a tow truck?"

I turned around, setting my hands on my hips, studying her. "How about I give you a ride to my place and you can call a tow truck from there?"

She shifted, looking down at the ground. Was she nervous about being alone with me? Or maybe she didn't like needing help. Twice now, she'd refused my assistance when she had fallen.

"I'm supposed to be out here visiting a friend of mine. Maybe you can take me to their house."

That sounded even better to me. The last thing I needed was the woman I had fucked last night, and was still thinking about fucking again, in my house.

"All right. Where do they live?"

She pulled out her phone and rattled off the address. My gut clenched as I recognized it. And with it came a new revelation that made me sick. This couldn't possibly be the young woman Lindsay had planned to bring to stay with us over the holidays. Lindsay's friend was named Mira. Fucking hell. Was Mira a nickname for Miranda? I had received a message a few hours ago from Lindsay saying that they would be traveling here separately. But no. This woman couldn't possibly be my daughter's roommate. Could she?

All of a sudden, I couldn't breathe. Two very hard truths hit me all at once. I’d fucked my daughter's roommate, which made me a pervert. But because she was my daughter's roommate, I was even more obligated to help her.

"Yeah, I can take you there. Do you have a bag or something?"

She went to the driver’s side of her car, opening the back door, which took effort since the car was tilted. I strode over to help her, holding the door and taking the bag from her. I carried it to my SUV, putting it in the back. All the while, my brain was scrambling to figure a way out of this. There was no way I could bring her to my home and not have her learn about who I was, was there? I could just drop her off, but it would be rude to leave her at an empty house. Besides, I'd locked the door, so I'd have to unlock it, which would give away that it was my place.

Irritation grew. Why the hell was she here by herself? Where was Lindsay? I’d expected her by now but hadn’t worried because she was frequently late. And why hadn’t they come together as planned? Not that having Miranda walk into my home with Lindsay wouldn’t still be a shock.

I cleared my throat. "Where’s your friend now?” I held my breath, hoping against hope that this was a big misunderstanding and she wasn’t Lindsay’s friend. Maybe she got the address wrong. I was grasping at anything that would make it so that I hadn’t hooked up with my daughter’s roommate.

She sat in the passenger seat with her backpack. "We were supposed to come together, but she was detained."

Lindsey had texted me that she was coming on her own but hadn’t given me details. I could only imagine what had detained Lindsay. A “fabulous purse” in a shop window. A stray puppy. TikTok.

We continued the drive in silence as my gut knotted even tighter. How was Miranda going to respond when she realized she'd fucked her friend's father? How did it happen in the first place? I thought back to conversations I'd had with Lindsay about her roommate. Lindsay described Mira as studious, hard-working, and determined. There never had been any mention of an active social life.

Dammit, I remembered having the feeling last night that hookups weren’t something Miranda normally did. And fucking hell, I still felt pretty sure she’d been a virgin. My stomach rolled as nausea nearly had me pulling over to vomit. Did I take the virginity of my daughter's roommate? I tried to turn my mind off because the more I thought, the worse it got.

I reached our road, making the right hand turn up the long drive toward the cabin. Why did I let Lindsay talk me into this trip? We could have just as easily had Christmas in Boston and I wouldn’t be in this situation.

"It turns out she's not coming."

At first, I didn’t understand what she said. But then it sank in. Lindsay wasn’t coming? She hadn’t told me. "What?"

"Just before I spun out on the ice, I got a text from her saying that she couldn't make it.”

So why was Miranda still coming to my place? Maybe she wasn't a stalker, but if she knew who I was... Maybe she saw an opportunity to get something out of our hookup, after all. Did she plan to blackmail me, threaten to tell Lindsay unless I gave her money?

"I was looking for a place to turn around. Hitting the ice worked, and I spun out, except I ended up getting stuck in the snow. Do you think it's going to be a problem getting a tow truck?"

She didn’t talk like someone who was conniving, but that didn't mean she still wasn't up to something.

"I'll make a few calls and see if I can get somebody out here.”

“That’s okay. My friend’s dad will be there, and hopefully, he’ll help me.”

I glanced over at her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I pulled up in front of my cabin, parking near the front steps. I got out of the SUV and rounded the back to get her bag. By the time I made it to the steps, she was already at the front door, knocking.

Taking a breath, I shoved my key into the lock and opened the door.

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