Page 33 of Mine For The Winter

“Just a minute,” he yelled. But whoever it was knocking didn’t hear him, and knocked again, so he turned off the shower and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist. He left wet footprints the whole way across the wooden floor and yanked open the door, his skin immediately hit by the ice cold air from outside.

“What is—oh.” He swallowed, seeing Kelly standing there.

Her eyes widened as she took in his pretty-much-undressed state.

“Kel?”

Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Another gust of wind hit him, making his damn nipples contract almost into his body.

“Can you come in so I can close the door, please?” he asked, because he was in danger of getting frostbite exactly where he didn’t want it.

Kelly didn’t move. So he reached for her wrist, his fingers circling her delicate skin, then pulled her in and closed the door behind her. Kelly leaned back against it, her eyes darting all over like she was a scared animal and he was about to eat her up.

“Kelly?” He couldn’t remember her ever being lost for words before.

“Can you put some clothes on,” she rasped.

He looked down and his brows lifted. “I wasn’t exactly expecting company.”

“I can see that.”

“So what can I do for you?” he asked her, confused at her sudden arrival. She was standing right in front of him because with the bed and the dresser and the easy chair there wasn’t exactly a lot of space in the cabin.

“Put some clothes on,” she said again, and he bit down a smile.

“I was going to do that. I do that most days. But thanks for coming over and checking on me. Is there anything else?”

Her eyes rose to his. “I need to talk to you about Cole.”

Ah, so that’s why she was here. He’d expected her to come on Sunday or Monday. By the time Wednesday had arrived, he’d almost forgotten about the whole thing. Assumed she didn’t care.

He was her old history, why should she care?

“Take a seat. I’ll put on some pants,” he said, nodding at the torn easy chair by the fireplace, about two steps away.

“And a shirt,” she told him. “You definitely need a shirt.”

He couldn’t stop the smile from pulling at his lips once more. “I remember when you told me I should never wear a shirt.”

“That was in the summer. And a long time ago.”

Yeah, it was. But he could remember it like it was yesterday. It was the summer after they graduated high school and they’d been at the beach. He’d caught her looking at his bare chest and it had made him feel weird inside.

Like he wanted things he couldn’t have.

She’d joked about him getting all the girls on campus if he walked around without a shirt on and that had been that.

It took him two minutes to pull on his jeans and a Henley, running his fingers through his damp hair to get it into some kind of order. When he walked back out of the bathroom she was still standing by the front door, looking like she was about to bolt.

“You’re not sitting down,” he pointed out. The easy chair remained empty.

“No. This won’t take long.” She shook her head and stayed exactly where she was. “Did you give Cole your hockey jersey?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“Why?”

“Because he asked for it. And it’s not like I’m planning on going back to play for the high school team. I figured his need was greater than mine.”

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