“Did I fall asleep?” she whispers.
Grinning, I nod. “You did. You and my dad.” I wink. “Only one of you snored.”
Her eyes widen, and I chuckle.
“Don’t worry, Fireball. It was my dad.”
Now that she’s awake, I gently set her down on the bench next to the door and grab her shoes, smiling when I see she wore the deck boots I got her. One by one, I pull them slowly onto her feet, feeling my heartbeat pick up when I graze her leg on accident.
I stand up and pull on my own boots before tugging on my sweatshirt. When I grab her coat from the rack, her hand takes mine.
“Thank you, Ridge.”
“For what?” I practically rasp, staring into her hazel eyes.
“For letting me stay when you could have made me leave.” Tears well in her eyes. “This is the first real Christmas I’ve ever been a part of. And even though I didn’t really deserve to be here, I’m so glad I was.”
I sink down onto my heels and run the pad of my thumb against her soft cheek. She’s not hiding behind a tough-girl actright now. She’s letting me see her, down to her core, on what is probably the worst day of the year for her.
“I was happy to have you here, Fireball,” I whisper, my heart breaking inside of my chest when a lone tear rolls down her face. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” She smiles sadly.
I’m so fucking conflicted on what to do right now. Because even though I hate the thought of her being alone tonight, I don’t want to complicate shit between us even more before she goes home. Especially if she doesn’t want me to.
“Well, I guess I’ll get you home,” I say, halfway hoping she’ll tell me she wants to stay with me.
“That would be great,” she says.
I try to hide the disappointment on my face as I slowly push myself to stand and take her hand, helping her up along with me.
Sometimes, I think bad things happen for a good reason. Like the universe knows that in order to make shit go good, some things have to go south. And I believe it more than ever because, right now, Stella and I just found out that a tree had come down on the roof of the Jacobs’ house while she was at my parents’ house.
It may suck for them because this is their house and it’s pretty damn nice—or was—but for me, it means Stella needs a place to stay because the roof now has a hole in it.
Bad for them. Good for me.
Even though she drives me fucking insane sometimes and I’m not sure I can fully trust the girl, I also can’t shake the feelingthat I need a little more time with her before she leaves. Just one more night to get her the hell out of my system.
I follow her through the house, holding my phone out, using it as a flashlight, as she gathers her stuff. She’s frazzled—I don’t know how she wouldn’t be after the past few days’ events. First, she got stuck in Maine, then had to drive home with me and Riley through a goddamn blizzard, and now, she has to rush through this house to collect her shit while the wind blows through.
She drags a hand over the top of her hair, looking around as her brows knit together with concern.
“Hey,” I say, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We can come back tomorrow to make sure you didn’t miss anything. It’ll be light out and easier to see.” I give her shoulder a slight rub with my hand in attempt to settle her. “Let’s get out of here though, in case another tree comes down.”
Sighing, she turns toward me. “Okay,” she whispers.
I take her hand in mine and lead us back outside. The snow has finally stopped for the first time since yesterday morning, but the wind is still whipping around, blowing snow everywhere and making it impossible to see.
Heading for my truck, I go to the passenger side and feel around until my hand is on the door and pull it open. I help her get situated and close her in the warmth before throwing her bag into the back seat and jogging around to the driver’s side.
Putting the truck in drive, I don’t take off just yet, glancing over at her. Her hazel eyes are wide, and her face is pale.
“Hey,” I say softly, putting my hand on hers. “You okay?”
Her eyes fly to my hand before slowly lifting to mine, and she nods weakly. “Yeah.” She bobs her head up and down and gives me a tiny smile. “I am now. Thank you, Ridge. You just keep saving me.” She swallows anxiously. “Are you sure it’s okay I stay with you?”
“It’ll cost you,” I drawl, but when her eyes widen, I chuckle and lift my hand to her chin, brushing it. “Relax, Fireball. I’m only jokin’.”
