“Other one,” she said.
I shook my head but held up my hand, and this mitten was purple with a mouse on it.
Who was this woman?
Then she jammed her shoulder under my arm. “Up we go. What’s your name?”
I just grunted and focused on getting my feet under me. Then I crashed when my ankle didn’t cooperate.
“Oof.” She lost her balance and her face crashed into my neck and the scent of snow and honey filled my head.
Did honey have a scent?
Warm.
Golden.
Like the blanket she’d been wrapped in.
I shook my head, trying to make space between us. “I’m good.”
“Really? Seem pretty wobbly to me.” She jammed her shoulder under my arm and her hand splayed across my bare chest. The warmth of her seeped into my skin, burning against the cold.
Then there was a nose at the back of my thigh, pushing me forward.
“Hey buddy,” she said kindly to the dog. “Did you find your owner? Good boy.”
“Not mine,” I mumbled.
“Oh.” She frowned up at me. “I’ve never seen him before.”
Her eyes were green as the evergreens that rimmed the lake with the longest and darkest lashes I’d ever seen. At least real lashes anyway. I was pretty sure they were actually real. I never understood the fake lashes thing.
God, I was delirious.
When her hand slid lower to push me upright, I decided not that delirious. Another inch and she’d be in my sweats.
She didn’t seem to notice.
“Can you walk?”
“Of course, I can walk.”
“So, you just live to be rude?”
I huffed out a breath. “I’m vertical. You can go.”
She stepped back and I immediately listed to the side, my bum ankle unable to hold my weight. She arched a full brow at me. “Not so much.” She tucked herself against me again, thistime her arm sliding under my coat to wrap around my waist. “Just accept the help, Porkie.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Porkie the porcupine.”
I frowned down at her. “You’re very peculiar.”
“I’m aware.” She grinned up at me, her mouth wide and lush. “I’m good with it. Now, let’s get you inside before you lose a finger.”
Giving up on getting away from this woman, I draped an arm around her shoulders for balance. “Not likely with these ridiculous gloves.”
