Page 5 of Frosty Mountain Man

The fire cracked between us. Outside, the wind had picked up, throwing snow against the windows in long white gusts.

Maybe it was the storm. Maybe it was that I hadn’t had company in longer than I wanted to count, particularly the kind wearing a blouse like that. Whatever it was, some of my irritation at finding her on my porch had quietly rearranged itself into something else entirely. “Storm’s coming in faster than they said,” I said instead, because it was easier than anything else I might have said. I repeated my earlier words. “You’re not going anywhere tonight.”

“You already said that.”

“And you didn’t believe me, now did you?”

She looked out the window again. It was almost dark and her car was covered and the trees were already bowing under the weight of the snow on their branches. It was a beautiful sight. The fall colors looked brilliant under the layer of white.

She didn’t answer, but then I hadn’t expected her to. She’d been thrown into a situation she hadn’t asked for. “Is there somewhere where I can...”

“Third door on the left.”

She got up and smoothed that skirt down her thick thighs. Again, my body registered the fact that she was a curvy woman. Big breasts, wide hips, thick thighs. The kind of woman I usually preferred.

She brushed past me and I didn’t move out of her way. I let her shoulder graze my chest. Allowed myself that brief moment of heat along my arm. First real interest I’d felt in a woman in years that had nothing to do with scratching an itch and everything to do with wanting to know what she’d sound like arguing with me in bed instead of my living room.

I’d slept with exactly three women since the wedding that wasn’t, and decided somewhere after the third that even that wasn’t worth the bother anymore. Most of them bored me. Elle Marsh was, so far, doing the opposite of boring me, and that was going to be a problem.

I watched her walk to the bathroom, a slight sway to her hips that wasn’t manufactured. It was just the way her body moved. I had to remember that she was here to get me to do something I had no intention of doing.

No matter how tempting the package might be.

CHAPTER THREE

Elle

I shut myself in the bathroom the second Harrison pointed me toward it. Leaning against the door, I tried to get myself under control. The first thing I did was take off my jacket. Because honestly it was a couple of sizes too small. But, it had started to feel like the only armor I had left between me and Harrison. A man who left me breathless just by being in the same room.

Did driving up a mountain suddenly scramble my brain?

And why was my body betraying me all of a sudden?

I didn’t do men.

I mean I did do men.

Just not arrogant ones. Ones who thought their titles and wealth came with a side of automatic deference. The ones who talked to my chest instead of my face. Harrison Cole had shut a door in my face within the first ten seconds of meeting me. He should have been the easiest man in the world to write off.

He was not being the easiest man in the world to write off.

In college I’d thought I’d had a boyfriend, until I’d woken up and realized that he’d been using me for my math skills and free food. I’d given him my virginity because I thought that’s what you did in college. Have wild and raunchy sex. Honestly, it hadn’t even been good sex. Much less wild and raunchy. We’d done it twice before I’d dropped him like a hot potato.

My only other experience had been with a consultant at the first company I’d worked for straight out of college. He’d shown me a little interest when my self-esteem had been low. The morning after I’d found out he was married.

A knock landed on the door, rapid and impatient. Just like the man.

I opened the door to find him standing there. Again, those dark eyes roamed over me, making my breath catch.

“You need warm clothes,” he said, and held them out. A black t-shirt and gray sweatpants. I wasn’t going to argue with him. It would be lovely to change out of my thrift store dress I’d bought more for style than comfort.

I took them, our fingers brushing for half a second longer than the handoff required. “Thank you.”

“Don’t get used to the service.” He didn’t move right away. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“I won’t.”

“Didn’t think you would.” And then he was gone, footsteps heading back down the hall, and I shut the door and stood there a second longer than the moment strictly called for. Holding up the shirt, it didn’t look like it would fit over my chest. But then I remembered he had a very broad chest.