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“When are you heading back to Portland?” she finally asked, waiting for the answer she suddenly dreaded.

“I’m not exactly sure. I told Kelsey and Pop I would stay through Christmas. I’ll probably take off between Christmas and New Year’s.”

She nodded, avoiding his gaze.

She had known he was leaving, of course. But hearing it out loud made it feel far more real. Soon enough, he would leave once again and this strange, sweet, infinitely painful interlude would be over.

“Your police department will be lucky to have you back,” she managed. “I’m sure they’ve missed you.”

His only answer was a muscle flexing along his jawline.

What did she expect? That he would declare his undying love and tell her he never wanted to leave her side again? Ridiculous.

Wes did not want her or the love they once shared. He had made that abundantly clear. Whatever had flared between them in that hotel room the night before was a misstep, a momentary relapse. Nothing more.

She folded her hands in her lap and focused on the music he had turned back on instead of the ache in her chest.

Chapter 28

By the time he turned onto Hannah’s street, the snow was coming down in thick, heavy bands that smeared across the windshield faster than his wipers could clear them.

“Looks like we made it home just in time,” she said, peering through the swirling white. “If we had left even a half hour later, we might have been stranded somewhere on the road.”

“Good thing that didn’t happen,” he said.

Even as he said the words, a tiny, traitorous part of him thought it wouldn’t have been the worst fate in the world to be snowed in with her and the kids in some small-town motel. Nowhere to go, nothing to do but ride out the storm together.

He pulled into her driveway and stopped the truck. Kodiak perked up immediately, tail thumping, recognizing familiar territory.

Wes climbed out and opened the rear door for the children. They were already wrestling with their seat belts.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Carter announced in a high, panicked voice.

Hannah’s eyes widened. “Give me a second to unlock the door.”

“I don’t know if I can wait that long,” he said, dancing in place.

She rushed up the walk, fumbling with her keys. The instant she managed to get the door open, Carter bolted past her.

“I need to go too,” Riley said more calmly. “Good thing you have two bathrooms.”

“Isn’t it?” Hannah said, ushering her inside.

“Whew. Crisis averted,” Wes said under his breath, closing the truck door. He probably should have thrown in another bathroom stop along the way, but with the weather worsening, he had just wanted to get them all home safely.

Kodiak whined softly, eager to be out of the confined space of his crate. “Hang on, bud,” he murmured to the dog. “Almost there.”

“You can stay in there out of the wind,” he called toward the open front door. “I’ll grab your things.”

Hannah ignored him and came back down the front steps, her hair already dusted with snow. “I’ll help,” she said. She reached into the truck bed for their suitcase but he beat her to it. Ignoring her huff of annoyance, he carried it up her sidewalk and into the house.

Inside, the warmth of her little cottage wrapped around him, faintly smelling of cinnamon and vanilla and her indefinable floral scent.

He set the suitcase down just inside the door. For a charged moment, they both stood there as the sound of running water and Carter’s muffled voice singing something he couldn’t hear drifted from down the hall.

“I know you told me I wasn’t allowed to say thank you again,” she began.

“But you’re going to do it anyway,” he said, unable to keep a hint of amusement from his tone.