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Even though my panties are wet with thoughts of his touch, I turn my back and continue making the drinks.
He chuckles and comes up behind me, placing a kiss to the curve of my neck. Keeping his hands on my hips, he says, “I want to sit in the chair by the fire and have you cuddled up with me while we talk and watch the snow fall . . . which also means I need to sort the fire out.”
He groans, and with a smack on my butt, he walks off to the mudroom where the stock of wood is kept.
After I’ve poured out the drinks and mixed the milk with the powder, I add a few of the smaller marshmallows to the top.
Unable to resist, I take a sip and the chocolate flavor hits the taste buds. I sigh in delight.
There isn’t anything better to drink than hot chocolate, and I don’t give a damn what anyone else says. I’d even go as far as saying I’d prefer this to a chocolate bar, even though it’s a tossup as to which has the most sugar.
“Hey, babe. Can you move the shield over the fire?” Ryder asks as he comes into the room, his arms laden with wood blocks.
This is one thing I have no experience with. We had a fireplace at home but it was an old electrical thing, which I was terrified of. When it was turned on, sparks would fly. I seriously thought that one day the front room would set alight.
Moving the shield, I set it to one side and watch as Ryder stacks the wood.
The cabin isn’t all that cold as we turned the heating on as soon as we arrived, so coming inside after playing in the snow, I could feel the warmth starting to seep throughout the place.
Grabbing the purple and lilac checkered blanket that I’d thrown over the back of one of the chairs when we arrived, I wrap it around my shoulders and head back to the kitchen for our drinks.
This really is a romantic getaway and as Ryder starts the fire, I place our drinks down on the coffee table. The chair is positioned in front of the stone fireplace and has tremendous views of the trees and snow falling in the bay windows on one side of the cabin.
Even though we’ve only been here a short time, I love it. I feel giddy as a child with the snow. We hardly get any in Alabama, which makes this cabin all the more attractive.
Ryder, having washed his hands, drops down into the chair and pats his lap for me.
I smile and without any hesitation crawl into his waiting arms and snuggle into him.
The fire has started to spread to the higher logs, creating a nice cozy feeling to the room.
Ryder rubs my back in a slow caress, which causes my eyes to droop.
“Hey, don’t go to sleep.” He kisses me on the head.
I lean back in his arms so I can see his face.
His eyes crinkle at the corner when he smiles down at me.
“Are you all right?” I ask, cupping his cheek with my hand. “Something was bothering you before.”
He kisses my palm. “I’m all right. I’m always all right when I have you in my arms.”
“I like that,” I murmur but then my expression turns serious, “Please tell me.”
He may be all right now, but he wasn’t and I don’t want him keeping things to himself and worrying when he has me to talk to. I know it will take time for us both to be comfortable about speaking freely, but we have to start somewhere.
“I called Ryan when you came inside, and asked him to send the papers to Brittany. I should have done it yesterday after I’d gotten home, but everything was just too weird. I also think there’s something going on with Brittany that both she and Evan kept to themselves.”
I rest my head back on his shoulder and wonder if that’s it or if there’s something else.
He was stressed yesterday so I can understand him not calling Ryan, but why would it play heavily on his mind? Unless he’s having second thoughts—about the divorce—after
seeing her yesterday. Maybe he doesn’t know how to tell me. That isn’t something that’s entered my head before now.
Instead of worrying about what he’s worrying about, I need to ask him.
I take a breath and suck it up. “Do you still want to go through with the divorce?”
