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The rest of the morning we ran around preparing for the worst. I had been right about the pilot light, so I did get the furnace working again, but it was definitely on its last leg. The old unit couldn’t compete with the extreme cold, not for long, anyway. I was worried about the pipes freezing, so I wrapped those with whatever I could find, and I covered a few of the sketchier looking windows to try to hold onto what heat we did have.
Meanwhile, April was in the kitchen sorting through the groceries she’d bought with her, figuring out what we could eat over the next few days. It was only the two of us, but Jeremy had been bringing food too, so we didn’t have a ton of options. And if the power went out, we’d have even less.
I should have been focusing on all of that, but my bigger concern was the moment April and I had shared earlier. It was probably the first nice thing I’d said to her in years. Maybe ever. And just that seemingly insignificant act had demonstrated how precarious our situation was. Despite my parting remark meant to dispel that emotional moment, the mood had shifted just the tiniest degree.
Now, there was a palpable awareness simmering between us. I knew she felt it too, and it left me on edge. I had forgotten how to act around her. I didn’t know where to look when we were in the same room, and I kept accidentally ogling her. And with so many trips back and forth in the narrow spaces, we kept getting way too close and intimate.
I would smell her hair as she passed by, or I would graze some body part, and there were a few times we’d literally bumped into one another, causing my hand to nearly grope her breast, which had sent a shot of heated lust straight down to my cock. I’d mumbled an apology and went on my way, but there was no doubt we were both a little unsettled by the subtle change in our normal bickering behavior.
I had no idea how we would make it through the day, let alone the week.
CHAPTER FIVE
April
We survived the morning, which was no small feat, but unfortunately, we still had several long days to go. It could have been worse though. Shockingly, Ryan had actually gotten the furnace working again. I wasn’t about to congratulate him for it, but I was secretly impressed. Not just for that, but for his behavior in general. Once he saw how bad our situation was, he had taken charge. Fixing the furnace, checking on the generator, weather proofing the cabin. He had promised to take care of me, and he was upholding that promise so far. It was sweet. Or it would have been if he hadn’t been treating me like a child at the same time by bossing me around.
But whatever, small victories.
We were as prepared as we possibility could be, but I wasn’t feeling any better. Being cut off without power was only part of what I was worried about. I was also worried about what might happen the longer we were stuck together like this. We were already walking on eggshells; how long could we maintain the status quo?
When we had both been focused on taking stock of our situation and staying alive it had been easier to ignore each other. There were more pressing issues and things to do. But we had already done everything we could to prepare. And without that distraction, we had nothing to focus on but each other. We couldn’t just hide in our rooms forever.
And I wasn’t sure that I wanted to. In fact, I thought that I might have a better way to approach our predicament.
For the last hour, a weird idea had been brewing in my mind. I’d spent most of my life thinking that Ryan was repulsed my me. He’d certainly given me that impression when he’d blatantly turned me down that summer. It was a hard thing to forget. I had assumed that he’d always feel that way about me. Nothing he’d ever done since had changed my mind. Aside from the constant quibbling, he regularly walked out of rooms that I was in, avoided any scenario that might involve me in a bathing suit, and although he hugged my parents, and even my brother on occasion, he’d never willingly touched me.
And yet, earlier this morning, when he’d emerged from the basement and found me bent over while rummaging through the bottles in the cabinet under the kitchen sink, I was almost certain that he had been staring at my ass. I could literallyfeelhis gaze. When I’d caught him, he’d flushed pink and hurriedly turned away.
It was definitely weird, but I had assumed it was a stress induced fluke.
Until half an hour later, when we’d bumped into each other in the hallway, and he had accidentally grazed my boob with his hand. I wasn’t shocked by the tingle of electricity I felt at his touch, but I was surprised when a panicked look flashed across his face and he muttered an apology before moving quickly away.
Normal Ryan would have either not acknowledged the run-in, or yelled at me for being in the way. His reaction hadn’t been horror or disgust, it had been something else altogether. Something like . . . desire.
As unlikely as it seemed, could Ryan Gardner actually be the slightest bit attracted to me? Maybe the years of tension between us hadn’t been just about our past history, or our intense dislike of each other, but rather an unspoken chemistry.
It was crazy, but once the thought had popped into my head, I couldn’t let it go. If true, it presented so many possibilities. Suddenly, being trapped together didn’t seem like a death sentence—it seemed like an opportunity to put my theory to the test.
Especially since I’d been single for a while, and admittedly, I was reaching critical horniness. Ryan was hot and cocky, the perfect partner for blowing off some sexual steam. I knew that even if I was right, and he was attracted to me, it wouldn’t mean anything. He still didn’tlikeme. But that didn’t matter. We didn’t need to like each other to have a good time. I was more than fine with using each other for the next few days to sate our lust.
The more I thought about it, the more I was certain that it was a great plan. We could pass the time, satisfy each other’s urges, and then go our separate ways. No strings attached, no awkward talk. Just mutually sexy fun.
I just had to figure out how to broach the subject. I couldn’t march into his room and say, ‘do me.’ He’d lose his mind. I needed to feel him out, maybe drop some hints. Ease into it. If he didn’t get those hints, I’d step it up a little. I’d never done anything like this before, but how hard could it be? Women seduced men all the time.
It took me a while to come up with some ideas. I threw out quite a few for being highly absurd, but I stole some classics, and after inspecting what I had brought with me to the cabin, came up with back up plans for Operation Seduction.
But first, I’d start by just trying to be nice to him. That seemed more honest than going straight for the hormones.
Mentally steeling myself, I joined Ryan in the living room. He was doing something on his phone, although I couldn’t imagine what, since we didn’t have an internet connection.
“Hey, so I’m hungry. Do you want me to make us some dinner?” I asked him.
“Uhh. Ok. Sure,” he responded absently.
“Any requests? I brought stuff for spaghetti; I know you love that. I’m not as good as my mom, but I can handle that at least.”
Ryan turned his head and raised his eyebrows suspiciously. “You want to make us spaghetti. Because I love it.”
