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I frowned, not liking the direction of this conversation. “Yes.”
“Well, I have a snowmobile and could probably get you there if we’re careful. The Winter Falls Hotel is only a few blocks away.”
I didn’t reply because I wasn’t sure how to inform her that I wouldn’t be leaving without her thinking I was insane and tossing my ass out into the blizzard.
Leaning my hip on the counter, I watched her intently, trying to figure out what she was thinking. After finishing my hot chocolate, I folded my arms over my chest and crossed an ankle over the other.
Her eyes dropped at the movement, and she gasped, her brown eyes going wide again. “Didn’t you bring any other clothes?”
I shrugged. “They got wet from walking in the snow. They’re dry now but have settled into rigor mortis. I’ll have to wash them before I can wear them without chafing my skin off.”
She pursed her lips for a second, then she smiled and snapped her fingers. “I have something you can wear!” Her hot chocolate almost spilled in her haste to set it down, then she whirled around and hurried from the room.
Obviously, she hadn’t caught my dark scowl at her announcement. I wanted to know who the fuck the man was who’d been so important to my woman that she’d kept his clothes. Jealousy surged through me, and I wanted to find the bastard and kill him.
I was still steaming over it when she came back with a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. She smiled brightly as she handed them to me. “You guys are about the same size, so I think they’ll fit pretty well.”
I didn’t reach out to take them, and her smile slipped, making me feel like an asshole. “I’m not wearing your ex-boyfriend’s clothes, Bethenny.”
“Boyfriend? Ewww.” Her face screwed up in disgust, confusing me. How did this woman keep turning me in circles? I’d never felt so off-balance and so sure-footed at the same time. “They belong to my brother, Benjamin.”
“Your brother?”
“Yes. My parents retired to San Diego a couple of years ago, so my brothers stay here when they come home. Luckily, their visits tend to be spaced out since my house isn’t big enough for all of them to stay here at the same time. But during the holidays, my parents rent a place where we can all stay.”
Brothers. Hmm, that was a potential obstacle. “How many brothers do you have?”
“Four,” she replied as she walked to the dishwasher and began to empty it.
Four. Okay, good to know,I thought with a grimace. “All older?”
“Yep,” she said, putting a stack of plates in a cupboard.
My guess was that her older siblings were probably very protective of their baby sister.That ought to be fun.
“Jasper and Benjamin are both Special Forces and stationed out of San Diego. Forest is with the Coast Guard and lives out there, too. Cory was a SEAL, but he retired after twenty-two years. He lives in New York most of the time, but he owns car dealerships all over the country. They all come to spend Christmas with me every year, but…” She gestured to the storm raging outside. “With my parents there, they’ve all been pressuring me to move, but I can’t leave Winter Falls. It’s my home.”
I probably should have been stuck on the fact that all four of her brothers could kill me in more ways than I could count. But it was her comment about home that had my attention. My life on the road would never work if I wanted to be with Bethenny. And since there was no if about it, my decision was finally made. I’d retire after my next two commitments. I had very few expenses, made a lot of money through endorsements, and had invested well. So, I had more money than we would ever need, which meant I could do pretty much anything. Hopefully, the ski resort was hiring.
The dishwasher was empty, so she started on the dirty items that had been left in the sink. As she turned on the faucet, she glanced at the full sink and then back at me, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m not usually this messy,” she confessed.
I laughed and shrugged. “No judgment here. If I stayed in my place long enough to cook rather than just order takeout, I’d wait until the last minute to do dishes.”
Her smile slipped for a second, but then it was back to its previous brightness. “Why don’t you change, then call the hotel while I finish cleaning up?” she suggested.
I held in a grunt of annoyance as I grabbed the clothes and went to put them on. I needed to find out why she seemed so intent on kicking me out, then make it very clear it wouldn’t be happening.
My cell was dead when I retrieved it from my coat pocket, so I dug out the charger and took them back to the kitchen. “I need to charge my phone, then I can give them a call.”
“Oh, there’s no cell service,” she announced with a chuckle. “I’m guessing it went down with the electricity. But generators can’t fix that. Anyway, it’s not a problem.” She pointed at the wall by the back door where an old-school phone was mounted. “Most everyone has a landline here because of the storms in the mountains.”
Scowling—not that she noticed since she was adding the last of the silverware she’d washed to a drawer—I grudgingly picked up the phone and dialed the number she rattled off.
After a short conversation with the manager, I hung up and took a moment to wipe the giant, triumphant grin from my face before turning around. “Apparently, there’s no more room at the inn.”
Bethenny was putting her teakettle back on the stove, but she turned to look at me with a concerned frown. “They gave away your room? I suppose without you showing up and others stranded...boy, you’ve really hit a streak of bad luck on this trip, haven’t you?”
Her face was expressionless as she went about collecting the ingredients to make more hot chocolate and dumped them into the milk frother before pressing the button to power it up. When she wasn’t facing me, I let my grin out to play. “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps all the things that have gone wrong were Santa’s plan all along. They could be leading me straight to my Christmas present.”
