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She looked up. The man was a total pussycat under all the grump, and this just proved that. “I’ll talk to my mom and let her know we’ll get there when we get there.”
She didn’t want to spend Thanksgiving without her mother, but that didn’t seem to be an option. Again, one more option out of her control. This was not a habit she was looking to make.
Benny slid a plate of rolls and butter on the table and two large glasses of water. “You two want the special?”
“If it tastes as good as it smells, then yes.”
Benny cackled. “You got it, sugarplum.” She turned to Shane. “And you, hot stuff?”
Kendall snickered when he simply raised a brow. “Don’t mind him. The special for us both.”
“Coming up.”
Kendall sipped her water, then broke open a roll. Yeasty goodness made her mouth water. “I could eat our tires I’m so hungry.”
Shane grunted. “I could eat.”
Twelve hours in a snow-covered box was wearing on both of them. Conversation had been at an all-time low. Just directions and road conditions updates between them. Shane was driving remarkably well for never having dealt with a nor’easter. But then again, there wasn’t much that Shane didn’t do well.
A few minutes later Benny brought back steaming plates full of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and corn with a liberal dose of gravy over the entire thing. Kendall’s mouth watered before it landed.
“Eat up, my darlings. I expect empty plates and room for pie.”
Kendall grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
They both dug in, and conversation was a low murmur in the room. Benny kept a table full of kids happy with construction paper, crayons, and hand-shaped turkey headbands.
The giggles of the kids and the tired murmurs of families finally dissolved the last of her bunched muscles. When Benny came back with the check, they both left a huge tip and got directions to a hotel.
So they’d make it home a little later than expected. At this point all she cared about was a bed. “There’s no point in trying to make it through this snow. If we let them salt and plow, it will be a faster drive.”
“Won’t that take forever?”
“Not around here. We’re used to the snow. It’ll be gone by morning.”
He crowded in on her, dragging the backs of his knuckles along her midriff. “A bed sounds good to me.”
She slid her nails up his forearm, holding him against her middle. “Very good.”
They trudged across the street to the truck and had to push four inches of snow off the windshield. Fortunately the hotel was close. It still took ten minutes to skid their way there even with Shane’s powerful truck.
“Shower,” she mumbled as she hopped out of the truck.
“I’ll grab the bags. See what you can get us for a room. Big bed.”
She nodded, too tired to tease him about the use of that big bed. Right now she just wanted to wash the grit out of her eyes and collapse for five straight hours. When she walked into the lobby, a perky blonde smiled from the check-in desk.
“Hello. Can I help you?”
“Do you have any rooms with a king-size bed?”
She nodded, and her fingers flew over the keyboard. “Just yourself?”
“No, my…” Hell. What was he? Friend? Lover?
Shane came up behind her, rubbing her back absently. “For two.”
“I’ve got one for you.”
