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"Sure, but how much can we eat? I have to worry about surviving on my fat?" I insisted.
He stood and brushed the dust off his pants. "Probably not. Besides, I happen to like you the way you are."
I blushed harder and turned away to stare at an interesting knot in the wood floor. "You're the only one. . ." I mumbled. I started back when a hand interrupted my vision. It was held out for me to grab. My eyes followed the arm up to his smiling face and teasing blue eyes.
"You look hungry. Let's see if I can make as good a coffee as a fire," he suggested. I blinked at him, but took his hand. He pulled me off the couch and over to the kitchen area. There was an old coffee kettle on the counter, and he pushed a box of donuts towards me. "You start on these, I'll start on the coffee."
I munched away on a large claw of a bear while I watched him dole out copious amounts of ground coffee into the kettle. "Do you generally drink your tar like that?" I asked him.
"I usually have a machine to do it for me so I'm not really sure of the quantities," he admitted.
I stuffed the rest of the donut into my mouth, and snatched both the coffee and the kettle from him. "I'd better handle this before we choke to death on a drink," I suggested.
He stepped away from me and bowed at the waist. "I will accede to your demands, my lady."
CHAPTER 4
With a little help from some melted snow and the open, crackling fire I had a decent batch of coffee to go with our donut meal. We each took a cushion of the short couch and munched to our heart's content. The glow of the fire gave enough light so we could see each other, but dark shadows ruled the corners of the large room. The quiet was a little oppressive, so I struck up a conversation.
"You said you were taking this stuff for a conference. What was it going to be about?" I asked him.
"I was to meet with some investors who wanted to buy shares in my company," he told me.
I paused in my dinner and raised an eyebrow at him. "You own a company?"
He smiled and nodded. "Yes, quite a big one. I deal in pastries mostly. These donuts were made in one of my factories."
My mouth dropped open and a little donut dribbled out. "You're the Nick Frost? The owner of Frost Frostings?"
"Guilty as charged," he admitted.
"Aren't you worth a billion dollars?"
"Two, but who's counting?"
"A bunch of accountants and your investors," I quipped.
Frost chuckled. "I stand corrected, but now it's your turn. I've told you my deepest, darkest shame of being a billionaire, but I don't know anything about you except your name. Any boyfriend waiting for you at the end of the mountain trail?"
I snorted and shook my head. "No, not even a hamster."
"What do you do for a living?"
I shrugged. "I'm an office worker at a department store. I pretty much push papers all day, go home, rinse and repeat."
"Not the glamorous life you dream about?" he teased.
"Only if you call glamorous when somebody comes in complaining about their paycheck being two cents off and threatening to sic the unions on us," I quipped.
"It sounds like your job has its ups and downs," he returned.
"More downs than ups," I admitted. I shook myself and leaned back against the couch. A bitter smile slipped onto my lips. "I must be boring you with my middle-class problems."
He shook his head. "Not at all. Only a few years ago I was eating ramen and buying anything that had a coupon for fifty-percent off. Then Lady Luck smiled on me and I hit it big with a little cake shop I started with a friend."
"Got any of that luck to spare?" I teased.
He chuckled. "It's more than just luck. It's perseverance. You have to want something badly enough to earn it." I noticed his eyes swept over my when he said that.
