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Should he kiss her now?
No, idiot. She wanted to see the boys, not smooch on a billionaire’s snowmobile.
He put the machine into gear. Her body was nestled behind his. He smiled to himself, knowing that the wind created by the speed of the snowmobile would have her clinging to him for warmth before long.
They passed Galen, who was still talking on his sat phone. Jenna waved to him and gave him a thumbs up as they passed.
Navigating Lake Bittersweet in the snowmobile was no easy matter. A few of the streets had been plowed, but most hadn’t. Snowmobiles weren’t normally allowed on the streets, but he’d dare anyone in town to try to stop him. Extenuating circumstances.
Snow blasted against their faces as they bumped through town. The helmets had face shields, but some snow managed to sneak in anyway. It was amazing how it managed to find every little crevice and gap in their clothing. Jenna huddled close to him, just as he’d predicted.
It felt…perfect. Like that was exactly where she was supposed to be. Pressed up against his body, burying her shivers against him.
But if that were true, if she was supposed to be by his side, why hadn’t they stayed together?
We’ve always been together, the thought struck him. Just in a different way. She’d always held the primary, the only place in his heart. No other woman had ever come close.
He’d tried, all right. After the divorce, he’d partied. He’d dated. He’d slept with several women. But he’d always felt distant from those women, as if they were strangers. None of them had stuck in his mind long enough to make an impression. No one compared to Jenna.
Other divorced men managed to meet someone new and move on. They remarried, they had new families. But he never had. It still seemed almost impossible to imagine.
We were always together.
They reached the outskirts of town and the road that curved around the lake to the eastern shore. Nothing had been plowed out there yet; there weren’t enough people to warrant it. In the fresh snow, he was able to increase their speed so they flew across the billowy white surface. He heard Jenna let out a whoop so he joined in.
“Woohoo!!! Yeah baby!” he howled as they zoomed down the eastern shore road. Flying high, with Jenna’s arms around him…nothing could be better.
“We should check on Papa,” she called over the drone of the engine.
That brought the woohoo’s to an end. “Now or after?”
He could see her struggle with the answer. She wanted to see the boys more than anything, but they were obviously perfectly safe where they were. Who knew how her father was doing?
“I should have called him from the landline,” Jenna fretted. “I didn’t even think of that.”
He decided that it was too tough for her to decide between her father and her sons. Taking things into his own hands, he swung the vehicle around and headed back toward the junction toward the Scarlett road. “Quick check, then we’ll speed demon our way to the boys.”
She snuggled against him gratefully. At least it felt grateful, but maybe it was just that the wind was even colder now that they’d changed direction. Either way, he couldn’t get enough of that feeling—that snuggled-up, us-against-the-elements togetherness.
That was it. No one else had ever been in things together with him. He’d always known that Jenna was there for him, in his corner, at his side.
But had he done the same for her? Or had he just accepted that incredible gift without question? And if he somehow, miraculously, got another chance, would he do better?
Twenty
Her father’s property was completely still, as if a giant had settled a soft white comforter over it and everything was hibernating peacefully. But Jenna knew that when it came to her father, you never knew what might be happening inside. His mood swings didn’t depend on the weather; they were related to what was going on with his painting.
Billy pulled up right outside the front door, which was made of old barn wood and blocked by an impressive snow drift. He stepped off the snowmobile and sank up to his hips in the snow.
“I suggest you stay where you are,” he told her as he worked his way through the snow. “No need for both of us to get wet.”
It ought to be her. It was her father they were checking on. Her responsibility. But she didn’t make a move. Billy knew all about her father and his eccentricities. It was relaxing, in a way. The few times she’d dated since their divorce, she’d tried to picture introducing the guy to her father, and her brain had glitched out.
She watched his strong body wade through the snow and tried to chase away the images that had flooded her mind the second she’d settled next to Billy on the snowmobile. She couldn’t stop reliving last night. The pleasure and release that Billy had given her were…priceless. Necessary. She wasn’t going to regret it. She refused to.
But that didn’t mean she was going to let it happen again.
Billy pounded on the door. It opened almost immediately, letting in a cascade of snow. Her father, in robe and slippers, peered out at Billy. “Power’s out,” he announced.
