AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, it’s out all over town. Feels a little cold in there. You all right?”
“I’ll be okay. Can’t get the fire started. No wood. Been sketching something new. Hated to take a break even for firewood.”
“I’ll be back in a second.” Billy closed the door to keep the cold out, then trudged back to the snowmobile. “He needs some help. Firewood, heat. Lanterns. Why don’t you go ahead to the boys and I’ll stay here. Come pick me up when you’re ready.”
Jenna didn’t want to leave him. She hadn’t left his side in…how long? It seemed like forever, in a weird way. “I can stay with Papa instead,” she began, even though every fiber of her being wanted to get to the boys.
“No. You go to Zack and Bean. They need their mother, and you definitely need them.”
A flush of pure gratitude swept through her. Not just because Billy understood, but because he was willing to deal with her always-unpredictable father.
“Thanks,” she whispered. Then reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his parka. His eyes flared. A moment later, his lips were on hers. God, the feeling of his mouth, so familiar but so outrageously new and…grown up…laying claim to her…offering her his heart, his body, his soul… Kissing her as if she was a goddess, his goddess, his everything…
She parted her lips and his tongue swept inside, and pure joy streaked through her.
“Do you know how much I’ve wanted to do that?” he growled when they finally stopped to catch their breath. Numbly, she shook her head.
The sound of her father’s front door opening broke the moment.
Billy’s eyes burned into hers. “Later,” he muttered.
It wasn’t a question. She nodded. Later.
She watched him disappear into her father’s house.
What am I doing?
Whatever it was, it felt irreversible now. She and Billy were headed somewhere and wherever that was, she wanted to go there.
She slid forward to grab the controls and maneuvered the snowmobile out of the front yard and down the driveway. Driving by herself wasn’t nearly as fun as with Billy. She couldn’t just lose herself in the speed and freedom. She had to focus on the road and the snowdrifts, even though her heart was still beating fast and furious from Billy’s kiss.
There was something different about that kiss. Almost…determined. Mature. Focused.
She shook off thoughts of Billy and concentrated on the drive. Alongside the road, the woods were quiet and still, covered in sparkling snow. Even the fancy summer houses looked humbled by the storm. Some of them looked like gingerbread houses with too much icing.
That thought made her realize she hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Her stomach growled. She sorted through various meal options back at the house. If the fridge was out, there might not be much. Maybe she should bring the boys to her father’s house and they could all cook up some chili or something.
But none of that turned out to be necessary, she discovered as she pulled up outside the front portico of Sans Souci, a Tudor-style home with steep eaves and at least three chimneys rising from the roof. A treehouse built into a maple tree overlooked the river; the boys would love that. Even from outside, she could smell the delicious aroma of fresh baked bread and vegetable soup. She parked the snowmobile and stepped under the portico, onto flagstones with no more than a dusting of snow.
She knocked on the mahogany door and when no one answered, she pushed it open. Had no one locked it? “Hello?”
“Mom!!” Two pairs of feet came racing down the hallway, and there they were. Her boys. Healthy and happy. The relief sank into her very bones and she kneeled on the floor to hug them both tight.
“You’re okay! I missed you. I was so worried.”
“You didn’t have to worry,” Zack declared. “Just because Annika got sick and the helicopter crash landed, doesn’t mean you have to worry. We’re fine, right Bean?”
Bean nodded, though he had his thumb in his mouth, which meant that some anxiety still lingered.
Jenna hugged him extra tight, so grateful to have his small body in her arms again that she could have cried.
Crash landed? When had that part happened?
“It was an adventure,” Bean said, not quite pronouncing the word right.
“I’ll say. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Can you take me to whoever’s been watching over you?”
“That would be me, mostly.” Jenna looked up to see a brightly smiling young woman with electric-blue extensions piled on top of her head. “I’m Soraya, I’m Tyler’s nanny. I’ve been taking care of these two since they showed up last night, but they’ve been no trouble at all. The boys have all been having fun. Ain’t nothing like friends during a snowstorm.”
