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“Why the hell didn’t you keep up with your servicing?” Blair demands, looking at me as though I planned this. I mean, sure, it isn’t ideal, but being forced into a confined space might just be what we need.
“Have you seen the truck? It’s a million years old. If I take it into the shop, I’ll come out broke. Besides, I’m sure it’s nothing I can’t fix,” I tell her. But the truth is, I should have traded it in for a new model years ago, but the truck holds too many sentimental memories. Hell, it’s the truck Blair and I lost our virginity in. It wasn’t romantic in the least and looking back, we were both fumbling without a fucking clue, but it meant everything to both of us. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“Then what the hell are you waiting for? Go out there and fix it.”
“I’ll get right on that,” I mutter. “Shall I just pull the tools out of my ass or would you like me to pull them out of yours?”
Blair harrumphs, and I stifle a laugh, having to wipe my hand over my face to hide the smirk lingering on my lips. She didn’t seem to approve of the last one I flashed her. “You don’t need to be an ass about it,” she mutters, crossing her arms over her chest and studiously staring out the window as the heat quickly drains from the truck.
“Who’s the one being an ass here? I gave you our options. You’re free to walk if you want. It’s not like I’m holding you hostage.”
Blair groans, clearly frustrated. “I can’t . . . I can’t be here with you. It’s too much.”
Her words are like a slap in the face, and I physically draw back. “Wow. Thanks.”
She lets out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. It came out all wrong. I just . . . being around you . . . it’s hard. Being in this town is hard, but being stuck in your truck with you looking at me like I’m the bane of your existence is killing me.”
“Nobody said it was supposed to be easy.”
Blair side-eyes me, knowing that’s a bullshit line, but I mean, it’s all the same. “Besides, you know I get snappy in the cold.”
I scoff. “You never could handle it.”
“I can too.”
“Right, I’ll just wait here while you show me how well you can handle it.”
“Arghhhhh,” she groans, starting to shiver. “You’re still the most frustrating human being on the planet.”
And she’s still the most gorgeous one, but you don’t see me screaming it at her.
Her frustration gets the best of her, and she opens the truck door before dropping out onto the snow-covered gravel. “What the fuck are you doing?” I demand, psychically assaulted by the rush of freezing air that crashes through the open door.
Blair leaves the truck door open and starts pacing through the gravel. “Moving,” she says, her teeth chattering. “I’m going to get hypothermia if I just sit there for hours on end.”
“So this is your grand plan? You’re just going to pace until someone decides to drive by?”
“Got any better ideas?”
“I mean, there’s always the old fashioned get naked and survive off each other’s body heat, but something tells me you’re too much of a prude for that.”
“Classy,” she says. “Tell me, is insulting women until they get naked for you a new personality trait, or one I was just lucky enough to never experience?”
I give her a hard stare. She knows damn well I’m not like that. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I grunt. “I was trying to have fun with you, trying to help you to remove that stick up your ass.”
She mutters something under her breath before pausing in the open doorway and fixing her stare on me. “I didn’t mean it,” she says. “It’s the cold.”
“Soooo . . . that’s a no on getting naked, then?”
“Fucking hell,” she says, picking up her pacing right where she left off. “How did my day come to this? I was supposed to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to make Christmas feel magical like Nana used to, and then I was going to spend the night drinking while getting the house ready for a fresh paint. But nooooooo. That’s too easy, isn’t it? Now I’m going to either freeze to death or get mauled by a polar bear.”
“A polar bear? Really?”
“Whatever. A grizzly one. I don’t think I’ll particularly care what kind of bear it is when it’s mauling me.”
“You’re not getting mauled by a bear,” I tell her, letting out a heavy sigh, almost having forgotten how ridiculous her rambling can get when she’s scared. “If anything, we’ll starve and have to fight to the death so one of us can eat the other.”
“Great. There’s nothing quite like a little cannibalism to get me in the Christmas spirit.”
