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But as I stood there, a fresh gust of wind blew through, seeping through my coat and my skin, going all the way to my bones. Yeah, I wasn’t ready to battle my way to my brother’s cabin, and standing out here wasn’t an option. This guy was my only hope for getting to an insulated, heated building to ride out this storm. Between him and my brother, the four of us would surely be able to make it up to the wedding cabin.
“Let’s go,” I said.
But as I carefully stepped toward the vehicle, I had to admit being around this hunky military recruiter for hours at a time seemed more than a little appealing. And it looked like we’d be spending at least the next few days together.
2
MAVERICK
Abbie Phillips. That was the name of the woman in the passenger seat next to me. We’d introduced ourselves within seconds of climbing in. Now I was doing my damnedest to get this beautiful woman to her brother’s house without landing both of us in a ditch.
“You said you’re in school?” I asked as I made a slow right turn out of the parking lot onto the main road. “What school?”
“Private college about two hours from here,” she said.
She sat, hands folded in her lap, staring straight ahead. It was almost like she was nervous about riding with a stranger. Yeah, I couldn’t blame her for that. In fact, my protective nature had me wanting to tell her never to trust a stranger. I could’ve been up to no good. Lucky for her, I was a standup guy.
“Which college?” I asked.
“You’ve never heard of it.”
“Try me,” I said. “I’m a military recruiter. I’ve heard of almost every college there is.”
“It’s a Christian all-girls school. Nobody to recruit there.”
I couldn’t help but smile at that. “You assume I don’t recruit women?”
“I assume Christian colleges with only female students aren’t worth prospecting.”
Prospecting. Somehow that made my work sound a little…shady. But I let it slide.
“I mostly focus on high schools,” I said. “By the time kids get to college, they’ve typically chosen a path. So, you drove all this way in the snow for your brother’s wedding?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her glance over at me before facing front again. “I’d go to the ends of the Earth for my brother. But yeah, I figured the interstate would be clear and once I got to the bar, he’d take me up the mountain.”
“So, your brother was supposed to meet you at the bar,” I said.
“Yeah. I guess he got stuck at his house.”
“He told me to stop by there for a drink on my way up the mountain,” I said. “If not for the snow, we both would have arrived at around the same time.”
“We bothdidarrive around the same time,” she said. “It’s this cabin coming up. The one with the broken mailbox.”
She wasn’t kidding about the mailbox. It was on a pole that sat so low to the ground, I didn’t see how the postal carrier could reach it. I was guessing it had gotten hit and instead of buying a new one, he’d planted what was left of it.
“He’s been meaning to fix that,” she said. “He’s been so busy with the bar, though, and now all the wedding stuff.”
“I’ll do it for him before I leave town,” I said with a big smile. “We’ll call it my wedding present.”
That was a big offer to make, considering I was only supposed to be in town a couple of days. I had a big project coming up Monday, snowstorm or not. I had to be on the road Sunday afternoon. The wedding was tomorrow, so I’d have just enough time to fix the mailbox before leaving town.
Of course, I could also squeeze in a little time to get the hottie next to me naked.
“That’s weird.”
Abbie’s voice pulled me out of a fantasy of the two of us naked on a bed, probably in her brother’s guest bedroom. Or maybe it would take me until the wedding cabin to win her over.
“What’s weird?” I asked.
