AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Those were some prominent cheekbones on that face of hers. They set off her bright green eyes. Hers was the type of beauty that made it hard to concentrate. I just wanted to soak it all in and keep it tucked away in my memory for later.
“That lamp.”
She walked over to it and knelt to turn the tiny knob around in circles. There was aclick-click-clickand nothing changed. The lampshade remained the same dull white.
“The lightbulb could have burned out,” I said.
I stared up at the ceiling fan as I walked over to the row of switches next to the front door. I hit each of them and nothing in the room changed. By then, Abbie had her hands over the floor register, no doubt feeling for heat.
Finally, she straightened and shook her head. “No power. We should go back to the bar.”
“There’s no guarantee there’s power there.” I turned to face her, arms crossed over my chest. “Besides, you don’t have a key.”
She looked around. “I’m sure there’s a key here somewhere. I’ll text my brother again.”
“You do that. I’m going to check out what he has to eat.”
“Don’t open the fridge!” she called out as I left the room. “If the power comes back on, all his food could be saved.”
Crap. I was starving, and I had to rely on this guy’s pantry being stocked.
But the upside to all this was that Abbie might get cold enough that we’d need to cuddle up together for warmth. And cuddling could lead to something more.
An empty stomach was definitely worth that.
3
ABBIE
Maverick was this guy’s name. He looked like a maverick as he sat at my brother’s small kitchen table, a sea of non-perishable snacks piled in front of him.
I plopped down across from him, grabbing the bag of nacho tortilla chips. “Bo said the power’s out at the bar too,” I said, tugging on both sides of the chip bag in a futile effort to get it open. Finally, I held it out to Maverick. “Could you…?”
He set down the sleeve of club crackers and took the chips. He opened the bag with very little effort.
“Did he leave when it went out?” Maverick asked as set the now-open bag in front of me.
I shook my head. “I guess he was at Emerald’s place when it happened. The security alarm company notified him.”
“Security alarm.” He shook his head. “I didn’t even consider that when I thought about breaking into the place. That would have been embarrassing.”
“Not if the power’s out.”
“Good point. The security alarm probably disarmed automatically when the power went out. I guess that’s why your brother was notified about it.”
“So, no point in making our way down there,” she said.
“Except…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “My suitcase is still in my vehicle.”
Crap. I didn’t even think about that. He didn’t grab his stuff from his truck before driving me up here.
“I’ll head down the hill and grab it later,” he said.
Now I was the one to say, “Except…”
He followed my stare to the window behind him. The snow was coming down in sheets. Not the scattered snowflakes that had hit my windshield on the drive to Blackbear Bluff. No, this type of snow made it nearly impossible to see.
“It looks like we won’t be going anywhere for a while,” he said.
