Stranded for Christmas Read online

  “No sausage.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because your mom only wants you to have it on the weekend. She wants to curb your carnivorous tendencies.”

  “But I like sausage.”

  “I like it too. You can have it tomorrow.”

  Afraid Tommy was going to start to whine, Laura took a step toward the kitchen so Russ wouldn’t have to deal with it. But then she heard Tommy ask, “What’s carnivelous?”

  “Carnivorous. It means you like to eat meat.”

  So Laura stopped again so she could keep listening. Maybe it was wrong to eavesdrop this way, but she wanted to hear what Tommy and Russ would say next.

  “Oh.” Tommy must have accepted the yogurt and granola square because his mouth was full as he added, “What did you have for breakfast today?”

  “I had eggs, toast, and... bacon.”

  “Bacon! That’s meat, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you’re carnivelous too.”

  “Yes. I guess I am.” There was a smile in Russ’s voice, although Laura knew there wouldn’t be a smile on his face. He would be working his bland, ironic expression right now.

  “That’s okay. I won’t tell Mommy.”

  Laura suddenly realized that she was leaning against the wall of the hallway with the dopiest expression on her face and a pressure in her chest that made her decidedly nervous.

  She cleared her throat and forced herself to walk into the kitchen. “What aren’t you guys planning to tell me?” she asked with a teasing smile.

  “Uncle Russ is carnivelous!”

  “Carnivorous,” Russ added quietly. He was leaning against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in his hand. “Both Tommy and I are.”

  “Well, that doesn’t surprise me.” She leaned over to kiss Tommy on the forehead, pleased to see he was already halfway done with his breakfast. “Did you wake up on your own?”

  “No. Uncle Russ woke me up. He said he’s taking me to piano lesson.”

  “He is. It’s very nice of him.” She glanced over to Russ to discover that his eyes were resting on her face. “Thanks for waking him up.”

  “No problem. I know you’re busy today.”

  She was starting to feel fluttery again, and there was absolutely no reason for it.

  She didn’t like it.

  It wasn’t like her.

  Not anymore.

  “Finish up your breakfast, and be good for Uncle Russ. I’ll come and pick you up from Mae’s when the party is over. And they’re saying it might snow today.”

  “Snow! Yay!” The joyful exclamation would have been more appealing had Tommy’s mouth not been full of yogurt.

  Laura kissed Tommy on the head again and then turned toward Russ. For some reason her hand lifted to touch his chest. “Thanks again.”

  Russ’s brown eyes were deep and observant and full of something that wasn’t normally there. “You’re welcome.”

  Laura’s hand closed around the fabric of his shirt before she realized what she was doing. She let go immediately and tried to smooth out the wrinkles, loving how warm and firm his chest was beneath his clothes.

  Russ was standing perfectly still, and she knew he was still looking at her even though she’d dropped her eyes to his shirt.

  “Why are you doing that, Mommy?” Tommy asked.

  Laura dropped her hand and took a quick step back. What the hell was happening with her this morning? “I had accidently wrinkled Uncle Russ’s shirt, so I was trying to smooth it out.” She was relieved when she heard her voice was mostly casual.

  “Oh. Is my shirt wrinkled?” Tommy was wearing jeans and a long-sleeve Iron Man T-shirt.

  She gave his shirt an extended inspection and concluded, “Yours looks good. Now behave yourself this morning, and I’ll see you when I pick you up from Mae’s.”

  “Okay. Bye, Mommy!”

  Laura gave Russ a quick smile and got out of there before she did something truly embarrassing.

  Two

  A FEW HOURS LATER, Russ got up from his desk and looked outside to discover that the whole world was covered with a thick layer of white.

  It hadn’t been snowing when he’d dropped Tommy off in town and then stopped by the post office. When he’d gotten back to Holiday Acres, he’d headed immediately to his office to work. So he’d had no idea it was snowing so hard or that so much of it had piled up on the ground. There were several inches down now.

  It was far more than anyone had forecasted, and it was still coming down hard and fast.

  Laura needed to drive into town to pick up Tommy soon.

  As if his thoughts had conjured her, Laura burst through the door just then, a box in her arms and a clipboard tucked under one elbow.

  “Ugh!” She let the box drop onto the surface of her desk and made a face at him. “I thought Carla and her mom would never leave. They had to nitpick every little detail. I was seriously about to scream.”

  Laura wasn’t a particularly patient person, so Russ was used to her frustration with people who slowed her down. She was quick and clever and worked harder than anyone else. Russ had always liked that about her. When he’d first accepted the partnership offer at Holiday Acres, he’d been afraid he might have to work with people who didn’t understand business, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. He had to exert real effort to keep up with Laura. He’d never had a better coworker in his life.

  “The snow is getting bad,” Russ said, turning back to look out the window.

  “Is it?” Laura looked pretty and flustered and breathless. Her shoulder-length brown hair was slipping out of her ponytail, and she must have gotten hot because she’d taken off her sweater. She was wearing a fitted white shirt that gave him a clear view of her slim body, including the luscious curve of her breasts.

  Russ dragged his eyes back up to her face, but that didn’t really help because she looked flushed and tousled, like she might have just gotten out of bed.

  His bed.

  He gulped, remembering how she’d looked that morning in her pajamas.

  He really needed to stop thinking such things.

  Laura would be mad as hell if she found out.

  “Russ?”

  He blinked, trying to refocus on their conversation. “What?”

  “I asked if it was really bad out there.”

  “Oh yeah. Take a look. It looks like the parking lot is mostly empty, so the customers have obviously cleared out. The roads must be pretty bad. You probably should have picked Tommy up early.”

  “Shit.” Laura came over to stand beside him so she could look out the window too. “Well, I better go get him now before it gets any worse.”

  “You want me to drive you?”

  She turned her gaze up at him, her brown eyes big and deep. “I’m capable of driving in the snow, you know.”

  “I know you are. It was just an offer.”

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll take the SUV.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Olivia and Penny have to go out in this too. And I’ve got to stop by Candy Cane Cottage to assess the damage to the bathroom.”

  “Surely that can wait.”

  “We’ve got someone else renting it this weekend. I need to assess it so Ed has time to fix it tomorrow morning.”

  Russ shook his head. “That driveway to Candy Cane Cottage is steep. You’re never going to get up it in this snow. And if you get up, you won’t be able to get down.”

  “I’ll be fine. I told you I’m taking the SUV.”

  “You’re putting a lot of faith in the powers of an SUV.”

  “Oh shut up.” Her words weren’t sharp. Her expression was almost fond. “I can’t believe this snow. Why couldn’t it wait a few more hours?”

  “The weather isn’t prone to following your timeline.” His voice was dry because she was still standing very close. He could smell the fresh scent of her hair. He wanted to tangle his fingers in it. He wanted to trace the freckles on her face and neck
with his tongue.

  “I don’t know why it shouldn’t follow my timeline. My timeline is a good one.” Her voice lilted slightly, and she leaned against the wall as she gazed up at him.

  Russ took a step closer to her so he could smell her again. “I’ll let the weather know it needs to improve its performance to fall in line with your schedule.”

  She took a shaky little breath, and her eyes dropped, causing her thick lashes to spread out against her freckled skin in a way that enchanted him. He edged a little closer, bracing one hand on the wall beside her.

  He had her trapped against the wall now, and he’d completely forgotten the track of their conversation. His breathing had quickened, and his body had tightened, and his mind was buzzing with attraction. Need.

  Something a lot deeper.

  She wasn’t pushing him away. She wasn’t trying to cut the tension. She looked breathless. Excited.

  Like maybe she wanted him to kiss her.

  He wanted to kiss her more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone in his forty-five years. He’d assumed that was something she’d never want, but maybe...

  Maybe...

  He leaned forward a little more. He could hear her quick intake of breath. Her eyes darted up to his face and then down again.

  “Russ,” she said, raising a hand to put on his chest the way she had that morning in the kitchen.

  “Yes?” His voice was way too husky, but there was nothing he could do about that. She was so close. Almost within reach at last.

  Her fingers fisted in the fabric of his shirt. “Russ.”

  “Yes.” This time it wasn’t a question. It was the pure articulation of his heart.

  She licked her lips, and the small gesture made his groin harden. “Russ, please don’t.”

  He’d been leaning forward even more, but at that he grew very still. “Don’t what?”

  “You know what.” She took another breath—different this time—and looked up to meet his eyes again. “Please don’t.”

  “Laura, I’m not going to do anything you don’t want, but I think maybe you do want—”

  “I don’t—” She broke in, dropping her hand from his shirt. “Please don’t.”

  Russ sighed and took a purposeful step back, feeling like he’d been hit by a truck.

  Laura gave him another quick look and then grabbed her purse and started for the door.

  “Be careful,” Russ said as she left. “The roads are bad out there.”

  “I’m always careful.”

  He stood in the middle of the office for a long time after she left, trying to cool down, relax his body, and remind himself that he’d never really had a chance with her.

  She was beautiful, brilliant, and thirty-one years old. She had a son and a loving family and a fulfilling career. She was the most independent woman he’d ever met.

  She wasn’t going to hook up with a middle-aged man who’d been alone for most of his life and had nothing to offer her now.

  She was as out of reach for him as the gray clouds that currently blocked the sky.

  She’d always been out of reach, and he’d known it on his first day at Holiday Acres, when Laura showed him his desk, telling him they had to share an office so he was going to have to keep all annoying habits to a minimum.

  He’d stared at her in surprise, and she’d met his gaze with slightly raised eyebrows.

  The look had been a challenge, and the years that followed had only confirmed his impression of her strong will, her courage, her fierceness.

  And a fragile heart beneath it he wanted desperately to make his.

  It was never going to be his, however.

  One day he would be forced to accept it.

  HE TRIED TO FOCUS ON work after she’d left, but he kept looking outside as the snow accumulated and watching the clock, wondering how Laura was doing in the storm and when she and Tommy would get home.

  About a half hour after she left, his phone rang, and he snatched it up when he saw Laura’s name on the screen.

  “Laura? Are you okay?”

  “No! I got stuck at Candy Cane Cottage!”

  He relaxed at her words, although her voice was clearly at the limits of her patience.

  At least she was safe.

  “I got up the hill,” she said, “but there’s way too much snow now to get down. I’d end up in a ditch for sure, if not worse.”

  “You want me to come get you?”

  “If you don’t mind. But don’t try to come up the driveway. Stay on the road, and I’ll come down to meet you. Just call when you’re close so I know to come down.”

  “Okay. I’m leaving now.”

  He was out the door in about two minutes, taking only enough time to grab his keys and coat.

  He had a large one-year-old SUV that usually handled well in the snow, but there was far more snow on the roads than he’d ever seen in this area.

  He was worried as he drove through the tree farm and turned onto the road, and he grew more worried as the road started to curve through the woods toward the cottages.

  It was possible they’d be able to get into town, but the snow was still coming down like crazy and the wind was picking up. These were blizzard conditions. It wouldn’t be safe to drive that far.

  It wasn’t really safe for him to be driving now.

  He thought through options as he plowed through the snow and tried to see through the white gusts slamming against his windshield.

  When he got to the turnoff to Candy Cane Cottage, he pulled his SUV onto the side of the road and got out.

  If Laura insisted, he’d take her into town, but he didn’t think it was a good idea. Maybe she’d be willing to wait for a few hours until the snow slacked off.

  He hiked up the steep driveway, slipping a couple of times because the incline was so sharp. His pants were soaked to the thigh by the time the driveway leveled off, and he was freezing and blinded by the snow when he reached the cute little two-bedroom cottage.

  He pounded on the door. He hadn’t brought his gloves, and his hands were aching with cold.

  “What the hell, Russ?” Laura demanded as she swung open the door. She was wearing her coat, gloves, and hat. “I told you I’d come down to you.”

  “I know what you said, but I don’t think we should do it. The roads aren’t safe. Tommy will be safer if he stays at Mae’s for a few more hours.”

  Laura’s indignant expression changed immediately. “Oh shit, he’s going to hate that.”

  Russ was actually surprised that she wasn’t putting up a fight.

  Maybe she trusted him.

  Or maybe she could see for herself that the roads were mostly impassable.

  “He’ll be okay. And I really don’t think we should risk driving into town right now. It’s coming down worse now than it was twenty minutes ago.”

  “Shit.” She glared at the snow over his shoulder and then stepped out of his way in the entryway. “Well, come on in and get warm. You look like a snowman, and you must be freezing.”

  “I am.”

  Russ exhaled in relief as he stepped inside. The heat wasn’t on very high in the cottage since no one was currently using it, but it was a lot more comfortable than outside. He was out of breath and soaked to the skin and couldn’t feel his hands.

  He felt like cursing out the weather as much as Laura had earlier.

  Laura was already on the phone as he peeled off his coat and hung it up on a hook over the heating vent.

  He listened to her side of the conversation and concluded that Mae was relieved that Laura wasn’t trying to drive in this weather. Tommy was evidently watching a movie and eating a leftover cupcake and couldn’t be happier.

  That clearly relieved Laura’s concern, and she was more relaxed as she hung up the phone.

  She connected another call as Russ tried to warm up his hands.

  “Penny isn’t answering,” she said, sounding worried.

  “Maybe she’s driving and can’t
answer the phone.”

  “Maybe. I hope she’s okay. I’ll try Olivia. She and Scott were going to Mistletoe Cottage.”

  Scott was one of Russ’s nephews, his brother’s middle son.

  Olivia answered immediately. She and Scott were evidently stranded in their cottage the way he and Laura were.

  “Okay,” Laura said when she hung up. “They’re fine. I’m going to keep calling Penny and maybe make a fire since it looks like we’re going to be here for at least a few hours. You should get out of those wet clothes.”

  “And change into what exactly?” Russ asked dryly, trying not to think about getting out of his clothes in Laura’s presence.

  “There are bathrobes in the bathroom. You could put on one of those.”

  Russ hesitated since he wasn’t sure how smart it would be to lounge around in a bathrobe given how tempting he’d been finding Laura today.

  Who was he kidding? It wasn’t just today.

  He’d been finding her too tempting for years now.

  Laura made a face. “Or you could keep wearing your wet pants.”

  Russ chuckled softly and shook his head, but he went to the bathroom, shucked his wet clothes, and put on one of the thick white bathrobes that were hanging on the hooks.

  The cottage was one of the larger ones on their property. It had two bedrooms—one with a king-sized bed and one with two sets of bunk beds. It was decorated with a charming, slightly over-the-top Christmas theme with a lot of homey touches and handmade figurines scattered about.

  The bathroom was large and had both a walk-in shower and a freestanding tub.

  The shower was big enough for two.

  He forced the image of sharing it with Laura out of his mind.

  He wasn’t a horny teenager, and he didn’t want to act like one. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t control his thoughts around Laura.

  When he went back into the living room, Laura was stoking a fire and holding her phone.

  “Still no word from Penny.”

  “Give her a little while to get back to you. No reason to think the worst yet.”

  “You should hang up your clothes so they dry.”

  Russ narrowed his eyes at her.

  “What?” she demanded.