“I thought she might like to see snow,” he finished lamely just as Roland had gotten to a punch line that had Heather laughing so hard she clutched the counter for support.
“Well I hope you show her more than just some snow-seeing,” Helen advised in a conspiratorial whisper before she hurried back to her spot behind the counter and intervened in the start of her husband’s next tale. “Roland Krause, that’s quite enough for our guest who needs to shop for a hat and find her room.”
Taking his wife’s hint with the ease of a man who’d been married for more than half his life, the innkeeper straightened and pulled his Santa hat off his head before settling it on Heather’s.
“The missus is right, but this will at least tide you over until you find something else.” He affixed the hat at an angle so that the jingle bell fell right above the green velvet ribbon holding Heather’s hair. “You make a right pretty elf.”
“Thank you.” Heather jingled the bell as if to test it. “I’m looking forward to this weekend.”
Helen passed an envelope with a key over the desk to Jared.
“We won’t let you leave until you’ve had a marvelous time, will we, Jared?”
He braved a glance in Heather’s direction and wondered what a sexy Southern Christmas elf would expect from him in order for her to have a good time. The teasing look in her blue eyes communicated wicked intent.
“Not a chance.” He thanked the older couple as he rolled Heather’s bag away from the desk and deeper into the hotel.
Right out the back door.
“Are you sure you’re going the right way?” Heather paused on the threshold of the door to check the packet containing her key card.
“The cabins are in the back. You can come up to the main building for meals, but this way you can watch the snow fall from all four sides and the fireplaces are wood-burning.” He took a left at an intersection in the sidewalk toward the cabins he’d worked on. “Gas fires are pretty but—”
“Less atmospheric.” She walked more slowly behind him and at first he thought she wanted to take in the scenery, but when he looked back to check on her he realized the walkways were getting slick as the snow fell in earnest.
Damn it. Could he be any more clueless? He was so busy running away from an overwrung sex drive that he’d ended up being downright rude. Leaving the suitcase, he jogged the couple of steps between them to give her his arm.
Just as he reached toward her, her boot skidded on the sidewalk, sending her flying forward. She careened into his arms and he caught her easily, but the quick step he needed to make caused his feet to slide, too.
He squeezed her tighter, protecting her if they went down. But he was able to find his footing again. He met her gaze in the swirl of white all around them and what he saw there shifted the ground out from under him faster than any icy walkway.
No teasing. No flirtation. Just simple hunger and want she didn’t bother to disguise as anything else.
In other words—the exact same thing he was feeling as he held her for the first time in far too long. Her fragrance was exactly the same, a heady mix of floral and musk that had remained in a pink hair scarf she’d tucked into his pants pocket without him knowing.
He’d sniffed that silk dry in those first few months overseas, a tangible reminder of life and joy in a stark hell.
Something about that memory prodded him into action despite all the talks he’d had with himself about restraint. Bending over her, he covered her lips and damned the consequences.
Chapter 3
Heather had never thought of herself as having an addictive personality. But Jared’s kiss made her rethink that position.
Far away in the back of her mind, some obnoxious little piece of herself shouted shrilly that she should be the seducer and not the seducee yet again. But, dear, sweet Lord. The shrew within probably just needed to get laid because a kiss this good didn’t deserve to be stopped under any circumstances.
Her arms tightened around his neck, savoring the wall of solid shoulders beneath them. The heat of him around her fired away any chill at being outdoors in a snowstorm, his body a furnace of taut muscle and rigid angles. And speaking of rigid…
She was wrapped around him so thoroughly she felt the full extent of his desire for her, every impressive inch of him tattooed against her stomach.
He broke the kiss before things got any more carried away and he tipped his forehead to hers while she caught her breath. Or maybe he was waiting to catch his. She noticed their ragged inhalations rasped in synch.
“I swear I didn’t ask you up here to take advantage of you.” His words took a long moment to make sense inside her scrambled thoughts.