Rule Breaker. Joanne Rock
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wasn’t going to help her stay warm. His coat had fallen off her too, no doubt because she was struggling with the puffy down to find the drawstring.
Cursing himself for getting distracted by his attraction to her, he shifted back to professional mode. Her safety came first.
“I’m going to work fast, okay?” He didn’t want to surprise her by manhandling her, but he also didn’t want to linger outside his own sleeping bag given that the temperature was probably hovering around fifteen degrees.
She nodded uncertainly, her blue eyes locked on him.
Getting to his knees, he leaned over her to retrieve his coat. Then, he wrapped one arm far enough around her to lift her shoulders. With his other hand, he tugged the corner of the sleeping pad back where it belonged, trying not to notice her soft curves pressed against his chest for one delicious moment. Once he had that smoothed out, he felt along the zipper near her shoulder until he found the drawstring and gave it a tug. The puffy down closed in around her face, leaving just her eyes, nose and highly kissable mouth visible.
Finally, just when the chill was starting to really bite through his clothes, he laid his coat over her and retreated to his own sleeping bag. He burrowed down fast, zipping up the fabric all the way.
“You must be freezing.” Her gaze tracked his movements in a way he welcomed.
That flattering caress of her eyes was the only thing keeping the cold at bay now.
“The temperature has definitely dropped a few degrees,” he admitted. “I’m going to wait a minute before I turn off the light.” He wanted his arms to warm up first.
“You should take your coat back.” She lifted her head a bit as she turned to look at him since her peripheral vision was impeded by the bag. It made her look like a mummy.
“I have a better idea.” He didn’t want her to give up the coat. “If we share it, we’ll both be warmer.”
“Okay.” She nodded her assent.
“Just until the chill goes away,” he assured her, already warmer at the thought of holding her against him.
“Of course.” Her breath huffed out in a cloud between them. “I’m not worried about anything...more happening when we’re on the verge of icing over.”
He suddenly didn’t feel one bit icy, but he didn’t plan on sharing that with her. Sliding one arm free of his sleeping bag, he snaked it under his coat and wound it around her midsection. He pulled her to him, so her back was to his chest, her rump tucked into his lap.
She made a soft squeak, but she pressed into him, her body plastering itself to his through the layers of down between them. For a moment, he simply held her there, his nose pressed into the back of her hood, his arm brushing the underside of her breasts. She felt good.
Not just because she was warm. April Stephens was soft and pliable in his arms, fitting just right. He slid his other arm under her head for a pillow, figuring she’d keep him warm enough. The protective urge flared along with a lot of other urges he wasn’t going to think about.
Much.
“Better?” He spoke the words against her neck through the sleeping bag.
He felt a shiver go through her, but he’d be willing to bet this one was the good kind.
“Much.” When she spoke, the vibration of sound hummed along his arm where he held her.
With the snow falling in soft swishes against the canvas tent and a beautiful woman spooned against him, he could almost forget they were still in a potentially dangerous storm. How long had it been since he’d slept with someone in his arms all night? Normally he avoided relationships with those kinds of expectations. He never would have imagined that the financial forensics investigator would be the one who broke his private, unspoken rules about sleepovers. He’d sworn off deeper relationships after he and his brother had fallen for the same woman back in their college days. Brianna had wreaked havoc on him, but she’d done an even worse number on his brother.
“How’s your nose?” he asked after a long moment, knowing frostbite could set in fast. “I think that’s the only place you have to worry about now.”
“Mmm.” She made a sleepy sound and snuggled closer to him, her hips rocking in a devastating swivel.
And damned if his body didn’t answer the call.
Grinding his teeth against those urges, Weston let go of her long enough to flick off the flashlight. Then, he went back to holding her.
Tomorrow, he’d have to deal with the fallout from coming to her rescue tonight. He wouldn’t be able to ignore her anymore after this, wouldn’t be able to threaten to call security if she asked too many questions. For that matter, he’d be dodging her queries about his former mentor the whole way down the mountain while he tried to keep her safe through a potentially dangerous descent.
But since tomorrow would come soon enough, he wasn’t going to borrow trouble now. For a few hours, at least, he planned to enjoy the hot dreams sure to come from having a sexy woman curled in his arms like she was meant to be there.
Sunlight pried at April’s eyes the next morning.
Too early, she thought, for it to be so bright. Her body was exhausted. And hot.
Pulling herself from layers of sleep, she struggled to figure out why she’d be so warm. Her limbs were pinned by a heavy weight on one side. Her nose was buried against...a man?
Memories of the night before returned in a moment as blinding as the sun streaming across one side of her face. The avalanche threat. The trudge through deep snow only to make camp with Weston. Falling asleep in his arms.
Which was a spot she’d clearly enjoyed, based on the way she was wrapped around him now like a second skin. How had her sleeping bag unzipped enough to allow so much proximity? She had one arm threaded under his to splay across his strong back. One thigh tucked between his. Her cheek and nose were pressed tight to his chest, where his heartbeat slugged. The fabric of the thermal shirt he wore hugged every inch of him as tightly as she did.
But the point of all the heat she felt was focused in the cradle of her hips, where the most intriguing part of his anatomy stirred.
Her breath caught in a strangled gasp as she scrambled back.
Weston let go of her immediately, making her realize he’d been awake the whole time. Which only added to her flustered state.
“Good morning.” His voice was rough from sleep, his tone polite and reasonable, though she detected a hint of mild amusement.
“Is it?” she asked, confused to note her covers twisted around one knee while the rest of her remained under the warmth of his heavy coat.
Her gaze went to his body, where she caught a glimpse of his powerful legs and narrow hips before he shifted his own sleeping bag over him like a blanket.
“We’re still here,” he reminded her. “Whole and warm, ready for another day. I’d call that good news after the weather conditions we faced last night.”
Belatedly, she noticed the snowdrift on one side of the tent was almost halfway up the canvas wall. No doubt that had helped insulate them against the cold, along with the natural body heat they’d gained by wrapping themselves around each other.
“I don’t know how my sleeping bag unzipped.” She couldn’t help but raise the issue, since it embarrassed her to think she’d helped herself to Weston’s body during the night.
She liked to think she had a stronger-than-average sense of personal space. Healthy boundaries. And while she’d been fine with pressing together through the fabric of two down barriers when they’d been trying