Home For a Cowboy Christmas(69)

She hadn’t moved since he’d curled around her. He saw her breathing, so he knew she was alive. He checked her hands and feet, thankful he didn’t see any frostbite. She made a disgruntled noise and tugged at the covers. He grinned and resumed his position. Within moments, he was asleep again.

Zane only rested for short periods. He woke about every forty minutes to throw more wood on the fire. This last time, he yawned and checked his phone to see that it was nearly six in the morning. He tucked the covers around Cady to keep her warm before walking to the bathroom to dress.

When he came out, she had rolled to her other side. Her hair was mussed, and her mouth was open slightly. Zane heard the soft sound of a snore and grinned as he made coffee. A look outside told him that the storm wasn’t nearly finished yet. That meant he got to spend the day in the cabin with a city girl.

He’d rather stand naked in the snow.

He eyed the black liquid steaming inside his cup and contemplated adding liquor. It was probably a good thing he didn’t have any because he suspected the only way he would come out unscathed from all of this was if he were drunk.





Chapter 3


The dream was amazing. Cady never wanted it to end. She was the warmest she had ever been. Cozy, in fact.

She was drifting in that beautiful, calm spot between sleep and wakefulness. Cady couldn’t remember the last time she had been in there, and she was loath to leave. Because in this tranquil place, she felt as if she were connected to the entire world. There was no stress, no bills to pay, no meeting she had to attend.

No project she was behind on because someone didn’t do their job.

Cady quite liked the hard body pressed against her. And the strong arms. It was too bad that man was only in her dreams because she could find herself falling for a guy like that. Unfortunately, she was coming to accept that there wasn’t a man out there for her. No matter what her sister always told her, she knew there wasn’t someone out there for everyone.

Sadness threatened, but Cady refused to allow it. Not in this magical place. Not now. That emotion, along with a slew of others would cascade upon her the moment she opened her eyes. She wanted a few more seconds of the bliss while wondering if she could find this place more often—like every day. She might not feel so stabby around people if she could get this mellow. Then again, the problem was where she worked and who she worked with.

A sound pulled her closer to consciousness. Cady fought against it. She tried to cling to her dream man, but she realized that he was gone. Instead, her hands clutched blankets and not the hard sinew of before.

Then, just like that, her perfect place vanished as she came awake.

Cady found herself staring at the bottom part of a well-loved leather sofa. A fire crackled behind her, and she heard someone moving around not far from her. Confused and disoriented, she sat up. That’s when her eyes landed on a tall man in a plaid button-down shirt and jeans with his back to her.

His light brown hair curled slightly at the ends from being a tad too long. His shoulders were broad, the kind that gave the impression that he could withstand a heavy load. Her gaze drifted to his trim hips encased in Wranglers.

She frowned. Wranglers? She didn’t associate with anyone who wore those kinds of jeans. Usually, Wranglers were reserved for cowboys. The minute she thought the word, her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open as she recalled being stranded in the snow and the cowboy who’d stopped to help.

Zane.

Cady found it difficult to breathe. She looked around frantically before a shiver took her. She glanced down at herself to see her black bra and matching panties. She grasped the blanket and wrenched it up to her chest as she tried to remember getting to … wherever it was he had brought her.

“Nothing happened,” Zane’s deep voice filled the space.

She swallowed, her head jerking to him. He hadn’t turned around. Did he have eyes in the back of his head? Cady was about to ask how he knew what she was thinking when she met his gaze in the glass of the microwave.

Zane turned to face her. “I had to get you warm. I was worried about frostbite and hypothermia, and the qui—”

“The quickest way to warm someone is skin to skin,” she said over him with a nod. “I know.”

He looked at the mug in his hand. “Good.”

Cady couldn’t help but wonder if the dream man she had believed nothing more than her imagination had been, in fact, Zane. “Oh, please, no,” she murmured.

“What’s that?” Zane asked as he lifted his gaze to her.

She quickly shook her head and lay back to cover herself more fully since she was beginning to freeze. “Nothing.”

“I’ve got plenty of food, so make yourself at home.”

“I don’t plan on being here any longer than it takes to get to my car and have it towed.”

He released a long sigh filled with frustration. “If you listen closely, you’ll hear the storm is still going strong. Even if it stopped now, it would be hours before anyone could get out in this. The blizzard was supposed to dump about sixteen inches.”

She closed her eyes, trying not to let the situation get to her.

“Not to mention,” he continued, “it’s Christmas Eve. Unless it’s an emergency, I don’t think anyone is leaving their homes.”

There was no way she was going to spend Christmas with a sullen, broody cowboy who couldn’t stand the sight of her. It was just one more unfair thing to happen to her in a shit-tastic year that had gotten worse with each month.