I groaned, burying my face in his shoulder. This was so damn embarrassing.
“Didn’t you think you could trust me?” he asked, continuing when I didn’t say anything. “Babe, talk to me.”
“It’s humiliating!” I whispered, horrified to feel tears sting my eyelids. “Someone as rich and successful as you dating a woman who didn’t have enough in the bank for an emergency. Two back-to-back emergencies and one asshole roommate was all it took to put me on the street. And I’m so close to getting back on my feet…”
His arms tightened and he kissed the top of my head. “I’m so sorry. And I’m even sorrier you didn’t think you could trust me.”
“It wasn’t about trust,” I protested, looking into his handsome face. “It was about my pride.”
“This blizzard is nuts,” he said, his voice dropping. “You could have been holed up in here for days! And it’s cold as balls. The temperature is supposed to drop another twenty degrees tonight after it stops snowing.”
“I know.”
“We need to get out of here.”
“And go where?”
“I called Rudy and he said if we can get there, my old room is empty.”
“That’s almost five kilometers from here,” I protested.
“Snowmobile,” he said, grinning. “You game?”
“Electricity is out all over town, though.”
“It is, but Rudy’s place is heated with gas, and there’s a fireplace, if nothing else.”
“I would kill to be warm.”
“I can think of a much less drastic measure.” He slowly got to his feet and held out his hands. “Let me take care of you, Noelle. Until the storm is over. Then you can go right back to your life.”
I took his hands and let him pull me to my feet, my eyes searching his face. Staring up at him, my pride, my embarrassment, everything dissolved as if it had never been there. He’d ridden a freakin’ snowmobile to get to me. To make sure I was okay. My own mother hadn’t worried about me, but this gorgeous man I’d known for three weeks risked his life to check on me. Even after we’d broken up. My heart skipped a beat as I leaned against him.
“What if I don’t want to go back to my life?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Remy
* * *
I stared at her a little too long, trying not to read into her words but doing it anyway. Was I falling in love or what? My emotions were a roller coaster of desire, frustration, and need. But this was neither the time nor the place for that kind of conversation. “Pack up what you’ll need for a few days, let’s get to the B&B, and once we’re warm, we’ll talk, okay?”
“Okay.” She threaded her fingers with mine, squeezing for a second, before starting to gather up her things. She folded the blanket while I rolled up her sleeping bag and we grabbed her pillows, and a burlap bag that looked like it had water and snacks.
“Where’s your stuff?”
“Most of it is in the women’s locker room. I can grab my backpack and duffel bag and we’ll be good to go.”
“Great.” We carried her things to the locker room and I held the flashlight while she rearranged her bag, put on her boots, and stuffed the sleeping bag and blanket into two lockers.
“First thing we’re doing after this storm is over is buying you a winter coat,” I grumbled. “And don’t even think about saying no.”
She didn’t say anything but flashed me an impish little grin. I picked up her duffel with one hand and grabbed one of her hands with the other and we made our way to the back exit where I usually saw her go in and out. Her car was back there too, though it was currently almost completely covered with snow. I’d left the snowmobile there as well, and hopefully it would only take us a few minutes to get to the B&B.
* * *
When I woke in the morning, Noelle was still wrapped in my arms, fast asleep. I got out of bed slowly so as not to wake her, and used the bathroom. Peeking through the curtains, it looked like it had finally stopped snowing and there was a white blanket of snow covering everything. In the distance, I saw crews working on electric lines and a lone police vehicle cruising down the street. The sky was still gray and gloomy, but there were lights in the windows of other houses on the street, and there were a couple of people outside using blowers to free their vehicles from the snow.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted to go back to bed, check my email, or go downstairs to find something to eat, but in the end, I slid beneath the sheets and wrapped my arms around Noelle again. I wasn’t sure what we were doing or what was going to happen next, but the panic I’d felt when I’d thought she could be in trouble told me she was already too important to just walk away.
With me living in Florida and her here in BC, our choices were limited. Either we were going to end it completely, do the long-distance thing for a while, or get married. There really wasn’t anything in between, and somehow, marriage didn’t scare me anymore. Well, it had never scared me, but it had definitely given me pause considering my father’s inability to keep it in his pants.
I wasn’t him, though. From the outside looking in, it was probably crazy to be thinking this way after three weeks, but I’d never given a shit what other people thought. The only people’s opinions who mattered in this instance were mine and hers. Of course, convincing Noelle to do anything was usually a lesson in futility but this was important enough to try.
“Do you think they have coffee downstairs?” she murmured sleepily.
“They might.” I chuckled, kissing her forehead. “You want coffee?”
“So much.”
“How about I run downstairs and see if I can get us some breakfast? I’ll bring it up here or I’ll have Rudy bring it up.”
“You’re the best.” She smiled sleepily and for the first time possibly ever, I imagined what it would be like waking up next to the same woman every day. Those big green eyes. That silky blond hair. Those sweet pink lips. Yeah, I’d obviously lost my sanity, but it felt too good to overthink it. Since I couldn’t explain what was going on with us, I pulled on a sweater and padded down the stairs. Rudy had just come in from the outside and was warming up by the fireplace.
“Just turned on the generator,” he said. “Crews outside said we should have electricity again by midday so I’m going to leave it on a while. Vera’s making waffles and bacon, and I figured we could all take quick showers, charge up phones and whatnot, and go from there.”
“Sounds perfect,” I replied. “Would it be all right if I took some coffee upstairs for Noelle and I until breakfast is ready?”
“No problem at all. In fact, Vera will bring up a couple of plates once it’s ready.” He paused. “How long you think you’ll be here this time, Remy?”
“The morning of the twenty-fourth, I’m heading back to Vancouver.” I paused. “Would you do me a favor, Rudy?”
“If I can.”
“If Noelle decides not to come with me, will you let her stay here for a while? I’ll pay you, but she can’t know. She has to think you’re just being nice.”