Page 45 of The Fire

Beneath my cheek, Jamie snorted. “Yeah? Just the one?”

“I lack the energy to stand, and yet my ass is ice-cold.” I lifted my head, propping my chin on my hand so I could look at him.

Jamie chuckled. “That is, indeed, a serious problem.”

“It is! And meanwhile,yourass is freezing to the floor.”

“Accurate.”

“Welloneof us has to do something,” I informed him. “Otherwise they’ll find us here, frozen in this exact position, after the snow ends.”

“Oh, right. It’s snowing.” Jamie shifted his head to look at the window, but the only thing visible was a reflection of the kitchen. “I kinda forgot for a minute there.”

“Same.” I huffed out a laugh. “Pretty sure we’re the only people in O’Leary who’ve forgotten.”

“Guess that makes us the lucky ones, hmm? Cold asses and all?”

And I had to smile as I laid my cheek back against Jamie’s chest because for once, he was absolutely right.

Chapter Six

Jamie

I wokeup alone and really, really cold.

As a rule, I didn’tgetcold, which was possibly the one benefit of being half-Sasquatch—extra-tall, extra-stocky, and extra-hairy—so this was unusual enough to have me popping my eyes open and blinking in the grey light streaming through the window behind my bed and looking for the blanket I’d kicked off.

Everything looked as it always did—same wood-paneled walls lined with bookcases filled with baseball trophies, same plaid comforter—but there was something in the air, some niggling idea in the back of my mind, that something was supposed to be different today.

When I heard a pan clatter and a familiar voice yell, “Fuck!” somewhere down the hall, last night came rushing back to me, bringing with it a buzz of excitement I couldn’t contain.

Parkerwas here.

Parker hadslept in my bed last night.

I sat up, taking in the dented pillow where his head had been and the giant pile of covers he’d clearly stolen from me before pushing them off to get out of bed. Then I buried my head in my hands and groaned.

Parkerhad slept in my bed last night.

In fact, after we’d stumbled our way in here from the kitchen, giggling like a pair of drunken lunatics, I’d spent the night wrapped around him like a blanket.

Seriously, why did my brain do the things it did?

Then again, maybe it wasn’t fair to blame mybrainfor last night at all.

I swung my legs off the bed and winced as my feet hit the cold floor. I reached over and tried to turn on the light, but nothing happened. No power.

This morning kept getting better and better.

I threw on some sweats, a thick pair of socks, and a t-shirt. I was pretty sure the ones I’d been wearing yesterday were still lying on the kitchen floor where I’d left them, but I refused to do a naked walk of shame in my own house to get them.

Actually, I refused to be ashamed or overthink this at all. Parker had been exhausted last night. He’d needed comforting, and I… Well, I was Pavlov’s fucking dog. I couldn’t see Parker hurting and not step in. The look on his face, the hurt in his voice, the stupid plants in their labeled pots… It was all too much. And yeah, the fact that he was hot as fuck and I’d wanted him since I was old enough to know whatwantingwas had played a definite role. When hugging had turned to kissing and then to the best blowjob of my entire life, I’d had zero interest in holding back.

And it had been… fucking amazing. Better than anything I’d ever fantasized about… and worse too. If I’d managed to convince myself in any tiny way that I could resist my attraction to Parker, that idea had exploded in an epic, pug-and-unicorn patterned explosion.

It didn’t have to mean anything, though. Nothing serious. Nothing more than basic human need, and forced proximity, and… memories. Memories that had sprung free from my mental vault—which seemed to have the structural integrity of wet Kleenex when I was anywhere close to Parker.

Once Parker left town, though, everything would go back to the way it was. I’d rebuild the vault—expanded to hold a few more memories from this new chapter of our complex, fucked-up history—and this overwhelming desire for him would melt away like the snow.