Kyler’s lips brushed my bare shoulder, and I turned my head toward him. His hair flopped over his forehead, a complete mess. My heart tumbled over when he gave me his lopsided grin. “Shower?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Together?”

Heat pooled in my lower stomach. “Yeah?”

That boyish grin turned wicked. “Maybe we won’t even notice the water is cold.”

A minute later, we noticed that the water was ice-cold. No amount of sexy Kyler nakedness could change that fact.

“Holy shit,” he said, dunking his head under the stream of water. “Holy shit balls.”

I laughed as I hobbled in front of him, arms wrapped around myself. He was taking the brunt of the icy deluge and I was just getting sprayed every few seconds by it. Little bumps covered every square inch of my flesh, and as crazy as it was, I was freezing but I was also oh-so hot.

Kyler had lathered up, and soapy suds traveled down that impeccable stomach of his, following the ropey muscles and disappearing between his legs. I couldn’t stop staring. It was embarrassing. It was thrilling. He turned at some point, and I was staring at the tattoo down his spine. What language was it in? Then he faced me again.

“Okay,” he breathed, shaking his head. “You ready for this?”

I dragged my eyes up and nodded. “Not really.”

“I’ll try to make it as fast and painless as possible.” He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me up against the front of his body. His skin was warm in some areas, cold in others, and I knew he could feel how hard my nipples were against his chest. I wasn’t sure if it had to do with the cold or Kyler.

Mostly Kyler.

“Get ready,” he murmured, turning slowly.

I jumped as the water hit my back, almost climbing straight up him. Keeping an arm around me, he grabbed the soap. My teeth chattered as he helped wash me. I couldn’t stay still, and all the movement was not lost on Kyler. I could feel him thickening against my belly. His chest was rising and falling pretty fast and even though my skin felt like an ice cube, heat simmered in my veins. When his hand slipped between my thighs, I bit down on my lip. He really took his time there.

It was the coldest and hottest shower I’d ever had.

Afterward, he wrapped me in a fluffy towel and plopped me down in front of the dying fire. He changed quickly and went into the garage, bringing back wood. Once he had the fire crackling again, he turned to me. Tension had seeped into him after the shower. He hadn’t said much and when he looked at me, his eyes were as dark as shards of obsidian.

I squirmed, uneasy.

“I’m going to head down to the lodge and see if they know anything about the main roads.” He crouched in front of me, his damp hair curling around his ears. “I shouldn’t be long. Okay?”

I nodded, already starting to stand. “I can go with you. Just let me—”

“You should stay here.” He put his hands on my shoulders, gently pushing me down. “And stay warm. It’s not snowing anymore, but it’s way below freezing out there. I’ll be back before you even realize I’m gone.”

I felt like he was already gone.

But I said nothing as I watched him bundle up like he was going snowboarding. He didn’t kiss me before he left, and even though I was sitting in front of the roaring fire, I felt inexplicably cold.

Kyler stopped at the door leading to the basement, sliding his cell into his jacket pocket. “Don’t go outside while I’m gone. Okay? I know nothing has happened since the generator, but I don’t want to risk it.”

“All right.” I twisted toward him, wanting to say something—anything—but the ability to form sentences was completely gone.

He turned and stopped once more. Looking back at me, he opened his mouth, but then he gave a little shake of his head and disappeared downstairs.

I don’t know how long I sat there staring at where he’d stood, telling myself not to overreact, but I was, like, the queen of overreacting. I should have had a crown for it. In the short period of time between when he left and I heard the snowmobile fire up outside, I’d already wanted to punch myself several times for not talking to him about everything.

I realized then that I really didn’t have my shit together like I’d previously thought. I was twenty-one years old and I couldn’t have a serious, heart to heart conversation with Kyler and speak the truth. If that was the case, then I probably shouldn’t be having sex with him.

I needed to grow up.

Telling myself that it would be the first thing I did when he got back, I stood and hurried upstairs to get clean clothes. Once I was changed, I tugged my boots on over my jeans and sat on the couch, tapping my fingers off my knees.

Okay. Maybe the first thing I would do when he returned wouldn’t be jumping on him about our questionable relationship status. I’d let him tell me about the roads first, and then we were going to talk.

Unable to sit, I left in search of my cell phone. It was still in the bowl of rice in the kitchen. Taking it out, I brushed off the rice and put the thing back together with high hopes. It powered on, but the screen was nothing more than pretty waves of green and blue.

“Shit,” I moaned, fighting the urge to toss it across the kitchen like a football.

I glanced at the wall clock. Half an hour had passed since he’d left and I was already going stir crazy. I wanted to get out of this house. Without him here, I was developing a mad case of cabin fever.

Stopping by the Christmas tree, I huddled down in my sweater and stared out the large window. I felt…different. It was strange that only a handful of days had passed since we’d arrived in Snowshoe, but it felt like a lifetime ago.

A small smile pulled at my lips and I closed my eyes as I remembered telling Kyler that I wanted him. I did a little wiggle out of residual embarrassment, and then laughed, because seriously, I never in my life had thought I’d have the courage to put myself out there like that and until that moment I really didn’t realize how afraid I’d been. That wasn’t any way to live, I realized sort of dumbly.

It didn’t have anything to do with the sex—the different way I felt. Well, I did ache in a wholly pleasant way in areas I didn’t think I could ache in, but it was more than that. I never really went after anything I wanted. I’d always been too cautious, and ever since the way things had ended with Nate, I’d been even more afraid of letting go—of not being in control and doing things that could potentially end in a world of hurting.

In a way, it was like a childish security blanket that I’d wrapped around me. Telling Kyler I wanted him was like shedding that blanket. Now I just needed to follow through and tell him everything.

I needed to tell Kyler that I loved him.

My heart skipped a beat even thinking about doing that. I was going to be afraid. It was going to be painfully awkward, and I’d rather kick myself than do this, but I would.

When I’d been alone with those thoughts for an hour, I couldn’t take the waiting anymore. I made up my mind without really thinking about it. Pulling my coat on along with gloves and a hat, I headed down to the garage.

Dragging the other snowmobile out into the heavily packed snow was a huge pain in the ass. Since the power was out, it took a few moments to pull the garage door down by hand, and I didn’t close it all the way, leaving a gap a couple of inches high, so I could open it when I got back. I climbed on the red and white snowmobile and let out a happy sigh when it kicked on with no problems. Temps were brutal cold, so I hurried as I slid the helmet on.

I wasn’t a pro at driving a snowmobile, but there was so much snow, it glided smoothly, kicking up a fine dusting. Even with the gloves, my fingers felt like frozen fish sticks by the time I slid to a stop in front of the main lodge.

People stood in front of their businesses along the street, shovels in hand, starting the massive dig-out process. In some areas, snow drifts covered cars and only thin slices of metal peeked through. It was amazing and crazy to see what Mother Nature was capable of when she was pissed or bored.