Ah, hell. She looked adorably flushed, and adorably sexy, but he was not going to seduce her when she was drunk, no matter how much he wanted her. “Get in bed.”

Instead, she fell to her back and went to work on the zipper of her pants.

And he began to sweat. “Come on, Katie, just get under the covers.”

Nope, and there went her pants, which promptly got snagged on her boots because she’d failed to remove them first.

“Not again.” She flung herself to the bed, flat on her back in nothing but royal blue bra and panties, with her pants around her ankles, caught on her boots. “Oh boy. I’m dizzy.”

So was he, because she made quite the picture lying there.

Drunk, he reminded himself.

Hands off.

“De cha vu,” she said, and laughed.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, which didn’t help. He reluctantly moved in to assist, removing first her boots, then her pants.

“I’m really quite drunk,” she informed him in surprise, sliding her fingers into his hair, tugging his face to hers. “Very, very drunk.”

He looked into her eyes, saw the light and joy that she’d represented since he’d first laid eyes on her. “Yes, you are.”

And sweet.

And sexy.

And mind-bogglingly beautiful.

“Cam?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re hot.”

He let out a low laugh and backed up. Way up. “Okay, that’s enough out of you. Go to sleep.”

“’Kay,” she said agreeably. “But you are.” And with that, she resumed her snoring.

An hour later, she dreamed. She was in her car, stuck in traffic on the bridge, frustrated and angry at the damn truck that had trapped her behind it.

And then the shudder.

She’d no idea at the time what it meant, but she knew now and whimpered as the bridge gave way beneath her, as all the cars around her vanished, as she slid off the side, rolling, rolling, slamming to a stop.

Upside down.

Panicked, she tried to see, tried to figure out what had just happened, but then there were flames, and the heat. The horrifying heat, and then the worst part-discovering she was the only one who’d made it. She, who didn’t really have a life, she’d lived while others hadn’t. She could probably run her entire life looking for things to distract her from that and never forget it-

“I’ve got you.”

His voice, low and easy and as soothing as the snow outside, surrounded her. So did his arms, pulling her out of the nightmare and firmly into the present. Without looking back, she crawled into that delicious strength he was offering, burrowing in like she planned to hibernate for the rest of winter, and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Chapter 21

Annie tightened the tie of her jacket around her waist. It was a full-length stadium jacket, made of down, which was helpful since it was just dawn and the temperature hovered right at freeze-her-ass-off cold.

But she was doing this. She’d thought of nothing else all night, which was when it’d come to her.

Katie had been right. She was giving up too fast, without giving Nick a real chance.

Without giving them a real chance.

She thought she had a handle on that now. She’d been too vague. She’d been vague because she’d wanted Nick to figure out what was wrong all on his own, but guys didn’t appear to be equipped for that level of thinking.

Plus, how could she expect him to know what exactly had gone wrong, when she herself didn’t know?

Maybe together they could figure it out.

God, she hoped.

So to that end, she stepped into her boots, and still clutching the jacket to her, left the cabin that once upon a time she’d shared with Nick. She walked along the path to the cabin he used now. Knowing he never locked his front door, she simply let herself in.

There were dishes in the sink and clothes on the floor. Typical. She moved through the living room toward the bedroom, unable to hold back her anticipatory grin, because what the man lacked in house skills, he more than made up for in bedroom skills.

And she was so ready to get back to that portion of the program of their marriage. Needed to get back to that. They’d had some fairly major communication problems of late, but she figured there was no better way to force communication than while getting a little.

With that very goal in mind, she unbelted her coat and let it drop as she stepped into the doorway to his bedroom, naked. “Wake up, big guy.”

The bed was empty.

He was already gone. Dammit! She covered herself back up with the jacket and stomped outside again. The equipment garage’s lights were on. Shivering, she headed over there with rising frustration and purposely, carefully, knocked on the side door.

She was not going to screw this one up, not this time.

Nick didn’t answer, so she pounded on the door, and finally, it opened. The drone of the compressor and generator engines blasted out around Nick. He wore a pair of beloved Levi’s, faded nearly white, with a hole over one knee and the other thigh. He had on a thick, padded plaid shirt over long underwear and a ski cap on his head. He hadn’t shaved yet today, and probably not yesterday either. He looked a little tired and a whole lot disheveled.

And sexy as hell.

“What’s wrong?” he yelled over the machines.

Nothing, except he was still dressed.

“Annie? You okay?”

Yeah, she was getting there. Getting warm, too, despite the frigid temps. Nodding, she pushed her way in, once again un-buttoning her jacket as she kept her eyes on his, turning her back to the room to keep him in her sights. They were going to do this, right here, right now. “Close the door, you’re letting out all the bought air.”