*-*-*-*

“What are you doing?” Necie asked, sounding frustrated and annoyed.

Not that he could really blame her or really cared.

“I’m leaving the water running so that the pipes don’t freeze,” he said, inwardly shaking his head, because really, she should know this.

“No,” she said, pausing to take another deep breath and making him bite back a smile, because she really was so damn cute when she was annoyed, “I meant, why are you still here?”

“Because the power’s out,” he said with a shrug as he walked past her, leaned over, grabbed the thermal sleeping bag he’d brought over and headed towards the double bed.

“Yes, yes I know that,” she said in that same tone, making him chuckle as he opened up the sleeping bag and spread it over the bed. “That really doesn’t explain why you’re still here…in my room.”

“Because your room is the smallest room in the house and will be the easiest to stay warm in,” he explained, waiting for her to try and kick him out again.

He’d of course ignore her like he had the last twenty-three times that she’d asked him to leave and did what needed to be done. When she only stood there, glaring at him, he decided that she was probably either trying to think up a different approach to kicking him out or she’d finally just accepted the fact that he wasn’t going anywhere until the electricity came back on.

Until then, she had a roommate whether she liked it or not.

Chapter 13

“Are you planning on sitting there all night?” the big jerk asked as he shifted beneath the large pile of blankets and sleeping bag, getting more comfortable as she sat there, scowling as she desperately tried to will her body to stop shivering.

“Yes,” she said through a clenched jaw, not because she was angry, which she was, but because she was so cold that the muscles in her body had begun to lock up a few minutes ago and talking had become a bit of a chore.

There was a long-suffering sigh and then he was shoving the blankets aside and climbing out of her bed. Before she could ask him what he was doing, not that it was actually a possibility at the moment, he was walking over to her, scooping her up and carrying her back to the bed that she’d refused to share with him.

When he placed her on the bed and immediately climbed in and wrapped his large, warm body around hers as he pulled the thick pile of blankets over them, she laid there seething. She would have climbed right back out of the bed on principle alone, but unfortunately for her, all of her muscles seemed to have clamped up worse with the sudden warmth that the blankets and Duncan’s heat enveloped her in.

So, instead she chose to lay there, seething as she scowled at the ceiling, watching the shadows created from the candles that lit the room, shifting along with the flames. She laid there as pain shot through her muscles as her body tried desperately to warm up, telling herself that once she was nice and toasty that she was getting right back out of this bed, returning to her corner where she would seethe and plot all night to get him out of her house.

“Christ,” he said, tightening his hold around her, “you’re ice cold,” he said, stating the obvious.

She wanted to roll her eyes. She really did, but that small action seemed to be too much for her to manage right now. So, instead she lay there, bidding her time, waiting for the moment when she could do more than just shiver.

“Turn onto your side,” he ordered, but of course he didn’t wait for her to comply. Not that she was actually going to let him boss her around, because she wasn’t, but before she could tell him where to shove his orders, he was rolling her onto her side and curling up behind her. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tightly against him and even though she glared at the bathroom door, she savored the warmth that his large body was providing.

Dear God, the man was like a furnace, she thought, nearly sighing with pleasure as his body heat seeped into her back, slowly spreading through her body and allowing her muscles to stop contracting painfully. After a while they were just sore and she was so comfortably warm and relaxed that she decided that she would put up with him until morning and then, she was definitely kicking his ass out.

*-*-*-*

Saturday, December 5th.

“Wait, where are you going?” she asked, tightening her grip around him and making him chuckle.

“Food. I’m starving and it will help keep us warm,” he explained as he reluctantly pulled away from her, still surprised how letting her go felt wrong somehow.

“Oh,” she said with a thoughtful frown as she grudgingly released her hold on him and shoved the covers away, “that’s probably a good idea. Stay here. I’ll be right back,” she said as she pulled on an extra pair of socks and headed towards the bathroom.

More than a little curious, he waited as she used the bathroom, washed up with cold water, combed her hair and made herself a little more presentable before she returned to the room, gestured for him to give her a minute and walked out the door. She closed the door behind her and apparently was expecting him to stay sitting on the bed, waiting for her to return with a few boxes of cookies and crackers.

He should probably explain to her that thanks to his brother, they had emergency kits at his house. Boxes filled with chemically preserved food that tasted like shit on a good day. He wasn’t looking forward to eating that shit, but at least it would keep them alive and warm until the fire department and electrical department finally made it to their street and cleared the fallen wires and fixed everything.

Then he would get her the hell out of here, because it was going to take a few more days to get an electrician to come out here and fix the connection to the house. Since he knew damn well that the electric company wasn’t going to pay for the wires ripped from their houses, that meant that they would still have to hire electricians to fix the damage before the electric company would reattach the lines.