Abruptly, Lana started to giggle.

“Should I ask?” Rick’s murmured question earned another—even better—giggle from her.

“I just think it’s funny that I got you into bed so fast. You give off a certain ‘hard to catch’ vibe.”

“Says the date who wouldn’t let me walk her to her elevator.”

“I’m hard to catch too.” Lana flashed him a pretty grin. “Takes an impressive person to pull it off. Besides, the ‘hey baby’ rules are different.”

For a guy who had spent an inordinate amount of his life feeling like he wasn’t quite enough, this woman could make him feel pretty damn great.

“I didn’t ‘hey baby’ you,” Rick reminded her, earning a peal of laughter as he rolled over onto his side, tickling her ribs as he pulled her close. “I’m much too debonair for that.”

“You totally hey baby’d me.”

“Can you blame me?”

She was still giggling when he kissed her neck, then her earlobe, then her lips one more time. Then Rick relaxed into the bedding, because she was right. Rick wasn’t hard to catch, but he also didn’t jump into something this fast. Not even with a woman he wanted this much. Rick didn’t want either one of them to regret anything tomorrow.

At some point, they’d have to get ready for bed. He’d probably have to go find Carl and see if they could get some toothpaste at least. Or maybe a pack of gum. Someone at some point would have to pee.

But right now? Rick wasn’t going to move a muscle, not if he could help it.

He loved the way her fingers felt threaded through his fingers. Better still was her nose pressing against his bicep. Did his armpit smell? Had he put on too little deodorant? Too much? Rick had more than his share of getting shit wrong, but it was impossible to miss the way she snuggled in.

Damn, how much he wanted to be just right, just this once.

“Rick?”

“Yeah?” The single word came out rougher, quieter. Whatever she said, he’d be okay with it. She’d already given him more than he could have hoped for, and the rock his heart had become was already softening.

If this was over, it would be enough.

“I have to pee.”

Yep. Someone always had to pee.

“You want me to guard the door, don’t you?” he asked in amusement as he sat up, already missing the pressure of her skin to his.

“Would you mind?” Lana asked. “This is the hotel of horrors after all.”

“As long as you lead the way.” He winked at her, earning a rosy blush to her cheeks.

Waiting for her to use the shared bathroom wasn’t a big deal. When the lights went out and they returned from the bathroom to find the squirrel in her nightdress back on the windowsill, that was fine too. They ended up spending the night in his car, doors locked and their blankets wrapped around them as she kept a hand on the fireplace poker, ready to protect them both. Up until Lana fell asleep and dropped the poker. She drooled on his shoulder, the snow falling across the windshield like her hair across his chest, their fingers intertwined against his stomach.

It was the best date of Rick’s life too.

Chapter 9

The trick to keeping warm in a car out in the snow without dying of carbon monoxide poisoning was to roll down the windows a tiny bit and only run the engine for a few minutes intermittently.

Which meant Rick hadn’t slept very much. Lana was curled into Rick’s shoulder, a deep enough sleeper that once she was out, turning the car on never bothered her. And if he kept it on a little longer than he should have, well, he didn’t want her to get cold.

Rick had been dozing when Lana shifted, her nose pressing into his bicep. Then she raised her head, woken by the sound of the snowplow going past on the road next to the parking lot. It wasn’t the first plow to come through, but Rick hadn’t wanted to wake her.

Having her cuddled into his side was far too pleasant for such mundane things as getting safely home.

“Good morning,” she said, blinking sleepily. Eyelashes long enough to brush her cheeks left his brain utterly incapable of coherent thought. “Hmm, that was very unfair of me to pass out while you were stuck turning the key on the hour.”

“Do I look like I mind?” Rick asked her in an amused voice.

“I suppose we didn’t get made into sausage after all.”

“Speaking of which, do you want to get some breakfast?” Rick nodded toward the B-and-B, a little grin on his face.

“Oh goodness, no.” Lana shuddered at the very idea. “Although I should probably return their poker.”

She picked her weapon of choice off the floor. Even as Lana started to tug her clothes to tidiness, Rick took the fire poker away and opened the door.

“Give me a moment. I’ll be back,” he told her.

When Rick returned a few minutes later, Lana looked far more awake than the sleepy version he’d left.

“How did it go?” she asked as he got into the car.

“I think they’re mad at us for leaving. There were lots of angry sighs.”

“Did you tell them about the squirrel?”

“I told them.”

“The nightmarish squirrel with the nightgown that moves of its own volition?”

“Yep, that squirrel.”

When he handed over a small takeout container, Lana brightened. “Ooh, muffins.”

“They’re squirrel muffins.”

“They are not.” Inhaling the scent of blueberries, she took a bite of one of the muffins. “Oh yeah, come to momma.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you find a little squirrel ear in there.”

Sighing blissfully, she leaned back in her seat, holding out a piece for him to take. “You can’t ruin this for me, Rick,” she said. “But you’re welcome to try.”

And try he did. For the next fifteen minutes, they drove down freshly cleared roads, still slick with ice, while Lana handed him bites of muffin and Rick thought up every gross thing imaginable that Carl could have put in said muffin.

“So are we doing this?” Lana asked around her last bit of muffin. “The holiday fling with a yet to be determined termination clause?”

“You know how to make a guy’s heart swoon,” Rick said teasingly. “Termination clause?”

“I just like knowing the terms and conditions of my business arrangements. Especially the ones as handsome as you when you’re snoring.”

She gave him an arch look. Damn, it felt good to laugh.

“I’m not the only one who snores, sweetheart.” It was dangerous to pull her in and kiss her while driving, but Rick was feeling risky. “There are worse things than letting yourself have fun on the holidays.”

Lana beamed at him, and this time, she was the one to make the car bobble on the icy roads, her mouth on his.

When his phone rang, Rick was planning on ignoring it, then he saw who was calling on his dashboard. Hitting the Accept Call button, Rick regretfully kept both hands and eyes on the road.

“Hey, Jonah,” he said, hoping this was another Santa Moose call, even though his gut said it wasn’t.

“Rick, I need you to come down to the station.”

The standard self-indulgent tiredness was gone from Jonah’s tone, replaced by a professional seriousness. Instantly, Rick’s chest tightened down.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’ve got Diego here,” Jonah said. “You all are going to need to call a lawyer. If you can’t afford one, he’ll get one appointed by the state.”

“What happened?”

“We’ll talk about it when you get here.”

Jonah had a habit of not actually booking the unruly locals who ended up in some sort of skirmish or another. It took something bad to have him officially take someone into custody.

The roads were still slick, but Rick drove faster than he should have. Halfway back to town, Lana placed her hand on his leg, a silent show of support.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asked him.

Covering her hand with his own, Rick shook his head. “I don’t even know what the kid did this time.”

“Has he been arrested before?”

Hesitating, Rick finally answered, “Not in a while. And not without reason.”

By the time they arrived at the tiny Moose Springs police station, the sun had started to rise in the sky. After listing the charges, Jonah led them back to the small holding cell serving as the town’s drunk tank. Sitting alone on the single bench along the back wall, Diego was shaking, he was so upset.

“You brought her here?”

The baleful glare Diego was sending Lana’s way was beyond the kid’s normal sourness.

“We were together when Jonah called.” Rick shifted in front of Lana to force Diego’s attention to him instead. “What happened?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Rick rested his arm on the cell bars, leaning in toward his nephew. “You’re being charged with assault and destruction of public property. Something happened.”

Diego didn’t reply, but Rick wasn’t going anywhere. He opened his mouth but stopped when Lana put her hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll wait outside. Let me know if you need me.”

Even now, it was hard not to watch her walk away, the touch of her fingertips lingering like expensive perfume. But family in trouble was the most important thing, even more than a gorgeous woman who seemed to know exactly when to give them space. As she reached the doorway, Lana paused, looking back.

“I hope hitting that is worth it.”

The venom in Diego’s voice was only matched by his disgust. Diego had timed his comment well, managing to bring a flash of hurt to Lana’s face. A low growl pulled from Rick’s throat before he clamped down on the instinctive reaction to come to her defense. She disappeared out of the room, the damage already done.

The fact that Diego had tried to hurt her in the first place said a lot about the emotional state the kid was in. Some people chose flight, but Diego would always stand and fight. He didn’t know any other way.