Читать книгу Snowed in with the Cowboy - Maisey Yates - Страница 10

CHAPTER THREE

TANNER WAS ABOUT to throw his bag through the window down to the snow below, and follow it with his body. This was getting out of control. He was going to be snowed in, in this tiny room that had one bed, with Chloe. Overnight. With all that inappropriate attraction that lived inside him, deep and dark and shameful.

At least, it should be shameful.

Rather than giving him any pleasure. Rather than making him feel...

He should’ve gotten laid before they left Gold Valley. He should’ve gotten laid a long time ago.

He looked over at Chloe, who seemed serene.

That was the other damned ridiculous part of all this. It wasn’t like Chloe had any idea her older stepbrother was lusting after her like a pervert.

None of this probably seemed weird to her. They shared the same house. This probably seemed completely normal to her.

To him it was all about the space surrounding them. Or the lack of it.

There wasn’t enough space here. There weren’t enough walls.

“I’ll take the floor,” he said, walking in past her.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said. “You don’t have to pay for the hotel room and then gallantly take the floor.”

“I’m not being gallant.” She had no idea. “I’m being practical. Anyway. When I go hunting I’m more than happy to sleep in my truck, or in the bed of it if I want to stretch out. I don’t have any issue with a hard surface.”

She looked at him, her expression bordering on being so bland it had to be intentional. “What makes you think I do?”

“You’re a woman,” he said, through gritted teeth. “I’m being chivalrous.”

Much to his surprise, Chloe rolled her eyes. If there had been a foot stomp involved he wouldn’t have been surprised. “Oh, because I’m a woman?”

“Yes,” he returned. He slammed the room door shut behind them, trying not to be too conscious of the fact that it seemed to make the air a hell of a lot thicker.

“It’s just that you introduced me as your sister downstairs. I wasn’t sure that me being a woman factored into anything.”

He frowned. “That bothers you?”

“It doesn’t bother me,” she said, so huffily that it was clear that she was intensely bothered. “It’s just that I’m not your sister.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“You called me your sister.”

“You’re my stepsister. It’s close enough.”

“Except your father died. He died and our parents aren’t married because he died.”

He gritted his teeth. “I’m well aware that my father died, Chloe, you don’t have to repeat it four times.”

“Well, me, too,” she said, looking ferocious. “I loved your father. I did. He was the only father that I ever knew. And it’s not... I’m not minimizing that. But I’m just saying.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re saying,” he said, choosing to ignore her now that she was in such an unreasonable mood.

He was the one that should be in a mood. He was the man stuck sleeping on the floor for the night. He was the man who had increasingly inappropriate thoughts about the woman he was trapped in a room with overnight.

“I’d better call Jackson,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and dialing his brother angrily.

Chloe was staring at him, her eyes luminous. And he didn’t want to analyze what they might be illuminated with.

“Hello?” His brother answered on the first ring. “What’s up?”

“Chloe and I are stuck in town,” he said. “Not Gold Valley. Granite Ridge. The tunnel is blocked behind us and the mountain pass is closed, so we can’t get up to the cabin tonight.”

“Hell. What are you going to do?”

“We got a place at some lodge,” he said. “We’ll be fine.”

“Well, I hope you can make it up,” Jackson said. “We’re going to have burgers tonight.”

“We are not making it up tonight. The snow was falling heavy down here.”

“Damn,” Jackson said. “I was hoping that maybe it was just that thick up here.”

“Apparently not. Apparently, the forecast snowstorm finally came through, and it’s making up for all the years it didn’t.”

“Well, that’s damned inconvenient.”