Billionaire Romance: Out of The Cold (Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page A

shock.
    He busied himself with his
breakfast. “Well...that explains why you don’t date. You’re too shy
to show interest, and when someone else does you figure they can’t
be serious.”
    She reddened and said
defensively, “Oh well, then, why don’t you date?”
    He blinked at her around a
mouthful of eggs, chewed and swallowed. “Bad breakup. Couple years
back.”
    She softened slightly.
“...Oh. How bad?”
    He looked at her
matter-of-factly. “Gold digging, private eye hiring, fake pregnancy
bad. Stalked me afterward, too.”
    She sat back, blinking
rapidly. “...That’s bad.”
    “Technically I
don’t not date.
I’m just very picky after...what happened.” He took another few
bites, his expression only slightly troubled.
    Well, that’s that then. If
he’s super picky and he can date anyone he wants, I’m definitely
out of the running.
    “So...you’re really not
interested in James?”
    She almost dropped her
fork. No, I’m interested in you. I just
can’t say a damn thing about it. “Why are
you asking me that again now?”
    “I’m trying to figure out
what your type is.”
    “Of men?”
    He gazed at her steadily.
“Yes.”
    She blushed furiously and
stared at her plate, unable to answer him until he let her off the
hook by changing the subject.
    The storm lasted until
that night . They ate warmed over leftovers by candlelight, using
the last of the propane, and stayed in the kitchen until the
temperature dropped too much. Then they dragged their makeshift bed
to the living room and laid it down in front of the wood stove,
which Henry filled and lit.
    When the white-out at the
windows faded, and the clouds started to roll away, Anna went to
the back door and opened it, stepping out quickly into the snow to
keep the heat inside the house. She sank in to her hips, soaking
her leggings, and stared around at the rolling white snow mounds
under the moon. It was as beautiful as it was freezing and
treacherous: white moonlight painting everything, stars glittering,
a few rags of cloud retreating west. Tomorrow they would be running
low on supplies, but at least they would have a chance in hell of
going for help if no one came for them by afternoon.
    She turned and pushed her
way back inside--and the temperature change hit her like an oven.
Her legs stung, and she realized that she was chilled through when
her numb legs almost buckled under her.
    Henry hurried over with a
blanket and wrapped it around them both. “Come here. You shouldn’t
have done that.”
    “I had to see for
myself--”
    “I get that, but now
you’re half frozen.” He helped her into the living room, sat her
down on the mattress in front of the fire, and kept an arm wrapped
around her as she gradually warmed. She realized that he was
holding her against his side, and that his heat was soaking into
her as much as the stove’s was. His arm around her did more for her
than any of it.
    Eventually her tights
dried, and she stopped shivering. But she stayed curled against him
for a good while longer, eyes at half mast, heart beating a little
quickly, and neither one of them seemed willing to break the
intimate silence.
     
    There was no propane to
heat water for cocoa, so he tried putting the kettle on the wood
stove, which actually worked. As they sipped their drinks, she said
quietly, “Storm’s all the way gone. It’s even colder out, but you
might actually be able to head for the next house over. It’s not
going to be easy, though. It’s hip deep on me.”
    “Well, we’ll have to see.
Maybe we’ll get lucky. I mean--maybe someone will come for us
before that.”
    She kept blushing at the
slightest things. Maybe it was nerves.

Chapter 6: Warmth
    T hey decided not to use the wood stove while they could hide
under the comforters after realizing that their few hours up that
evening had eaten through half their store of wood. But that meant
that the cold deepened throughout the night and they only had each
other for