Page 7 of Snowed In with Benefits

As I’m turning off the stove, I hear my phone ping. Then ping again. Damn it, how long has it been dead? How many messages have I missed? What the hell am I going to have to deal with now that it’s back on? I leave the food on the stove and hurry back to the living room to check my phone.

It’s a text from Mom. How could you do this to us? I’ve never been more disappointed in you. Do you know what you left us to deal with? I have never been so embarrassed in my LIFE. Do you even care? I can’t believe you⁠—

I stop reading and blow out a harsh breath as shame prickles my cheeks. I can’t deal with this right now. I put the phone down and head back to the kitchen, intending to demolish my scrambled eggs regardless of how bad they are. I’m hungry, damn it, and I’m not going to let my mother steal my appetite.

I step into the kitchen and stop short. Hunter is sitting at the kitchen table, scarfing down scrambled eggs with kielbasa. I blink at him. He blinks back at me through his glasses, then glances down at his nearly-empty plate. He looks back up at me and flushes.

“Did you—is this yours?”

I nod silently.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you made this, I thought one of my brothers… well, Emmett’s not my blood brother, but he’s a brother… anyway, I thought one of them made this. I should have known they didn’t, it’s really good.”

It’s not really good, he’s an absolute liar, but I’ll accept the compliment for now.

“You work fast. I didn’t realize you’d been out here already.”

“It’s okay,” I say, but my stomach is screaming at me. I can’t remember the last time I was this hungry, and watching my food disappear into this man’s gullet is making me want to cry a little bit.

He seems to pick up on that without me saying anything. He gets up from the table, still apologetic as ever, and gives me a small smile. “Listen, let me make you something to make up for it. You must be starving.”

“No…” My stomach cramps. “I mean, if you want to. If you don’t mind, that is.”

“I don’t mind at all.” He starts happily pulling things out of the fridge. I sit down a little weakly at the table. He starts cutting up sausage, potatoes, onions, and some kind of herbs. He’s obviously a much better cook than I am. As soon as the pan starts to sizzle, the kitchen fills up with the most amazing smells.

“So… how long have you all been living here?” I accept what he said about Emmett. If they see each other as brothers, who am I to say that they aren’t? I have to jog my memory to remember which one Emmett is. The lumberjack, I remember. Which means that tattoo boy is Hunter’s blood brother. Interesting, they don’t look much alike.

“Emmett and I have been here for about four years,” he says as he cracks an egg into the concoction he has cooking on the stove. “Beau’s been here for two. He joined us after—oh, shit.” He stirs quickly, adds an ingredient, and turns the heat down. He turns and gives me a sheepish grin.

“We like it out here,” he continues. “Out in the middle of nowhere. Makes it easy to control our environment, you know? Not the natural environment, that is utterly uncontrollable, but our social environment. Makes it easy for us to do what we want to do, be who we want to be.”

“I see.” I think I kind of do see. I think of my phone, filled, no doubt, with messages from my whole family and Preston’s, telling me what a disappointment I am. I can understand wanting to be away from everything and everyone, up here where no one can find you unless they know exactly where to look.

“Does it ever warm up?” I ask, looking out the window at the massive snowdrifts.

“A little bit here and there in the winter. You should see it in the spring, though. It’s gorgeous. All wildflowers and grasses and ferns between the trees. There’s a lake just down the hill. You can’t see it now, it’s iced over and covered in snow, but once it starts to thaw? It’s magical.”

“It sounds beautiful.”

“Oh, it is. Of course, I think this is beautiful too.” He gestures out the window at the snow, then gives me a cheeky little smile. “Granted, I’m generally dressed for the weather when I’m out in it.”

I have the overwhelming urge to stick my tongue out at him for that dig. I settle on a grumpy little glare instead. We aren’t exactly at the level of showing each other our tongues, after all. The thought makes me blush and I clear my throat.

“I saw all the coats by the door. Yes, when I stole one.” I allow myself a little self-deprecating laugh. “If it’s just the three of you out here, why so many coats?”

He scrapes the sides of the pan, his brow furrowing as he concentrates. He seems to be making a massive portion. I certainly hope he doesn’t expect me to eat all of it.

“Different weather requires different coats,” he explains. “The one you wore is most suited to autumn and spring. It’s waterproof and windproof, but it isn’t as warm as you’d need it to be for massive snowfall.”

“I see. You all must be really adept at the weather up here if you’ve been here for so long.”

“Maybe a little more adept than most,” he says with a pointed look at my crop top. He grins disarmingly and I chuckle.

“To be fair, I wasn’t expecting to get stuck here with just these,” I say, tugging at the hem of my shirt, trying to cover my bare belly. There’s no point. The shirt was meant to be revealing. It isn’t going to change now just because my plans have.

“That is fair,” he says, his attention back on the food in the pan. He’s grabbed another one now, and is adding butter to it. I’m not sure what he’s cooking, but my mouth is beginning to water. As he says that, I feel a presence behind me. I turn to find Emmett… the lumberjack… hovering in the doorway. He gives me a slow nod, then steps into the kitchen and leans against the counter opposite me with his arms folded.

A moment later, Beau comes in. Hunter turns and grins at both of them.