“I don’t know. I came inside to find you first,” he answered, his voice sounding closer.
“I’m in the hall outside of the bathroom.”
“Stay there. I’m going to get a flashlight from my bedroom.”
After several thuds, followed by cursing, he returned to the hallway with a flashlight. Correction, what he had in his hand could rival a stage spotlight. “Where did you get the mother of all flashlights?” I asked, genuinely curious.
He smirked, “It’s a military grade tactical flashlight, the brightest one on the market.”
“Of course, it is,” I said flatly.
“Come on,” he said, reaching to grab my hand. “Let’s go see what that noise was.”
Noise? Sonic booms weren’t as loud as whatever just happened, but I chose to keep that opinion to myself as he was already dragging me along behind him. When we reached the living room, he handed me the beam of light and suddenly had a gun in his hand. “Keep the light pointed at the door, but stay behind me,” he ordered and yanked open the front door.
“Fuck!” he cursed, lowering his gun and moving to the side so I could see. A large tree had crashed through his front porch, effectively blocking the front door. “I knew I should’ve had that damn thing cut down.”
I laughed, “Looks like you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
He gave me a flat look. “You do realize this means we’re stuck here for the next few days at least, right?”
“Why is that?”
“Driveway’s blocked,” he said and pointed to the right. I stood on my tiptoes and followed his finger. The tree had fallen across his driveway and narrowly missed taking out his garage.
“I can think of worse things than being stuck in a house with you during a snowstorm…” I trailed off and gave him a coy look.
He closed the door and locked it. “Stay here while I get a flashlight for you. Then, I need you to help me make sure all doors and windows are locked. We also need to shut all interior doors and close off the entry points to this room. Then, I’ll get a fire started to keep us warm. Oh, can you grab blankets and pillows from the bedrooms?”
I couldn’t contain the smile spreading across my face. I was stuck in a house with an incredibly sexy man, complete with little to no lighting and a fire. Oh, yes, I could work with that. “Of course, whatever you need,” I said and placed a kiss on his cheek.
He returned with another flashlight on steroids and sent me on my way to complete my assigned tasks. It didn’t take us long to secure the house and gather the necessary items. He got started on the fire while I used bed sheets to block off the open entryways to the room. Thankfully, there were only two I had to contend with.
I finished making us a cozy place to sleep before he was satisfied with the fire, so I snuck into the kitchen to grab something I saw earlier in the week. When I returned, he stood and turned to face me. I held the bag up and asked, “Please? I’ve never done it before.”
He laughed, “You want to roast marshmallows in my fireplace?”
“I don’t believe there’s a stipulation requiring them to be roasted outside.”
He grinned, “I suppose you’re right. I’ll be right back.”
He returned with two wire coat hangers and set about straightening them. “Even though you’ve never done it, do you know how?”
I shrugged, “I guess so. Spear marshmallow, stick in fire, remove from fire, eat marshmallow, and repeat?”
He grinned with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes and handed me my coat hanger. “Have at it.”
Not even two minutes later, I was shrieking, “Help! It’s on fire. What do I do? What do I do?”
Copper was laughing so hard he was gasping for air and cradling his stomach. “Blow on it,” he finally managed.
I rolled my eyes and did as he said. The flame went out, leaving me with a mass of charred goop. I glanced at Copper and saw a lightly browned, somewhat misshapen, marshmallow on the end of his coat hanger. “Dibs!” I declared and snatched his marshmallow, quickly popping it into my mouth, spawning an immediate mouthgasm.
Copper groaned. “You need to stop that,” he said huskily.
“Stop what?”
“Making those sex noises while you eat.”