Merry and Bright Read online

  “Damn-A-straight you’ll go.”

  “—help you, however you need,” he said with infuriating patience.

  “I already told you, I don’t need your help.”

  “Maybe I could—”

  “I said no.”

  He merely looked at her in that quiet and steady way he had, except . . .

  Except not. They were toe to toe, standing just a little too close, and suddenly she realized she was breathing just a little too hard. But so was he.

  Why did he have to be so . . . sexy? Because that really wasn’t a fair distribution of the goods. And what the hell was he thinking about when he looked at her like that, with his eyes so heated behind those glasses? She didn’t know, but he leaned in a little, and she did the same, letting out a soft, anticipatory breath as—

  At the top of the stairs, the door opened. Lori stuck her head in and peered down at them. “Hey, did you guys know you were locked in?”

  4

  Danny climbed the stairs back to his room, not thinking about his job or what he was here for or the snow, but how Hope had looked in her pj’s, all hot and sweaty and so sexy he’d nearly swallowed his own tongue.

  They’d bickered.

  Gotten hot.

  Bickered some more.

  And gotten hotter. Not cold, which would have been the logical response to being locked in a cellar in the freezing alien turf he’d landed in.

  But hot.

  With a grim sigh, he pulled out his cell phone and called Edward.

  “You get a check?” his boss asked.

  That was Edward—always on a hell-bent wave to take over the planet. That had been attractive to Danny when he’d first hired on three years back, but was growing old. “Have you been out here at all? Your sister’s really done something with the place.”

  “Did you get a check?”

  Danny sighed. “She’s your sister, Ed.”

  “Fine. Renegotiate.”

  “Really?” Danny asked, surprised. Relieved. “Because she’s got the money coming from the lawsuit, or so she believes. A little more time would really help her out. What terms?”

  “One year, triple the interest.”

  “What?” Danny laughed. “Come on, man. She can’t afford that. No one could afford that.”

  “Those are the terms.”

  Danny’s smile faded and he scrubbed a hand over his face. “You can’t do this.”

  “Then make sure she pays on time.”

  “Yeah.” Danny slid his phone in his pocket and shook his head. He loved handling money. Specifically, loved handling other people’s money. Eddie’s had been a challenge and a lot of fun.

  But the fun had definitely gone.

  Plus there was something else. He needed something more. More fun, certainly. He also needed . . . well, he wasn’t sure exactly, but he was beginning to understand that he was going to have to make a change to get it.

  He stripped and showered, which didn’t cool him off. He’d rather still be locked in the cellar, stuck there with Hope so they could get past their differences.

  And their clothes.

  Yeah, and now he had that fantasy playing in his head, her naked and gorgeous and—

  The thundering sound echoed around him without warning, making the entire house shudder.

  Earthquake.

  He grabbed a towel, threw it around his hips, and barreled out of his room, taking the stairs so fast he nearly flew, but all he could think was that those rickety old stairs in the cellar were going to collapse and trap Hope, who was still down there with Lori.

  Hitting the bottom step, he pivoted toward the kitchen and crashed into Hope. The collision sent them both skidding across the tile entrance hall, and he lost his towel.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  He would be if he wasn’t butt-ass naked. He grabbed his towel and resecured it, hoping she hadn’t seen.

  She was sitting on the floor, staring up at the ceiling in the awkward silence.

  She’d seen.

  “Well,” she finally said. “I guess it’s true what they say about a guy with big feet.”

  Danny felt himself blush. “That was an accident.”

  “Not a bad one, really. You perked the morning right up.”

  He closed his eyes, grateful he’d left his glasses on the counter in the bathroom so that he couldn’t see worth shit.

  Hope shoved her hair out of her face and let out a long breath.

  “I’m sorry,” he managed.

  “For nearly killing me, or for flashing me?”

  “There was an earthquake. Probably only a four, but I thought of the cellar stairs, and—”

  “There wasn’t an earthquake. It was just snow unloading off the roof and eaves.”

  He stared at her as she burst into laughter. “Not used to being wrong in your world, huh, Genius Boy?”

  He turned his head and looked out the wall of windows of the living room, which revealed . . .

  Snow.

  And more snow.

  It was piled high in berms along the roof line now that the roof had unloaded. Shit. With a sigh, he pushed to his feet, gripping his towel like it was a lifeline. He offered her a hand and she popped up so quickly that she had to put a hand out for balance, which happened to land on his chest.

  A simple touch.

  An accidental touch.

  And yet somehow, it rocked his world. He looked into her face, braced for a mocking smile, but she appeared to be as shocked as he as she stared down at her hand on his bare skin, almost as if it were touching him against her will.

  He wasn’t touched a lot in his world. He had friends, some of the female persuasion, and he dated.

  But it’d been a while.

  So Hope’s hand had a bolt of heat shooting straight through him. It weakened his knees and left a knot of anticipation in his gut.

  Possibly feeling the same, but probably not, Hope shoved free of him and headed for the hallway that led to her rooms. Her pj bottoms were low on her hips, her cami not quite meeting them, revealing a strip of smooth, creamy skin low on her back. Her shoulders were bare, too, and he stood there in his towel, feeling extremely naked. “Where are you going?”

  “To watch Oprah and eat bonbons,” she said over her shoulder. “Because that’s what I do, lay around all day and let this place fall apart.”

  “I never said that.”

  “I’m going to get dressed. I advise you to do the same. There’s enough cracks in this old house. Oh, and I wouldn’t bother with the fancy clothes.” She stared back at him. “Wouldn’t want you to get dirty.”

  The clothes he’d brought were his work clothes, but she had a point. They were good for his office, but certainly not hers. “I don’t mind getting dirty.”

  “Hmm,” was all she said, and kept moving, those thin cotton pants sagging even lower on her hips, making him wonder if she wore anything beneath. He didn’t see how, which didn’t help, and he gripped his towel tighter. Not that it mattered, she’d seen everything he had to see.

  Plus she was already gone.

  The storm had dumped four feet of fresh snow overnight, rendering Danny’s car completely useless and also temporarily closing the roads.

  Since Hope had made it clear what she thought of him being around, he decided to get some work done while she cooked up a breakfast for her guests. Problem was, the Internet connection was shoddy. The only place to get a steady connection was at the kitchen table, which apparently put him in Hope’s way because every time she passed by, he felt her boring holes into him with her eyes.

  “The roads are closed,” he told her lightly, not looking up from his laptop. “I can’t leave.”

  “Which apparently is karma’s idea of a joke.” With a sigh, she moved through.

  “Don’t worry about her.”

  Danny turned to Lori, who came in the back room door taking out the trash. She was taller than Hope, darker skinned and brunette. Beautiful, a