Vivian Arend - Rocky Mountain Rebel

“Hmm, yeah.” His lips touched her cheek again, tender and soft. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” The absolute relaxation stealing through her limbs meant she wasn’t even sure she had the energy to crawl under the covers properly.

“Give me a second, then we can cuddle up.”

He was gone, stroking her arm as he pulled away. He must have dealt with the condom, but how and where—not only the dark but lethargy made it impossible for her to worry about details. She sighed when he rearranged her on the air mattress, tucked her against his body and covered them both with the sleeping bag.

“I think I like camping,” Vicki admitted.

“You warm enough?”

She hummed contentedly, sleep sneaking up and dragging her off.

“Yeah, I figured.” Joel stroked her stomach, the intimate caress so soft as he slipped his fingers over her skin. “Body heat for the win.”

His nose was freezing.

Joel stared at the roof of the tent and wondered why the material was drooping so badly. Had one of the support poles broken during the night? It was only after reluctantly leaving Vicki’s toasty warm body he realized what was up.

He nudged her hip. “Hey, look at the surprise.”

She rolled, hair tousled around her head, sleep-filled eyes opening slowly. “If this is one of those kinky sex things, can we do it later?”

Joel lifted her into his lap and cuddled her close as he unzipped the tent fly. “Save the kink for another time. Look.”

“Holy shit.”

Vicki squirmed upright, her soft ass pressing his groin. Hmmm. Maybe he’d been too quick to say he wasn’t going to bring the kink this morning.

She wiggled with excitement. “That’s snow.”

Everything outside the tent was blanketed with a couple inches of the white stuff. The tree branches were turned into picture-perfect Christmas-card decorations, the marker rocks around the edges of the campsite mushroom-capped.

Icy coldness poured in the door and wrapped around them. Vicki tugged the flannel material closer to her chest. “It snowed, and we’re camping. Go us.”

“A first time for everything.” He kissed the top of her head and gently slipped her back into the sleeping bag. “Curl up for a while. I’ll get coffee going, and the rest of breakfast.”

She squirmed away, her gaze dropping over him, and he smiled at her expression. Nice to know he was appreciated.

She lifted her eyes, cheeks lightly flushed. “Can I help?”

“Relax. It’ll take a while to get things going.” Joel grabbed his clothes from where they were scattered around the tent, hauled them on and snuck out before all the heat escaped.

Other than having to brush snow off the picnic table and benches, the layer of white wasn’t much of an inconvenience. It gave a fresh, clean feel to the morning, and soon the four of them were sipping coffee and eating the breakfast burritos Vicki’d prepared in foil so he could easily reheat them.

“It changes things, doesn’t it?” Hope gestured around them. “Makes everything renewed, in a way. People always say springtime is the fresh start, but I love the snow.”

“It’s the good memories, that’s why.” Matt winked. “Come on, we have time for a walk before we head back to town.”

Joel enjoyed every minute of it. Holding Vicki’s hand as they tromped through the snow. Making snowballs and smacking Matt in the back of the head, as his brother and Hope rounded a corner in front of them.

By the time they were on the drive home, Joel was as relaxed as he’d been in days.

Hope twisted in the front seat to look at Vicki. She cleared her throat. “If it’s not too weird, I have a question.”

Under his arm, Vicki tensed. “What’s up?”

Hope glanced at Matt, who nodded encouragingly. “I’ve got a bit of a problem, and I wondered if you might help me. You know there’s an apartment over top of my quilt shop?”

“That’s where you live, right?”

Hope nodded. “Well, I’m there less often than I should be these days. I tend to stay with Matt at his trailer, and yet I don’t want to give up the apartment. I don’t really want to have some stranger move in above the shop.”

Joel held his breath. His little chat on the side a day earlier with Matt had resulted in a solution far quicker than he’d expected.

“I wondered if you’d be interested in taking the second bedroom in the apartment. That way someone will be around who I can trust, and…” Hope sighed heavily. “Okay, maybe it’s stupid. Or mean, I don’t know which. But to be honest, my sister Helen has been bugging me about wanting to move back into the place. I’ve told her no a dozen times, but she’s not giving up.”

Joel shook his head. “Why the hell would she think living with you is a good idea when you’re marrying her ex?”

Hope shrugged. “I think we’ve established something is wrong with Helen. No, she doesn’t see why it’s impossible for her to move in with me. With us. And maybe this is a cop-out, but I figure it might shut her up if I tell her the room is filled.”

Vicki nodded slowly. “I might be interested. It would depend what the rent is. If I can afford it.”

Hope hesitated. “Also, I don’t want to mess you up in terms of having a place to live. It’s only a short-term thing because I’m looking at relocating the shop come the spring. Matt and I will live full time on Coleman land, and having a slightly bigger store is in the books.”

“So you only need a roommate until the spring?”

Joel hid his smile. This would work out perfectly. Meant the creep across the hall from Vicki would no longer be a concern, and it was true, Helen was impossible at times. “You’re damn patient with your sister.”

Hope turned back to face the road. “What choice do I have? Ignore her? She’s been better lately, except for this strange insistence she live with me.”

Matt spoke up. “Vicki, think it over, but I’d be very grateful if moving doesn’t put you out too much. I can help.”

Vicki seemed to be holding her breath. “I’m not sure what to say. Thank you.”

“We can look at the details when we get home, okay?” Hope rested her head on Matt’s shoulder. “I’m too relaxed right now to talk money.”

The snow disappeared as they drew closer to Rocky Mountain House and farther out of the mountains. By the time they were on Main Street there was nothing left except a wet slick on the ground.

“Fuck.” Vicki jerked upright. “Stop the truck.”

Matt pulled over before the next set of lights. “What’s wrong?”

Joel stared out the window, trying to see what had her all riled up. “Vicki?”

She already had her door open. “Speaking of pain-in-the-ass family, Sarah just walked past. Or staggered past. Sorry, I need to go.”

All the happiness on her face had vanished, her body tight as she slipped from the vehicle and headed down the sidewalk.

Joel tapped Matt on the shoulder. “If you want to—”

“Just go. We’ll be here to help if you need it.”

Joel scrambled out the door after Vicki, racing to close the distance between them.

Sarah was on her feet, but leaning unsteadily against a wall between shops. Definitely underdressed for the cool temperature, her makeup, which had probably been fancy and fine the night before, made her look more like a raccoon than a sexy woman.

Vicki had her coat off and around her sister’s shoulders before Joel had time to react.

“What the hell are you doing?” Vicki planted her fists on her hips. “Don’t you ever sleep in your own bed?”

Sarah looked over Vicki before running a gaze up and down Joel, speculation in her eyes. “Whose bed were you in last night, lil’ sis? I don’t think you slept alone. So get off your virginal high horse.”