Kelsey

He was here? While my head tried to wrap around that fact, my girlie parts were already rejoicing. Down girls. Had I even shaved this morning? Why? Why did these thoughts have to pop in my head? I’d gone from amazed he was here to automatically sleeping with him. I was mad at him, not having sex. No wonder boys had a hard time figuring out a girl if I could go to such extremes in such a short space of time.

There was a knock on the truck door which made me smile. “Come in, it’s open,” I called out, laughing full out when his grumpy, yet still handsome face, poked in.

“You didn’t even check to see who it was, and you should have had your doors locked.”

“No, no, no. You don’t get to come in and bark at me. You hung up the phone five seconds ago, of course it’s you. And, I unlocked it in that moment.” Maybe not the latter, but I’d meant to.

“I’m not barking. I’m just - I need to get some things out of the truck.”

“Like what?”

“Blankets, food, drinks.”

I pointed to the back. “Got it all, although I guess you might want to get some stuff for yourself.” Wait was he staying in here with me or in his truck?

“I’ll be back. Lock the doors until I am.”

I gave him a mock salute enjoying messing with him. Once he returned, I had to ask the question burning in my mind. “Why are you here, Scott?”

He instantly appeared uncomfortable. “Because I was worried. You didn’t leave for an overnight strip and I assumed you wouldn’t have any supplies.”

“I’m a big girl and smart enough to know that I needed to stop and get some things, just in case.”

“You lost time stopping at the store.”

Exasperation. Boss Man Scott was kind of hot, but he was also a real jerk. “Would you rather I be here without anything? Better safe than sorry. I thought it was your motto.”

“Fine.”

“No. Not fine. You underestimated me. Say it.”

I don’t know who was more surprised with my bossy tone, but that had nothing on the shock I felt when he said these words. “I did underestimate you, and for that, I’m sorry. However, I still didn’t want you up here alone. I felt guilty that I was supposed to have gone with you today. But - ”

“You wigged out,” I supplied, too aware of how close we were sitting in the cab of the truck. As the snow fell around us, the windows started fogging with the heater on, it felt as though we were cocooned in our own little world.

“I didn’t wig out.”

“Yeah you did. It’s why you cancelled out on riding with me today.”

“I may have let it affect my - ”

“Wigged out.” Now I was just being bratty.

He smirked. “Maybe. It was wrong in either case.”

“So, what now?”

“Friends?”

“With benefits?” Hey, my girly parts made me ask.

He groaned, looking quite pained. “You are not a ‘friends with benefits’ kind of girl, Kels.”

I was mildly offended. Not that I’d ever done it before. But how hard can it be? Have sex with your hot friend. It really didn’t seem to have a down side. “How do you know. I could have lots of friends with er - benefits.” Crap that sounded slutty, didn’t it?

His laughter filled the cab. I held my breath when his hand reached out, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “I don’t want to have the talk after something happens, to say that I don’t want to hurt you. You’re going back to college and I’m - well I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

He’d used air quotes, so I did the same. “I don’t want to have the talk either.” I certainly had more pride than to beg for sex or give him all the reasons why everything would be fine afterwards. Instead I decided to focus on other matters.

“So, friend. What kind of snacks did you bring. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”

***

It turned out that I had all the good stuff. “Wow, the reveal was kind of a letdown to be honest. Clearly I have the better end of the deal here.”

He chuckled at my double entendre. “I was in a hurry, and beef jerky and protein bars are acceptable snacks.”

“Not compared to cheese puffs and chocolate bars they aren’t. Plus, what the hell are these, Scott?” I held up the hot pockets. “Where were you gonna find a microwave?”

“Some of the newer trucks have them. In my defense, I sort of did a grab and go.”

“Man, a truck with a microwave sounds fancy. So, um, where are you sleeping?”

“I thought I’d sleep in here to keep you warm. Conserve heat. We can’t keep the truck running all night long. I brought two cold weather sleeping bags.”

Two huh?

The heater in this truck wasn’t the best, and my hands were already freezing from being outside earlier and from having to change the tire. It seems like once I’d caught a chill, I had never really warmed up. But it was near thirty degrees outside and we could always start the rig back up if it got too cold in the cab. Or, maybe my friend could warm me up.