Abi pushed herself and set a good pace going up the snow-covered road if she did say so herself. Of course, Stone wouldn’t say as much, so she had to compliment herself whenever possible. She found a trail veering deeper into the mountains and took off in that direction. Stone followed without complaint or concern. He wasn’t even breathing hard. She should’ve stopped for a drink, but she had something to prove to Stone, or maybe she was just upset with him or with herself or with Jace or Virginia. She wasn’t really sure, but it was all coming to the surface today. Going faster seemed to bring up more emotion instead of burning it up and cleansing like exercise could usually do. Why did Jace have to be a class-one a-hole? Why did Stone have to be such a protector and take everything so hard? Why did Virginia and the baby have to die? Abi had no answers, and of course, she couldn’t talk to Stone about it. He didn’t “talk.”

“Abi.” He called out.

She looked over her shoulder. “What?”

“How far we going?”

She stopped and pivoted around to face him on the narrow trail. She hadn’t been paying much attention, but they’d been climbing for a while now. Taking out her water bottle, she drank a big gulp. “Maybe we’ll go all the way to Midway. Grams will make us hot cocoa and cookies.”

“You keep up this pace, and we’ll make it for dinner.” He gestured with his head toward the mountains to the west. “But those clouds don’t look good. Let’s get a drink and head back.”

Abi hated when he was all calm and reasonable and told her what to do. “No. I’m going to the top of this ridge, and I’m going to enjoy the view. I’m from Park City. I can handle a little snow.” She turned her back on him.

“Abi.” He growled from behind her.

She ignored him, shoved her water bottle back in her backpack, and stomped off up the trail. He could turn around like some wuss who’d never seen snow. See if she cared. He was coming up behind her fast, so she increased her speed. With the cloud cover, it was warm for mid-January, and she was sweating in her down-filled coat.

“Abi.” He tried again. “We need to turn around.”

“No. I’m sick of you ruining all my fun.” She sounded like a pouty little girl, but she really was sick of their situation. Their friendship sometimes felt like a hundred percent effort on her part and eighty percent resistance on his. Why did she pour all of her energy and heart into him and receive nothing in return? Maybe it was time for her to finally move on like Julia tried to counsel her every other day. She usually told Julia to save the advice for her paying clients.

Increasing her speed, she huffed and puffed, her legs felt like they were full of sludge and her chest was tight, but she would get to the top of this mountain, snow or shine. Fat flakes of snow started plopping on her, but she ignored them like she ignored Stone.

“Last warning. You turn around now, or I’ll …”

Abi snorted at him. He wasn’t going to do anything to her. He’d already broken her heart repeatedly. What else could he do? Push her off the edge? It would hurt a lot less than his inability to love her.

She pushed harder and faster, annoyed when tears crested her eyelids. Blinking quickly, she plunged forward. The trail fell away sharply to her left so she hugged the mountain on her right a little closer. She rounded a corner, and the trail widened again. It was probably only another half of a mile before she would crest this ridge. Not that she’d have much of a view with how socked in the valley was. The snow was getting thicker too. Putting her tongue out, she enjoyed a few flakes. At least, the snow cooled the heat in her face, so Stone wouldn’t know she’d been crying as the wetness blended.

Without warning, Stone tackled her from behind. Abi let out a yelp of surprise as his weight landed on top of hers. Luckily, the two feet of snow on the side of the trail cushioned their fall. Stone’s arms stayed wrapped around her as he moved to her side. Abi rolled onto her back with a groan. Then Stone was flat on top of her, staring intently at her.

“Get off.” She protested. Dang, he was heavy, but it still felt amazing to have him this close, even with snow clothes on.

“No.” His normally bluish-gray eyes were sparking blue at her like lightning. She didn’t know that she’d ever seen him mad before. He was almost always grumpy and withdrawn but never outright angry. “Not until you stop being a brat and turn around with me.”

Abi pushed at his chest, but he wasn’t budging. “You’re killing me here. Get off, you big old fatty.”

“Fatty?” The anger left, and humor rushed in. Abi loved seeing emotion on Stone. “I’ll show you what this fatty can do.” He pushed off of her and stood quickly. Reaching down, he scooped her up by the waist and legs and threw her over his shoulder. Her poles dangled from her wrists and her snowshoes banged against his legs as she thrashed.

“Put me down.”

“No. If I have to carry you down this mountain, I will.”

Abi laughed then. “Put me down, Stone. If you’re that worried about the storm, I’ll stop being a ‘brat’ and turn around.”

He let her slide to her feet, but kept his arm around her. Even through her snow coat it felt incredible to be close to him. “You promise?”

“You know I hate to obey you, but I’ll sacrifice just this once.”

His smile was full of relief as he gestured down the trail. “Lead the way.”

Just like that, she forgot all of her anger and latched on to the hope that his smile gave her. Abi rolled her eyes at herself. She was such a sucker for him. She grabbed on to her pole handles and started the descent. It was hard to see too far down the trail with the snow swirling around them. She hugged the mountain to make sure she didn’t plunge off the edge. As the snow got thicker, visibility lessened. Crap. She should’ve listened to Stone and turned around earlier. She started envisioning getting back to his cabin, the fire, hot cocoa. They would be warm and toasty. Her gear was high quality, but the wind had picked up, and it was stinging her cheeks.

“You okay?” Stone said from behind her. “You want me to lead the way?”

“Maybe.” She admitted. “I can’t see anything.”

The whirling snow was starting to scare her. She’d seen blizzards before from inside a house and once in a car. The car ride had been scary, but she’d never been caught out in the open like this.

She stopped, and Stone shuffled around her. He squeezed her arm. “We’ll be okay.”

Abi forced a smile, but her lips were numb, and it came out rubbery and unconvincing. What if she’d put them both in danger plunging ahead like she had?

Stone started down the trail, and she kept as close to him as she could on the snowshoes. They reached a large clearing where the trail leveled out for a while, and he paused. Snow swirled around them, and it was getting impossible to see. They picked their way across the clearing. At least, she thought they were making it across, but without the mountain on one side and a cliff on the other, she was losing her bearings. Stone stopped again.

“You okay?” Abi had to yell to be heard over the wind.

He turned to her. “I can’t find the trail.”

“Aw, crap.”

They skirted the clearing for a while and ended up looking at their tracks going up the mountain, quickly being covered with the never-ending snow and the vicious wind. They circled back around. Well, she thought they were circling, but she wasn’t certain of any direction at the moment. They couldn’t see any kind of trail that led out of the clearing.

Stone stopped, and she ran into his back. “Oomph.”

He turned and laid a gloved hand on her coat sleeve. “We might have to dig in until this calms down.”

“Seriously?”

She couldn’t see his face clearly through the flakes to know if he was being serious or not.

“I don’t dare plunge ahead and either get lost or go off a cliff.”

Abi nodded, but she wasn’t sure if he could even see the movement. He tugged her toward a copse of trees that might provide a little protection from the wind and snow. The ground seemed to slope up the mountain. Stone slipped his snowshoes off, knelt down, and started digging with his gloved hands.

“You really are going to dig in?” Abi pulled her snowshoes off, knelt next to him, and imitated the motion. This could take them days. Search and rescue would find them frozen in a half-dug tunnel. Abi shivered and said a quick prayer.

“In case the storm goes all night,” Stone said.

Abi’s stomach swirled worse than the thick flakes. She’d put them in a really bad situation. She dug faster, and amazingly, they started making progress, forming a sort of snow cave in the side of the mountain. It was getting harder to reach in. Stone turned around and kicked and dug at the walls and floor with his snow boots and then turned back around and scooped the snow out that he’d knocked loose. Abi joined him. They’d kick for a while then rotate and scoop out. It would’ve been kind of fun, like little kids building a snow fort, if she weren’t shivering from the snow that had made its way down her neck. The wind and stinging snow pelting them on their exposed cheeks and noses didn’t help either.

As they got deeper into their little cave, she started getting a little warmer. Maybe they would survive. Hopefully, the storm would pass and they could head out. She wondered if Stone was only working on the snow cave to keep her occupied.

She had no clue how much time passed, but the blizzard seemed to be getting worse. When she looked at the meadow, she couldn’t even see the trees closest to them. The cave was deep enough and wide enough that they could both wiggle into it with their entire bodies now. Stone kept digging though and pulling snow out, so she kept working too. She was getting tired and hungry, but she kept pushing. Just a few more minutes.

“Are you going to be all right if I cover up the opening?” Stone asked when there was enough room for them both to fit comfortably and not feel too claustrophobic.

Abi swallowed. “Like with me in here?”

“I’ll be with you.” She couldn’t see his face clearly, but she could tell he was smiling at her. It was a small comfort to think of his strong body and calm personality close, but she hated, hated being in closed-in and dark spaces.

“If you think you have to,” she said, going for brave.

“Keep digging. I’ll be back.”

Abi hoped he didn’t plan to just push her in and seal it off. An icy grave. She laughed to herself. Stone was a protector. He’d never do anything to hurt her, well, except for standing her up and breaking her heart repeatedly.

She turned to see where he was, but the snow was too thick. Panic gripped her, and the sweat on her back turned icy. What if he went too far away and he couldn’t find her again? What if he fell off the mountainside?

She wanted to rush after him, but she kept kicking at the walls and floor to widen and deepen their cave. If she was going to be stuck in here, she wanted as much space as possible, and she had to keep herself busy so she didn’t dwell on her fears of Stone not coming back.

Way too much time passed, and the fort was expanding. A shovel would’ve been miraculous but so would a fire, and she wasn’t going to waste time wishing for the impossible. She pushed a load of snow out and saw a movement through the flakes. Stone appeared, dragging a bunch of pine boughs. Relief whooshed through her. Stone was here and she knew he’d protect her.

He set the boughs down and sat next to her, working his way into the cave. “Looks good.” He motioned to her. “Come all the way in.”

Abi slid down in on her back. There was almost a foot of clearance above her, and when she made it all the way in, the snow and wind weren’t pelting her face anymore, but there wasn’t much side-to-side room. She and Stone would certainly be cozy. The thought brought a flush to her cheeks.

Stone rolled over onto his stomach, pushing Abi into the corner. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“I’m good.”

She looked back and saw he was pulling the pine boughs over the opening. Once he had them stacked to make a thick wall, there was still a tiny bit of light coming in that the storm and the boughs didn’t obliterate, but not much. At least, they weren’t sealed in by icy snow. Abi wriggled out of her backpack and rested it on her legs. Stone worked his backpack off. He rolled onto his back again, basically hugging her without arms before he made the rotation. Abi slid her goggles off and lay back on the hood of her coat. Even though they were lying on ice it was surprisingly warm in their cave.

She slipped off her gloves to open her backpack and find her water bottle. Sitting up so she didn’t spill it all over the place, she took a long drink. Stone did the same with a water bottle. Then she heard the crinkling of wrappers.

“What have you got over there?” she asked.

“You should know. You packed it all.”

“That’s right.” Abi put her water bottle back. “I’d like jerky please with a side of trail mix.”

“Coming right up.” More crinkling. “Put your hand out.”

She rested her hand against his leg, and he placed a piece of jerky in it. He’d taken his gloves off too, and the warmth of his fingers brushing hers sent awareness through her body. Abi inhaled sharply. How was she going to be trapped this close to Stone until the storm passed and not give in to all her girlish longings? She’d wanted to kiss him for as long as she could remember, probably the second she discovered boys weren’t aliens, but the four friends had made a pact back in middle school that they would never date each other and mess up their friendships. They’d dated lots of different people at Heber High, but never each other. Until the night Stone and Virginia crossed that line and changed all of their futures.

Abi wrapped her hand around the jerky, pulling away from his touch. They unwrapped and chewed in silence. She could still hear the storm swirling outside, but it was cozy in here. Too cozy. She was actually sweating, which was a pleasant contrast to how cold she’d been outside the cave. She heard Stone unzip his coat and followed suit. She finished her jerky and got another drink of water then just lay there, exhausted.

“Trail mix?” Stone asked.

“Sure, thanks.” He handed her the bag, and she took it quickly so she didn’t get all weird about this.

The trail mix and another drink of water made it so her stomach could settle down though she was far from satiated.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to Stone.

“For?”

“Not listening to you that we should turn around.”

“Oh, that.” He gave what sounded like a nervous chuckle. What had he thought she was apologizing about? “It’s fine. Probably better we ended up where we are. If we would’ve been on a steep part of the trail when the storm came on strong, we might have been in trouble.”

Abi appreciated him trying to make her feel better, but if they would’ve turned around when he wanted, they’d probably be back at his cabin by now. Fire, hot cocoa, real food. Those thoughts were almost as dangerous as wanting to have Stone put his arms around her.

“You think we’ll be here all night?” she asked.

“Maybe.”

They’d left after noon and had gone on a good hike, but it couldn’t be later than four or five in the afternoon. What in the world where they going to do cuddled up here all afternoon, evening, and night?

Stone shifted closer to her. “You mind lying on my shoulder so I’m not squished against the wall?”

Abi hoped her intake of breath wasn’t as loud in his ears as it was in hers. “Um, sure, okay.” She lifted her head and shoulders, and he slid his arm underneath her coat and then wrapped her in close so she was lying half on top of him. Her cheek rested against his neck, and she couldn’t resist inhaling. His skin smelled good, a faint trace of his cologne and the out of doors.

“Are you comfortable?” he asked.

“Yeah.” He had no clue how comfy she was. His arm was around her waist, and because her coat was unzipped, his hand had found its way underneath her coat to wrap snugly around her abdomen. She shouldn’t do it, but she wrapped both arms inside his open coat and snuggled into his warmth. She wanted to kiss the smooth skin of his jaw, but there were some lines she didn’t know that she would ever dare cross. “You comfy?”

“Um-hmm.” He sort of growled the word.

“Until your arm falls asleep.”

“Lightweight like you.” He snorted. “I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” she said threateningly. Jace and Stone had liked to tease her that she’d blow away in the wind, but she worked out hard every day, and she was tough.

He chuckled.

Abi savored the sound of his laughter and having him close. There was silence for a while, but she didn’t mind it. Maybe they could stay like this all day and night and be just fine. If she could resist sniffing his neck or throwing caution to the wind and kissing it, they would be.

“I’m sorry about standing you up this morning,” Stone said. “I wasn’t in a good place, and I didn’t want you to have to see that.”

She understood that, but she couldn’t stand the thought of him suffering alone. That was one of the reasons she pushed him out of his misery zone time and again. “I’m sorry I got mad at you.”

Stone laughed, and the rumble against her chest was glorious. “I love that you express yourself,” he said.

Did he now? That was good because she definitely wasn’t one to hold back. How much would he be willing to share? She hated to extinguish the warmth left by his laughter, but couldn’t resist asking, “Was it a fire or wreck that upset you so much?”

The silence in the cave was heavy. She could swear she could cut it, and she regretted bringing up a subject that hurt Stone. Finally, he said, “Wreck.”

She sucked in air. His arms around her were looser, and she didn’t like it, but in his arms wasn’t really her spot anyway. Not until he moved past his grief over losing Virginia and their baby. She got brave and whispered, “What about it reminded you of Virginia?”

He suddenly pulled Abi closer to his chest. She cuddled against the softness of his shirt and hardness of his muscles and wondered why he hadn’t pushed her away with that comment. Would he finally open up to her?

“The woman was pregnant.”

She waited but nothing else came. “Did she …” She couldn’t say it.

“No. She survived. I have no clue about the baby.”

Abi usually had plenty to say, but right now nothing came to mind. The seconds seemed to tick by slowly, and everything felt so awkward between them. She should’ve moved away, but if this was the only chance she had to have Stone hold her for longer than their usual brief hugs, she wasn’t really strong enough to deny herself the experience.

Yet she didn’t think she could handle it if they were trapped here all afternoon and night and still be denied a chance to take their relationship beyond friends. Maybe this was the chance she’d always hoped for. She had Stone cornered. They were closer physically than they’d ever been, and if the pulse thrumming quickly against her cheek was any indicator, it was affecting him as surely as it was her. If she was ever going to have an opportunity to break through his barriers and show him that she loved him, this could be it.

She opened her mouth to ask him something. What, she didn’t quite know, but it would be good, and it would somehow break down his walls. Then she stopped in her scheming when she realized he was shaking. Oh, no, what was going on? Stone was a rock. Had she pushed him too hard asking about the wreck and why it reminded him of Virginia?

“Stone?” she whispered.

He said nothing, but his breath was coming quicker. If she didn’t know Stone as well as she did, she would assume he was crying. This definitely wasn’t the opportunity to move past friendship. Stone was experiencing emotion, and she’d never seen that before. She’d reign in her own desires and hopefully be able to help her friend through his pain.