The country music played through the speakers as Darryl’s truck lights showed off the glistening snowy night. Up ahead, a plow threw dirt onto the snow banks ahead of them, the yellow light on top of the truck nearly blinding.
“You’re not afraid of snowmobiles, are you?” Darryl asked, breaking the silence.
She glanced sideways, watching the relaxed way he drove on their three-hour drive into the wilderness. Yeah, he kinda proved already he could handle just about anything he faced. “Are you kidding me?” She guffawed. “I’m not scared of anything.” Okay, maybe letting herself be vulnerable, but he didn’t need to know that. “Where are we going, anyway?”
“Now that’s a surprise.” His mouth twitched.
A surprise, huh? She couldn’t remember the last time anyone surprised her—if ever. She crossed her legs, staring out at the mesmerizing snow in the truck’s headlights as they climbed the summit.
When they finally reached the top, Darryl turned into a driveway that led to a cabin in what defined a postcard-perfect winter getaway. The log cabin was hugged by a mature forest of evergreen trees. With all the lights in the cabin turned on, the floor-to-ceiling triangular windows all but glowed, welcoming anyone into its warmth. “Geez, this place is gorgeous.” When he stopped the truck, she hurried out into the brisk cold night, lifting her scarf that she’d received today a little higher onto her neck.
“It’s been in my family for generations,” he explained. “Passed down, and now belongs to me and Ashley.”
Penelope took in the lights again, a sudden realization hitting her. “I thought you said your sister is in En
gland.”
“She is.” Darryl pressed a strong hand against her back, leading her up to the front door, with their two bags in one hand. “I automated the cabin a couple years ago to switch the lights on and turn up the heat remotely so we’re good to go when we come.”
“Convenient,” she said, kinda impressed by that. She could barely get her life together. Darryl seemed to be so far ahead of the game.
Once she followed him in, she found a quaint cabin, with a cute and cozy living room with a big white faux fur rug in front of the stone fireplace and a brown leather couch. At the far back was a small galley kitchen and an island with tall chairs. The bathroom was set next to the staircase that had a loft-style bedroom.
Darryl dropped their bags near the couch. “You can marvel over the cabin later. I’ve got a surprise waiting for you.” He moved to the coat tree near the front door. “This is all Ashley’s stuff.” He handed her an armful of snow gear, including snow pants and big winter boots. “You’re about the same size.”
Well, no, Ashely was a size smaller, but Penelope squeezed into the gear as Darryl easily got into his.
“Ready?” he asked once he finished.
She nodded, wrapping her scarf around her face up to her nose. “Ready.”
He led her outside to the small shed off to the right side of the house. After he vanished inside, an engine roared to life, followed by him exiting and pushing a snowmobile. He offered her a helmet before he fastened his own.
“Good to go?” he asked.
She gave a big thumbs-up with her enormous mittens.
He adjusted her scarf until all that showed was her eyes. “It’s a cold one.” He grabbed his face scarf, placing it over his nose, then he got on the snowmobile and she settled in behind him.
She wrapped her arms around him tight, and then they were off. Apart from feeling like a giant pillow in her snow gear, the ride was incredible. The moon was bright along the journey, guiding their way, as did the light on the snowmobile. Darryl obviously knew the area well as he went a decent speed through the forest on a snow-covered trail until the snowmobile slowed.
When he stopped and cut the ignition, she got off and glanced out at the frozen pond, unable to believe her eyes. She moved closer, squinting at the lights she could see on the other side. The rows of cabins, with lights on inside.
“Is this…?” She could barely get the words out.
Darryl stepped closer. “Our spot.”
She pulled her scarf aside then glanced into the warmth of his eyes. His face mask was down, and she could see his breath was quick, like her own. Unable to find words to explain the emotion squeezing at her heart, she glanced around and spotted the big large boulder. Not much had changed in the area in the ten years she’d been there except the snow that covered the ground. “You kissed me right here.” She turned around and sat on the rock, exactly like she had that one warm night.
Darryl smiled, identical to that night she had never been able to forget. As he strode toward her, reality flickered, the past returning like no time had passed by at all.
God, Darryl was hot. Lean, and his hair was so messy and wild, with eyes that melted her bones. While she loved her summers in River Rock with her cousins, it providing a nice break from all the yelling and fighting at home between her parents, she never expected to find Darryl. He’d been the best surprise of getting the job as a camp counselor she never wanted but her aunt forced her to get.
Darryl brought heat and intensity with him as he approached her with purposeful steps, and that curve of his mouth told her he was coming in for a kiss. She wanted his kiss.
“You’re going to get me fired,” he said. “We both could get fired for this.”
“It’s fun to live on the wild side.” She smiled, all for show. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. This was so happening. She slowly pressed herself against the boulder behind her. “And I know you want me as much as I want you.” Five days they’d had together, flirting, laughing, and teasing each other. The best five days of her life.