Getting out, she looked over at Amanda, who was still trying to push the car out. Despite it being in park.
“I think it’s stuck.” Ruth rubbed her gloved hands over her chilled arms.
“Don’t say that!” Amanda groaned and stopped trying to push. Just then, a cop car pulled up with its lights flashing but no siren. Amanda turned and looked at the car and cursed. Loudly.
The cruiser stopped in the middle of the street because in Landstad, you can, and the door opened, revealing a tall, handsome cop. His bulky jacket and winter hat didn’t hide who he was. Hue Strong had been a cop in town a number of years and had grown up here.
“Need help, ladies?” he asked, but he was only looking at Amanda.
“Hue, I need a ride to the nursing home.” Amanda seemed to have gotten over her anger at the cop being there.
“This isn’t a taxi service, Nordskov,” Hue stated, though he was smiling, and Ruth was one hundred percent sure he would give her a ride.
“You’re basically a glorified traffic cop, Strong. I am going to guarantee that nobody is going to speed through town tonight.” Amanda grabbed her bag from the back seat of the car. “Ruth, can you turn off my car and run my keys to my apartment? Hubert here will be driving me around tonight.”
Hue shook his head but went around the cruiser and opened the door for her. As she got into the car, he stated, “Don’t call me Hubert.” Then he slammed the door on Amanda and headed around the car. “Night, Ruth.”
“Goodnight, Hue,” she said with a smile, seeing the sexual tension behind their banter. Romance was her jam, after all.
Doing as Amanda instructed, she shut off the car and locked it, even if she was sure Amanda never did. Few doors were locked in this town, home, or vehicle. Sure, they had crime, but they mostly knew who was committing the crime.
Up the stairs, she found Amanda’s apartment unlocked and set the keys on her table. Looking around, she didn’t really notice much about this apartment, not the worn carpet or the faded paint. All if which she left up to the tenant to change if they wanted. It was one thing she knew most owners didn’t allow but she wanted her tenants to make their apartments their home. Not that anyone actually knew that since she used a rental agency so that nobody who rented from her actually knew she was the owner.
Leaving Amanda’s apartment, she went down the stairs and back out into the blizzard, only this time it was just to get home. Now that she had nothing keeping her, she was in a hurry. It was freezing after all, and she had regretted not taking a jacket since stepping foot out the door.
She had expected to hit a wall of cold, not a wall of man. She instantly barreled right into someone walking down the sidewalk, a sidewalk in North Dakota in the dark in the middle of a blizzard that should be completely empty.
Unable to get her balance back with the slippery snow under her feet, she could feel she was going to fall into the snowbank that Amanda had only made larger with her snow shovel. As she fell, she held tight to the man’s bulky jacket. Her body hit the snow, and he landed on top of her in a pile of arms and legs and a very distinct cologne.
Her eyes instantly searched his face and found the answer: Anderson. Her very own, very sexy, very drunk boss was pressing her body into a snowbank. Between the freezing cold on her back and his head on hers, she was instantly too confused to even think. Not that she wanted to.
His hands were around her waist and had slipped under her sweatshirt in the fall. She quietly cursed the layer of thermal shirt that blocked his fingers from touching skin. This was her every fantasy come true, and she was wearing too much clothing.
His eyes found hers, and he gave her a small smile as the snow fell around them and the wind whipped at their clothes. Time stopped when she thought he was going to kiss her. All she could do was watch his mouth as it descended towards hers.
Was this really happening, or had her imagination gotten away from her? Again!