She pulled on mittens that matched the hat. “Are you okay?”

Grayson zipped his coat and picked up the pizza box. “I’m good. Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

What should’ve been a ten-minute ride from town to Molly and Linc’s took close to thirty. Emma held on tight to her seat the entire way as they crept through a white wall of snow. “How do you even know where you’re going?”

“I know these roads as well as I know anything.”

The SUV fishtailed, and Emma gasped.

He reached for her hand.

She tried to shake him off. “You need that to drive.”

“I don’t want you to be afraid.”

“I’m okay.”

“We’ve got four-wheel drive, so we’re totally fine. I promise.”

Emma clung to his hand and assurances until she saw the mailbox that was a miniature replica of the red barn the Abbotts called home. She released a deep sigh of relief.

Grayson pulled up next to his uncle’s Range Rover and cut the engine. “That was all kinds of fun.”

“You were great. Calm and cool under pressure.”

“Let me walk you in.”

“Maybe you should just stay here tonight rather than driving anymore.”

“Are you inviting me?” he asked in a teasing tone.

Heat flooded her entire body at the thought of spending the night with him. Thankfully, he couldn’t see that in the dark. “Your aunt would surely agree that you’d be safer here than on the roads in this.”

“If I stay, would that mean I’d get more time with you?”

“Only if you want more time with me.”

“I want it.”

“That’s good, because so do I. So you’ll stay?”

“I’ll stay.”

Chapter 3

You can't blame gravity for people falling in love.

—Albert Einstein

Realizing their date wasn’t over yet had Emma’s heart doing gymnastics. She felt breathless and overheated even though the icy air leached into the car now that the engine was off.

“Wait for me,” he said as he got out and came around for her.

He carried the pizza box and kept an arm around her as they walked toward the light over the back door that had been left on for Emma.

They stepped into the mudroom, shook the snow off their coats and hung them on hooks that bore the names of Grayson’s cousins. She followed him into the kitchen, where he stashed the pizza in the fridge and helped himself to one of his uncle’s beers. “Want one?”

“Sure, why not? I can sleep in tomorrow for the first time in ten years.”