He set the bottle aside and then pulled the towel around my shoulders, covering me. “You’re going to be fine.”

The bubble of yearning burst in a shower of epic failure.

Kyler started to back away, his movements jerky. “I’m going to…check the garage for one of those weather radios. I think mom had one up here. And I need a tarp. Yeah, a tarp for the window.”

I stared at him.

He made it to the doorway, stopped and rubbed his palm along his jaw. “You can get a sweater now. Please put a sweater on.”

I don’t know what made the next words come out of my mouth. Maybe it was the leftover adrenaline from the window exploding, mixed in with raging hormones that had had a taste of what it would be like to be with Kyler. I honestly don’t know, but I was pissed and confused.

And God knows that’s a terrible combination, but I got my lady balls back.

“Why do you want me to put my sweater back on when you’re the one who took it off?”

Kyler lowered his arm slowly, his hand forming a loose fist. “Syd, I…I really don’t know what to say.”

Sitting on the countertop like a kid had me at a disadvantage. I hopped down, keeping the towel clenched close. “What do you mean, you don’t know what to say? I think we pretty much covered the bases earlier.”

He took a measured step forward, his shoulders tensing. “Look. This isn’t the time for this right now. I need to get the tarp. I need to figure out if someone really did shoot out the damn—”

“How are you going to figure that out? Been majoring in CSI without me knowing?”

He arched a brow. “No need to be a smart-ass.”

“And there’s no reason why we can’t talk about this now. I want—”

“I know what you want, Syd.” Anger flashed across his striking face once more. “Trust me, I totally understand. You want me to fuck you like a drunken one-night stand.”

I flinched back. That was so not what I really wanted.

“What? You don’t like the way that sounds? Well, I don’t like the way it sounds, either.” Yeah, he really was pissed. A muscle throbbed in his jaw and his eyes were a dangerous black. “I shouldn’t have let it get as far as it did, because that’s not going to happen. That’s not what we’re about. And we’re never going to be about that.”

Chapter 13

Sydney

Lady balls were so freaking overrated.

So was snow.

I used to love the snow, but right now I hated it, because it had me trapped right here. And this was officially the last place on this planet I wanted to be.