He gave a half laugh. “No.” He strode back to her then, rejoining her on the rug, rolling on his side and propping one hand under his head, the other on her belly. “The guys are coming at six.”

The spike crashed, and so did the surge of adrenaline, settling like an oily slick in her stomach. “I guess there’s going to be a lot to do.”

“Yes. But fingers crossed we prepared everything well enough and there’ll just be snow clearing and feeding.”

She raised two sets of crossed fingers, and he smiled and kissed the fingertips of the closest. Suzanne’s breath hitched. Their time was almost over. The wind had been dreadful—a rabid beast yowling and moaning—but she’d have given anything right now to have it back. She ran her kissed fingertips through his stubble, over his lips, along his jaw to his ear and pushed them into his hair. He shut his eyes and angled his head and she massaged his scalp for a beat or two until his eyes opened and their gazes locked.

“There’s one condom left,” he said, his voice low and husky.

Winona had teased Suzanne once about the number of condoms she carried around, especially considering Suzanne had never used more than two when she’d been with a guy. But hell if she wasn’t coming out on top now.

One condom. One last time. Because that’s what it would be. She could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice. When he got up out of their makeshift bed in the morning, whatever had happened here would be over.

Suzanne swallowed back the painful lump building in her throat. She would not dwell on tomorrow. She had tonight to be with the man she loved—to make love with the man she loved—and she’d take whatever she could get. “It would be a shame to see it go unused,” she replied.

He grinned. “My thoughts exactly.” And lowered his mouth to hers.

…

A kiss on her shoulder woke Suzanne some time later. It was still dark outside, but it took about three seconds for her to remember that Grady was going back to work and the slick of nausea from last night made itself felt again. “I have to go,” he whispered.

Suzanne nodded, pretending to be only half-awake even though her heart thudded painfully and every sense was on high alert. At least he wasn’t leaving without saying goodbye this time—that was something, right?

Even if it felt horribly, horribly final. She’d known this interlude had only been temporary, known deep in her bones that as soon as he went back to work that he’d revert to the old Grady. But that didn’t make it any easier to face.

“’Kay,” she murmured, feigning a sleepy smile. “Be careful out there.”