“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” he says quietly, tipping his head when I walk back into the room, dropping my heels next to the couch. He stands and grabs me around the waist, pulling me back onto the couch with him.
This is the part of a one-night stand where I have no idea what to do. I came home with Dean for one thing and for one thing only, and we just did said thing.
Should I leave? Ask him to take me to my car? Stick around and go for round two?
I sink onto the couch, next to Dean, bending my legs up and covering up with the blanket. Now that I’m not under him, I’m cold, and goosebumps break out on my arms.
Dean turns to me, running his hand through my hair as he pushes it behind my shoulder. He opens his mouth to say something, but the lights flicker and then everything goes black.
We wait a beat, expecting the power to come back on. When it doesn’t, Dean stands, tucking the blanket around me.
“The whole neighborhood is out,” he says, voice cutting through the dark. “Hang on.”
“Okay,” I say, looking around. I can’t see a damn thing, but hear Dean moving about. He’s in the kitchen, which is right off the living room. The glowing screen of his phone comes from several yards away, and he gets something from a drawer in the island before coming back into the living room.
I watch as he starts a fire, and only a minute later, the room fills with soft yellow light.
“That comes in handy,” I say as he comes back onto the couch, slipping under the blanket. His arms go around me and he pulls me to his chest, laying me down with him.
“It does, and I don’t use it that often.”
“You’re really good at starting fires. I’m impressed.”
“I wish I could take all the credit, but it has a gas start,” he chuckles. “Makes it easy to start.”
“Cheater.”
“Hey, now. You didn’t lay out any rules.”
“I think I should put out the fire and give you two logs to rub together.”
He laughs. “We’d freeze to death before I get a fire started that way.”
“I’ll save the survival challenge for the summer then.”
“That doesn’t sound much better.” He runs his hand up and down my arm. “I’ve grown quite used to my cushy first-world lifestyle.”
“Me too. Though I did go through a phase like ten years ago where I was convinced we’d have some sort of apocalypse—most likely zombie—and I took this crazy intense week-long class about surviving in the wild. I might have cried the entire time.”
“You’re not joking, are you?”
I shake my head. “It was being offered not far from where I lived, and while sleeping on the ground wasn’t fun, I think it built character. We started the class with over a dozen people and by the end, only me and three others finished. And at least I wasn’t naked, right? Though I was afraid most of the time.”
“Everyone would have stayed if you were naked.”
“Hah. No one wants to see me naked after a week of living in the woods.”
“I think I still would.”
“Hopefully we’ll never have to put that to the test. But if it ever comes to it, I could keep you and two others alive for a week on the run.”
“I will keep that in mind.” He kisses the side of my head and continues to run his fingers up and down my arm.
We lie there together, watching the logs pop and burn. Not a word is said, but the silence is anything but awkward.
Dean’s phone buzzes, and he reaches out to grab it off the coffee table.
“Someone slid off the road and hit a pole,” he says, reading the text message. “That’s why the power is out.”
“Ouch. Hopefully they’re okay.”
“Yeah. The roads can be slick this time of year. I wish people would just slow down.”
“Right? Like, I get accidents can happen no matter what, but I wish people would use more care when driving in ice and snow.”
“This time of year makes me want to move to Florida.”
“Hah. Same. As long as I’m close to Disney, I’d be happy.”
“You’re a Disney fan?” he asks, but there’s no judgement in his voice. Not everyone finds it cool or even normal for an adult woman to be so obsessed with fairytales and happy endings.
“A big one. I haven’t actually been there in years. But I love anything that has magic and a happily ever after.”
“My whole family loves Disney. We all went a few years ago for my sister’s wedding and everyone keeps going back now.”
“Your sister got married at Disney? Lucky!”
“It was…nice.” He looks away as he talks, swallowing hard as if the event brings up too much emotion. It’s a millisecond of an expression, and makes my heart hurt for him.