Free The House on Hancock Hill by Indra Vaughn Page B

other noise followed, Henry said, “It doesn’t really matter. I’ll tell you some other time. We should sleep.”
    I wanted to push, but was afraid it’d shut him down completely. “Will you go into work tomorrow?” I felt rather than saw him shake his head.
    “Doubtful. Not first thing in the morning anyway. It’ll take a while for the roads to be cleared.”
    I hummed. My fingers and toes stopped tingling, and I wriggled around, trying to find a position that didn’t hurt. By the time I was as comfortable as I would be, Henry was snoring softly. The sound made me bite back a laugh, but it was soothing, and I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
     
     
    W HAT FELT like five seconds later, I opened my eyes to daylight slinking through the curtains.
    There was a slight movement beside me, and I remembered I was in bed with Henry. His foot brushed my calf and I faced him, unable to shake the impression he’d been watching me. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
    Muscles stiff and aching, I moved gingerly onto my side. “Much warmer.” My voice cracked like I hadn’t spoken in days. “What time is it?”
    “Only six thirty.”
    I groaned, covering my eyes. “Just once I’d like to sleep like a normal person.”
    “The early bird catches the worm.” Henry’s smile mocked me, but his eyelids were still heavy with sleep.
    “Yes, thank you for the quote of the day,” I said crisply as I glared at him. Ruffled curls spread over his pillow and there were sleep lines on his cheek. A sight I didn’t mind waking up to. Struggling my way out of the comforter, I swung my legs out of bed. “Jesus Christ!” The fire had gone out.
    “Still cold?” Henry asked innocently.
    “Fucking freezing,” I complained. “Your host skills are lacking. I might write a letter of complaint.”
    “Hmm.” Henry, the bastard, snuggled deeper into his cocoon of warmth. “Didn’t want to wake you by getting out of bed.” It was tempting to crawl back in myself, but I really needed to use the bathroom so I pulled on my jeans and sweater at record speed. The socks were still wet from the trudge through the snow last night, so I left them off. “The bathroom’s through that door. There won’t be any hot water, so I wouldn’t recommend a shower, but there’s spare toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet.”
    The cold inside the house was unbelievable. As I brushed my teeth and watched my breath fog in the mirror, I contemplated how lucky I’d been that Henry had come to find me. Chances were, I wouldn’t have survived another bout of hypothermia above that garage. Rinsing my mouth with the icy water made my teeth ache, and when I used the toilet, I noticed the water in it had frozen.
    I opened my mouth to tell Henry so, when I stepped back into the bedroom, but no part of him was visible apart from a few stray curls sticking out from underneath the covers. Beyond tempted to crawl back in beside him and warm my toes against his muscled calves, I watched him sleep. The cold had woken me up, however, and I was likely to disturb him with my tossing and turning. I crept out of the bedroom.
    It gave way to a small, square landing with two doors leading off it. They were both cracked open and revealed a bathroom and a packed-to-the-brim-with-boxes spare bedroom. As I made my way as quietly as I could down the creaky steps stripped of carpet, the smell of paint and plaster filled the air.
    At the bottom of the stairs was a narrow hallway that led from the front door to the back of the house, and another door I guessed opened to the garage on my right. Following the hall, I found a pair of warm slippers, and because my toes were recoiling against the icy tiles, I stuffed my feet into them. I came to a pristine white swinging door and pushed it open.
    “Holy mother of love.” The sight that met me left me breathless. A huge kitchen with white cabinets and black granite countertops spread out before me like a kingdom. On the right was a