Free Snow Angel Cove (Hqn) by RaeAnne Thayne Page B

bedroom door, then barging in and waking Maddie when she didn’t answer.
    “I’m over here,” she murmured.
    At her soft words, he shifted in her direction. Her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness during those few moments she had been sitting in the window seat and she clearly saw his frown of surprise before he headed over to her.
    “What are you doing out here?” he asked in the same low tone.
    She shrugged. “I told you Maddie is usually a heavy sleeper but I thought she might be thrown off her routine by finding herself in a strange place, especially with everything that’s happened. I didn’t want to wake her up.”
    “Ah.”
    As he moved closer, a shaft of moonlight pierced the gloomy clouds and she saw that while he might be a little on the lean side, his unadorned blue T-shirt clung to surprising muscles.
    He was a tech genius, responsible for dozens of apps and devices dominating the market. She would have expected him have the pudgy, soft frame of someone who spent most of his waking hours staring at a gadget or screen. Instead, he apparently spent some of those hours at a gym.
    To her dismay, he perched on the other end of the window seat. Theoretically, there was plenty of room for both of them but she couldn’t help feeling crowded, edgy, especially in light of this extremely inconvenient physical awareness she didn’t want.
    “How are you feeling?” he asked.
    “Oh, you know. Like I’ve been hit by a truck. I have a feeling I’m going to be saying that a lot from now on.”
    He made a sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “I guess that was a stupid question. Let me be more specific. Does anything new hurt?”
    “No. I’m fine. Don’t get me wrong, I have aches and pains but they seem fairly generalized right now. Nothing is broken.”
    “And your head?”
    “Not bad, actually. My wrist hurts more than my head right now.”
    “I suppose I should ask you how many fingers I’m holding up, just to make sure you’re not delirious.”
    “Four. I promise, I’m not delirious. I know what year it is, who the President of the United States is and my birthday, social security number and email password.”
    “That should cover it, then.” He sounded amused. “Definitely not delirious.”
    “You didn’t need to check on me but now you can report to Dr. Shaw that I’m fine.”
    “Except for feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck.”
    “Right.” Because she was already growing a little tired of people asking her how she felt, she quickly changed the subject by gesturing out the window behind her. “That snow is crazy. Have you seen it?”
    He shifted around and peered out. His eyes widened behind his lenses. “Wow. I’ve been catching up on some year-end reports and not paying attention. I knew we were supposed to have a storm, but that looks intense. Jim said he thought we would have eighteen inches by morning. When he said it, I thought he was exaggerating. Looking out there, now I wonder if he underestimated things.”
    “Makes me glad I’m in here and not out there.” She couldn’t quite bring herself to admit she was grateful he and Dr. Shaw had encouraged her to stay in Haven Point for the night, though she was. She hadn’t been in any shape to drive back to Boise.
    “I hope this isn’t the start of an intense weather pattern. I would hate for my family to be trapped here over the holidays in the middle of a storm like this.”
    “Your family is coming to Snow Angel Cove for Christmas?”
    He stretched out long legs, apparently settling in for a while. So much for demonstrating her mental acuity and then returning to her warm bed. She tucked the blanket more tightly around her shoulders, not minding a little conversation as much as she ought.
    “Just about everybody will be here—barring my brother Jamie, who’s in the military and stationed overseas.”
    “That will be lovely for you. Do you come from a big family?”
    He gave a rough laugh. “You could say