“So cold,” he murmured.

“Keep him warm. He mustn’t get cold again,” the ER doctor had said.

She’d covered him with all the blankets in the chalet, brought the heater up to full strength, and stoked the fire, but she had to admit she was cold, too. Cold and tired. The storm still raged outside. With this awakening, she’d brought him through the hours they’d said she’d have to wake him to be sure his brain wasn’t bleeding, and now her body hurt all over from mental and physical exhaustion.

He’s cold. I’m cold. Oh, what the hell, she thought. He sees me as an old friend. I refuse to sleep in a chair.

In the bathroom, she removed her after-ski outerwear, rid herself of the discomfort of a bra over her full breasts all day and shed her black panties. She slipped under the covers beside him wearing only her long, black silk thermals. He stirred and quieted. She curled near him, only close enough to share her body warmth.

Falling instantly asleep as if drugged, she stirred briefly when she felt someone brushing the tendrils of hairs that had escaped from her braid back from her face. Opening her eyes, she saw that she and Chad now faced each other.

“Hi,” he said, his voice soft. He smelled of antiseptic and soap. In the flickering light of the banked fire, his eyes had darkened to lapis lazuli.

That’s who he is in real life, she thought. Someone deep and mysterious, who keeps his thoughts close to his chest. This was the Chad she knew.

“Hi,” she whispered back.

His lips, warm and soft, closed on hers.

Desire threaded through her body. Alarm bells rang distantly in her head. Thankfully, Chad went back to sleep, and she didn’t think he was aware she hadn’t returned his kiss. It had been shit hard, but she hadn’t done all the things she’d wanted to do with that mouth, that desire-igniting mouth with its warmth and all encompassing sweetness.

Nothing had changed since high school. And she was a fool.

Turning her back to him, she started to move farther away when she felt a strong arm close about her waist and snug her to him. She was sure he wasn’t really awake. She lay still, thinking to edge away once he slept soundly.

When next she awoke, her right breast was comfortably ensconced in his right hand. There was nothing sensual in the touch. Understanding his need to be in contact with another living human being after having been buried alive, she drifted back to sleep without removing it.

How long she’d slept while the touch had become sensual she wasn’t sure. Drowsily, she became aware of how good her breast felt as the hand massaged and caressed it. Its thumb and forefinger were doing things to her nipple that made it as hard as the cock she felt pressed tight against her buttocks. Her other nipple did his bidding, even without being touched. Pleasure seeped through her chest.

Barely breathing, she attempted to think of other things—like how long would the blizzard last and the runs be closed, and how soon would the roads would be cleared—oh, Lord, his hand was sliding up and down her side and over her hip now. The heat from his palm transmitted to her skin through the thermal silk, and it was a stimulating warmth.

Her blood boiled, and she wanted to grab that hand and slide it to her crotch so those tantalizing fingers could get to her clit and the hot opening beneath. This was Chad, the Chad to whom she’d given her virginity when they’d been teenagers. The man whose love she’d never forgotten.