Snow One Like You Read Free Page A

Rhys and her
like pet dogs. The experience was rewarding.
    Over the months, the twins grew. And
grew. Soon moving from baby bottles to steamed oats and vegetation.
Stable and strong, they became frisky and adventurous. Their fur
turned brown. Rhys contracted a company to fence a large section of
woods. This allowed the calves to wander in and out of the barn.
Summer tagged autumn. Then came winter. The first snow storm
covered the mountain and drifted into town. Snow plows became as
common as cars on the streets. Snow banks deepened.
    Cold days became colder nights, and
the outdoor food supply soon suffered. Icicles hung thickly from
the tree branches. Low vegetation was buried beneath the frost. The
calves stuck their heads out the barn door, but didn’t go far. They
had an indoor snack bar.
    Rhys produced the pine cones from the
pockets of his sweat pants. The twins’ ears flickered at the sight
of the treats. He palmed the cones, held them out. Maynard had
manners, whereas Manfred was immediate gratification. Maynard
chewed as politely as a moose could chew, while Manfred chomped,
slurped, as if starved. They nosed Rhys’s pocket, in hopes of
finding another cone.
    “ That’s it, guys.” Rhys
stepped aside when Manfred nipped his hip. Then nuzzled his groin.
“Those aren’t pinecones,” he told the moose.
    Allie grinned. “They are amazing,
aren’t they?”
    He nodded. “We’re both attached to
them, perhaps overly much. They’ll never be fully domesticated. Or
town mascots. We already have a reindeer who claims that fame. In
the spring they’ll be placed at the sanctuary and rehabilitated to
the wild. They need to become the male moose they were meant to
be.”
    “ That’s three months away,”
she stalled, attempting a positive twist on the sadness she felt
over their eventual departure. She’d raised the calves, and felt a
strong connection to them.
    The twins wandered off. Fresh hay had
been delivered, and they bedded down with their legs tucked under
them. Allie and Rhys departed.
    He took her hand once again, as they
left the barn. He tugged her to his side, and they bumped arms,
hips. She liked the feel of him. Solid. A man in his
prime.
    Back inside the store, Rhys heel-toed
his Nikes. He stood in his wool stocks, hands in his sweat pants
pockets, waiting for her. She took off her thermal jacket and
tugged off her mittens. Her hands were cold. She blew on them;
rubbed them together.
    Rhys watched her. Her nerves got the
better of her. She shivered. He wrapped his big hands about her
own, shared his heat. He brushed one thumb along the side of her
hand. Back and forth. Friction warmth. Circulation soon returned to
her fingers. Her palms began to sweat. She pulled back.
    “ Better?” he
asked.
    “ Much.” They stared at each
for what could’ve been seconds or a full minute. She felt
lightheaded. Her stomach, soft. They needed to move beyond the
backdoor. She cleared her throat, asked him, “Have you had
supper?”
    He shook his head. “The kitchen and
dining room were closing. I didn’t have time to grab a bite at the
lodge.”
    “ Pancakes?” she
offered.
    “ Breakfast for dinner, why
not?”
    “ Your choice of syrup.”
Syrup was the fastest selling item in the general store. There was
blueberry, strawberry, pumpkin, banana, butter pecan, and a dozen
other flavors.
    Rhys debated, before deciding, “I want
your own blend.” Allie was creative in the kitchen. Her specialty
was raw maple syrup shot with bourbon. It tasted like a sweet
liqueur. The caramel and vanilla, and oaky bourbon, brought a slow
burn to his belly. The syrup was delicious drizzled over pancakes.
Possibly even more flavorful on bare skin. Which was yet to be
determined.
    For the first time in all the years
he’d known her, his thoughts turned sexual. He wondered how the
mixture would taste on a naked Allie. Heated syrup dabbed on her
full lips, dripped over her slender bare shoulders, down her
ribcage, into her