Unwrapped (2 page)

Blue hoped there would be a multitude of smoking hot guys on the cruise because her sex drive had kicked into high gear for whatever reason.

“Okay, try to back up and I’ll guide you,” he said when she rolled her window back down.

She did, and her tires just spun in the snow. “Damn.” She leaned her head out. “How deep is it?”

“Pretty deep. And you can’t rock it because you’re halfway through the guardrail. If you accelerate too hard you could go off the cliff.”

Yeah, no thanks. Blue frowned at her steering wheel. This complicated things. She tried to reverse again, but her car spun ominously to the left.

“You need to get out of the car. This is looking dangerous. We’ll call you a tow.”

Leave it to her to screw up a vacation by nearly driving off a cliff. Turning her car off, silencing John Lennon midlament, she grabbed her purse and her jacket and pushed the door open. She wasn’t wearing appropriate shoes. She had wanted to be comfortable so she was wearing zebra print ballet flats with jeans, a vintage Motley Crue T-shirt and a funky red scarf. Her jacket was a thin black velvet designed for indoor use more so than out. This was going to suck. A lot. Much more than listening to Santa and his ho ho hos.

The wind slapped her in the face as she pulled on her jacket and tried to button it. After a few seconds, she realized it was futile and tried not to whimper as snow cascaded over her mostly bare feet. Her nose instantly froze, her shoulders hunched in revolt, and her jeans decided at that moment to slid down, allowing her midriff to be pummeled by wet fat flakes.

At least her companion was looking at her in sympathy. “Come sit in my car while we call somebody.”

By the time they hiked the twenty feet to his car and Blue slid into the passenger seat, her mouth was stuck open as little gasps of horror escaped. Her entire body felt like someone had repeatedly stabbed her with a million sharp pins. Her companion had turned his car off in the interim so it wasn’t really any warmer than it was outside, but at least there was no wind and no snow smacking her in the face and torturing her feet. She stomped her shoes to remove the excess snow and tried not to whimper.

He cranked on the car and the heat and looked at her. “Is that the only jacket you have?”

She nodded.

“Shoes?”

“This is it unless I want to change into flip-flops. I’m going on a cruise. I didn’t want a bunch of winter stuff with me.” Blue touched her nose. It was still there, despite her not being able to feel it.

“Here.” He leaned into the backseat and rifled through a bag. He emerged with two wool socks. “Put these on.”

They were like crack to the addict, dangling in front of Blue, as tantalizing as a winning lottery ticket. But it seemed really weird to take socks from a stranger. “Don’t you need these?”

“They’re just socks. I can get more.” He gave her a look of amusement. “Just put them on. You look like a Popsicle. But a cute one.”

That made a certain body part unthaw slightly. “Thanks.” As she kicked her ballet flats off and bent her knee so she could drag on one of the thick socks, she added, “I’m Blue, by the way.”

“What?” He looked at her, his expression one of confusion. “Don’t worry, you’ll warm up. I don’t think you’re at risk for hypothermia yet.”

Blue laughed. “No. I mean, I’m Blue. That’s my name.” She abandoned the sock for a minute and stuck out her hand to him. “Blue Mariposa Farrow. Pleased to meet you.”

Understanding hit Christian and he felt like a first-class idiot. “Oh, shit, sorry. I’m Christian Dawes. Nice to meet you too, though I wouldn’t have minded better circumstances.”

“No kidding. And don’t worry about not catching my name. I’m well aware it’s unusual. My mom was going for unique and lovely territory, but she just landed in weird.”

Blue went back to struggling with his sock, and as Christian watched her long and elegant fingers, and took in that wide smile below her high cheekbones, he thought that the name actually suited her. She had black hair with blunt bangs, the sides angling down past her chin. Her eyes had dark shadow on them and her fingernails were painted a deep blue. There was something very edgy yet playful about her appearance and her expressions. He’d only spent ten minutes with her and he could already see that she emoted with exaggerated facial expressions. She did the eyebrow arch, the head tilt, and a whole variety of movements with her lips.

Lips that he wouldn’t mind being on his.

“It’s definitely a unique name, but it’s actually very pretty. Mariposa is butterfly in Spanish, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Blue finished with the socks and sighed. “Ah, that feels good. And if you think Blue Butterfly is a pretty name for a grown woman you’re smoking something and I don’t mean a Marlboro. It’s a corny name. But I’m used to being Blue.” She did a fake drumroll on her knees and grinned. “Ba dum dum.”

Christian laughed. “Well, I guess my parents went for the obvious. My sisters’ names are Mary and Elizabeth. I think if they could have gotten away with naming me Jesus they would have.”

“See, my mom would have just gone for it. So be grateful.”

He was perfectly content sitting in his warm car staring at her, but Blue pulled her cell phone out of her purse.

“I better call someone if I hope to ever get out of here.”

Right. Her wrecked car. Christian picked his phone up out of the cup holder, figuring he should call his family and warn them of the delay. Except he had no bars on his cell phone. He tried to call his mom anyway but it didn’t do anything. “Is your phone working?”

Blue was frowning at her own cell phone and holding it up in the air. “No. Damn, this could be a problem.”

“It must be the hill messing things up.” They had slid to a stop nestled in a curve where the highway had been carved out of a steep hill. Given the curve and the incline, it was no wonder Blue had lost control in the piled-up snow. Christian rolled down his window and stuck his phone out, hoping miraculously it would start working. It didn’t.

“Where are we? Are we close to an exit? I guess I’ll have to walk.”

Christian dropped his phone back down and hit the button to put his window back up. Then he shot the woman next to him an incredulous look. “Are you crazy? You can’t walk in this. And if you think for one minute that I would let you walk in this, then you have another think coming. It’s probably two miles to the next exit and you’re half naked.”

“I’m not half-naked!” Her face scrunched up.

Okay, maybe that had been melodramatic but he was appalled at the thought of her walking in a blizzard with a velvet jacket without gloves and those stupid girl shoes that exposed the tops of her feet. Sexy, yes, practical, no.

“Well, you’re certainly not dressed for taking a stroll in a snowstorm. And I would be a complete jerk if I let you do that. I can drive you to the exit, it’s no problem.”

Her mouth opened like she was going to argue, but then she just nodded. “Okay, thanks, I appreciate it.”

“I’m going to run back and grab your suitcase. You might be stuck in town in a motel overnight before they can tow your car.” Seeing her about to protest, Christian argued, “And before you say you can do it, just let me do it. I’m wearing boots.”

She sighed, but she nodded. “Thanks.” She handed him her keys. “The suitcase is in the trunk. I guess there goes my cruise. I’ll never make it to Miami in time to board. This sucks.”

“I can’t believe a cruise leaves on Christmas day.” The last thing in the world Christian would want to do on Christmas would be to spend it in the airport or boarding a cruise ship. Christmas day was for eating way too much food with family and chasing his nieces and nephews around. It was the one day a year the outside world completely disappeared and the only thing that mattered was family.

“I’m not big on Christmas. I’d rather just skip the whole thing.”

Christian tried not to gape at her, but man, it was like she was speaking in tongues. Who the hell didn’t like Christmas?

The gorgeous woman sitting next to him apparently.

Not sure what to say that wasn’t being intrusive and pushy, Christian just settled for nodding. “Well, I’m sorry that you might miss the boat. We’ll see what we can do to get you south as soon as possible.”

“Thanks.” She smiled, but it was a little forced.

Christian opened the door and hustled to her car. In the trunk was a hot pink suitcase with a pink and black plaid scarf tied to the handle. He grabbed it and ran through the snow, hoping he didn’t wipe out and fall on his ass. But if there was any possibility of getting her to Lexington and on a flight to Miami, he wanted to help her. It occurred to him he could just drive her to Lexington himself once the tow was on the way and that would save her a hell of a lot of time. She could deal with retrieving her car on the way home after her cruise.

He tossed her suitcase in her trunk and jumped in his car, shaking the snow off his hair. Blue laughed and reached out and dusted the shoulder of his jacket off. “Sorry, I should have gone and gotten it.”

“Which again, would make me a total jerk.” Christian knew he couldn’t actually feel her fingers through the fabric of his coat and his sweatshirt, but he certainly appreciated her closeness. When she pulled back, he was disappointed. There was something so dynamic about her, so sensual, that he was suddenly thinking about unwrapping her instead of any presents, which made him a total goofball jackass. Just because he carried her suitcase through the snow did not mean she was going to fall into his arms.

Damn, he needed to start dating again. A few months dry spell, and he was getting weird.

Putting his car into drive, he glanced back at the empty highway and pulled out. “It’s almost eerie how no one is on the road.”

“I know. I guess I should be less worried about my cruise and more grateful for the fact that you were out here too. Otherwise, I’d be totally stranded.”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her shudder. Then she shook it off and grinned. “No food and a constant barrage of Christmas songs. Talk about a nightmare.”

He actually didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if she had been out there alone with a nonfunctioning cell phone. He suspected she would have tried to walk and that would have been a disaster. “Not having my Blackberry working would drive me insane.”

“Where are you heading, by the way?”

“To Lexington, to my parents’ house. My whole family is in Lexington and I grew up there. I moved to Cincinnati for college and I’m still there. Guess they’ll be carving the turkey without me tonight.”

“I live in Cincinnati too. In Clifton.”

“I’m in Hyde Park. We’re practically neighbors.” Though they weren’t exactly the same kind of zip code. Not surprisingly, Blue lived in a city neighborhood where a lot of college kids and coffee shops were. Christian lived in an upper middle-class family area, with some young professionals thrown in. It was safe and he was close to work, but sometimes he glanced around at all the strollers and wondered if he was missing out on the nightlife of a hipper neighborhood. Then he realized what he really wanted was a family, not the opportunity to hit the bars every night.

“Is your family going to worry?”

“Definitely. My mom is probably freaking out already. Hopefully I can call her when we get to a gas station. She panics, but hell, that’s what moms do, right?”

“Not mine.”

The tone was so matter of fact that Christian risked taking his eyes off the road and glanced over at her. Blue didn’t look upset, just resigned. “What do you mean?”

“My mom doesn’t worry about anything. She prides herself on being zen.”

“Is she going on the cruise with you?”

Blue snorted. “Oh, please. I had to endure a lecture on the frivolity and social irresponsibility of cruise ships. My mother is actually in South America with an indigenous tribe. She wanted me to go, but eating bugs isn’t my idea of a good time.”

Yikes. “And I thought eggnog was disgusting.”

Blue laughed. “Yeah, well, all I wanted was a mai tai or two but it’s starting to look doubtful.”

“Cookies. That’s what I want. My sister bakes these cookies that are basically just sugar and lard. I can eat about a hundred in two days.”

“Somehow I don’t think you’re exaggerating,” she told him in a teasing tone of voice.

“You calling me fat?” Christian grinned as he eased down the exit ramp and stopped at the light and turned to look at her.

Her eyes rolled up and down the length of him. “Hardly.”

Oh, he knew that tone.

And he liked it.

“It’s my one weakness,” he told her, his whole body registering the fact that despite the cold outside it was suddenly very hot inside his car.

“The only one?” she asked, her tongue slipping out to wet her lips.

Christian wanted to groan. There was something about the way she held his gaze, the way she moved, so sensual and erotic, yet there was nothing in-your-face or tacky about her. It was like she just had an inherent sexuality and he found that really smoking hot.

“No. I can definitely think of one more.”

And if he could get it, he wouldn’t even miss the cookies.

Chapter Three

B
lue was flirting. She was stranded in the middle of nowhere Kentucky with a broken down car and a cruise ship pulling out of port the next day most likely without her and she was flirting with Christian, her knight in a white SUV.

She supposed she could tell herself it was her amazingly sunny disposition finding the silver lining, but the truth was it wasn’t her cheerful self calling the shots right now, but her undersexed one. It had been months since she had dated and Christian was cute with a capital C. He had dimples and a grin that made her want to grab his cheeks and kiss the hell out of him. He was sweet and funny and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt there were some serious muscles hiding beneath his many layers of clothing.

So she was flirting. What of it? She deserved to after nearly dying in this bitch of a snowstorm.

“What weakness is that? Fast cars or loose women?”