“My hands are up,” she said in a shaky voice. “I promise I didn’t break-in. I have a key. Thea gave it to me.”
The second she said my little sister’s name, I lowered my gun and tucked it into my holster. I shouldn’t have even been wearing my holster, but old habits die hard and all that. I’d left at the end of a long day at work in the FBI in Boston and come straight here. “Who are you?”
“Sasha, Sasha Hilts.”
“Sasha?”
“I think it’s only fair you tell me who you are,” Sasha returned.
“It’s Noah, Noah Tate. You know, Thea’s older brother.”
Sasha let out a giant sigh that echoed in the hallway. Her dog was still circling me, and I leaned down to stroke the dog’s head. “What’s your dog’s name?”
“Matilda.”
“Hey, Matilda,” I said conversationally as I scratched behind her ears. Matilda loved that and leaned into my hand.
“There’s no power,” Sasha announced.
“There’s power. I just have to turn it on outside.”
“Oh. Well, that’s good. What are you doing here?”
Sasha followed me as I turned and walked toward the back of the house. I went through the archway that led into the kitchen and straight to the screen door at the back. I’d left it open when I came inside.
“Do you need help?” Sasha asked as we stopped at the doorway.
“Nah. Give me a sec.”
The snow was still falling as I tromped through it to the outside power box about ten feet away from the kitchen doorway. Using a small flashlight I’d slipped in my pocket for the sole purpose of doing this, I held it in my teeth and quickly turned on the main switch to the house. Since my siblings and I, who shared our childhood home, were rarely here, we always turned off the power outside at the main circuit. We also drained the pipes and turned off the water main. I’d turn the water on once we had some light.
In a few seconds, the hallway light Sasha must’ve switched on when she came through the front turned on, along with the kitchen lights. Sasha held the door open for me as I walked through and closed it behind me. I knocked the snow off my boots. Matilda was busy sniffing around the edges of the kitchen.
I lifted my head, and my eyes collided with Sasha’s. I hadn’t seen Sasha in years. She was one of Thea’s closest childhood friends and four years younger than me, just like my sister. She’d been cute when she was a teenager, but now, she literally grabbed my breath and snatched it right out of my chest.
Her dark hair was pulled up in a messy bun with loose tendrils dangling around her face. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and her green eyes were bright as she stared back at me.
I gave myself a mental kick. “Well, long time, no see,” I finally said.
Her eyes searched my face. “It’s definitely been a while.”
After a beat, I noticed she had her arms wrapped tightly around her waist and was shivering slightly.
“Let me make sure the boiler is up and running. We need some heat, and I’ll turn on the water.”
Striding past her, I crossed into the hallway and down the basement stairs. Matilda followed me, with Sasha coming as well. I turned on the water main and flicked on the switch to fire up the boiler. Like the power, we turned it off when we weren’t here.
After a minute, I nodded as I heard the sound of it starting up. Turning, I looked at Sasha again, startled at the jolt that sizzled through me.
“Let’s get a fire started in the living room and kitchen. It’s probably gonna take a few hours for the house to warm up. I had no idea you’d be here,” I called over my shoulder as I walked up the stairs.
“Obviously, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Sasha replied. “Thea offered to let me stay here for a week. I guess I need to make other arrangements.”
We crested the top of the stairs, and she followed me into the kitchen. This home was old enough that we actually had a freaking fireplace in here. When I was growing up, my parents had updated it with a wood stove insert for efficiency. This, in addition to the large fireplace in the living room, would do a nice job of throwing off some heat.
“No need to make other arrangements,” I said as I began to gather wood stacked neatly in a rack right beside the stove. I presumed my older brother, Dallas, who had been here last Christmas, had enough sense to leave the wood behind. He was that kind of guy, always organized and planning ahead.
“Are you sure? Are other people coming?”
“Nobody else will be here until next weekend. Lord knows, there’s plenty of room.”
When I straightened, Sasha was chewing on her bottom lip. Fuck me. She had a mouth made for sin. Her lips were plump and full, and a little dimple was right in the center of her bottom lip. Her teeth dented the smooth pink surface as she stared at me.
“Are you sure?” she repeated.
“Absolutely.”
At that moment, her stomach growled. She slapped her palm over it, her cheeks flushing pink. This woman was a walking distraction. In the corner of my mind, I wondered if it was crazy that I’d just told her it was no problem for her to stay here. But she was one of my sister’s best friends, so I wasn’t about to kick her out in the snowy darkness.
“Hungry?” I asked dryly.
“Apparently,” she said with a sheepish smile.
“I picked up a pizza on the way through town. I’ll help you unload what you have, and then we can heat it.”
By the time Sasha set the empty paper plate on the coffee table and leaned back into the couch cushions, the living room was warm and cozy. The snow was still falling outside with gusts of wind buffeting the house while we ate. She’d fed Matilda in the kitchen, and Matilda had trotted into the living room with us and was currently napping in front of the fireplace .
“So what are you doing here a week before Christmas?” Sasha asked.
Thus far, we had covered the basics. We’d investigated the options for bedrooms. Only one room actually had a bed in it. My two brothers, my sister, and I were slowly getting the house furnished after almost losing it in a legal mess our father created, but the house had been stripped of everything by the time Dallas had managed to save it from the creditors.
I’d insisted Sasha take the room with the bed, and I would sleep on the couch. Maybe we didn’t have the whole place furnished yet, but Thea and I had picked out this cushy sectional last year. I had no worries about sleeping comfortably on it.
After I’d helped Sasha carry her things in, she’d insisted on helping me with mine. All the while, I managed to notice far too much of Sasha. She was wearing jeans, and the fabric hugged her lush bottom. My palms itched to slide over her curves and savor their feel.
Considering she thought no one would be here, I knew she wasn’t dressed for my attention. Unfortunately for me, and decidedly inconveniently, Sasha in jeans and a faded V-neck T-shirt did nothing but rev my body’s engine.
I remembered Sasha being attractive before, but I was four years ahead of her in school, so I didn’t pay too much attention. Now, she was fucking gorgeous in a sort of messy, haphazard way.
“Noah?” she prompted.
Oh, right. We were having a conversation. “I needed a break from work. You know I work at the FBI, right?”