Lucky Baby (Crescent Cove 11)

Out of the swirling snow, a pair of headlights appeared. The truck swung into my driveway, and my heart went wild, fluttering in my chest.

Apparently, I was no better than the 90s teen queen without the cute factor and with an additional half a foot of height.

“Chariot indeed.”

Something dangerously close to excitement and pleasure hummed along my skin as I hurriedly finished getting ready. I gave my hair the quickest blowdry known to man while I worked my kind of magic with a curling brush and hairspray. Good enough. The storm would wreck it anyway, and no one had invited me for my wizardry with hair styling tools.

God help them if they did.

I went to grab my leather jacket and realized a girly furry stole thing would probably work better with this getup. Whatever. Like I had one of those. If they wanted Tish Burns, they were getting her, leather and all.

I stuffed the damn shoes in a bag and put on my most ridiculous snow boots. Ezra called them my moon boots because of their shape, but hey, they kept my feet toasty and I wasn’t ruining my regular boots with this crap.

How could snow come down so fast? It had only been a few hours since I’d looked outside. Flurries were one thing, this stuff quite another.

Then I opened the door and faced the mountains of snow between me and the truck waiting patiently in my drive.

Too late to rethink my plan to dress before I got to Dippy Acres?

I shut my eyes and prayed for patience. I was going to have to take this dress off again and put on some freaking snowpants. Fuck my life.

My phone went off and I slammed the door, leaning against it as I read Lucky’s text and sent one of my own.

Open your door, Ruby.

I have to change.

Open your door, Ruby.

“Open your door, Ruby,” I mimicked, doing a quick sweep for Dusty just to make sure he wasn’t curious enough to dart outside. My cat wasn’t dumb enough to go wading in snow, but before today, I would’ve said I wasn’t dumb enough to get myself roped into a wedding.

It took all kinds.

The cat was nowhere in sight, so I had to assume he was curled up somewhere and enjoying himself far more than I was. He had a full bowl of food and fresh water so he was set.

I yanked open the front door again, ready to march outside and yell at Lucky that he could hold his ass while I changed into something that wouldn’t cause immediate frostbite to my lower limbs.

But I didn’t expect him to be standing right there.

The sight of him in an eggplant purple tux and a sweeping dark coat with his hair long and loose and sprinkled with snow like confetti took my breath and my irritation away.

So, his massive height and the breadth of his freaking shoulders had something to do with it too.

“You opened the door.” Plumes of frosty air streamed from his lips, oddly fascinating me.

I blamed them for being distracted enough that he managed to lift me straight off the ground, pull the door shut, and cart me across the snow to his truck before I marshaled the wits to scream.

Either that or my lungs had frozen. Holy crap, it was cold.

He muscled me into the front seat and something about the action reminded me I was in motion not of my own doing. I brought my leg up and jammed my knee hard into his inner thigh, dangerously close to where his prized possession rose up like a hungry beast.

Such a shame it was caged in those restrictive tuxedo pants.

?

??You nearly nailed me,” he panted in my ear.

Which did not remind me to be mad, gotta say. I hadn’t had my hands on him in days now. His warm breath and soap scent and huge arms clamped around me made me feel decidedly fond of him actually