Page 7 of The Work Wife

Everyone else had left for the day, leaving the parking lot empty. Odd black squares dotted the spaces, like shadows of where the cars had been. The intense snow would cover those spots soon enough. The bright lights gave everything a strange yellow glow.

“If I didn’t hate this cold stuff so much, I would make a snowball and whip it at you.”

“Candy ass.”

At his SUV she hopped up and down, waiting for him to unlock the doors. When she didn’t see the lights flash she moved to look across the hood to find him frowning at the remote in his hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“The remote must be dead. And the lock is frozen.”

Steadily she held on to the ice-encrusted vehicle to maneuver herself back to his side. He handed her his laptop bag and she strapped it across her body opposite her own so it balanced her load.

He bent and cupped his hands over the handle. A puff of warm breath blocked the view of his face for a moment before he did it again and again. He reminded her of a fire-breathing dragon, though if he had the ability to breathe fire, he would have needed only one try to defrost the lock.

She looked up into the black sky as a snowy, icy mix pelted down on her face. Not for the first time did she wonder why she had ever decided to move here. The snow had been so pretty the first time she’d seen it. However, many evil things came in beautiful packages. She’d been truly tricked.

Wes put the key in the lock and turned it. The door opened with a tug and he hit the door locks. She yanked open the back door and put their bags on the floor so she wouldn’t risk their gear as she made her treacherous voyage back to her side of the vehicle.

But on the other side, she was once again stuck out in the cold. The door handle wouldn’t open. She tugged it, but it didn’t budge.

She knocked on the ice-covered glass. It looked like he was putting the key in the ignition. She was moments away from heated bliss. If only she could get in the damn car.

“It won’t open,” she called.

“Pull.”

“I am.” She heard the sound of the locks clicking and unclicking then clicking again. Each time she tried but it didn’t work.

“Hell.” She tried the back door, but it seemed like this side of the vehicle had an extra inch of ice covering it. Giving up, she walked around the front of the car as Wes was stepping out to come help.

As if in slow motion, a number of things happened at once.

Her foot slipped out from under her. She felt gravity pulling her down to the hard, unrelenting pavement. But there was another choice. She lunged in Wes’s direction, hoping his body would save her from having to make contact with the cold ground.

The thrust of her body pushed him back against the door, slamming it shut, but both of them were still upright. It was a win. Or so she thought until Wes righted himself, checked her over, and reached for the door handle.

At the sound of his “Fuck,” she knew what had happened.

They were locked out in the middle of an ice storm.

Chapter 2

Wes closed his eyes, wishing he was anywhere else. The only thing that would make their situation worse was if they were both naked. Of course, they probably wouldn’t have been walking around the parking lot naked in winter.

He moved into survival mode.

“We’re locked out.” It wasn’t a question, and somehow hearing her acknowledge it, made it more horrid.

“Yeah.” If only he’d pressed the door-lock button one more time when he’d been trying to get the door open for her. One more push of the button would have changed everything. “We’ll have to call someone to come get us.”

“Please hurry.” He knew she wasn’t trying to be a problem. Her whole body was shivering. She blew into her mitten-covered hands and bounced up and down.

“Where’s my bag?” He’d put his phone in the padded flap of his laptop bag in case he took a spill and ended up falling on his back pocket where he normally kept his phone.

“Oh.” The tone of her voice when she said that simple word assured him he was not going to like what she said next. “It’s in the back seat.”

He quickly went around to all the doors, just in case they hadn’t locked with the rest. Inside, he could see their laptop bags—which held both of their phones—nestled on the floor beside each other. They looked rather cozy. His set of keys to the building were also in that bag.