Stranded in a Snowstorm

This excerpt from Decidedly with Mistletoe is told from Liam’s POV. The hot and hilarious Christmas novella is available on all ebook vendors. Enjoy!

The snow started coming down heavier. Two headlights shone faintly ahead through the near white-out conditions.

“I’ll call you once I’m home,” I said, keeping an eye on the lights in case they unexpectedly swerved into my lane. I ended the call.

As I drew closer to them, it became clearer that the car wasn’t moving. It was stuck in a ditch.

And standing in the headlights was a woman with long, blonde hair whipping about her shoulders. Which was all I could make out of her, thanks to her woolen hat and winter coat. The wind wrapped around her, attempting to push her over. Possibly into oncoming traffic.

Not that there was any traffic—from either direction.

“Shit. What the hell does she think she’s doing?” I pulled to the side of the road and turned on my hazard lights.

I climbed out of the SUV and pushed my way through the wind. The snow hit my face with a not-so-friendly reminder that we were still a long way from summer.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” I yelled as the wind tried to steal my voice away. “It’s too dangerous.” A car could lose control and pin her against her vehicle.

Not a pleasant way to go, in anyone’s books.

She turned around and her eyes widened at seeing me—familiar eyes and an equally familiar face.

“Ava?” I would recognize my ex-fiancée anywhere, even if it had been ten years since I last saw her. And shit, she was as beautiful as she had been back then. Maybe even more so.

My cock stirred, seconding that opinion.

She didn’t respond. Her wide-eyed expression then transformed and she glared at me. Glared at me like she would rather be dipped naked in honey and fed to a bear than be in my presence.

Not that I could blame her. I’d broken off our engagement, but as her grandmother had explained to me, it was the right thing to do. For Ava. If she had married me, she would have lost her trust fund. She would have gone from living her former lifestyle to living on a Navy SEAL’s salary. And she wouldn’t have had the money she needed to attend a prestigious law school.

But instead of being able to remind Ava of those things, her grandmother also kindly pointed out that Ava would’ve foolishly picked me over the money and her education. And eventually she would’ve regretted that and resented me.

Her grandmother’s solution? I was to convince Ava that I’d changed my mind about marrying her. That I didn’t want her waiting around for me while I served my country…because I might not come back home in one piece.

Her grandmother always was the optimist.

Had I bought the part about Ava foolishly picking me? Not at all. Ava would do anything to make her family happy. Picking me wouldn’t have been an option for her.

“Any particular reason why you decided to park in that ditch?” I nodded at the car. It wasn’t a BMW or some other high-end model you’d expect someone with her wealth to be driving. It was an older model Honda Civic.

“I didn’t park there.” She let out a long, God-this-sucks sigh. “The ditch just got in my way when my tire decided to call it quits.”

The corner of my mouth twitched up. That was one thing I had always appreciated about Ava: her humor. “Must have been a conspiracy.”