#Holiday: A Hashtag Series Short Story (Hashtag #6.5) (3 page)

“We’re almost there,” I said. “I shouldn’t have let them talk to me so long.” If I hadn’t, we might be at the cabin by now, and Nova wouldn’t be fussy.

“It’s your job.” Her understanding voice traveled up between the seats. “I’ll text Drew, have him get a bottle ready.”

When I came to a red light, I glanced back over my shoulder. Blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, and the red reflection framed her downturned face in the dark.

She was staring down at Nova, a small smile pulling the corners of her lips.

She loved that little girl. Our little girl. My little girl.

“Baby,” I said, low.

She looked up, her eyes seeking mine.

“You know how much I love you, right?”

“Times two.” She agreed.

The light changed, and I pushed the car forward.

Words weren’t enough. Not tonight. Not on Christmas Eve. Not after the look I saw haunt the depths of her eyes.

Romeo

Anxiety slammed into me and I shot forward before the car even totally stopped moving.

The music on the stereo had seemed nice before, but now it seemed loud and disruptive. I hit the button to shut it off as I reached for Rimmel.

“Are you okay?” I stressed. “Are you hurt?”

Rimmel let out a shuddering breath and pushed the glasses up on her nose. “I’m fine. What about you?”

“Who the fuck cares about me?” I spat and gripped her shoulders, resisting the urge to shake her. “Look at me, are you okay?”

Her hands were warm when they covered the sides of my face. “I’m fine, Romeo. We just slid off the road. It’s not like we were in a crash.”

My fingers delved into her hair and started gently probing around for any kind of bumps or knots. She might have hit her head on the window when the car hit the snowbank.

She made a sound. My eyes narrowed, fingers stilled. I gazed at her, trying to figure out where she was hurt.

She rolled her eyes.

The woman freaking rolled her eyes at me.

“Did you hit your head?” Rimmel inquired.

I screwed up my face. “What? No.”

“Then you should remember there is no way I could have been hurt because you practically threw your body in front of mine. I barely even jolted when the car hit the bank.”

“You didn’t think I’d just sit over here like some pansy ass, did you?”

She pressed a hand to her chest in mock horror. “You mean the driver actually stay in the driver’s seat and
drive
?”

“Are you sassing me, woman?”

“Who, me?”

I muttered,
“Who, me?”
and then smiled. “The car was going off the road. Nothing I could do about it. But your safety… that I could control.”

Rim sighed my name like only she could. “Oh, Romeo.” Her small fingers unlatched her seat belt, and she climbed over the stick shift and straddled my lap. “You’re okay?”

“Long as you are, then, yeah.”

She pushed the glasses up onto her head, like a headband, and leaned forward to touch our lips together. Without the black-framed eyewear in the way, I pushed close, grabbing her and letting my large hands consume her head. We kissed fiercely for a long moment, ravaging each other like we’d been apart for months.

Still palming her head, I pulled back and stared into her unfocused brown eyes. She had such beautiful eyes. Everyone always went on about blue eyes and green eyes. Brown eyes were so underrated. So much depth there, so much warmth. Rim had flecks of gold in hers, and even in the dark car, I could make out the way they shone.

I leaned forward, my shoulders coming off the seat, and pressed soft, light kisses to her lids, allowing my lips to drift over the bridge of her nose to kiss the tip.

“The things you do to me, Smalls.” I spoke on a whispered sigh.

“I love you.”

Every time she said those three words, my heart skipped a beat. Her love was the greatest thing that ever happened to me.

“I love you, too, baby.” I pulled back, realizing we were on the side of the road and the car was sitting sideways in a pile of snow. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Promise.” She made a crossing motion over her heart.

“Stay here. I’m gonna go see how bad the Cat looks.” I helped her back into the passenger seat.

Helped her = putting a hand on her ass and giving it a squeeze.

Outside of the interior of the car, the winter wind slapped me in the face, and I gritted my teeth against it. I didn’t mind the cold, but I’d had just about e-fucking-nough of it tonight. Between the game and now this, I was done.

I shoved my hands into the pockets of my coat and walked around the back of the car. The Hellcat spun and then slid sideways into the bank. The rear passenger side was right up against the packed snow, and it didn’t appear there was any body damage, but there might be a dent in the side once I pulled it away from the pile.

The tires looked okay, and I hadn’t hit anything else. I guess it was a blessing this happened on a back road where there was nothing or no one to hit.

The Hellcat was sitting at a slight angle, but that’s because the road sat up a little higher than the bank I’d slid onto.

No worries, though. I’d have us back on the road and at the cabin in no time.

The passenger door popped open, and Rimmel stuck her head out. I saw her grimace when the cold wind hit her.

“Get back in the car!” I told her.

“How does it look?” she ignored me and asked.

I gave the back end one last once-over and nodded. “All good. Now get back inside.”

She stuck her tongue out at me before retreating back into the heated interior, and I thought once more tonight about a blowjob.

For as tired and sore as I was after the game, I was horny as hell.

When I was back in the driver’s seat, I grabbed the wheel and took the car out of neutral. “We’ll be home in just a few.”

She settled back into the seat, snuggling into the Knight hoodie she wore.

I gave it some gas, and the engine responded, but the car didn’t move. Instead, the sound of spinning tires and the back end shifting a little against the snowbank was all that happened.

I grunted and gave it a little more gas.

The same thing happened, but this time when I let up, the car slid backward just a fraction.

“Romeo?” Rimmel asked, her voice a little wary.

“It’s all ice back there. The entire side of the road is coated in it. The snow pile probably started melting a little today when the sun was out but then refroze because of the frigid temps.”

“Are we stuck?” she asked.

I didn’t reply right away. Instead, I gave it another try, pumping the gas and milking the engine. Besides spinning out and creating a lot of noise, the car didn’t move.

I muttered a dark curse and flung myself out of the seat and stomped back around the car. My jaw locked when I saw all I’d done in my attempt at driving us out was dig us deeper into the ice.

I thought about pushing the car out of it and up onto the road. I probably could, but the sneakers I was wearing didn’t afford me much traction, and I’d likely slip around trying to find my footing to put my weight into the push.

Not to mention I’d need Rim to drive as I pushed to give us some advantage to pulling up the slight bank we were wedged in.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about a woman who wasn’t the best driver on a sunny spring day and who was kind of shitty at driving a stick shift trying to haul ass out of some ice while I stood behind the car and pushed…

Yeah, that might not be the best idea.

And I wouldn’t say it out loud, but my shoulder ached and I honestly didn’t want to risk injuring myself this late in the season and so close to the Super Bowl.

Being an injured quarterback sucked donkey balls. I wasn’t about to hit replay on that.

I got back in the car and blew on my chilled fingers. Rimmel was watching me, so I pulled them away from my mouth and turned toward her. “We’re stuck, but it’s not that bad. I’ll call B, and he can come help me get us out.”

“Want me to help?” she asked. Her glasses were back on her nose, and behind them her eyes were hopeful.

“This is man’s work, baby.”

She made a face like I knew she would. I laughed and pulled out my phone and called up the phone screen and hit B’s number.

The call dropped before it even started ringing. I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it.

“No signal,” I spat and dropped it in the cup holder. “Let me see your phone, baby.”

Rimmel pulled hers out of the kangaroo pocket on the hoodie and gave me a sheepish look. “The battery died.”

I made a sound. “Your battery died? How the hell is that even possible? You never use it enough.”

“I forgot to charge it last night, and well… Nova looked so cute tonight, I took a lot of pictures…” Her voice trailed away like she felt guilty.

“You’re allowed to use your phone,” I mused. “It’s okay.”

Her teeth sank into her lower lip.

I grabbed her hand and kissed it. “No worries.”

I snatched my phone up and opened the door again. “Maybe I’ll get a better signal out here.”

I strode out into the center of the empty rode and held up the cell like I was on some weird commercial where I was asking everyone if they could “hear me now.”

Rimmel appeared at my side, and I frowned. “You should stay in the car. It’s cold out here.”

She responded by pulling up the hood on her sweatshirt and pointedly looking at the phone. “You get service?”

“No,” I grumped but tried B again anyway.

The call dropped again.

“You’d think we were in Timbuktu,” I muttered.

“Let’s walk up the road some.” She pointed in the direction we’d come. “Maybe the closer we get to civilization, the better the service will get.”

“I’ll g—” I started, then cut myself off. I wasn’t going to leave her here alone on a dark street. No fucking way. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go. Let me shut the car off.”

Once it was off and locked up, the keys in my pocket, I returned to Rim’s side and held out my hand.

“Feel like a moonlit walk in the snow, Mrs. Anderson?”

“Sounds perfect for Christmas Eve, Mr. Anderson.”

Funny being stuck out here with no cell service didn’t seem so annoying anymore.

We started walking down the center of the road. Not one car had come this way since we’d been here. Clearly, coming this way had been a good strategy for eluding the press.

“It’s pretty,” Rim murmured and turned her face up toward the sky where the snowflakes fluttered down.

“You ever catch a snowflake on your tongue?” I asked, watching her.

She looked like an angel out here tonight.

“No,” she replied, not looking away from the sky.

I stopped walking. “What the hell do you mean no?”

She giggled and glanced at me. “Grew up in Florida, remember?”

“You’re killing me, Smalls.” I sighed. “B and I used to spend all kinds of time outside eating snowflakes and making snow cones with Kool-Aid.”

“I bet you two were adorable,” she mused.

“Of course we were.” I agreed. “Open your mouth. Stick out your tongue,” I instructed.

She glanced at me again.

I lifted my face and did it. “Ahhhh,” I said when my tongue was hanging out.

She laughed and followed suit. We stood there in the center of the road, making sounds and moving around to catch the snow.

“I caught one!” she said enthusiastically and started bouncing around. “It’s cold!”

“Well, duh,” I retorted, amused by her antics.

Her bouncing around proved to be a hazard to her health, and her sneaker slid on the road. Her small frame pitched to the side, and I acted fast, catching her around the waist, effectively stopping her from busting her ass.

“I gotcha,” I told her.

She gave me a brilliant smile and then bent backward over my arm and opened her mouth again. Her slight pink tongue sought out the snow, and she giggled when a white flake landed there and melted instantly.

I loved her.

So fucking much.

Her innocence was something I would always admire. And something I would always protect.

“You’re right. Catching them is fun.” Rimmel looked up at me.

I pulled her close and kissed her. “Now we just need to find some Kool-Aid so you can have a snow cone.”

“I’ve never made a snowman either.”

“What the fuck kind of childhood did you even have?” I gasped in horror.

She laughed, but I saw the shadow sliver behind the happiness. I hadn’t been thinking. I shouldn’t have said that.

Rim picked up on my regret instantly, and she straightened. “Don’t feel bad. We’re having fun. You can tease me.”

“This a hard time of year for you, baby?”

This wasn’t our first Christmas together, but in a lot of ways, it was. Last year, she’d flown back to Florida and we’d celebrated when she got home. This was the first year we would be together on the actual holiday. It was our first one as husband and wife.