After rubbing his icy hands on his jeans, he stuck them into his pockets to keep them from freezing. Walking around the house, he strolled over to her car, opened the door and found the candy bars, chips and... Girl Scout cookies, he noted, lifting a brow. She hadn’t mentioned them, and he saw they were her favorite kind, as well as his. He quickly recalled the first year they were married and how they shared the cookies as a midnight snack after making love. He couldn’t help but smile as he remembered that night and others where they had spent time together, not just in bed but cooking in the kitchen, going to movies, concerts, parties, having picnics and just plain sitting around and talking for hours.
He suddenly realized that one of the things that had been missing from their marriage for a while was communication. When had they stopped talking? The first thought that grudgingly came to mind was when she’d begun bringing work home, letting it intrude on what had always been their time together. That’s when they had begun living in separate worlds.
Dane breathed in deeply. He wanted to get back into Sienna’s world and he definitely wanted her back in his. He didn’t want a divorce. He wanted to keep his wife but he refused to resort to any type of manipulating, dominating or controlling tactics to do it. What he and Sienna needed was to use this weekend to keep it honest and talk openly about what had gone wrong with their marriage. They would go further by finding ways to resolve things. He still loved her and wanted to believe that deep down she still loved him.
There was only one way to find out.
Chapter 8
Sienna glanced around the room seeing all the lit candles and thinking just how romantic they made the cabin look. Taking a deep breath, she frowned in irritation, thinking that romance should be the last thing on her mind. Dane was her soon-to-be ex-husband. Whatever they once shared was over, done with, had come to a screeching end.
If only the memories weren’t so strong...
She glanced out the window and saw him piling wood on the back porch. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought her day would end up this way, with her and Dane being stranded together at the cabin—a place they always considered as their favorite getaway spot. During the first two years of their marriage, they would come here every chance they got, but in the past year she could recall them coming only once. Somewhere along the way she had stopped allowing them time even for this.
She sighed deeply, recalling how important it had been to her at the beginning of their marriage for them to make time to talk about matters of interest, whether trivial or important. They had always been attuned to each other, and Dane had always been a good listener, which to her conveyed a sign of caring and respect. But the last couple of times they had tried to talk ended up with them snapping at each other, which only built bitterness and resentment.
The lights blinked and she knew they were about to go out. She was glad that she had taken the initiative to go into the kitchen and scramble up some eggs earlier. And she was inwardly grateful that if she had to get stranded in the cabin during a snowstorm that Dane was here with her. Heaven knows she would have been a basket case had she found herself up here alone.
The lights blinked again before finally going out, but the candles provided the cabin with plenty of light. Not sure if the temperatures outside would cause the pipes to freeze, she had run plenty of water in the bathtub and kitchen sink, and filled every empty jug with water for them to drink. She’d also found batteries to put in the radio so they could keep up with any reports on the weather.
“I saw the lights go out. Are you okay?”
Sienna turned around. Dane was leaning in the doorway with his hands stuck in the pockets of his jeans. The pose made him look incredibly sexy. “Yes, I’m okay. I was able to get the candles all lit and there are plenty more.”
“That’s good.”
“Just in case the pipes freeze and we can’t use the shower, I filled the bathtub up with water so we can take a bath that way.” At his raised brow she quickly added, “Separately, of course. And I made sure I filled plenty of bottles of drinking water, too.”
He nodded. “Sounds like you’ve been busy.”
“So have you. I saw through the window when you put all that wood on the porch. It will probably come in handy.”
He moved away from the door. “Yes, and with the electricity out I need to go ahead and get the fire started.”
Sienna swallowed as she watched him walk toward her on his way to the fireplace, and not for the first time she thought about how remarkably handsome he was. He had that certain charisma that made women get hot all over just looking at him.
It suddenly occurred to her that he’d already got a fire started, and the way it was spreading through her was about to make her burst into flames.
Chapter 9
“You okay?” Dane asked Sienna as he walked toward her with a smile.
She nodded and cleared her throat. “Yes, why do you ask?”
“Because you’re looking at me funny.”
“Oh.” She was vaguely aware of him walking past her to kneel in front of the fireplace. She turned and watched him, saw him move the wood around before taking a match and lighting it to start a fire. He was so good at kindling things, whether wood or the human body.
“If you like, I can make something for dinner,” she decided to say, otherwise she would continue to stand there and say nothing while staring at him. It was hard trying to be normal in a rather awkward situation.
“What are our options?” he asked without looking around.
She chuckled. “An egg sandwich and tea. I made both earlier before the power went off.”
He turned at that and his gaze caught hers. A smile crinkled his eyes. “Do I have a choice?”
“Not if you want to eat.”
“What about those Girl Scout cookies I found in your car?”
Her eyes narrowed. “They’re off-limits. You can have one of the candy bars, but the cookies are mine.”
His mouth broke into a wide grin. “You have enough cookies to share, so stop being selfish.”
He turned back around and she made a face at him behind his back. He was back to stoking the fire and her gaze went to his hands. Those hands used to be the givers of so much pleasure and almost ran neck and neck with his mouth...but not quite. His mouth was in a class by itself. But still, she could recall those same hands, gentle, provoking, moving all over her body; touching her everywhere and doing things to her that mere hands weren’t suppose to do. However, she never had any complaints.
“Did you have any plans for tonight, Sienna?”
His words intruded into her heated thoughts. “No, why?”
“Just wondering. You thought I had a date tonight. What about you?”
She shrugged. “No. As far as I’m concerned, until we sign those final papers, I’m still legally married and wouldn’t feel right going out with someone.”
He turned around and locked his eyes with hers. “I know what you mean,” he said. “I wouldn’t feel right going out with someone else.”
Heat seeped through her every pore with his words. “So you haven’t been dating, either?”
“No.”
There were a number of questions she wanted to ask him—how he spent his days, his nights, what his family thought of their pending divorce, what he thought of it, was he ready for it to be over for them to go their separate ways—but there was no way she could ask him any of those things. “I guess I’ll go put dinner on the table.”
He chuckled. “An egg sandwich and tea?”
“Yes.” She turned to leave.
“Sienna?”
She turned back around. “Yes?”
“I don’t like being stranded, but since I am, I’m glad it’s with you.”
For a moment she couldn’t say anything, then she cleared her throat while backing up a couple of steps. “Ah, yeah right, same here.” She backed up some more then said, “I’ll go set out the food now.” And then she turned and quickly left the room.
Chapter 10
Sienna glanced up when she heard Dane walk into the kitchen and smiled. “Your feast awaits you.”
“Whoopee.”
She laughed. “Hey, I know the feeling. I’m glad I had a nice lunch today in celebration. I took on a new client.”
Dane came and joined her at the table. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you.”
She took a bite of her scrambled egg sandwich and a sip of her tea and then said, “It’s been a long time since you seemed genuinely pleased with my accomplishments.”
He glanced up after taking a sip of his own tea and stared at her for a moment. “I know and I’m sorry about that. It was hard being replaced by your work, Sienna.”