Stranded With a Hero by Karen Erickson, Cindi Madsen, Coleen Kwan, Roxanne Snopek

to bed, Mindy. There’s not much we can do tonight but bundle up and wait it out. We’ll reassess in the morning.”
    “I don’t want to go back to bed. My room is freezing.” When he sent her a questioning look she explained, “This house is old and drafty. The windows upstairs are the worst. Lets in all the cold air and the hot, making it the coldest room in the winter and the hottest one in the summer.”
    “Sounds miserable,” he muttered, his mind racing. What exactly did she want to do? Stay down here in the living room with him? He didn’t mind that. Not like they could share the couch comfortably though. His six-foot-one frame took up the entire thing but maybe she could sleep on top of him.
    Ha. In his dreams. He bet if he pulled her to him, he could still feel every one of her curves, even through the thick layers she wore. The heat of her body, the scent of her skin…
    “It is,” she agreed. “That’s why I came down here with you. I figured we could…hang out.” Her explanation sounded perfectly logical but…
    “Define hang out,” he said, since he didn’t know how else to reply. And he was curious to see what exactly she was thinking.
    “Um…” She pressed her lips together, looking a little uncomfortable. “I don’t know. Snuggle close, like you said?”
    Surprise filled him. Did she just really say that? Did she want more from him, too? Or was this wishful thinking on his part?
    And wouldn’t that bum him out? Maybe. Okay, yeah it would.
    “So you’re suggesting we…snuggle to stay warm,” he said carefully, his gaze never leaving her. He needed to gauge her reaction.
    She nodded furiously.
    “You all right, Min? You look a little amped up.” Like she just downed ten cups of coffee amped up. Her eyes were wide and she seemed agitated, her entire body quaking.
    “Can I ask you a question?” she blurted, pressing her lips together the minute the words left her.
    “Sure.” He frowned, waiting for her. This could either be a really good question or a really bad one.
    “If I asked you right now to kiss me, would you?”

Chapter Five
    If he thought the house was quiet earlier before they’d gone to bed, it was extra- quiet now. Like a death tomb. However he was feeling anything but dead-and-gone-like.
    Though Mindy had certainly dropped a bomb on him with a few simple words, it wasn’t the bad sort of bomb. More like the blow-his-mind, wow-that-came-out-of-nowhere, sure-I’m-up-to-it kind.
    “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I mean, uh—Oh God, I don’t know what I mean.” She tipped her head back, staring up at the ceiling for a moment as if she needed to gather her thoughts. The glow from the fire cast her face in shadow, but he saw the despair. The worry.
    He was feeling just surly enough to make her twist in the wind for a little bit.
    “Spit it out, Min. Say what you gotta say.” He scooted closer to her, a subtle movement she didn’t seem to notice, she was so traumatized over her request. A request he would undoubtedly bestow, since the more he thought about it, the better it sounded.
    A moment he’d wanted for years was being handed to him on a silver platter. No way was he going to pass this up.
    But she was an overthinker so he needed to make his move and soon. He could see those cogs turning in her brain at this very moment. Having her worry for too long would ruin it. There was a fine line when dealing with Mindy.
    Should he make a move, though? Things were cozy and almost perfect right now between the two of them but it could all change the minute they escaped the house. Everything could go back to normal. She might forget all about him, and he’d be left with a broken heart.
    Again.
    It was that easy for him, gaining back those feelings for Mindy. Stupid, he knew, but he couldn’t help it. He’d always had a thing for her. Always. It’d just been lying dormant all these years.
    “I just…I’ve been thinking about it. What happened between