Chapter Fourteen
Fourteen
The sound of doors opening and closing brought Leslie awake.
She lay there a moment and recalled the night before and how they’d prepared for the oncoming storm.
Jumping out of bed, she raced to the window.
A thick blanket of snow covered everything, and it was still coming down hard.
She could barely see past where she knew the detached storage shed was.
There was no doubt in her mind the temperature had dipped a lot lower than it had been when she’d finally gone to bed.
After pouring cups of hot chocolate for her and Sloan, they had then worked together to prepare things.
She had followed him to the underground tunnel.
..at least that’s what Sloan had called it.
To Leslie it looked more like a man cave, with living quarters that included a flat-screen television, wet bar and a wall filled with a collection of bottles of wine.
To not overwork the generator, they had removed all electrical items that had been plugged in and made sure the doors were secured. Then they had carried more blankets and sleeping bags from one of the closets to the fireplace.
It had been close to two in the morning before they’d said good-night and gone to their individual bedrooms. She was certain that as soon as her head touched the pillow, she’d fallen asleep.
Moving away from the window, she returned to the bed and picked up her cell phone off the nightstand.
She was glad it was still working. Sloan had warned her that even with the tower that had been installed, they might lose reception due to the strong winds.
So far they hadn’t, although it was taking longer than usual to make a connection to the weather app.
The temperature had dropped ten degrees from where it had been when she’d gone to bed.
When she heard another door opening and then closing, she knew Sloan was already up. Glancing over at the clock, she saw it was almost nine and then realized she had forgotten to set the alarm. Her goal had been to be up by seven.
Moving quickly, she made the bed and then rushed to the bathroom for her morning shower, hoping Sloan had the coffee going.
Sloan’s plan had been to return her to Wasilla today.
Now they were stranded and had no choice but to make the most of it.
Since the cabin was ready for the worst, he would probably start ignoring her.
She noted he hadn’t had a lot to say last night, even as they’d worked together to get things prepared.
A short while later, she had showered and dressed and was halfway to the kitchen when her nose picked up the aroma of coffee. Entering the kitchen, she saw him leaning against a kitchen counter sipping a cup. “Good morning, Sloan.”
“Good morning, Leslie. I got your oatmeal ready.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I figured it was the least I could do since you prepared such a delicious breakfast yesterday. I recalled how much you like the stuff.”
She went to the cabinet to grab a bowl, trying not to notice how good he looked in a pair of sweatpants with a matching sweatshirt that advertised Outlaw Freight Lines.
He’d given her an OFL T-shirt years ago.
It had been two sizes too large, and for years it had been the perfect sleep shirt. “You got up early.”
“I doubt if I even slept. I lay there remembering stuff I should have done. So I got up and filled the tubs in the other bathrooms with water and went outside a few times to make sure the pipes were sufficiently covered.”
“I see,” she said, going to sit at the table after filling her bowl with oatmeal and grabbing a box of raisins. She was surprised when Sloan joined her at the table after refilling his cup.
“You started a trend with my siblings with that, you know.”
She lifted a brow. “Oatmeal and raisins?”
“Yes. To this day it’s Charm’s favorite breakfast meal. She even has the old man eating it.”
Leslie couldn’t help but smile. “It’s a good meal to add to anyone’s diet. You even liked it yourself.”
“Only because you liked it. There was a time I liked anything you liked.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing. Sloan in turn sat across from her and drank his coffee. He definitely appeared in a better mood this morning than he had been last evening.
As tempted as she was to glance over at him, she didn’t. She couldn’t. Nothing looked sexier than Sloan Outlaw when he needed a shave. Just thinking about tracing her palm across that bearded jaw had warmth seeping between her legs.
“Why didn’t you return to Alaska after completing your studies at Howard, Leslie?” he broke into her thoughts to ask.
His question did make her look up. Did he really want to talk about that time in their past? If so, why? But since he’d asked, she would give him an answer. Even if it was the one she’d convinced herself she believed.
“Aunt Ella was getting up in age, and after she had a nasty fall that required months in rehab, Dad felt having me there with her was far more important than returning home.”
There was no need to tell him that even after her aunt had fully recuperated, Leslie hadn’t rushed back to Alaska because she’d still been suffering from a broken heart.
It was only after she’d discovered the truth of Sarah’s lies that she had given thought to returning home.
She’d known at some point she couldn’t move on without seeking Sloan out and apologizing for believing the worst about him.
He took another sip of his coffee and then asked, “Did you enjoy living in the nation’s capital?”
She shrugged. “It was interesting and definitely different. It always amused me when the first drop in temperature caused people to panic. And their major snowstorms weren’t anything compared to ours, that’s for sure. But there were more nice days than not, and it’s a beautiful place.”
After taking a sip of her own coffee, she added, “I’m sure now that you have a brother who’s a United States senator, you’ve visited there a lot.”
“Not a lot, but enough. Jess has a nice place on the Potomac. And I agree about the weather. I also like its proximity to New York.”
He didn’t say anything for a while, and the room was quiet except for the howling of the wind and the rustling sound of snow falling.
It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, but the amount of snow falling made it appear dark outside, robbing them of their few hours of daylight.
She was about to stand and take her empty bowl over to the sink when Sloan’s next words stopped her.
“I need to know something, Leslie.”
She could tell from the tone of his voice that whatever he needed to know was serious. Drawing in a deep breath, she asked, “What is it that you want to know, Sloan?”
He held her gaze. “How could you have thought I betrayed you with Sarah?”
A part of Sloan wanted to bite off his tongue for even asking, when he’d told himself over the years that he hadn’t given a damn.
He still didn’t, but he figured at the moment, anything was better than his mind being preoccupied with that phone call he’d received from Cole before daybreak this morning, detailing new developments about Martin Longshire.
Just as Sloan had suspected, the man was trying to go after several of Sloan’s companies with hostile takeover attempts.
All it had taken was Sloan to make a couple of calls to his attorneys to turn the tables on Longshire once again.
This time Sloan had left no doubt in anyone’s mind, especially Longshire’s, that compared to Sloan’s wealth, Longshire was a pauper.
Fearing Sloan would retaliate with a countertakeover, the stockholders of the Longshire Industries had demanded that Longshire step down as CEO immediately and take early retirement.
It was basically the same type of ultimatum the board at Outlaw Freight Lines had given Bart.
“At the time it all seemed pretty clear,” Leslie said, intruding into his thoughts.
“You weren’t returning my calls. And Sarah had what I thought was proof that you were texting and calling her and not me.
The text messages she let me read were supposedly from you, begging her not to tell me what happened that night between the two of you, that it had been a mistake I didn’t need to know about.
I saw the text messages, Sloan. What was I supposed to believe? ”
He tried to keep the anger from his voice when he said, “You should have believed that no matter what those text messages said, there was no way I could have slept with her.”
“Even when you didn’t return my call, I refused to believe it...until she provided proof.”
“Those text messages and documentation of phone calls weren’t proof of anything. Anyone can assign someone’s name to a contact in their phone. Although it said the person making the calls and sending those text messages was me, it could have been made up.”
“You think I didn’t know that? That’s why I tried calling you. But I couldn’t reach you.”
“The reason you couldn’t reach me was because there was no reception at the cabin. That’s why I didn’t get your call.” He rubbed his hand down his face and said, “But then, I can’t fully place the blame solely on you, Leslie, since I should have told you.”
He saw the confusion in her eyes. “You should have told me what?”
Sloan hesitated and then said, “That Sarah made a couple of passes at me before.”
“What! And you didn’t tell me about that?”
“I didn’t tell you because I thought I had handled the situation. The first time she did it, I thought it was just her being flirty.”
Leslie leaned over the table. “What exactly did she do?”