Monthly Bonus Content #1—'In Snowy Depths…' (Nate Winter Special) (Patreon)

Why is it snow can be so wonderfully beautiful but also so aggravatingly hindering?

The carpet of pure white fluffiness blankets the world outside of the SUV, winking and twinkling at us as the moonlight brushes soft silver kisses against it.

“At least the view is beautiful,” Nate comments through a tense smile.

The engine coughs out a splutter sending a plume of disgusting grey smoke to coat the windshield before us.

He sighs.

“It’s alright,” I say, gripping the useless steering wheel tighter. “We’re not that far out from town. I’ll give the others a ring. I’m sure they’ll be here in no time to fix it.”

His face pinches. “You’re going to ring Adam and tell him his SUV is broken?”

“It’s not just his SUV,” I counter, the strength of my voice dropping as Nate’s features twist tighter with doubt. “Yeah, maybe I’ll ring Verda instead. Eric knows someone who could probably come get us.”

I try to push against the door, but it won’t budge. I shoulder it this time. It whines but still doesn’t shift an inch.

My gaze slides to Nate. “Could you?”

He nods before leaning—very slowly and very purposely—over my lap and shoving at the door with one hand.

The piled snow on the other side explodes into a shower of icy flakes as the door carves through the drift.

He smiles at me. “All yours.”

I lick at my lips, the warmth of his chest against my lap is a heat I don’t feel like sliding out from. “Thanks.”

He sits back up, letting his hands drag across my thighs and making me jolt with sudden temptation. “Be careful.”

I slide out of the car, my feet landing with a crunch on the compact snow. I turn around and flinch with a wince at the state of Adam’s—I mean, the Agency’s—SUV.

The roads that wind through the forests of Wayhaven are bad enough on a normal day, but in mid-winter they are treacherous with ice. One slight swing of the steering wheel to avoid a cavernous pothole had sent us skittering off-road and colliding into a deep drift of snow that had, thankfully, softened the brunt of our impact.

“What do we do in the meantime?” Nate asks, having left the car and moved to my side without the slightest sound.

I puff out my cheeks. “Hope we don’t freeze?”

“Very much hope,” he replies, teeth chattering around the words as he rubs at his arms.

I glance at him with a frown. “I think there’s a blanket in the back.”

We move around to the boot, swinging it open to find an array of weapons, tools, and technical equipment.

And nothing even slightly useful for getting stuck in a mountain of snow.

As Nate calls Verda to ask if he can send someone to get us, I continue to root through the back of the SUV for a blanket. Finally, I spot a small bundle of fleece rolled up and hung from one side.

I grab at it and grasp his arm to tug him with me. “Come on. Let’s get back in.”

Both of us slide onto the spacey backseat, wrapping the blanket around us tightly so as we’re pressed up snugly against each other.

Outside, a strange hush falls over the snow-smothered darkness. Inside, my heart thumps a steady rhythm that is steadily building as Nate presses even further against me.

His lean lines bank up against mine, his fingers tickling against my outer thigh as he tugs the blanket further over our laps.

My breath makes the hair at his neck flutter, and I can see him shiver as he bites at his lip.

I’m not sure why we bothered with the blanket when the heat of our closeness sends the temperature sky rocketing. And the way his gaze deepens on mine would make the top of any thermometer explode.

I curl a wave of hair back from his eyes. It’s so much longer than when I first met him.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be too keen to be rescued,” I suggest with a soft smile.

“How can I be rescued, when you have already saved me from so much, [redactedpetname]?” he murmurs while leaning in, the words whispering like kisses against my skin.

I flick my tongue against my top lip, my gaze dropping to his parted ones, so temptingly perfect in the gleam of wintery moonlight.

“Saved you from what?” I whisper.

He smiles. “You are at risk of saving me from myself, if I don’t take care.”

“You don’t have to take care around me,” I say, cupping his cheek and gazing into his eyes. They glimmer with gold like a metallic galaxy.

His brows shift down as a strange tension cuts sharp lines across his usually soft features. “You are the one person I have to be most careful around. Can you not see that?”

The gold in his eyes suddenly twists and flurries into a shimmering blizzard.

“What do you mean—”

The car door is yanked open with such sudden force that we both let out a squeak of surprise.

“Oops, sorry!” Sweets, Wayhaven’s mechanic, announces while flinging her hands up. “Didn’t realise you’d be canoodling back here.”

Nate pulls away with a cough and shoves his fingers through his hair. “You were…surprisingly prompt.”

She grins. “That’s my business. Now, you two gonna get out so I can start fixing this gorgeous baby?” Her focus is lost to the sleek gleaming lines of the SUV.

Nate and I shift ourselves out of the car.

As we stand together, it’s impossible to ignore that something has settled between us that’s colder than the freezing snow that piles around our feet.