Stranded with Mr. Snow

Part 1

"It stopped!" Savoy harked, dashing to the window with the burst of energy that her third cup of coffee-fueled her with.

It had been four hours since she was forced to exit from the freeway due to an overturned eighteen-wheeler and three hours since she was forced to pull over due to heavy snow. To say her Christmas Eve wasn't going as she planned would be a drastic understatement. She was supposed to be at her parent's estate hours ago. Two and a half to be exact. But instead, she was stuck at a bakery in the middle of nowhere. What made the two Texan natives buy a place in Maine was beyond her? Nor did she want to understand for fear of falling victim to the same radical thinking.

But there it was. She was in Maine; freezing her ass off.

Well, technically she wasn't freezing since Sweet Snow was toasty and quaint. Cinnamon and nutmeg still hung in the air although the ovens had long been shut off. The bakery had been closed for over forty minutes and she knew it didn't take that long to wrap up. The baker was stalling and she was grateful for it. Not just because he stood six foot one, had the smile of someone from a Colgate commercial, and the looks and physique of an Abercrombie & Fitch model in a sweater that would put Chris Evans to shame with his bronzed caramel complexion and the beaming smile he flashed to gracious customers.

Sure, it was fifty percent. No, make that fifty-eight percent of the reason but don't judge her for that. She had been single for far too long, based on her standards, and dating in LA hadn't been something she had the stomach for. Or patience. What did a woman have to do to find a guy that liked her for her and not the connections she had? Being an advertising executive for a fashion magazine didn't make things simpler. Once she told her dates what she did for a living one of two things happened; they wanted a hookup (and not the kind she was hankering for) or they were overtaken by intimidation. Which was beyond her grasp since she was a sweetheart; a high-maintenance sweetheart but a sweetheart nonetheless.

"It did," Hudson added, joining her at the window with tongs still in his hand. He took a long look outside, lifted his eyebrows, and turned to her. "But I don't know what this means for your travels."

"It means..." She gestured ahead. "That I can hit the road again."

He chuckled at her words and she frowned not seeing what he found humorous.

"Unless you have Santa's sleigh and his twenty-seven reindeer, I don't see that happening." His smile didn't fade as he went back behind the counter. "That's two feet of fresh snow and the bridge up ahead will surely be covered in ice. I'm sorry to say you're stranded."

"There are multiple things incorrect about your statement." She said following him but refraining from going behind the counter. "First, Santa has eight reindeer, not twenty-seven."

"So, you're trying to convince me that eight reindeer hoisted a hefty jolly man and presents for every child."

"Yeah," She nodded. "Because they're magical."

He chuckled and thought it was deep and sexy she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Don't tell me you believe in Santa Claus." He put two balls of dough in a plastic container and then snapped the lid on. "And his elves."

"I don't." She refuted, withholding the fact that she kept hope alive until the age of nine and a half. "It's just common knowledge...to everyone that's not a Grinch."

"I'm not a Grinch. I just don't buy into the hype of Christmas."

"The hype?" Her eyes went wide with shock. "It's the most wonderful time of the year and that's not just a myth. People are nicer around this time and you can feel joy and excitement in the air. You have to admit that's true."