Baby It's Cold Outside by Addison Fox

combination.”
    “I’m not lonely.” And he wasn’t. He could find female companionship when he wanted it. He lived life on his terms. He was happy.
    And damn it, he wasn’t lonely.
    The laughter had stopped, leaving in its wake a broad smile that lit up her face. “Then you make up for it with ego.”
    Walker couldn’t resist smiling back. “You have that right.”
    Their waitress arrived, putting down the check. He reached for it automatically, causing another raise of those sleek eyebrows.
    “I’m here for research. I can get it.”
    “You were here to eat. With me. So I’ve got it.”
    “Walker.” She extended a hand. “I don’t want to make a stupid deal out of this, but I am working.”
    He already had the cash out of his pocket and the bill back to their waitress before Sloan could protest any further. “So come on then and work. I’ll give you the downtown tour. I need to walk off these pancakes.”
    Without waiting for her to agree or disagree, he stood and shrugged into his coat, then held hers out to her. “I see you remedied your coat situation.”
    “Just this morning. Sandy was more than happy to oblige.”
    “I’ve no doubt of that. Did she rake you over the coals?”
    “It’s a price I paid willingly.”
    He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Sucker!”
    Even as the word lingered between them, Walker knew the moniker was far more applicable to him.
    Sloan ignored him and pulled her hair from where it was stuck in her collar, the long fall of blond drawing his attention like a compass to true north. Mouth dry, he struggled for some response that wouldn’t give away how thoroughly she affected him.
    And as they stepped out onto Main Street a few minutes later, he was still trying to come up with something.

Chapter Seven
     
    “T our” wasn’t really the right word, Sloan thought reflectively a half hour later as they passed a monument that stood at the far end of town. A love letter would have been a better description of her walk through the town of Indigo with Walker Montgomery.
    He’d guided her from one end of Main Street to the other pointing out landmarks, from where the town’s most ardent moose liked to come cozy up while looking for love, to the place he, Mick and Roman got drunk (and sick) for the first time.
    It was interesting, she mused, as they neared the far end of town, how much pride she could hear in his voice when he spoke of these things.
    He loved living here. Really, truly loved it.
    “What’s the monument for?”
    She expected him to say it was a war memorial and yet again, had to change her expectations at the answer.
    “Love.”
    “Really?”
    “The grandmothers commissioned it.”
    “An entire monument?” Sloan had to tilt her head back to see the top of it. Who did that?
    “Julia’s husband died when she was only thirty-six.”
    Pulling her gaze away from the top, she turned toward him. “Losing a spouse at any age would be hard, but to lose someone that young—it must have had a huge impact on her.”
    Walker nodded and an unexpected softness tinged the hard edges of his jaw as his mouth curved into a slight smile. “It had a huge impact on all three of them.”
    Sloan moved forward to look at the monument, glancing over her shoulder as her boots crunched on the snow. “Is that where the competition came from?”
    “In part. They wanted a celebration to kick off the unveiling of the monument. And at that celebration, my mother and father hooked up after the dinner and dance that was tied to the festivities.”
    “So you’ve got quite a legacy to live up to.”
    “At times.”
    As she walked around the base of the monument, she couldn’t stop the warmth that filled her as she observed the smooth lines and curves of the granite. Again, another assumption blown to bits. She’d seen the monument from a distance and immediately thought it was a war memorial.
    And instead it was the antithesis.
    The monument suggested a man and a woman