Snowed In by Sarah Title Page B

brain had been fried. He couldn’t sleep, couldn’t focus on work, and had been to the grocery store every day, standing in the ice cream aisle like a lost puppy. And apparently throwing his phone under his pillow at night.
    â€œHello?” he mumbled, trying to convey both annoyance and competence.
    â€œGet your ass out of bed. I need a ride to the grocery store.” Pippa. He should have known he’d regret giving the sweet, elderly widow who lived next door his cell number. Ha, sweet. But still: the grocery store. He shook his head—that had to stop. He had to accept that the mystery woman would remain a mystery.
    â€œPippa, it’s”—he fumbled toward the clock radio—“ugh, it’s six-thirty.” Not as early as he’d thought. Still, too early for the grocery store.
    â€œI told Marv I’d make him cupcakes for his birthday.” Marv? Right, the new boyfriend.
    â€œIsn’t Marv massively diabetic?”
    â€œYes, but I found a sugar-free recipe online.” Gavin would also regret setting up Pippa’s internet connection. “I need some of this weird sweetener stuff. And that dumb-bum weatherman on channel eleven says a snowstorm is coming. You need bread and milk.” Gavin took a bachelor’s approach to grocery shopping: takeout menus and frozen dinners. And ice cream. He groaned.
    â€œCan it wait until lunch?”
    â€œFine. I just wanted to hear that sexy morning voice of yours, anyway. Take an early lunch. Pick me up at eleven-thirty. If you’re late, I’ll call again.”
    â€œYes, ma’am. How long until you get your license back?”
    â€œThe judge said not in his lifetime. He seemed pretty out of shape, though, so hopefully soon.” Pippa’s favorite saying was, “I’m old, I ain’t slow.” The latter, the ain’t slow part, definitely applied to her driving. It was terrifying, especially since she could barely see over the steering wheel.
    â€œOkay. Eleven-thirty.”
    â€œSweet dreams, Gavin.”
    Gavin snorted into the phone, but only got a dial tone in return. He wanted to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. The grocery store. Enough of that. He would just wait in the car.

Chapter 4
    Maureen really wished she could stop crying. Dave wasn’t worth any tears, let alone two weeks’ worth. But here she was on a Tuesday afternoon, standing in front of the ice cream—again—crying her eyes out.
    It wasn’t just the double chocolate brownie flavor that brought back fond memories of Dave taking care of her when she had strep throat last year. It wasn’t Dave at all.
    It was that damned god.
    She still could not believe she’d acted so brazenly. She wasn’t even that brazen in private. But there was something about that guy and the way he looked at her that made her want to, well, make out with a stranger in the grocery store. Maybe he was right. Maybe she needed someone to get her over Dave. Dave wasn’t worth it. But they had a long history, and it was going to take more than one hot kiss with a god in the freezer aisle to erase two years together.
    Thinking of that kiss still curled her toes. It had been two weeks¸ but every time she thought of it she could feel his arms wrapping around her and lifting her up to get closer.
    She opened the freezer to cool her heated face and screwed her eyes shut against the embarrassment. Sure, yes, the kiss was hot—amazingly hot—but he was a stranger. And they had been in public .
    Was it any wonder she’d avoided the grocery store for two weeks?
    â€œWhat’s the matter, girlie?”
    Maureen jerked her head out of the freezer, then sniffled at the tiny, bronzed woman standing in front of her.
    â€œNothing. Nothing’s the matter.”
    â€œThen why are you crying into the novelties?”
    This woman was truly tiny. Maureen was used to women being smaller than she, but this