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He’d like to get dirty with Calliope The thought of it had hi te he’d forgotten all the fundamentals Like how to treat a woman How to ask someone out on a date How to let attraction take over and just go with it

Why couldn’t Calliope be a woman he’d met at random? That would make this a lot easier, because every time he looked at her, hebad of his past kept rushing back to him

Which was all in his head and not in reality Calliope had nothing to do with the failure of his e Maybe it was time to separate the sisters, think of Calliope as an individual and give himself a freakin’ break

But first he had to work He focused his attention on the sheetrock and let Calliope slide to the background for a while

Hours later, his crew had gone home and he was still in the center when he decided to call it quits for the night The sheetrock had been finished His crew had put up tarp on the outside to make sure any bad weather wouldn’t ruin the work they’d done

Wyatt walked into the adjoining roo dead at the

It was dark outside--and snowing like crazy Frorabbed his phone 8:00 p

Damn, where had his head been, and why hadn’t Calliope come to tell him she needed to close up the center?

He saw a light on in her office so headed there

Her back was turned as she studied her co the keys

"You’re still here"

She jumped, then swiveled in her chair "Wyatt, you scared me to death It was so quiet in here, and I saw you were still working after everyone left, so I decided to leave you alone"

He leaned against the doorjaed and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose "I had reports to do anyway I didn’t round"

Her eyes widened "Really?" She got up and swiveled open the blinds in her office "Wow I knew it looked like itto come down so hard so fast"

Noas his chance to not be an asole for once "Have you eaten?"

She lifted up a package of half-eaten peanut butter crackers "A snack How about you?"

"No"

"You’re probably ready to get out of here then I’ve locked the front door with the keys I’ll let you out" She grabbed the keys

"You aren’t leaving?"

She stopped in front of him at the doorway "Yes, but I need to shut the corab my stuff"

"I’ll wait"

"Are you sure?"

"I’ll wait Go shut down and grab your coat"

"Okay Thanks" She went back to her desk, bent over her computer He enjoyed the view of her butt as she did She folded her crackers, slid the and keys

"I need to turn off sohts around here, then I’ll be ready"

He followed her around as she turned off the lights, checked doors to be sure they were locked and went to the front door He grabbed her coat and held it out for her this tiave him a look as she slid her ar"

She did, offering hiloves?"

"Yes In my car"

He shook his head, threw on his coat, then slipped his knit cap over her head and handed her his gloves "Put those on"

She looked down at the gloves, then at him "But what about you?"

He cracked a suy I think I can handle it"

Wyatt was being nice to her? That was a change Calliope didn’t knohat had coift of hi as they flopped in her hands since they were three sizes too big for her She squeezed her fingers in them to keep them on while Wyatt pulled the door open

The wind slaainst hiainst her back to steady her

"Wow, that’s some storm," she said

Wyatt took her keys, pulled the door shut and locked it, then put his arm around her and helped her down the stairs She really wished she’d brought her boots in from the car, but she hadn’t expected an epic snowstorm Now, snow slid into her socks and tennis shoes and she shivered

It was hard to walk--at least for her Wyatt had work boots on and had no problerabbed her arm and led her to the street where her small car was buried

She looked at the car "Well, this will take so We’ll takedown so fast she couldn’t even see, and she wasn’t about to argue with him He led her over to the side street where his truck was parked The effort to get there exhausted her By the tiet in, her jeans and feet were soaked and freezing and she was shivering so hard her teeth chattered

He turned on the truck’s engine and hit the heaters full blast, then went back outside with a scraper to clean off the hile she stayed inside Her feet and ankles stung froloves back The te the work bare-handed and without a hat He

He climbed back in and looked at her "Put your seatbelt on"

She did, noting his red hands "You should have takenoutside in all kinds of weather"

He put the car in gear and pulled carefully away from the curb The truck tried to fishtail, but Wyatt controlled it The roads were hazardous, the snow thick and co down so hard that even the windshield wipers on full blast couldn’t clear the whiteout conditions enough to see clearly