“I don’t know.” Damn, he needed to get to a hotel so he could hold her. Highway lamps flickered on, and headlights barely cut through the growing darkness. The six-hour trip had turned into eight, and they needed to get settled, to eat real food, to stretch. “Everyone is different, baby. Some people aren’t as strong as others.”

“Molly thinks I’m strong. She always says that, so I guess she really believes it.”

“I’d agree.” It definitely took great inner strength to survive so much unhappiness and still have her tender heart and gentle understanding intact.

“Back when Mom died, Molly seemed so much older, and I really relied on her. But there’s only three years separating us.” She stared off into the distance. “She’s more than my sister. She’s my best friend, too.”

“I’m glad the two of you are so close.”

She didn’t seem to hear him. “After Mom jumped off that bridge, she spent a long time in a really exclusive hospital. You know the type, where you pay through the nose to be pampered, and they cater to your every wish.”

Jett didn’t know what to say, so he nodded.

“I hated visiting her there, especially since Dad would be the one to take us. The entire day would be ruined with friction, condescension and strained civility. At home, Mom and Dad barely talked, but while she was in the hospital he spent all his time telling her that she was being selfish and weak and that she’d embarrassed him.” Natalie laughed in that humorless, sad way again. “Nurses overheard him but said nothing since he was paying the bills, and that embarrassed me. It still embarrasses me.”

“It shouldn’t. Your parents are not you.”

“But that’s pretty much what my family is, you know? Awkward and ugly and cold.”

He understood now why she avoided talking about them. “That had to be hell on a kid.”

She drew a slow deep breath. “After Mom came home again, Molly kept saying that she’d be okay. I don’t know if she believed that or if she was just trying to protect me. Or maybe she wanted to convince herself.”

Jett had wanted her to open up to him, but now he almost couldn’t bear it. “She wasn’t okay.”

“Far from it. And regardless of what Molly had said, neither of us was real surprised when she took another jump off a bridge, this time over a highway.”

Jett cursed low.

“There was no fishing her out that time.” She stared down at her hands. “It was a gory, headline-worthy scandal, and that’s what Dad was mostly put out over. Not once did I see him cry or get emotional over any of it. I honestly don’t think any woman—or maybe even any person—has ever meant that much to him.”

Not even his daughters. The idea left Jett furious. “Parents should be there for their kids.”

She nodded. “Being a teacher, I see mostly good parents who really love their children. They’re not perfect and they make mistakes, but not because they don’t care—just because they’re human.”

“Making mistakes is the biggest part of being in a family. But when you love each other, a few mistakes are easily forgiven.” Even as he said it, he wondered about her relationship with her sister. “Have you and Molly had any differences?”

“I really despised Adrian.” She winced, as if guilty. “Molly said that I didn’t think anyone was good enough for her, but that’s not true. I want her to be happy, and if she’d married Adrian, I’d have made the best of it.”

“Sometimes people in love wear blinders.”

“That’s just it, though. Adrian was convenient, but I don’t think Molly really loved him.” Natalie waved a hand. “Anyway, it all worked out when Adrian finally showed his true colors. Molly dumped him, and she wasn’t all that broken up about it, so I say good riddance.”

“What about your stepmother? Do you both like her?”

“Kathi.” She wrinkled her nose. “She’s perfect for my father. And I have to give her credit for trying to make us into some sort of family, as impossible as that seems.”

Jett hated how she said that, as if she’d almost given up on the idea of family.

In the next second, his thoughts shattered as a semi tried to pass them and lost control. Everything happened fast.

Horns blared as the semi swerved across the lanes, forcing two cars to crash into each other as another slid wildly and almost hit them. Jett had just winged past that collision when another car fishtailed in front of him.

For a split second, Jett lost control of the SUV and they went sliding sideways. Natalie never made a sound and neither did he. Then the tires gained traction in the thick snow on the perimeter of the lane and Jett again righted the vehicle. Ice and snow pelted the windshield, leaving him temporarily blind before the wipers managed to shove aside the slush.

And then he saw it, that damned semi now sideways in the road. When Jett touched his brakes, he slid over the icy roadway.

“Damn.” Squeezing the wheel in a death grip, he tapped the brakes again, more gently this time, and steered toward the berm. The truck’s trailer flipped over and dragged the cab toward the median.

Behind them, Jett heard the impact of steel on steel as two other cars reacted to the sight of the semi and lost control.

The semi flipped over into the median, finally out of Jett’s path but too late for him to continue on. The SUV made contact with a high pile of snow and ice on the side of the road.

The impact jarred them hard; Buddy yelped as he rolled out of his doggy bed.

Jett went still, his heart in his throat and fury burning his blood. For a heartbeat of time, he didn’t move. Buddy jarred him by barking and jumping up to look over the seat.

Jett glanced at Natalie. She had a death grip on the padded door handle, her other hand at her heart. Hand shaking, he reached over and touched her. “Natalie?”

“I’m fine.” She sounded calm. “Are you okay?”

No, he was not okay. In rapid succession a dozen scenarios had played out in his brain, all of them involving injury to her. Out of pure terror, he’d pictured the SUV wrecking, the semi crushing her, her soft flesh bleeding…

He was a man of control, but for one of the few times in his life, he knew he was rattled. God, the thought of anything happening to her left him devastated. Weak, shaken, sick.

What would he do without her?

That’s when it struck him.

“Jett?” She covered his hand with her own. “Say something.”

He locked gazes with her, and got blasted with reality. Oh hell.

Like a ton of bricks landing on his chest, crushing out all his air, he realized that he loved her.

Really loved her, like the forever kind. Like marriage, kids, picket fences and all the fanfare.

His eyes burned and his throat felt tight. He didn’t just want more time with Natalie. Hell no.

He wanted everything.

He turned his head to stare straight ahead. Less than a quarter of a mile up, an exit had been cleared. Jett put the SUV back in gear and, bless the fates, backed out of the snow and ice without a problem. “Buddy needs you.”

Natalie gave him another worried look, but she did comfort the dog as she looked out the rearview window. “Everyone looks okay.”

He didn’t want to look back. He couldn’t. “People are out of their cars?”

“Yes. The truck driver, too. There are at least…” She did a quick count. “Looks like six cars and the truck, all stopped, with the road blocked. Those poor people. They’ll be stuck for a while.”

Working his jaw, Jett took the exit, and right there, bludgeoned by the blizzard, a hotel came into view. “We’re going there.” Natalie didn’t reply, but that didn’t stop him from talking. “I’m getting us off the road, right now.”

In an attempt to calm him, she said, “Okay, Jett.”

He glanced at her with new awareness. Ah hell, now she wanted to placate him—because he was behaving like an ass.

New emotions rushed through him, all but obliterating his logic. He needed something to do so that he didn’t crush her close and declare himself.

“I’m calling my sister.” He used the speed dial in his car.

The second she answered, Jett gave her the name of the hotel and the location. “The roads are shit. We won’t make it to the cabin, so we’re staying here for the night. Got it?”

Heidi said, “Sure. But Jett? You okay?”

“Fine. Perfect, in fact. But I gotta go. The parking lot hasn’t been cleared yet, so I need to be alert. Bye.” He hung up on her.

Natalie watched him the same way she’d watch a lunatic. “Jett, it’s okay. We’re okay.”

“Not yet.” He wouldn’t be okay until he’d found a way to bind her to him. “But we will be just as soon as I set you straight on a few things.”

Disgruntlement laced her tone when she said, “Just what is that supposed to mean?”

“After I have you and Buddy settled.” His SUV pushed through the thick snow in the parking lot of the hotel. Luckily they had a covered entry and he pulled up there. “Stay put while I sign us in.” He looked at her and couldn’t believe he’d been so blind. She would have made this trip on her own. She could easily have been one of the people forced off the road, or worse.

Hating that thought, Jett caught the back of her neck to drag her close for a hot, hungry kiss. Gentler now, he said, “Okay?”

She looked dazed. “All right.”

Realizing that they were now stopped, Buddy got excited. He came over the seat in one bound and landed on Natalie. She laughed as she caught his collar so he couldn’t follow Jett out.

His heart in his throat, his libido raging, Jett jogged into the building. The hotel was nice enough to give them a room even though their usual policy denied pets. He paid a hefty extra fee for the privilege of bringing Buddy in, promised to clean up his messes and got room keys for their one and only suite.