Massachusetts State Trooper Ross Huber is giving one last sweep of the roads before heading in for the night. The nor’easter hitting the Boston area is worse than expected by an order of magnitude, and the governor has just issued a travel ban. Ross finds a wrecked car half-buried in a snowbank and rescues its human and canine occupants from carbon monoxide poisoning, but is forced to take shelter with them in a vacant or abandoned house when the roads are blocked. When he gets the victims indoors, he thinks the human looks uncomfortably familiar ... Ash Machado has been through a lot in his career as a war correspondent. Sidelined by an injury, he’s returned to Boston to take up a job as a news anchor. After he loses control of his car on an icy road, he wakes up in an unfamiliar home, looking into the face of the guy who broke his heart in college. Neither Ross nor Ash are the same men they used to be, but now they’re trapped in the abandoned house with no place to go. Can they get past old hurts long enough to get through the storm, or will the same misunderstandings that drove them apart years ago make this confinement unbearable?

Snowed In: Ross and Ashton

His computer pinged with an incoming message. He opened the chat window and saw a new direct message from his buddy Mila. She was working in Greece right now, covering the refugee crisis. He smiled and accepted the message. How’s it going over on Naxos?


Mila sent back a few laughing face emojis before typing. Warmer than it is for you, I’ll bet. I saw your video, you and Porthos. You poor guys! It must be awful for you. Is the cop cute at least?


Ash grimaced and scratched his head. That’s the worst part. The cop is a guy I dated in college.


She sent back an emoji of a cat imitating the face from The ScreamYou’re kidding. Talk about a small world! Is that awkward or is it a happy, fun time?


Awkward. Completely awkward.Ash squirmed and tried to hide his face, even though they weren’t on video and she couldn’t see him. Actually, we just got into a huge screaming fight. I thought Porthos was going to bite him.


Chapter 22