A Frenemy in Need (A Winter Bliss Romance)

by Catrina Bell

“Fuck yeah, cheese dip!”

What an iconic first line

Thus, my need for emotional support cheese.

“Cheese gives me hope.” I dive forward and snatch the container. “Cheese is life.”

Demons love a little chaos.

“A frenemy in need”—I

Birdie’s eyes narrow. If she’s glaring at me, she’s not ignoring me. I call it a win.

I’ve got to hydrate or die-drate.

I barely manage to hold in my scoff as I tear open a string cheese, eating half in one chomp,

Monster!!

Fuck, she named her horses after cheese. She really is the perfect girl.

“I am kind of a pest, huh?” he asks. “To say the least.” I roll my eyes, happy to be back in sarcastic territory. “But I'm your pest.” He slow blinks.

But it’s not about a deal. It’s more primal. It’s fire. Hers. The one she’s hiding no one else can even sense. But I can. And the desire to see the flames lick up to the sky, to coax them into a bonfire that everyone can finally see is an impulse too heady to ignore. So I never do. I stoke it. Every chance I get.

I know myself better than to believe I’m capable of any of that hero bullshit. That's just not me. When it comes to Birdie, I've never been the nice guy. I take what I can get. Every glare. Every hot exchange. Every stolen moment.

“There she is.”

He’s a demon god, entirely focused on my devastation, dragging me deeper into darkness. I should be frightened but I’m not. He makes me feel dangerous instead. A wild creature like him. Free.

“A hundred billion smiles and yours is the best.” He pinches my chin. “Just makes me happy to see it.”

“Sap,” I say. “Goon.” “Dickwad.” “Bonehead.”

This is giving Sam and Dean

Maybe it’s true what they say—distance makes the heart grow hornier.

I love being alone, especially out here on the ranch. Or, I used to. Now, the shelter of his arms is my sanctuary. The fireplace I want to curl up beside. The place I feel safest.

I didn’t know intimacy like this was possible, that someone could find safety in me. The loser. The fuckup. With her, I never feel like that.

A bonfire roars inside me, feeling purpose and focus and direction, maybe for the first time in my life. She’s it. What I’ve been both afraid to hope for and been waiting my whole life for.

My emotions aren’t a burden. Maybe they never were.

Spending a day with my loved ones could never be a waste. And chasing my dreams for the first time in my life is exactly what I should be doing.

My feelings for Rex are ten universes larger than anything I ever felt for this man. If I could just pluck up the courage to actually talk to him, to ask for more. I need to keep fighting for what I want in life, and there’s no doubt in my mind that Rex is it for me.

“I’m in love with you, you misguided doofus! You think I’m stupid enough to get back with someone who jilted me? Weak enough to settle for someone who strong-arms me into decisions I don’t fucking want? Blind enough not to see my perfect fucking match is right in front of me!”

“I can cry. I never cried before you.” “I make you cry,” I say, still stunned. “You make me . . .” She sighs, dashing the tears away as more come, framed by wet curling lashes. “You make me feel. With you, it doesn’t seem so scary anymore.”

“You own my whole fucking heart.”

A wildfire. That’s us. Nature in chaos.

But first, we needed time to understand ourselves and find our place in the world before we found a way to each other. Wild Hearts. Was there ever a more perfect name? Shit, I’m getting misty-eyed.

Bro same