I suppose one night of indulging each other isn’t too dangerous.
I nod. “Get dressed, though.” Eliminate as much temptation as possible.
I give her my back to stuff the woodstove while she dresses. When I’m sure she’s done, I turn around and lie next to her on the bed of animal pelts. She curls up against me and rests her cheek against my chest.
“Grizzly?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.” A yawn crawls up her throat. “Ya know, for everything.”
“Sleep now.”
Because if she doesn’t stop being sweet, I may fuck her again before sunrise.
Fourteen
Jordan
I wake in the dim light of the cabin, my cheek pressed to a wide, firm, warm chest, and for the first time in a long time, I feel content. Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I felt this good. Relaxed, rested, and perfectly sore in all the right places.
Grizzly, as it turns out, knows his way around the female mind. His touch alone would’ve been enough to light me up, but, combined with his whispered words and the way he cradled my head from the hard floor and avoided my sore ribs, it was an aphrodisiac I never expected.
Thirsty, and with my bladder’s need for the outhouse, I sit up gingerly.
His eyelids pop open as if he’s been awake this entire time and only faking sleep. “You okay?”
My insides warm at his concern. As long as Lincoln and I were together, I never got the feeling that he cared for my well-being. If I got sick, he’d sleep on the couch. If I got really sick, he’d sleep at a friend’s house so that he wouldn’t catch it. I get the feeling Grizzly here would risk the worst of viruses before he’d leave me while I was incapacitated. He’d like me to believe he doesn’t care about me. After last night, I have to wonder if the only person he’s ever lied to is himself.
I lay my hand flat on his chest, and his muscles tense under my touch. “I feel great. I just need to pee.”
His eyebrows slant as if disapproving of the TMI, but he nods in a nonverbal release of me from his presence.
I lean down and brush my swollen, sore lips against his. The roughness of his facial hair against the tender skin makes me moan. He sucks in a shaky breath at the contact. The knowledge that I affect a man of his control and stoicism in this way makes me feel all kinds of powerful. “I’ll be right back.”
He grunts a little when I push off him to stand. I slide on my boots and grab my coat, and by the time I walk outside, he’s up and has fresh wood in the stove. The sun is shining, and the clouds are thin strips of white through the blue sky.
The outhouse is like stepping into a meat locker. I no longer look for spiders or evil demon creepy crawlies coming up from beneath but instead shiver with cold as I sit and pee. Smiling at how far I’ve come since my first night, I also feel a sense of worry. What will happen after I’m returned back to the city? It’s not like I can give Grizzly my phone number and wait for him to call. He doesn’t even have a phone. I’m not even sure I can rely on what I feel when I’m with him. Are my feelings so intense because we’re alone in the middle of nowhere? Because he’s been my savior?
It’s on those thoughts that I hear a low and repetitive chuff-chuff sound in the distance. Is that… I listen harder. “A helicopter.” I scramble off the seat, pull up my pants, and bolt outside just in time to see a big, black chopper hovering not far in the distance.
“Alexander!” I race through what’s left of snow and mud, keeping a tight hold on my ribs. “There’s a helicopter!” I fly through the cabin door to find him scowling out the window. “Do you see it? They must’ve seen the cabin. They’re landing.”
He steps into his boots and slams each one on the chair to lace them up. I follow him out the door and through the trees toward where I saw the chopper hovering. My stomach flips and stirs with excitement. I could be home in a real bed by sundown! The thought makes my eyes burn.
We emerge through the thick copse of trees and into a clearing. Because of the lack of shade trees, the area has little to no snow on the ground, and parked in the middle of the great expanse like a giant rescuing angel, is a sleek helicopter with the words North Industries in gold painted on the side.
The back door opens, and a man in a business suit steps out, looking like he belongs on Wall Street rather than the middle of nowhere in the Adirondacks.
My subconscious blares that something is off. This isn’t a rescue helicopter, and he isn’t dressed in rescue gear.
He smiles at Grizzly, but that smile falls instantly when his gaze settles on me. Alexander’s jaw is rigid, and he doesn’t take his eyes off the newcomer as he walks uneasily in his loafers through the muddy terrain.
“You’re early,” Alexander growls as soon as the man is within earshot.
What the fuck?
“Sorry about that, brother.” He inspects me through narrowed eyes that seethe with distrust.
Brother? Not just a friendly term of endearment. Although this man has lighter hair and a clean-shaven face, I can see the family resemblance in their glares.
“Well…” He takes me in from foot to forehead, with a look of disgust on his face. “Aren’t you a surprise?”
I move closer to Grizzly.
“Why are you here?” Grizzly says in a way that demands a response.
“I’m picking you up.” He glares at me. “Who the hell are you?”
My heart kicks behind my ribs.
“Do you understand English?” he says with condescension dripping from his voice. “How did you find Alex?”
“I found her. Three weeks ago.” Alexander tilts his head and glowers at the man in a way that would make most men shrink, but this guy meets his gaze.
“I was lost and hurt. Your… brother… saved me.”
The guy examines me, his hazel eyes—the same as Alexander’s—move over my arm that I have held tightly to my ribs and then settle on my face. Or, more specifically, my bruised and swollen lip. “Is that right?”
“Hayes.”
The man looks at Alexander and smirks. “Right. Well, we need to get going. I assume your houseguest will need a lift?”
“We’re all going to the same place.” Grizzly grips my elbow and turns me around to head back to the cabin. “Ten minutes.”
He drags me through the forest like a disobedient child.
“What the hell is going on? Your brother owns a helicopter? We’re going to the same place? What does that mean? The city? Do you live in New York City?” Who the hell did I have sex with last night? The question makes me queasy. I try to pull my arm from his grip with no luck. “Let me go!”
He doesn’t.
I stop walking, and the momentum of his next step pulls me off my feet. He turns in time to catch my fall, and I face plant into the solid wall of his chest.
“Why do you insist on making things so difficult?” He grips my biceps and brings me to my full height at arm’s length away.
“I’m making things difficult?” I study him up and down, his bearded face, piercing eyes, and tense muscles. “Who are you?”
He turns and heads back to the cabin without answering me.