All Zoey could do was nod. She was numb. Not temperature-wise, but her emotions and thoughts. So much had happened in the last few days. She’d gone from despair, to worry, to extreme fright, back to worry, then excitement.
As if he knew how on edge she was, Mark pulled her into his arms. How long they stood like that, huddled together, Zoey had no clue. But she wasn’t nearly ready for him to pull back when he did. “Shower, Zo. You’ll feel more like yourself afterward. Promise.”
She nodded and headed for the bathroom.
It was at least an hour later when Zoey finally emerged from the steam-filled room. She’d stood under the hot water not moving for at least the first ten minutes. Then she’d cried. When she didn’t think she had any tears left in her body, she washed her hair three times before slathering it with conditioner. She scrubbed her body until it was pink and tingling, then scrubbed it once more for good measure. It had never felt so good to be clean.
After she’d finally gotten out of the shower, she had the thought that it was probably a good thing the mirror was steamed over so she couldn’t see her hair. She’d tried to finger comb it, with little luck. She’d have to see if Mark could find her a comb or brush. Zoey still didn’t have any clothes to put on, so she wrapped one of the huge, fluffy towels around her body and slowly opened the door.
Shivering because of the temperature difference between the bathroom and the bedroom, she walked out. The second Mark saw her, he stood and came toward her. He picked up a stack of clothes sitting on the bed on his way and pressed them into her hands.
“Here’s what Rex found. You have a choice. Rex can take your clothes down and get them cleaned so you can wear them tomorrow, or he can go back out and buy more stuff. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about wearing the same thing you’ve had on for the last week.”
Zoey knew she shouldn’t be surprised at how considerate Mark was, but she still blushed. “I’m fine to wear the same things. I’d prefer that, actually.”
Nodding, Mark said, “Okay, hand them to me, and I’ll give them to Rex while you’re changing. Then I have a surprise for you.”
Her brows shot up. “A surprise?”
Mark smiled, and Zoey felt the butterflies in her stomach take flight. “Yeah, sweetheart. A surprise.”
Thinking it had been a very long time since anyone had bothered to try to surprise her, she headed back into the bathroom with her new clothes. She refused to blush when she handed over her dirty clothes, including her underwear. Mark wasn’t a seventeen-year-old boy, he was a man who hadn’t blinked at stripping naked in front of her when his life was in danger. He and his friends had seen way more intense things than her plain white cotton underwear.
She reemerged from the bathroom a few minutes later and saw Mark standing by the open door to the hallway. “Go lie on the bed,” he ordered with a smile.
“What in the world?” Zoey asked.
“Please? I promise you’re going to love this,” Mark said.
Shrugging and figuring she might as well humor him, Zoey did as he asked. She walked into the room and lay on one of the two queen-size beds.
“Close your eyes,” Mark ordered from the doorway.
Sighing in exasperation, Zoey closed her eyes.
She heard footsteps and whispers, but she was so tired, she tuned them out.
Seconds later, the most delicious heat engulfed her body.
Her eyes flew open in surprise, and she stared up at Mark. He was standing over her, smiling as he piled heaps of warm towels on top of her.
He’d remembered the story she’d told him about how much she loved to do this at home. The towels were obviously from the laundry room at the hotel. How in the world he’d gotten the hotel staff to agree to this, Zoey had no idea, but she couldn’t deny the warm and fuzzy feeling that formed inside her heart.
“Mark,” she said. The tears she’d thought had been all used up welled in her eyes once more.
“Close your eyes and enjoy,” he told her. “I promised I’d fold all these towels if they just let me borrow them for twenty minutes.”
God. No one had ever done anything like this for her before. Zoey couldn’t talk. Couldn’t protest that she could get up and help him fold. Couldn’t do anything but lie there and enjoy the warm heat seeping into her very bones.
Rex poked his head into the room and said, “Is it safe for us to come in?”
“Yeah,” Mark said.
And before Zoey knew what was going on, the room was full of five more of the most handsome men she’d ever seen. They all had beards and were crazy muscular. They also had an air of competence and bad-assery about them that would’ve freaked her out and made her find a way to exit the room as soon as possible, if she hadn’t been buried under a mound of warm towels.
“Hi!” one of the men said cheerily. “I’m Rocco. We’re in your debt for keeping this asshole alive out there.”
Zoey opened her mouth to protest, to say that Mark was the one who’d kept her alive, when one of the other men spoke.
“I’m Ace. Bubba told us how you pulled his ass out of that stream and literally gave him the clothes off your back. Thank you.”
“And I’m Gumby. Using wet wood for that fire was smart, it sent smoke into the air high enough to be seen.”
Zoey’s eyes went to the last man in the room. He was frowning, and she shivered at the cold look in his eyes. She swallowed hard, almost scared to hear what he had to say.
“By process of elimination, I’m Phantom. Bubba said you weren’t a pain in his ass while you were out there. Coming from him, that’s high praise indeed. Thank you.”
Blinking in surprise, it took a couple of tries before she could speak, but she finally said, “It’s nice to meet you all. Mark told me you’d find us. I have to admit that I wasn’t completely sold. But I’m glad to know I was wrong. I’ve heard so much about you all. I’m so happy to meet you.”
The guys all gave her chin lifts, then got to work folding the towels lying over her. They were careful not to let their fingers brush against her in an inappropriate way, and Zoey loved hearing the banter between them. She could tell they were close, and she loved that for Mark. She understood a bit more why he hadn’t come home after joining the navy. He’d had his family right there with him.
The phone on the small table between the beds rang, scaring the shit out of Zoey. Ace leaned over and answered.
“Hello? … Yeah, this is her room. Can I ask who’s calling? … Just a moment, please.” Then he held the phone against his chest and told Zoey, “She says she’s your mom.”
Zoey eagerly moved a hand out from under the towels and Ace put the receiver in it.
“Mom?”
“Yes, it’s me! Are you all right? When the police called and told me you were missing, I was so worried!”
“I’m okay. It was a little touch and go there for a while, but the state troopers and Mark’s teammate found us. Are you going to come by the hotel?”
“Oh, honey, I wish I could…but I’m in the middle of packing.”
Zoey’s stomach dropped. “Packing?”
“Yes!” her mom said excitedly. “You met Liam when you were here before. He actually lives up in Fairbanks and was only here on a temporary job. He asked me to move in with him, and we’re leaving tomorrow! I’ve only got about half my apartment packed so far, and I know I’ll be up all night getting the rest into boxes.”