Indiana and I exchanged a concerned look as he stretched down to place his thick sweater over her legs like a makeshift blanket.
“Fuck, you’re like an ice-tap, woman.” He rubbed one of her hands between his.
Thor kneeled down behind Indiana. “Belle, Mason is going to take off some of your clothes so you can get body to body contact. Do you understand?”
She made a sound that we interpreted as a yes, so I removed her jacket and proceeded to lift her thick sweater off her body. Under that was a long-sleeved t-shirt that I pulled over her head.
“Shit, she’s not wearing a bra,” Indiana muttered.
“Who the fuck cares? The woman has hypothermia and we can’t let her die,” Thor said harshly.
Belle was on the floor shaking, so I scooted down and positioned myself against her chest to chest.
“Her butt is freezing, help me open her pants.” Indiana and I worked together and managed to push down both her wet snow pants and the tight pants she had under.
“Just leave them,” I said when we had them down to her knees.
“You want to swap sides?” Indiana asked. “My dick is going to get frostbite from the temperature of her ass.”
“Just keep your dick to yourself,” I groaned and caressed Belle’s hair.
Thor moved to sit at our feet. “I messaged Freya and Aubri that we retrieved Belle and we’re on our way back.”
“Good.” I arranged some of the jackets and sweaters that we had over us like blankets and kissed Belle’s forehead. “Are you hurting sweetheart? How do you feel?”
“Ti… tired.”
“Try to stay awake.”
“I’m so tired.”
I brushed my thumb over her eyebrows to wipe away the ice that had melted into water.
“You’re going to be all right. Do you feel the heat from Indiana and me?”
“Yes, but my feet are cold.”
Thor removed Indiana’s huge boots from her feet and moved closer. Lifting his shirt up he placed her feet against his stomach and covered them with his shirt again. “Don’t worry, princess, we’re going to warm you up.”
“Under different circumstances this would have been fun,” Indiana muttered.
Despite Belle’s cold body, it didn’t take more than five minutes before I was overheating from the adrenaline of lying chest to chest with her and the many jackets and sweaters that covered us. Not to mention that the heating system in the seats that served as a bed for us was cranked up on high.
“Are we there soon?” I asked Thor.
“We’ll land in eleven minutes, but Freya says that we should leave Belle to heat up in the drone a little longer before we carry her through a snowstorm.
“Then I’m staying with her.” My words came out as a non-negotiable demand.
“Yes, you two should stay with her while I go tell Victor what I think about him leaving her behind.”
Indiana was propped up on his elbow looking at Thor. “Maybe think twice before you rip him apart. If we’re honest, we wouldn’t have been able to get to her either without the laser and our wristbands. He saved her life by coming back for help.”
“Hmm.” Thor clearly wasn’t so quick to forgive Victor. As soon as we arrived at the cabin, he ran in while Indiana and I stayed behind. The cold breeze of air when the door opened and closed made Indiana and me wrap our arms protectively around Belle.
A few minutes later, the door opened again and this time Aubri came in and shut the door after her. “I brought blankets and some warm soup to warm her up from the inside.”
Caressing Belle’s hair, I spoke to her in a gentle manner. “Do you think you can sit up a little?”
“Mhmm.”
Indiana lifted his torso from the bed and together we helped Belle to sit up between us. I tried to cover her with one of the sweaters, but it slipped down and made Aubri gasp.
“You’re all naked.”
“We’re giving her our body heat,” I explained while doing a better job at covering Belle.
Aubri’s lips were in a tight line when she handed me the thermos flask with soup.
Unscrewing the lid, I put it to my lips to make sure it wasn’t burning before I gave it to Belle. The creamy mushroom soup tasted delicious and had a pleasant temperature.
“Here, try to drink as much as you can.”
Belle was like a rag doll, completely drained of energy. She opened her mouth when I told her to, but otherwise leaned against me as if all she wanted to do was sleep.
“Is she still cold?” Aubri asked.
“Yes, but it’s not as bad as it was. It’s going to take hours to heat her up properly, I think.”
“Maybe I should stay with her or someone might mistake the situation.” Aubri, who was closest to Indiana, let her gaze run up and down his naked chest.
“Stop giving me that blameful look. We would have done the same for you.”
“I’m sorry, but in my dream of a ménage à trois, my brother wasn’t present.”
Indiana chuckled and touched his trimmed beard. “But I was?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Aubri rolled her eyes at him before looking to me, repeating her offer. “Do you want me to stay with her?”
Lifting the thermos to Belle’s lips again, I shook my head. “No, I promised Belle that I wouldn’t leave her.”
Indiana scratched his shoulder. “Do you mind if I go inside to eat then? I’m starving and I think Belle is through the worst.”
With a jut of my chin, I encouraged him to go inside with Aubri. He dressed and put on his boots. Before he left, Indiana took one of the blankets that Aubri had brought and wrapped it around Belle’s legs and feet.
Two minutes after they left, a small clicking sound told me that the drone had locked itself. I was alone with a half-naked woman whom I’d had fantasized about making love to and yet at the moment it was the furthest thing from my mind.
“Have another sip,” I urged her.
She indulged me and drank a bit more of the creamy soup before she shook her head and refused anymore. “You can have it. I’m full.”
After emptying the thermos, I put it aside and lay back down. Belle cuddled up to me like a trustful child seeking comfort and safety.
“Are you still cold?”
“Mhmm. Can I have some more of your body heat?”
“Yes. Take as much as you need. Do you want me to be in front or behind you?”
“Can I sleep on you?”
“On me?”
“Yes, just until I fall asleep. The babies back home do it with me all the time. If I’m too heavy you can push me down.”
“Alright.” I rolled to my back and stayed quiet when Belle positioned herself on top of my body with her head on my shoulder and her legs on each side of my hips. She didn’t say a word but just closed her eyes and fell asleep like that, exhausted from her trauma.
Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the weight of her on top of me. My hand on her back played with her hair while I forced myself to remember every second of this glorious moment of her complete trust in me.
CHAPTER 11
Body Heat