“Help her out.” I move to the back of the SUV. Charles follows me. I try to open the back but can’t get it to budge.
He looks at the sky. “We’re not worried about your luggage right now.”
“I’m not.” I give him a frown. “We’ll come back for it.”
“Clover.” He says my name like he’s tasting it. “I like that name.” He grabs the back hatch and somehow gets it to open.
Now my cheeks are the ones reddening, and not from the cold. “Thanks.”
His warm smile sends pleasant tingles up my spine. Maybe I hit my head in the wreck or I’m starting to go snow crazy, but the longer he looks at me, the hotter I feel.
I grab our coats and winter gear we tossed off when we’d gotten into the warm SUV, then bring them back to the girls to put everything on. Bells clenches her jaw as she puts her coat on.
Charles keeps on staring straight at me. I look to Aurora and wait for him to start looking more her way. That’s how things normally go. I get it. Hell, if I was into chicks I’d be into her, too. Not only is she beautiful, but she’s kind and talented.
“This is going to be a small trek that the snow is going to make feel longer. You ladies think you can do this?”
“Yes,” we all say in unison. He gives us a skeptical look.
“Listen, big mountain man. Aurora can run circles around all of us, and we all join in her mandated daily workout sessions for the most part. You just lead the way. And if you try anything I don’t like, I’ll be on like you white on rice, and I fight dirty,” Bells adds with an ominous tone.
“Understood.” He gives a nod to Bells at her small speech, but his eyes come back to me.
She's in pain, I mouth to Charles.
He shrugs as if he already knows that.
“Keep your steps high. It’s harder to drag the snow than it is to lift and place each foot,” he informs us. “All right, ladies let's do this. If something is bothering you I want you to tell me. I don’t care if you think you’re being whiny. I need to know either way.”
“Got it,” we all agree.
“Clover, I want you in the front. You listen to my calls from the back.” I don’t know why, but I feel a sparkle of approval that he trusts me to be at the front. I listen to every order he shouts out as we make our way off the road and into the snowy landscape. I never question and do just as he says, putting my trust in this man that has come to save us. This is so foreign to me, but for some reason I do trust him.
He’s right, though. His truck wasn’t far, but with the cold and snow it made it feel a whole lot farther. I’m so relieved when it finally comes into view. He opens the back door of the truck, letting Aurora and Bells in first. When he closes the door he grabs me, pulling me into his big body.
“You were fucking incredible out there.”
My mouth parts in surprise. I’m not sure what to say to that. “You look like a damn snow angel.” His words are gruff, but they warm me all over. They wash away the chill of the cold snowy air before his mouth is on mine. The kiss steals the air right out of my lungs.
It’s all over too soon, but when his lips leave mine, I remember where we are. What is happening? I wait for the fear to overtake me, but staring up into my mountain man's eyes, I know he’s going to get us out of this.
There I go again, giving away that trust and faith that I usually hold on to so tightly. There’s something about my mountain man that makes me want to give him whatever he wants.
4
Charles
I pull out of the little-used hunting road and onto the main highway. My lips are still humming from the taste of sweet Clover.
Kissing a woman I just met isn’t exactly my M.O., but I can’t regret what I’ve done. It was too good, too right. Damn, she’s the sort of woman that I know I’ll never be able to forget. Just the way she looks at me, the way she led her friends through the snow without backing down or giving up. She only stopped once, and that was to help her friend Bells when she stumbled.
“How far is the town?” Clover shoots Bells a worried glance.
“About thirty minutes, but it’s going to be a little slower given the conditions.” I have to maneuver carefully and go cautiously with the chains on my tires. Glancing in the rearview, I see the next bank of clouds coming our way. It’s moving at a faster clip than the forecast predicted.
“There was a cat.” Bells presses a hand to her forehead. “A big one.”
“Leonard.” I shrug. “He likes to play in the road.”
“You’re on a first-name basis with a cat?” Clover asks.
I glance at her, taking in her long hair and fluffy, warm coat. She’s meant to ride beside me, a perfect fit for the passenger seat in my truck.
“Leonard and I go way back.”
“So, you’ve lived in Frozen Falls a long time?” Clover holds her hands in front of the hot air vent, so I turn it up a notch.
“A few years, yeah.”
“Where did you live before?” Her fingernails are a light pink with little sparkles on them.
“All over.” I don’t think getting into my sordid past as a professional killer for the Brotherhood is in my best interest, not when it comes to convincing Clover to trust me. She’s already put her faith in me, and I don’t want to tarnish it. “What brings the three of you to Frozen Falls?”
“We wanted to get away.” Aurora, the bubbly one in the back, pipes up. “We’ve been on the road for months, on tour, you know?”
“Aurora’s a star. Have you heard of her?”
“I can’t say as I have.”
“That’s okay.” Clover shrugs. “She’s been number one on Billboard a few times and has the biggest talent of anyone I’ve ever seen.”
“Oh, Clover.” Aurora shakes her head. “You are always too good to me.”
“Not at all.”
“So, you toured the country?” I ask. “And now it’s done so you want a getaway?”
Aurora drops her gaze from mine in the rearview. “Well, sort of. We were supposed to go back to LA, but we had some trouble.” She grimaces and falls silent.
“What sort of trouble?”
Clover reaches back between the seats and squeezes Aurora’s hand. “Aurora has a stalker. He’s been after her nonstop ever since she turned him down.”
“It’s not normal,” Bells adds. “He’s obsessed to the point it reminds me of a Lifetime movie, you know? Not healthy.”
“Not safe.” Clover shudders. “Kent Kingston is a menace.”
“Sounds like an asshole to me.” I ease around a hairpin curve in the road at the top of a ridge.
“Pretty much.” Clover nods.
I slow down, then bring the truck to a stop.
“What is it?” Clover looks over at me.
I lean forward in my seat and peer at the road. An old logging road winds up along the ridge, and there are fresh tire tracks coming out of it and heading toward town. I follow the line of the ridge with my gaze. It leads back to the spot where I thought I saw movement earlier.