5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Mason
Of course, the power goes out. Why wouldn't it?
I curse under my breath and kill the water, reaching for a towel in the dark. I scrub it over my hair and down my chest. My thigh throbs and my ankle isn't much happier. The pain meds and ice helped, but not enough.
Bella helped.
She's an angel of mercy. Since I opened my eyes to find my head in her lap, she's all I've seen. Her cute little grumbles as we made our way through the forest, those adorable blushes when I teased her, and her sweet laugh have enchanted me. And Jesus, she's beautiful. Even muddy and rumpled.
Wrapping the towel around my waist, I gingerly step out of the shower, careful not to put my full weight on my ankle.
She's a curious mix of courage and uncertainty. A mystery I want to solve and savor. Why was she on the hike when she didn't know anyone? Did a friend cancel and she decide to go by herself? I called Bishop at the mountain rescue after Bella went to get a shower. He had only just been notified of her absence. She’d been with me for over an hour. Who knows how long she wandered in the woods. What the fuck? Didn't the hiking leader do a headcount?
Scowling, I open the door and freeze.
Bella is in the dining room, highlighted only by firelight. She's wearing one of my flannels like a damn dress and my socks go to her knees. But seeing her in my clothes? That does something to me.
It's primal... feral . She's wearing my clothes—my scent. As she should, because she's mine .
“Guess it's just us and the storm now, sweetheart.”
I close half the distance between us in two strides before reason catches up with me, and I stop by the dining room table. Bracing my weight on a chair, I drag in a calming breath.
Bella's eyes are wide, her lips parted. Her heartbeat flutters beneath the delicate skin of her neck, calling to me.
Is she afraid? Does she feel this aching pull between us?
Does it matter, Walker? She's too innocent for you.
Dammit, I know that. Even if she wasn't, Bella needs a man she can rely on. That's not me. It hasn't been for a long time.
The soul-crushing admission is finally what it takes to break the spell I'm under.
“Mason?” Her voice is soft in the darkness.
A muscle tics in my jaw. “Warm up by the fire, sweetheart. Let me get dressed.”
“Do you want the med-gel?” She takes it from the first aid kit and holds it out, tentatively closing the remaining space between us.
I do, but the closer she gets, it's not the gel I want. It’s her mouth under mine. Her body pressed tightly against me until I feel every dip and curve.
My body responds to the vivid images I'm painting for it. Yes, Bella, naked underneath me. My cock stiffens in approval, tenting the towel. If she sees it in the flickering firelight, she doesn't acknowledge it.
“Do you want help applying it?”
Having her soft hands on my bare skin a second time would be my undoing. Especially when all that separates us is this towel and a flannel shirt I have no qualms about ripping in half.
My innocent little lamb looks up at me with wide, trusting eyes.
I take in the way the flannel skims her curves, revealing as much as it hides. Sure never thought my shirts were sexy before, but on Bella? I barely suppress the growl that rumbles in my chest. That shirt has never looked so damn good.
She has no idea how close I am to the edge. The realization gives me a breather. A way off the cliff before I take us both somewhere she's not ready to go.
Hell, neither am I.
My fingers brush her palm as I take the tube of gel. “Not this time, Bella.”
She looks like she might protest. Then a thread of uncertainty crosses her face. “I'll get you some clothes.”
She doesn't wait for me to respond, just hurries to my bedroom, head lowered, and her arms crossed.
That's when it hits me like a fucking sledgehammer. Bella's comments about her hiking group, Bishop's late notification that she was missing... my shy little lamb is used to being overlooked.
The thought wraps around my chest like barbed wire. Sharp and unforgiving.
I don't know what's worse—that it took people too long to notice she was missing or that she expected it. Accepts it as her reality.
I made a career out of remaining unseen. My teammates used to tease me for being as big as a bear and silent as a ghost. What would it be like to go unnoticed… not by choice but because no one ever sees you? Not that I can fathom people overlooking Bella. She's shy and quiet, sure. But her soul shines bright—even when she doesn't say a word.
I couldn’t forget her after a single glance at the bank. Three seconds and she was imprinted in my mind.
How many people get tackled by a stranger twice their size, stick around to help him in a storm... then walk almost two miles to the stranger's cabin to patch him up?
She trusted me not to hurt her.
Me. The last person on this mountain who deserves it.
How the hell can anyone not see her?
I rub my hand over the sudden ache in my chest. It doesn't make a damn bit of sense. Any of it.
Bishop didn't even have a decent description of her, until his work-study student, Dillon, spoke up. Knowing Dillon, he probably gave Bishop three times as much information as he needed. The kid may be awkward as hell, but he remembered Bella, so he just bumped up a couple dozen notches in my regard.
Bishop also had some other disturbing news. That escaped convict they're looking for didn't head south. Despite all the roadblocks, no one spotted him. They think he's holed up somewhere, waiting out the storm.
There are a lot of mountains and a lot of places to hide. Chances are good he's nowhere near here. Near Bella. But the prickling on my scalp tells me not to bet on it.
For one sharp, breathless moment, fear slices through me. Not for myself. For her. I've failed too many people already. I can't lose her too.
I'm still standing at the dining table, mired in my thoughts when Bella returns with an armload of clothes.
“I wasn't sure what you'd want,” she says, setting the clothes on the table. “I found sweatpants and a T-shirt. Um, boxers and socks.”
She's tucked the boxers and socks between the shirt and sweatpants, as if she's hiding unmentionables from sight. The sight lightens my mood, and I bite back a grin.
“You picked out my boxers for me?” I tease, just to see her get flustered.
“I didn't. I mean... I did, but I didn't... study them or anything.”
“Did you pick your favorite color?”
She crosses her arms over her chest and lifts her chin a notch. “No. You don't have pink or maybe I would have.”
I bark out a laugh and gather the clothes. “Fair enough.”
I take them with the med-gel to the bathroom to change. The gash bled through the bandages while I was in the shower. I pull them off and apply the surgical gel. It acts as a waterproof seal on the wound. Should do to keep it closed and clean for the duration of the storm.
I dress and hobble back into the living area.
Nitro stretches on his dog bed, then curls back up. His tail thumps on the ground in greeting.
Bella is sitting on the couch with her legs tucked beneath her. The flannel rides up her thighs, the flickering firelight dancing over her creamy skin.
Fuck me. I want to taste that exposed strip of skin. Blood rushes south and I'm hard for her—again. No way I'm pushing her into anything. Not tonight. I have her precious trust. That's enough.
I sink onto the couch, keeping the first aid kit between us.
Bella takes the ace bandage from it, lowers to her knees in front of me, and starts wrapping my foot.
“You don't have to—”
She gives me a look. “I want to. Besides, it gives me a chance to practice the things I've read.”
“Are you studying to be a nurse?” She'd be great at it.
Her nose wrinkles. “Nothing so exciting. I'm a... I will be a librarian.” She ducks her head, looking at the bandage instead of me. “I'm only a library clerk now. But I finish my master's next year. Then when our current librarian retires, I should get the job.”
A librarian. All her talk about books now make sense. Plus, she just unlocked a whole load of naughty librarian fantasies I didn't know I had.
I cough slightly as my dick gets even harder. “I'm impressed. What made you want to be a librarian?”
She bites her bottom lip, then shrugs and says, “I get to help people learn and teach kids to enjoy reading in the process. Watching their eyes light up when they imagine the adventure in the story… it’s precious.”
So sweet.
This woman wrecks me with every word, every shy glance. From her awkward moments to her brave, caring heart to help a stranger when she needed help. I’ve never met anyone like her.
I lean forward, drawn beyond all my control, and cup the back of her neck, threading my fingers into her soft curls. The skin of her cheek feels like satin beneath my thumb as I slide it along her cheekbone, then down to her mouth to trace her lower lip.
Bella's lips part, her warm breath skating over my thumb.
I lean toward her slowly, powerless to stop myself when I want to taste her more than I want my next breath yet giving her time to pull away.
Bella meets me halfway.
Our lips brush in the lightest of kisses.
It's everything, and it's not enough. I angle her head with my hand, readying her for a real kiss.
Bella's eyes meet mine, then slide closed. I close the distance...
And feel a wet nose on my cheek.
Nitro wines and pushes his way between us. He turns in a circle, then plops his butt down in Bella's lap and stares at me.
Bella laughs and presses her face into Nitro’s fur like she needs a moment to breathe.
“Traitor,” I grumble at him.
Nitro’s tongue hangs out, like he’s smiling at me for ruining the moment.
I settle back against the couch, listening to the howling wind and pouring rain outside. Despite the storm, it’s peaceful—even with another person sharing my cabin.
Somehow, Bella doesn’t take away from the serenity… she adds to it.
I should be unsettled by that, but I’m not.