Chapter 23 - Daniil
It was our third day in the cabin, and the snow had risen so high we could barely get six feet from the door after hours of grueling digging.
The little woodshed was completely buried, the tip of its roof disappearing the day before.
The final time I turned on my phone to try to get that elusive signal, it died.
Paisley had stared out the window as if she could see anything at all through the swirling snow, a look of despair on her face.
Our firewood pile had seemed enormous when we first ventured out to gather it, and now we were back to rationing.
We’d taken to having our card games on the floor in front of the stove to keep warm, and both of our stomachs growled incessantly.
The protein bars weren’t cutting it and we were sick to death of their dry, chalky taste.
“I’m going to pretend this is fried chicken,” she said, when I handed her one that morning.
“Good luck with that,” I said. “As soon as we get back to the lodge, I’m ordering a big, juicy steak.”
“Do you think we’ll get back?” she asked in a low voice.
I leaned across the blankets to hug her and she didn’t recoil, only listlessly rested her forehead against my shoulder. “Of course we will. It’s not snowing anymore, the sky is blue. If nothing else, we can get back to digging and make our own way back to civilization.”
She pulled away and scowled, then shrugged, reaching for the deck of cards that had been keeping us somewhat sane.
That and other things, which she didn’t seem too much in the mood for at the moment.
There were no more dark clouds outside but one still loomed over her head.
The look in her eyes kept me from asking what was on her mind.
She looked ready to bite at the first provocation.
“So, what are you up to owing me now?” I asked as she dealt. “Eighteen grand?”
She smiled against her will. “You’re going down today,” she swore.
Paisley was good at a lot of things, and she knew all the rules to the different card games we gambled fake money for, but she had no poker face.
At least not to me. I could read every twitch of her lip or slight raise of her eyebrows.
She’d never win against me, but since she was clearly losing her optimism that we’d be rescued, I decided to throw a few hands.
The first one went just as I planned. She was adorably thrilled to take a few hundred dollars off her imaginary debt. The second time she scowled at me but accepted her win. The third time, she threw her cards down and jumped up.
“You’re cheating,” she said, glaring down at me.
I stood, irritated that my good deed was being punished. “How? I’m losing.”
“That’s just it. You don’t lose. You’re some kind of card god. You’re reverse cheating to try to put me in a good mood.”
“Wow, what a crime,” I said, growing irritated.
We’d been getting along, mostly because we were wrapped up in each other's arms eighty percent of the time, but now she was back to acting like I was her worst enemy. I’d even laid off the jokes since I knew she had baggage about things like that now. This woman was a mess.
“So you admit it,” she gasped, as if she wasn’t quite sure that I’d been letting her win.
So she was just accusing me to get a rise out of me? And it worked. We were once again like oil and a flamethrower.
“I wasn’t,” I lied. “You must be on a lucky streak or something.”
Despite not being able to read any of my own tells while we were playing, she instantly picked up on this little white lie. “It’s patronizing to let me win,” she said. “And worse to think I wouldn’t know it.”
“It’s not patronizing, whatever in the hell that’s supposed to mean. It’s nice. It was meant to be nice.”
“There. You just admitted to lying. Stop treating me like I’m five years old.”
“Stop acting like it then.”
Her eyes flared and she started to turn away, then whipped back around, hands out like she wanted to claw my eyes out.
I crossed my arms and stared at her, all but daring her to try something.
She flung herself forward, thumping me on the chest. I dropped my arms and made the supreme sin of laughing.
She thumped me again and grabbed my shoulders. “You’re insufferable.”
“Same,” I answered.
We glared at each other, then at the same moment burst out laughing. A second after that, our lips were locked, her arms wrapped around my neck, my hands roaming through her thick hair. She raised herself on her toes, pressing every inch of her lush body against me.
My cock started to rise as I pushed my tongue into her mouth, moving my hands down her back to cup her ass and bring her even closer to me. We continued laughing softly as we kissed, her hands moving up the back of my neck to run her fingers through my hair.
We’d been boiling water to wash but we were both bedraggled and tangled.
Neither of us cared as soon as we fell into the blanket nest at all times of the day or night.
Time didn’t matter here, when it was just us and all we had was each other.
She tasted like the chocolate chip protein bars but because it was on Paisley’s tongue, it was sweeter than nectar.
Her breasts mashed against my chest as she tightened her grip around my neck, pulling herself higher to rub against me, then sliding back down with a soft moan.
There was no reality here. The Collective hadn’t once broken into my thoughts during these three days with Paisley. She consumed me, both body and mind.
I tightened my grip, and as I lifted her up, her legs locked around my waist. I groaned as she ground her heat against me, and carried her to the counter. As soon as she rested on it, I slid my hands under her top, tweaking her pert nipples and making her squeak.
“Too cold?” I asked, leaning down to suckle her, breathing warm air over her goosebumps.
Suddenly her hands stilled on my shoulders and she was pushing instead of tugging. “Listen,” she said, stiff and alert as she shoved me back to slide to the floor. Standing as still as a statue, she cocked her head and pointed upward. “Listen,” she repeated in a whisper.
I heard it a moment later, a sound like no other. “Helicopter,” I said.
She nodded, whooping as she hurried to throw her boots on. Slamming open the door, she threw herself into the little passageway in the shoulder height snow that we’d made. I followed, bringing her parka to throw over her shoulders as she jumped up and down and waved her arms.
I copied her, shouting at the top of my lungs. The helicopter dipped and circled around, and Paisley threw herself into my arms with relief.
“They saw us,” she cried, pulling my head down to kiss me. “We’re getting out of here.”
I held onto her, pulling her back inside before she got too cold.
Was I a little disappointed that we’d been found?
Hell yes. Dwindling firewood, disgusting rations, rusty water be damned.
I was with my woman. And yes, she was mine.
She was a mess, but my mess, and it seemed like she was starting to believe it herself with the way she clung onto me in her happiness.
“You’re going to get your steak,” she said, her smile so wide it made a dent in my heart.
It felt good to see all the worry that I’d been fighting against melt out of her eyes. I lifted her off her feet and kissed her.
“I would have carried you out myself if that’s what it took,” I swore.
She laughed. “I believe you, but this way’s easier.”
And it was. We were back at the lodge in no time.
Everyone rushed us, sick with worry after not hearing from us for so long.
They only had our starting point at the ski lift to go on, and search parties had found it impossible to begin while the blizzard raged.
The lodge itself looked peaceful and serene, the high drifts and evergreen boughs heavily laden with snow only making the place look like a winter wonderland out of a fairy tale book.
The children all rushed us as soon as we were through the door.
Alina, who was normally such a tough little thing, burst into tears at the sight of us and clung to my legs, then transferred her hearty hug to Paisley.
Artie and the smaller ones tumbled around her, patting her hair and telling her how much they missed her.
They’d already grown so attached to her, just as I had, and accepted her as one of us. as worried about her as they were about me. Katie brushed aside her own tears and tried to shoo them away, telling them we were probably starved.
“I’ve got steaks and burgers and chicken ready to go,” Rurik said, clapping me on the shoulder, relief flooding his eyes. Lilia stood next to him, wiping away her streaming tears as she patiently waited her turn to hug me.
In the kitchen as we were plied with bread and butter while the meat cooked, Paisley tore at her bread anxiously, finally finding a lull in the chatter to speak up.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I’ll do whatever I can to make up for the lost time.”
I was agog, as well as Katie, Jenna, Brooke, and Olivia. No one had been blaming her for the freak blizzard, but she was acting like she’d somehow ruined part of the family vacation on purpose.
“It was all my fault,” I said. “I was an idiot and went down a trail I had no business on. Paisley had no choice but to follow me.”
Her mouth fell open and her eyes flew wide, but she quickly composed herself and shot me a grateful look before finally enjoying her food.
I made a big, dramatic story out of our journey through the woods, making Paisley the hero she was, because I would have tried to keep going down the mountain in the raging storm, and they would have been hauling me out in a block of ice.
“He found the woodshed,” Paisley piped up. “We would have been frozen for sure if he didn’t. And when we finally got to it, the door was wedged shut with three feet of snow!”
Everyone gasped as Paisley made it seem like I used some kind of superhuman strength to get into the shed. I let everyone know how much money she owed me after our hundreds of hands of poker and when the laughter died down, Katie spoke up.
“Maybe we’ll just have to keep her after the vacation is over,” she said. The kids all seconded that suggestion while Paisley turned bright red.
“Um, well, maybe,” she stammered.
While they were trapped in the lodge, some of my cousins had kept themselves busy in the kitchen and when the steak and grilled chicken feast was finished, Brooke wheeled out a cart piled high with shortbread cookies, gingerbread men, Russian tea cakes, and even a heavy, rum-laced fruitcake garnished with a sprig of holly.
We ate until we were bursting, the kids using our return as an excuse to get extra desserts.
We all stayed piled in the toasty kitchen, warming our hands over cups of cocoa and talking nonstop until Paisley couldn’t contain a massive yawn. “I should probably get to sleep so I can get up early tomorrow.”
I faked a yawn and stretched. “I’m beat, too. We didn’t get much sleep in that cabin.”
One of my cousins snickered, but I quickly assured everyone it was only because it was so cold. Paisley’s bright red face might have given us away.
“Sleep as long as you like,” Katie said. “You can resume your duties tomorrow afternoon.”
The kids began clamoring about sledding since the hill out front was significantly higher now, but their moms shushed them as I followed Paisley upstairs.
“Way to go, Captain Obvious,” she hissed, still blazing red.
I touched her cheek. “It’s this that gave it away,” I said. “Nobody thought anything until you turned the same color as a fire truck.” At her door, I gave her a long look, watching her eyes go dark even as she struggled to keep her scowl. “I’ll miss having you around to keep warm.”
Her eyes flared and I expected her to slam the door in my face. But she only shook her head and closed it softly on me. Progress.