Chapter 3
TRIG
We climbed back in the truck and crept along. The woman would have to be in the road itself because the plows, over the winter, had built up huge berms on either side. A minute later, a dark shape emerged from the snow.
“There!” I pointed as Beau slowed.
I was out of the truck before he came to a complete stop.
In seconds, I was in front of her. She was in dark leggings and boots, a puffy coat and a knit hat with a pom pom on top. Her hands were tucked into the pockets, her head down. She was dressed appropriately for going to the grocery store in January, not walking through a blizzard.
What the hell was she doing out in this? If there was a woman who needed her ass spanked, it was her.
She’d been moving at a snail’s pace and was halfway to being the abominable snowman.
“Hey there, sugar,” I said, my voice loud over the wind.
She didn’t look up.
Setting my hands on her upper arms, I ducked down to meet her gaze. I couldn’t miss feeling the shivers that wracked her body.
Those light eyes lifted and met mine. Widened.
“You’re a cowboy.”
It wasn’t what I expected her to say, but it made me smile.
“Sure am.” I tipped the brim of my cowboy hat at her. “Got the belt buckle to prove it.”
She didn’t say anything else, just stared, eyes meeting mine. Holding as the snow fell between us.
Her hand came up, as if she couldn’t believe my words and her fingers touched my beard.
All of sudden, it wasn’t all that cold any more. The snow could have melted right off me with how hot I felt just looking at her.
Blue, wide set eyes. Round face. Pert nose. Cheeks that were splotchy red. Ice coated her dark lashes and her full lips were a gruesome shade, probably blue but it was too dark to tell.
Her fingers against my skin were fucking freezing and I realized she wasn’t wearing gloves. Shit.
“It’s too cold for a cowboy to be out in this weather.
Be a good girl and come sit in front of a fire with me?
Cozy blankets? Just you and me.” She kept right on staring, but was she even seeing me?
She wasn’t moving, only getting colder by the second.
If I had to cajole her, I would. Hell, if she didn’t agree in the next few seconds, I’d be tossing her over my shoulder.
“I’m cold,” she said, her voice soft and carried to me on the wind.
Two words.
Two shaky words and that was it. She was mine.
It was as if she knew I’d take care of her because from one second to the next, she gave up the fight and crumpled.
“Fuck,” I muttered as I caught her before she landed in the snow.
My protective instincts flared to life as I lifted her into my arms and pulled her close to my chest. She weighed less than a baby calf in a roping competition.
Turning, I strode to the truck, not feeling the icy pelt of the snow as it hit my face, and my beard surely came in handy.
Beau came up beside me, eyes wide. “Holy shit. Know her?”
Even though I traveled the rodeo circuit most of the year, I knew pretty much everyone in the area. Except her. Fuck, she was the prettiest human popsicle I’d ever seen.
“Nope. No clue.” I’d have remembered her. Hell, she’d already be in my bed. Warm and safe and with my ring on her finger. Sexually satisfied. Belly nice and round with our baby.
Mine.
I had no idea why I had this fierce and instant need to make this woman mine. It was crazy, but visceral, as if my inner caveman was beating his chest. I wanted to tie her to me with my lariat.
I hurt my knee riding a bull at the end of the season last fall.
I’d been loaded up in an ambulance and sent to the ER, had tests run which showed it didn’t need surgery.
I’d spent the winter debating what to do since another similar fall could mean permanent damage.
Beau’d been a friend on the circuit for years and a good listener over burgers tonight.
The debate was simple: return to bull riding and fuck up my chances for sitting in a saddle or a limp-free lifestyle or retire.
I hadn’t been able to decide because the thrill was too great, plus, I didn’t know another way of life.
I’d been waiting for a sign or something.
I just fucking got one in the form of a pint-sized woman.
Beau opened the back door of his quad cab and I climbed in, not letting her go. “Blanket’s beside you.” He slammed the door shut, then dashed around to get back behind the wheel.
“She’s soaked through. Give me your hat,” I said.
He yanked it off and reached his arm back to hand it to me.
Moving quickly, I replaced her snow covered one with his which was warm from his body heat, then worked the icy jacket from her.
“She was shiverin’, so she’s not too far gone,” I said, knowing shivering meant she hadn’t gone into severe hypothermia yet.
Thank fuck.
I just found her and I wasn’t having her die on me now.
I took in every inch of her. Her snow crusted boots.
Wet and ice covered leggings that clung to her curvy legs.
Waffle knit shirt that didn’t hide the swell of her perfect tits.
Her pale skin. Dark hair. Full cheeks and fuller lips that I wanted to kiss. Wanted to see wrapped around my dick.
Beau had the truck moving again, this time at a faster clip. “Her car must’ve broken down. She was almost to your driveway to… get help?”
That didn’t mean much because my house was set back from the road a quarter mile. No way she’d have made it down my unplowed driveway.
“What the hell had she been thinking going out in this?” I snapped.
A moan slipped from her as I wrapped the blanket around her like a shroud, then pulled her into my body. She was soft and lush, my body reacting to her thick curves as I rubbed my hands up and down her legs. My dick didn’t seem to care that she’d been a few minutes from certain death.
She was fucking freezing and it was almost painful keeping her close to my body, but my core heat would seep into her along with the blasting truck heater. Getting her warm was more important than my balls drawing up tight.
“She wouldn’t have made it to my house,” I said, trying not to lose my shit at the chance encounter and what would have happened if we hadn’t come by when we did.
“She wouldn’t have made it another fifty feet,” he countered. “Thank fuck we found her.”
The ends of her dark hair were icy and wet. I stroked it back from her face. She was young, maybe early twenties. Even close to death, she was so fucking beautiful.
And lost. In danger.
Every protective instinct I had flared to life.
Leaning down, I murmured in her ear. “You’re safe now, sugar. I won’t let anything happen to you. Now that’s a promise.”
“Yeah, she’s safe, but why the fuck was she driving all the way out here in the first place?” Beau asked.
That was a great question and the only person who could answer it was unconscious in my arms.