Chapter 6
Cora
Owen is silent the rest of the evening while I tossed and turned in the bed. It smells of him. The sheets are too soft against my hot skin. I have too much energy, I'd rather get up and pace, go for a walk, climb the walls. God, something to expel this pent up energy. But something tells me not to disobey Owen's order. Or to try and talk to him.
He sits in the chair, refuses to look my way and I can feel energy vibrating off him from all the way across the cabin. My mysterious Mountain Man. A reclusive billionaire with a dark past. But he had been gentle in his handling of me. In fact, I would have liked him to be rougher. I would have liked him to throw me up against the wall and have his wicked way with me. It is with thoughts of his hands on my body that I eventually drift off to sleep.
Woken by a rough shake and a deep voice urgently calling my name. And then swooped up, covers and all and being carried as I shake the sleepiness from my brain. It's cold and as I'm put on my feet, I realize the window is gone. Instead of glass there is a tree protruding into the room and around it the howling wind is rushing into the cabin.
It's dark but I don't miss how close that tree must have come to landing on Owen if he was in the armchair. My heart constricts and panic starts to make my blood rush. I look at Owen who has put his back against the massive bookcase to move it. It strikes me as a strange thing to do in the middle of a storm and also I'm reminded how mad he was that I moved his furniture around and now he decided to move this bookcase when there is a window to be fixed.
But then, with the book case moved, he grabs my arm and drags me through a door, into a dark, cold space and then I hear the creak and groan of old metal doors. I am wide eyed even though it is pitch black. Owen lights a lamp and I look around with wonder. I am guessing we are in a cave, judging by the curved ceiling, but it is a large space stacked with blankets and crates of supplies.
I stare at Owen. "You are Batman!"
He ignores me as he shakes out some blankets for us.
"You have your own Bat Cave! And where does that door lead?" I point to the door at the other end of the space. "It goes to a huge manor, doesn't it? Just like Bruce Wayne."
He looks at me and pauses.
"Oh my God? Does it go to a manor?"
"Not a manor. And I don't even know if it's all still connected, it's far too dangerous to go exploring tonight."
I stare at him in wonder till he gives me the slightest, gruffest of upturned half smile. "I'm not Batman."
As we get settled with blankets to sit on, including one for Dog, and blankets to cover ourselves while sitting against the wall, Owen explains that we were in an old mine shaft he used to use as a kid to get out unseen from his family home.
"When did you fit it out with blankets and all this stuff?"
He gives a shrug of those broad shoulders. "Always good to have a secret hideout in case the villagers come with pitchforks one day."
He says it as a joke but I wonder if he really does see himself as some sort of beast feared by society. Is that why he lives all the way out here all alone?
"I'll fix the window in the morning once the storm has blown over, but we will be safe and warm here for tonight."
We are sitting next to each other, arms touching. I’m not about to sit here all night in silence. Not when I am so fascinated by this man. I shift in a little closer to him.
“You might need to talk to me to get my mind off the storm. Tell me everything about yourself, Owen.”