Chapter 1 #2
As if answering my thoughts, I heard the faint sound of running water.
Newly energized, I pushed through a thicket of bushes and emerged on the bank of a small creek.
The water bubbled over rocks, and about fifty yards downstream, there was a rustic cabin with smoke curling from its chimney.
"Oh, thank god!" Relief washed over me like a wave when I realized I wasn’t going to freeze to death.
I couldn’t rule out being hacked up by a psychotic recluse, but I was willing to take my chances.
Movement caught my eye, and a large black dog bounded across the small clearing in front of the cabin, chasing something only it could see. Just as I was about to call for the dog, a tall man emerged from the cabin door. Even from this distance, I could tell he was broad-shouldered and solid.
"Hey!" I waved my arms and hopped to get his attention. "Hello! I need help!"
The distance was too far and the water was too loud for either of them to hear me. I had to get closer.
I jogged along the creek bank despite my blistered feet protesting every step. Unfortunately, I was so focused on reaching the cabin that I didn't notice the slippery rocks at the edge of a deeper section of the creek.
It only took one wrong step for me to plunge into ice-cold water.
The shock of it stole my breath, and I panicked.
The creek was only about three feet deep, but the current was strong and the snow melt was paralyzing.
I screamed and flailed my arms, trying to find purchase on the slick rocks beneath me. "Help!" I sputtered out a single word before taking in a mouthful of water.
I managed to crawl toward the bank just as my beloved Stanley cup broke free and began floating downstream. Call me ridiculous but watching it bob away from me brought a fresh wave of dread in me. "No, no, no!" I lunged for it and lost my balance again.
A loud bark cut through my panic as the black dog raced along the bank, barking frantically as I moved with the current.
A moment later, the man I saw by the cabin was wading into the creek ahead of me. His strong hands gripped my upper arms, and he easily lifted me out of the water.
I coughed and took a moment to catch my breath, shivering violently as the mountain air hit my soaked clothes. "My S-Stanley." I pointed at the pink buoy that was rapidly disappearing.
The dog seemed to understand and leaped into the water to fetch it.
"Killer, no!" The man’s voice was deep enough to make both me and the dog stop instantly. "Stay."
The dog whined anxiously but swam to the shore and shook off.
He hoisted me up into his arms like I weighed nothing. How could he do that? He looked strong but I definitely didn’t weigh nothing. But I was shivering and his chest was warm, so I just burrowed in and waited for the pearly gates to appear because surely I had died in that icy water.
We moved toward the cabin, with the dog circling anxiously around us. I should have been scared that I was being carried by a strange man in the middle of nowhere, but all I felt was relief.
My body felt numb, but something inside me was waking up. Something that made me tingle in places I hadn’t tingled in a very long time.
Inside the cabin, a fire crackled, and the simple furniture looked handcrafted but comfortable.
The man set me down on a rug near the fire and tossed two more logs inside to stoke the flames.
"Those clothes need to come off." His words were almost clinical as he reached for the zipper of my soaked jacket.
"I—what?" I crossed my arms over my chest.
"You're hypothermic. You can’t stay in wet clothes." He lifted his arms and took a step back. "I'll turn around if you're shy, but they need to come off now."
There was an authority in his voice that brooked no argument. Firm but caring. The kind of voice that made me want to be good and do as I was told.
"O-Okay," I whispered.
He helped me with my jacket, then turned his back while I peeled off my sweater and cargo pants. The dog plopped down beside me, warming me up with his body heat.
"There's a blanket on the couch." The man was still facing away. "Wrap up in that. I'll find you something dry to wear."
“Thanks.” I grabbed the wool blanket and cocooned myself in it. "I'm covered now."
He turned back, and I got my first good look at his face. The man was a good ten or fifteen years older than me, with sharp features and eyes the color of the forest. And he was surprisingly clean-shaven given his rugged mountain-man vibe. But what I really noticed was that he was gorgeous.
Absolutely gorgeous.
I blushed at where my mind had gone and hugged the blanket tighter.
"Thank you for saving me.” My teeth were still chattering slightly as I rubbed his dog’s head. “I'm Becca, by the way."
"Rod." He crossed to a small dresser and pulled out some clothes. "Tourist?"
"H-Hiking tour. I got separated from the g-group." I didn't want to admit I'd wandered off to use nature's toilet and gotten lost.
He grunted, seeming unsurprised by tourist foolishness. "Here." He handed me a flannel shirt and a pair of sweatpants that would swallow me whole. "Bathroom's there if you need it."
“Thank you.” I shuffled to the small bathroom with the blanket still wrapped around me. After I changed, I washed off the smeared makeup and did my best to finger comb my wet hair, but it didn’t help.
So much for making a good impression.
The clothes I put on smelled like him. Manly and fresh and…good.
The flannel shirt hung to mid-thigh, and I had to hike the sweatpants up to my knees so they didn’t drag, but they were warm and dry.
Rod had a kettle on the small stove and was dropping tea bags into mugs.
“That’s Killer.” The Labrador retriever trotted over to me with his tail wagging.
For a dog named Killer, he seemed like a marshmallow. “Hi, Killer.” I scratched behind his ears again, and he leaned his whole body weight against my legs. “Thanks for trying to get my cup.”
"He likes you." Rod’s eyes scanned over me in the oversized clothes, and a curious look flashed across his face too quickly for me to interpret. "Sit by the fire. Tea's almost ready."
He wasn’t a chatterbox, that was for sure.
Still cold, I sat cross-legged on the rug in front of the fire with Killer flopped beside me. After a few minutes, the warm air wafting toward me began to seep into my bones.
When Rod wasn’t watching me, I studied him. The way he moved around the small kitchen area was surprisingly graceful considering how much space the man took up. He was at least 6'2" and moved with the confidence of someone completely at home in his body and surroundings.
He brought over a mug of tea and handed it to me. "Honey and lemon. Good for shock."
"Thank you." I wrapped my hands around the warm mug and sighed. "I'm really sorry to intrude like this. I know I was being silly about my Stanley…”
“Who’s Stanley?” He leaned forward like he was ready to make some kind of move. “Was someone with you?”
“What?” I couldn’t tell if he was worried about someone drowning in his yard or if his reaction was to me being with a man.
I let my imagination pretend it was a twinge of jealousy that I saw in his eyes instead of neighborly care.
“No, my water bottle. Definitely not worth drowning over, but it was expensive, and it's my favorite color, and—"
He inhaled and blew out all the tension in his strong frame. "I'll look for it after the rain stops. There’s an eddy that catches shit like that.”
"Rain?" I glanced toward the window and noticed the darkening sky and the first spatters against the glass. "Oh no. The tour group will be looking for me."
He gestured to my jacket. "You got a phone in there?"
“Yeah, but no service. And the battery's almost dead." I wondered if it was in my jacket or if I’d lost it in the water. “It might have floated away too.”
He stared at me for a minute before he went to a shelf and grabbed a laptop. "As long as the sat isn’t down, you should be able to get to your email."
“Oh.” I didn’t expect the man to know what a computer was, much less have wifi. “That would be great.”
It only took a minute for me to log in to my email service and get a message out to the tour company.
I told them I’d find my own ride home. Hiking was not my thing, and I’d lived a lifetime of adventure in the past few hours.
I was done with that nonsense. Before I shut the computer, I sent a quick message to Kate.
Ditched the tour… Okay, the tour ditched me.
But I’m with a sexy mountain man until the rain clears and I can get a train ticket home.
My phone got wet, so if you don’t hear from me, don’t panic.
Rod doesn’t seem like a body-hacking type, but if he is, it’ll be the best possible way to go. Hugs and kisses, Bec.
When I closed the computer and handed it, Rod just studied me for a moment with a completely unreadable expression.
“I don’t want to take up too much of your time.” I turned my back to the fire to warm that side…and get a better look at the man. “I’ll be out of your hair as soon as the rain passes.”
"Don’t count on it.” He went to the fridge in the kitchenette area and opened it up. “You're stuck here tonight, baby girl."
Baby girl? Did he just call me that?
Why would he use such an intimate endearment on a stranger?
Unless it didn’t mean anything to him. Maybe it was just a regional thing. Like the way people called me hun when I was visiting my cousins in the South.
From anyone else in the world, I probably wouldn’t have even registered the nickname, but the way he said it made me feel safe in exactly the way I'd been craving.
Thinking about spending the night with that sexy man in a remote cabin should have raised some red flags, but all I felt was relief...and a flutter of something else I wasn't ready to examine too closely.
The rain drummed on the cabin roof as Killer snuggled closer to my side.
I sipped my tea and watched Rod stoke the fire, wondering what the night would bring.