Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
“I can’t believe I missed the stupid trail.”
“If you hadn’t walked out in a storm and gotten turned around in the woods, you would have seen the signs for it near those bushes you mentioned,” he assures me, but I can tell his sympathy is now warring with his amusement.
Well, sure. Who wouldn’t find this funny?
Oh, that’s right. The idiot who managed to get lost beside a well-marked trail.
“Connor will never let me live this down,” I say fatalistically, imagining years of You Are Here jokes and arrows set up to point me to our living room.
“Connor,” he repeats the name darkly. “I spoke to him while you were sleeping.”
I look up so quickly I almost wrench my neck and wince at the headache that hasn’t entirely faded. “You spoke to him? What did he say? Shit, where is my phone?”
I run my hands through my hair, thinking about my missing hat. I’m not sure where my clothes are at this moment either, but there are only so many things I can panic about at once.
“It’s upstairs charging. I had to dry it out, but it still works. Relax, Win. There’s plenty of time for me to answer all your questions. We won’t be going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest.”
It should sound ominous. Alone in the woods with a virtual stranger.
A snowstorm. My friends too far away to help.
But I’m cozied up in a cabin with Michael and two little teddy bear dogs, which feels more like a holiday romance than a horror movie.
If I weren’t injured and out of sorts, I might even be able to relax and enjoy the situation.
“Wait, how did you get ahold of my roommate if my phone needed to dry?” And how did he get by my locked screen?
“I used my phone to call the lodge and let them know they were missing a guest.” His fists clench at his sides. “I’m afraid I wasn’t that polite about it.”
There he goes, growling again. I wish I didn’t like it so much.
“It wasn’t their fault. There were plenty of people wandering in and out of the lodge. Even the weather channel wasn’t expecting a blizzard.” I bit my lip. “I hope nobody was out skiing when this hit.”
There were kids who were excited to try it this morning. I saw a few pairs of cute, smaller skis in the lobby, making me imagine bunny slopes and anxious parents. Was anyone caught on the lift I’d seen in the distance?
“They told me the rest of the guests were all accounted for,” he assures me. “And the employees at the lifts were brought in as soon as the weather turned.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
He nods. “The woman at the front desk was a little upset that you were missing. And that she was being harassed by both me and another man who’d been demanding she hand over supplies for a search party.”
“Connor?”
Another nod. “She gave him the phone and I let him know you were safe.”
“He was trying to start a search party for me?” Go Conman. I knew he wouldn’t leave me to die in the mountains.
“That’s usually the next step when someone goes missing.”
I ignore his dry comment. “Was her name Veronica? The woman you talked to?”
His eyebrows lift. “I don’t think I caught her name. Is it important?”
“Not to you.” A wicked grin curves my lips.
“We met her when we arrived yesterday and Connor was deeply interested. There were sparks all over the place. I was planning on finding an excuse to get them together again at some point, though getting lost like an idiot in a snowstorm wasn’t in my playbook.
Still, as long as he wasn’t too rude, it sounds like it might have done the trick. Super wingman strikes again.”
Michael blinks. “Wingman? So you and he aren’t…”
I’m wearing my gag face before I can stop it. “He’s basically my brother. My very straight brother who doesn’t wash his socks for months at a time because Sports. What did he say?”
“He said to tell you ‘the others’ were calling every five minutes for updates before his phone started fritzing, and he wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up as soon as the roads opened again.
That was after he suggested I’d kidnapped you, since you never go into the woods voluntarily, asked for references, and threatened to ‘Liam Neeson’ me if anything happened to you. ”
My laugh hurts my throat from breathing in all that icy air earlier, but I can’t help it. That definitely sounds like Connor. Michael really talked to him.
“He’s not wrong about the woods thing.” I gesture to the slender frame that doesn’t scream rabid outdoorsman.
“And don’t take those threats too seriously.
I mean, he’s in really good shape and teaches people to tackle for a living, so if you do try anything, he’d give it his best shot.
But most of the time he’s a total sweetheart. ”
Michael nodded slowly. “Good to know. He also mentioned the band being stuck due to the road closures. I thought you told me you only sang on special occasions. Did you decide to cover for the pregnant woman after all? Or does this have to do with your spying mission?”
What does it say about my personal life that how much he remembers about our short time together impresses me? My students are required to pay attention if they want to pass my tests, but the men I spend time with usually only hear, “Blah, blah, blah, pass the lube, blah.”
My anti-commitment philosophy does have some drawbacks.
“Someone gave the band my number, and the job paid too well to turn it down,” I say, though that’s not even remotely the whole story. “Also, it is someone’s special occasion. There’s a weekend-long anniversary party two miles away from here. I have a feeling you know about that already?”
Please, say no. Don’t be dating a Finn.
“That’s why I’m here.”
And that’s it. That’s all he says. No explanation about why he’s in this isolated cabin instead of with the others in the lodge.
No references to a date of any kind. No confession that he’s a missing cousin or the child of a mistress and here to make some dramatic accusations or anything.
I’m not known for my brevity, so I usually appreciate it in others.
But in this case it’s aggravating. “Small world I guess.”
“Seems to be.”
So. Aggravating.
One of the dogs takes our momentary silence as permission to jump on my stomach, reminding me of where I was thinking about going before Michael came down the stairs. He notices and unfortunately comes to the right conclusion.
“Let’s get you to the bathroom.” Like that’s a totally normal thing to say.
I inhale sharply when he leans his large frame over me, and he freezes. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You didn’t,” I lie. “‘Let’s get you to the bathroom’ just isn’t a sentence you expect to be dropped in the middle of a conversation, that’s all.”
“I was reaching for Mims and Mad. They need to get down first.” He keeps his eyes steady on mine as he slowly picks up the furry bundles and lowers them to the floor.
They disappear like speedy dust bunnies into the kitchen, and I wish I could join them.
“Mims and Mad?”
“Mimsy and Madeline. They belonged to my mother before she got married about three years ago. Her new husband is allergic, so I took them on.”
I cling to the personal information like a lifeline. I know so little about him. But his mother actually talks to him and trusts him enough to give him those two angels. I suppose I could consider that a character reference. “How did they get up here in the first place?”
“They’re cuddlers, and I thought they’d help to warm you up.”
That’s…incredibly thoughtful. “Well, thank you. They did a good job.”
His expression softens. “They usually do. They’re good company. I’m going to pick you up now.”
I lean away from him. “Don’t start that again.”
“I hate to argue, since I can see you aren’t comfortable being carried, but?—”
“I’m sorry about earlier.” Did I slap at him in the snow to keep him away from me?
I think I did. “Obviously, I did need help at that point, and I should probably thank you. For that and…those other things. Really above and beyond the usual rescue detail and you deserve a medal, and maybe brain bleach if it existed. But I’m fully conscious now, so if you just point me in the right direction, I’ve got it from here. ”
His lips twitch as he stares at me before pointing up toward the loft. “The bathroom is upstairs.”
“A place that’s as big as three apartments in my complex only has one bathroom? What kind of fancy log cabin of the damned is this?” I joke with a shaky laugh.
“The master is easier to maneuver in. It’s what you used the last time.”
So there is another bathroom. “Let’s both try to forget about the last time.”
“Your skin was still blue and you were barely conscious,” he reminds me, looking unhappy with the memory. I can feel his arm cautiously sliding behind my back. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Anybody would need a helping hand in that situation.”
I shoot him a suspicious look when he slips his other arm under my legs, as if waiting for me to push him away. I’m going to in a second. I just like the feel of his helping hands on me. What can I say? I’m weak. “Were you trying to be punny?”
“Not at all,” he says innocently.
“I know it’s a stupid line to draw, and we’ve both seen it all before. Recently. I’m really sorry to be such a—” He lifts me off the mattress and I finish with, “What the hell , man?”
He settles my tense body more securely against his chest. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you. What did you think I was doing just now? Heading for second base?”
Is he sassy too? Nice and grumpy and sassy?
“I was distracted. You can’t go around picking people up without their permission, Pub—Michael.”
He mouths “Pub Michael” and starts for the stairs. “Relax, I’m not coming in with you. I won’t even expect a tip when I drop you off at the door, Pub Win.”
“Very funny.”
“I thought so.”
“You want a tip? You can’t just tell people to relax while hauling them around like luggage,” I inform him. “It’s called personal boundaries and everyone should respect them.”
“Your ankle is swollen and you’ve been in and out of consciousness,” is his quick rejoinder. “Right now, you need my help more than I need boundaries.”
One of us needs boundaries. Because this feels good and I’m trying not to forget that I don’t know why he’s really here yet. Or who he’s with. Or anything about him other than he’s multilingual, has cute dogs and I still want him.
When we reach the base of the stairs he says, “You weren’t this bashful last time.”
I cross my arms and frown because I thought we weren’t going to mention that again. “I was delusional and freezing.”
“That’s not the time I’m talking about.”
I’m pale, so when I blush it’s obvious. Based on the heat level of my cheeks right now, my face must be the shade of a Red Delicious on fire.
“I can’t believe you went there,” I mutter.
“I’m not going to pretend I don’t recall that night or haven’t thought about you since then just to make this situation more palatable for you.
” His voice is quiet now. Deeper. “I would have looked for you the next day, but I didn’t want to overstep after what happened.
I wanted to tell you… I’m sorry your friend was hurt. ”
And I’m sorry you disappeared without a trace .
I don’t say it. It’s not like we were dating, or even friendly. We made out. One of us almost came. That didn’t mean he had to hold my hand in the hospital while I waited to see how badly Bex was injured after the attack.
There was no stalker or crazy-but-harmless fan, like we originally thought.
There were two men in balaclavas who attacked Bex and Kate when they were talking outside the building.
Bex tossed Kate back inside and closed the door, taking the brunt of the abuse—along with a warning.
The whole thing, she admitted to me when she could finally talk, was a message for Ken Tanaka.
Kate’s online presence just made her the most convenient method to deliver it.
“Is she okay now?”
“She’s better.” I shake my head wryly. “In fact, she’s the reason I took this job in the first place. Which means I can blame her for this entire debacle of a day and feast on her guilty tears for years after I get home.”
He pauses at the top of the stairs and looks at me with hooded eyes. “Then I guess I owe her one.”