Chapter 2 #2
“Stay inside during the holidays, folks,” the speaker urges.
“And if you forgot to buy your significant other a present, you’re fresh out of luck.
Expect deliveries and all services to be suspended until this storm blows over.
” He chuckles. “Silver lining, though—we’ll finally have a white Christmas, the first one in three years. ”
My heart stutters at the realization that I might be trapped with these guys for more than just tonight. Christmas is the day after tomorrow, a family holiday. What will happen when they realize I have no one waiting for me at home? They might become suspicious if no one calls to check up on me.
“So,” Troy says as he drives through what could best be described as a winter wonderland. “You have a boyfriend.”
“Troy,” Carter snaps from my right. “Drop it.”
I clear my throat. “No, that’s fine. Yeah, I do. Have one. A-a boyfriend, that is.”
I stutter over the words, then force myself to shut up.
The less detail I give them about this fictional man, the smaller the chance of me screwing up with a silly lie.
I’m a terrible liar. My mother used to say I was too honest for my own good.
I never believed her—why would that be a fault?
—but I must admit she might have had a point.
A hot blush creeps up my neck and to my cheeks, and I’m grateful that the darkness hides me from the strangers’ inquiring gazes.
That is, until Troy leans in slightly and takes a deep inhale through his nose. He huffs out a soft laugh, and when he straightens again, his lips quirk up in a smile.
“What are you doing?” I ask, turning the blade of my pocketknife toward him. “This is the second time you’ve sniffed me.”
“Just checking something,” he says, smugness radiating off him.
“What, my body odor?” I bark. Annoyance rises in me, though it’s still tempered by that weird sense of safety.
My body’s reactions are giving me whiplash.
I couldn’t get rescued-slash-kidnapped by normal people?
Not only are they freakishly strong, fast, and handsome—they also sniff people. I have no idea what to make of them.
Carter leans forward and glares at Troy, who doesn’t reply to me, but he also doesn’t stop grinning for some reason.
The truck trundles onward, and I can’t help but admire the deep forest surrounding us.
If I wasn’t in imminent danger of becoming a cautionary tale for young women everywhere, I’d be enjoying this ride immensely.
Especially since these two presumably have an actual home at the end of this scenic road.
I mean, I hope they do. I hope they’re not taking me to their murder shack, far away from civilization.
Christ, I need a drink. Or a slap to the face, maybe, to snap out of this weirdness.
I need to finally find the courage to stab Troy in the kidney and shove him out of the car, then do the same for Carter.
I could commandeer it and their house and wait out the storm on my own.
Turn the tables on them before they can hurt me.
A hysterical giggle escapes me, and the men both turn to me, eyebrows raised. I stifle the next giggle with the back of my hand, still clutching my phone.
“Sorry,” I gasp.
Yeah. The image of me becoming a highway robber is too ludicrous even for me.
A light glints in the distance, so I focus on it instead, trying to calm my breathing. That must be their house. I can’t imagine anything else being this far out here—and again, I have to wonder at these men. They live alone all the way out here? Together?
I glance from Carter to Troy and back. Huh.
“What are you thinking about?” Carter asks, his voice understandably wary.
After all, I’m giggling and holding a sharp object. If I was him, I’d be scared, too.
Forcing my voice to a neutral tone, I ask, “Are you two a couple?”
Carter’s smile is instantaneous and beautiful. My breath catches in my throat at the sight of it, and that blush intensifies. Butterflies flutter in my belly, but I can’t look away. I’m captivated by how handsome he is.
“No, sweetheart,” he says. “Not exactly. But Troy and Sebastian, who you’ll meet very soon, are closer than brothers to me.”
“Oh.” I push back an annoying strand of hair that’s worked its way from under my hat. “Okay.”
There’s three of them? My body is malfunctioning even now—only God knows how I’ll react in the presence of a third guy like this.
“If you’re wondering whether we’re fuck buddies,” Troy’s voice rumbles from beside me, “that’s not it either. Though we do, uh, fuck a lot.”
I turn to stare at him, eyes wide. What the ever-loving fuck?
“Troy,” Carter barks. “Will you shut up?”
“What?” Troy says, defensive. “She asked.”
“No, she didn’t, actually,” I correct him, my voice sounding so damn prim, when in fact, I’m picturing all the ways in which Troy could relieve Carter.
On his knees. Carter’s big hand threaded through Troy’s too-long hair as he…
Both men groan in unison, and Troy unsubtly readjusts himself in his jeans.
Is he hard? Just from talking about this?
A shiver runs through me, and I try to sift through the mire of my feelings.
I snap the pocketknife closed because it’s clear by now I won’t be stabbing anyone with it, and zip my phone into my purse.
If the men intended to hurt me, it would be easy enough for them to overpower me before I could ever make that call to the police.
Yes, this situation is completely ridiculous, but I cling on to the hope that my colleagues from the diner might call the cops after all if I don’t make it to work after this storm.
Then someone will find my car, and they’ll investigate.
If that’s fatalistic of me, so be it, but for some reason, my very sensitive bullshit meter isn’t firing off any alarms in the presence of these two men.
I clasp my hands between my knees to avoid doing something stupid, like reaching out and poking Carter’s thick, jeans-clad thigh to see if the muscles there are really as hard as they seem.
He has to be a professional athlete or a lumberjack to have that kind of physique.
The way he held me easily earlier speaks to upper body strength as well, and I wonder what he looks like without his winter jacket on.
And there goes my mind again, diving straight into the gutter.
As the lights of the house draw near, I assess what I know about Troy and Carter. And Sebastian, their third roommate, who has no idea his friends have rescued me. It hits me for the first time that they might have had plans for the holidays, and that I’ll be intruding on them.
“Crap,” I say. “Sorry, guys, I didn’t think of your Christmas plans at all. I won’t be a bother, promise. If you have a spare bedroom or something… You won’t know I’m there at all.”
Troy quirks his lips up in another devastating smile. “Don’t worry, Emma.” His voice is a caress on my skin, and he rolls my name over his tongue like he’s relishing it. “We’re more than happy to share you over Christmas.”
“What?” I turn to him, unsure of whether I heard correctly.
He chokes on his next breath and stares at me with wide blue eyes. “I mean, that’s not— I wanted to say we’d be happy to share Christmas with you.”
Carter is muttering obscenities, and I should be shocked, but for some reason, Troy’s flustered expression is too adorable for me to get angry again. Or scared.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs finally. “I’ve never been good with words, and being this close to you is fucking with my brain.”
I look at him curiously. “Why is that?”
He glances over to Carter, but before he can answer, we round the last, thick trunk of a spruce tree, and the house comes into view.
And in front of it, a nightmare standing on two legs.