Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
ARIELLE
Iwonder if Davin can hear the pounding of my heart. I try to take a deep breath, organize the meager ingredients on the counter to find culinary inspiration. Instead, I drop the jar of pepper, watching it roll across the floor.
Gus paces around my ankles, picking up on my energy. “It’s okay, little guy,” I lie, voice breaking.
Davin circles the perimeter with a soldier’s precision. As I watch him pass a window, it hits me like a ton of bricks. Despite my frayed nerves and rapid pulse, his presence makes me feel secure.
Nobody has ever protected me like this. Nobody has ever made me feel this safe … or this out of control.
He grabs his cell phone, pulls something up on the screen as he heads down the hallway. Then, I hear his voice, talking to someone.
I strain to listen. Gus pants and snorts. Blood rushes through my temples. I can’t make out his words.
The fire crackles in the hearth, the wind blowing in gusts around the cabin. It could all be so cozy and ideal … if I hadn’t brought trouble with me.
The floorboards creak, and smoke and leather fill the air as Davin steps back into the room. “Surveillance camera caught two men dressed in black. Look familiar?” He flashes the screen toward me. The backs of my eyes sting as I watch the grainy black-and-white images.
“They’re sweeping the area. We can’t stay.”
“But where do we go?” my voice creaks.
“Leave that to me.” His face is unreadable, devoid of emotion. I carry them for us both, knees shaking, breath coming faster.
“Hey,” he says, stopping in front of me, pushing a stray lock of hair off my face.
“You have nothing to worry about, Arielle. You’re safe with me.
But we need to move fast. Take only what you need.
” He crosses the room, grabs an empty backpack hanging from the coat rack, and throws it to me. “We’re out in ten.”
Outside, the fog lies so thick I can barely see my hand in front of my face. Snow mixes with it, leisurely fluttering … the antithesis of everything I feel. Inside, fear skitters—wild, frantic, desperate.
Gus snuggles beneath my jacket as we trudge through the snow and fog. My boot slides, and I nearly tumble to the ground. Davin hooks his hand around mine, warm and steady, pulling me through the drift.
Flames climb my arm, ignited by his touch. My breath steams in front of my face as we move, so does Davin’s, two white columns mixing in the wintry vale.
Panic seizes me as my head bobs around. I can’t see anything. My voice hitches.
“Arielle. I’ve got you.”
His words are a lifeline as we move through the eerie landscape. I don’t know what scares me more. the men chasing us, or what I feel at Davin’s touch.
“Not the most comfortable ride,” he says suddenly, straddling a snowmobile. He motions for me to crawl on behind him. “But it’ll get the job done. Don’t let go,” he growls as the wind picks up, chasing fog but replacing it with icy curtains of powder.
“But I don’t want to crush Gus,” I say, moving the fluff ball around in my jacket.
“Damn, Princess,” he mutters under his breath as I wrap my arms around him, and he pulls me tighter. “Hold on.” He fires up the engine, and it roars beneath us.
“Wait,” I gasp. “I’m not as brave as you think.”
“You’re braver than you know,” he answers, patting my hand. Then, the snowmobile surges forward into the oncoming storm. Wind whistles and whips wildly around us, hampering visibility and burying the snowmobile’s engine noise in the steady locomotive roar of angry gusts.
You’re braver than you know. Davin’s words hit too deep, eyes pooling as I cling to the big man. I try to brush them aside, tell myself he says that to every person he protects. But nothing about this feels generic, like it could ever be duplicated.
Too intimate. Too alive.
I cling to him until my face feels like ice, head bobbing. I don’t know how he can navigate through the whiteout, amazed yet again by the Ranger’s ruthless efficiency.
Finally, a small, dark building cuts through the waves of white. We stop in front of it, and he cuts the engine. “Old trapper’s cabin. Can’t vouch for its creature comforts. But it’s a helluva lot more secluded than my cabin.”
He grabs my hand, guides me through the front door. Inside, it’s dark, musty. The equivalent of a studio apartment, a rustic bed the only prominent piece of furniture. My cheeks glow, eyes scanning the room. I tell myself the heat rising up my neck is from wind burn, but I know better.
“Make yourself at home while I hide the snowmobile and some of our tracks.”
I nod, watching him disappear through the door. Something tightens in my chest, like panic. Like I can’t stand being out of my protector’s sight. Not because I’m scared of being alone, but because I’m scared of losing him.
I plop the backpack on the floor, then pull Gus from my coat and place him on the ground. His nose dips, smelling our new surroundings as I find a lamp and click it. Golden light illuminates the small space. Humble, clean, and orderly.
Only one cot.
Only one blanket.
Davin stomps back inside with a pile of wood in his arms. He heads for the barebones hearth, kneeling in front of it and working on a blaze with the same military precision he brings to everything.
Emotion thickens my throat as I watch him, admiring his large, muscular build and quiet confidence. Fear and exhaustion clobber me, along with something else … desire.
He rises, peeling off his snow-soaked jacket. Then, he motions impatiently for mine. I shrug out of my coat.
“Princess, we’re gonna have to work on keeping the snow outside the cabin, not decorating the bed with it.” He surveys the cot with a frown, brushing away some snow.
“Sorry,” I whisper like I’m barely holding on.
He removes his red and black flannel and hands it to me. The white thermal beneath clings to his chest like sin. His soulful cerulean eyes meet mine, and I look away quickly. Too late. He caught me drooling. “This should keep you warm.”
His body heat clings to it. So does the smell I’m coming to rely on—cedar smoke and old leather. “Smells good,” I whisper, holding it to my cheek before I slide it on.
Davin’s face darkens, pupils dilating. He furrows his brow, face stern, but something softer lingers behind the mask.
It hits me all at once, fire crackling, storm whipping around the small shelter—I want this man. Not just because he’s saving my life and making me feel safe, but because I’m starting to see glimmers of the guy beneath the armor.
“Let’s get you warmed up.” He nods toward the hearth.
I sit down, and he grabs the one blanket, sitting behind me and pulling me hard against his chest. A puff of air escapes my lips as he wraps the blanket around us both. “Sorry for the close quarters,” he murmurs against my ear. “But there’s nowhere else to go.”
“After the day I’ve had,” I tease, “you think I’d let your grumpy ass out of my sight? Even for a minute?” I pause for a long moment, one question still gnawing at me. “Do you think those men could still be looking for us? After all of this?”
Davin’s silence is sharp. “They don’t make trips into these mountains for fun.”
“I wish they would forget about me, leave me alone.”
“Not likely,” he grumbles.
My eyes flick to his face. “Why not?”
“Because of your blood … who your family is..
I study the floor for a long moment, face tight. Trying to wrap my head around everything—around an innocent call, a citizen alert turned so very bad.
“Probably not how you wanted to spend Christmas,” Davin mutters, catching me by surprise.
“Not what I expected,” I confess. “But despite everything, I have nothing to complain about.”
“Nothing to complain about?” he asks, voice softening a tick. “Getting shot at. Hiding with a grumpy asshole, making a snowy escape only to end up in this little shithole? What would it take to make you complain?”
I giggle, though it comes out tight. “What’s to complain about? I’m safe. I’m warm—”
“Mostly warm.”
“Getting warmer by the minute. And the company’s not as bad as I originally thought it would be.”
“How so?”
“Well,” I say, snuggling against his hard chest. It’s bizarre to be this intimate with someone I barely know, and yet it’s not optional. A necessity that I’m really starting to like. “You quit trying to throw Gus out into a snowdrift.”
“There is that,” he murmurs against my ear. Shivers follow the heat of his breath across my flesh. “Kind of figured if I tossed him out, you’d toss me next.”
“You’ve got that right, Ranger.”
His hand slides beneath the blanket, settles on my upper thigh, infusing heat through my leggings. Despite the fabric, sparks fly—heated, dangerous, ready to explode.
“You know, you’re not so bad yourself. Different than my first impression. Though your cousin would kill me for this.”
“Yes, Mateo would. But he’d also be grateful for how you’re keeping me alive … and safe.”
I turn my head to look up at him, only realizing after the fact how close it puts our mouths. I can feel his heat on my face, almost taste him. My eyes drop to his generous, kissable lips. The world narrows to a single hot breath between us as he closes the distance.
Crack! Air catches in my throat, and my hand flies to my chest. Davin’s head snaps up.
Adrenaline and need throb through me as he breaks our hold, rising to his feet and heading for the door. “Have to check things out. Be right back.”
“Okay,” I croak, barely able to form words.
Time slows to a crawl as I wait for his return. Panic gnaws at the edges of reason, a thousand thoughts terrorizing me.
What if I’m left here all alone? What if the bad guys come for me? What if something happens to him?
My stomach knots at the last question, brain roiling over its meaning. Cold seeps back in, the fire, the blanket not doing nearly as much as Davin’s rugged frame. My teeth chatter, matching the swirling anxiety inside.