Chapter Three
Aiden stared down at the woman. He had a hard time taking his eyes off her. She looked like a doll. She was so perfect. Her features were even, as if she had been made by machines rather than nature. Her skin was very white, like she rarely saw the sun.
Besides the marks she’d gotten from her track through the forest, she had absolutely no blemishes or old injuries at all. It was like she’d lived in a bubble her whole life.
The light from the fire made her long blonde hair sparkle, and her blue/greens eyes made him think of Caribbean water he’d seen off the coast of Belize. They were beautiful and something he would never get tired of looking at.
She was short and very slim, too thin, more so than he liked, because she didn’t look healthy and he would do what he could to get some pounds on her to make her strong.
He tipped his head to Malik, indicating the kitchen. They walked in. Malik sat at the table with his cup of coffee, and Aiden cleaned out the cup he’d used before, filled it, and sat.
“What are we going to do?”
Malik sighed. “Not much we can do right now. We can’t take her to the hospital. Besides the fact that we couldn’t safely make it down the mountain. We have to consider how much it terrified her. The last thing we want to do is scare her.”
“She’s terrified of something or someone, and until she gives us more information, we’ll take it day by day.”
Malik nodded. “I agree. I just hope no one’s going crazy with concern and is out in the storm trying to find her.”
“Hopefully, they are smart enough to hold off.”
“If she were mine, I’d still be out there looking.”
Aiden glanced into the living room where she lay.
“Yeah, I would be, too. But there’s nothing we can do about it now. There’s no way our reception is working, so we can’t call, and I’d rather hear more from her before I call the sheriff.”
“I agree.” Malik stood and walked over to the sink. “Did you get everything out of the truck?”
Aiden nodded. “Yeah, most of it’s piled on the back porch.”
“Let’s take care of that and the other things like the generator for when, not if, the electricity goes out.” Because it always did with these storms. “We need to make sure we’re ready to be stranded for several days.”
Aiden snorted. “We did most of it before we left.”
“I know. I want to get everything done so we can spend time with her.”
Aiden studied his friend's face. “I can tell you’re attracted to her, too. This is the first woman who’s ever grabbed both of our attention.”
“Yeah, and we don’t know anything about her.”
Aiden slapped Malik on the shoulder as he passed.
“We’ll figure it out. If she’s meant to be ours, we’ll make it happen.”
Malik chuckled. “I’m shocked. You almost sound optimistic.”
Aiden snorted. “Fuck off.”
They had everything put away within the hour, enough wood to last a week on the back porch, and the generator filled and ready to go for when the electricity went out.
Aiden grabbed another coffee cup and sat in a chair facing her so he could watch her sleep. He admitted he could spend hours, days, months, even years just looking at her. She was so delicate and beautiful. She reminded him of a fairy.
One worry he had was whether she was too tiny for what they’d want from her.
Would she be strong enough to fight with them without being timid or scared?
He knew some of the things could be overcome, but he didn’t want to push her into anything she would never be one-hundred-percent comfortable with.
“What are you thinking about?”
Aiden looked over to see Malik leaning against the kitchen doorway.
“I was just wondering if she would be strong enough for what we’d need from her or if she’d even want to have anything to do with us.”
Malik nodded. “I thought about that. I do know she finds us both attractive, and not only does it shock her, but she looks intrigued and tries not to show it.”
Aiden’s heart lightened. That was an excellent first step. They’d take care of the rest as time passed.
“I put the loaves of bread I made in the oven. I made extra because I know we’ll be without electricity for a while, and I don’t want to use the generator gas on the oven.”
Aiden felt his stomach cramp with hunger. He’d already eaten a big bowl of soup that Malik made, but his bread was something he could sell successfully. He always added something to them, like chives, garlic, etc., that made it delicious.
They had made jars of jam from the berries they picked from the bushes on their land and the strawberries they grew in the garden behind the house. They’d made the place self-sustaining and could stay up on the mountain for a long while without going to town for anything.
The basement was full of jars with different vegetables and fruits. They had fish and deer in the massive freezer on the back porch. The room held a few shelves filled with supplies. Beside the freezer, there were hooks along one wall with coats and boots on the floor under them.
A movement from the sofa caught his attention. Their little Sleeping Beauty was waking up. He waited until she was more aware of her surroundings, so he didn’t startle her. She was like a fawn, tense as she looked around, then her gaze fell on him, and he smiled.
He loved the zing of electricity that raced through his body.
The attraction was there, and on both sides, if the flush that covered her face and the accelerated pulse in her neck were things to go by.
The fact that her nipples turned into hard little beads that poked at the t-shirt she wore proved he’d been right the first time.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. “Hi.”
“How are you feeling?”
She bit down on her lip. “I feel good.”
“We have the soup from earlier, and Malik is making some bread, which he’s really good at. It’s the best bread I’ve ever had.”
“I can’t remember the last time I had bread.”
His eyebrows snapped together. “You don’t like it?”
“No, I used to love it. It’s just one of the things I was forbidden to eat.”
“For what purpose?”
“So, I stay looking like a perfect princess.”
His stomach tightened when her eyes filled with tears. He set his cup aside, moved to the sofa, sat, and pulled her into his arms.
“Easy,” he murmured when she stiffened. “I’m just holding you. I don’t like seeing those tears in your eyes.”
It seemed just holding her set her off, and the dam broke. She was gasping for breath because she was crying so hard.
“What’s going on?” Malik said as he came around to sit down beside them. He picked up her legs and set them over his thighs.
Aiden squeezed her. “Shhh, you’re going to be okay.” He turned to Malik. “She was telling me bread was forbidden for her.”
“Jesus Christ, why?”
“She said something about being a perfect princess, and it set her off. I’m not worried yet. It seems this emotional breakdown has been coming for a while.”