Shelter (Heroes of Big Sky 2)

“Good idea. You’re really good at this survivalist stuff.”

“It’s my job,” he reminds me. “If you want to stay here by the fire, I can manage with the blankets and stuff.”

“I can help.”

He’s so damn good-looking. I thought maybe my brain had done some fine-tuning and made my memory of him hotter than he really is. But no. He’s just hot. He’s ridiculously tall, well over six feet, and has dark brown hair, brown eyes, and sun-kissed skin. He’s bundled up in cold weather gear but takes off his puffy jacket and loops it around me.

“It’ll be cold up there,” he says softly as I push my arms into the coat and soak in his warmth. “Bundle up in this for now.”

“Thanks.” I offer him a smile, and his eyes flick down to my lips before he pulls away and leads me, with the help of his flashlight and the one I found in my pack, to the staircase. I can see my breath as we climb, and he opens the first door we come to.

There’s a simple queen-sized bed. Blankets and a quilt are folded and lying on the simple mattress, covered in plastic.

I grab the blankets and pillows, plastic and all, and hurry down to set them in front of the fire, then hurry back up for more.

“You take these, and I’ll be right down,” Seth says, passing me more linens. I turn and immediately follow directions. My fingers and toes are damn cold, and I’d like to huddle by the fire to warm up.

Once I reach the fireplace, I turn back to the stairs and see Seth coming down with a mattress on his broad back.

“Holy shit, Seth.”

“This will be more comfortable,” he says and drops the mattress about six feet from the fire. “Better than a hard floor, anyway.”

Before I can say anything, he marches away again and grabs a couple of chairs, bringing them to our makeshift living room before setting them down.

“In case you don’t want to sit on the floor,” he says and then hurries off once more. I scurry along after him, wondering where he’s going.

“You move really fast for a big guy,” I inform him as I follow him into the kitchen.

“Yeah, well, it’s move around or be cold. And I don’t like to be cold.” He opens cupboards, but they’re all empty. He stomps over to a pantry and lets out a long, low whistle.

“Jackpot,” I whisper.

Cans of vegetables, tuna, and other staples line the shelves. There are even some granola bars, candy bars, and soups.

“I guess they haven’t been up yet to take all of this down,” Seth says. “Looks like we won’t starve.”

“I mean, if we’re only stuck up here for twelve hours, we definitely won’t starve, Seth. I have jerky and protein bars and stuff.”

“The storm is supposed to last that long,” he reminds me. “It’ll pass in the middle of the night. Once it does, there will be up to two feet of snow. It’s going to take a while for us to get out of here. So, you can bet your pretty little ass that I’ll be taking some of this food with us.”

“I really messed up, didn’t I?”

“Well, on a scale of one to ten—one being a tiny little thing and ten being the end of the world…” He sighs and looks up like he’s thinking it over. “I’d give this about a nine-point-five.”

“Wow. That’s pretty bad.”

“If it was a ten, you’d be dead.”

He grabs a few things off the shelf, and then we hurry back to the fire, which already needs another log.

I spread the blankets across the mattress, then take off my shoes and sit on the bedding, facing the fire.

We can hear the wind whipping around outside, and something slams against the outside of the building, startling me.

“Probably just a tree,” Seth mutters as he takes a bite of a candy bar. “Well, I suppose since we’ll be holed up here together for the next couple dozen hours or so, we should get to know each other better.”

He takes another bite.

“Why were you so hell-bent on coming up here today?”

I scratch my chin and look him in the eyes. “Because someone once told me that I couldn’t. And that pissed me off.”

Chapter 3

~Seth~

I still want to paddle her ass for putting us both in this situation. The entire hike up, every single mile, I cursed her for being stubborn and potentially putting herself in danger.

When the snow started to fall, my heart lodged itself squarely in my throat.

I know how dangerous these mountains can be. They’re merciless. I’ve been on more search and rescue missions, that all ended badly, than I care to count.

And now that the adrenaline has died down, and we’re settled in front of the fire, safely riding out the storm, I could still choke her.