Now I wonder if she really was going to eat me.
I bet she will the next time I’m out in public. She doesn’t seem even a little bit harmless.
My feet suddenly leave the ground, and my breath startles out of me as my body gets lifted very abruptly. Kai smirks down at me as I gawk up at him, and he carries me through the snow like it’s an easy task.
“Fuck’s sake. How much weight have you packed on in less than a few days?” he says through strain.
My eyes widen in horror, but he suddenly barks out a laugh, which turns my horror into a lethal glare. For whatever reason, I almost smile.
“Kidding. We’ll blame the snow for your extra weight,” he adds, which…makes me horrified again.
Do I really feel that much heavier?
He drops me to my feet on the porch, and…Cougar immediately growls at me.
I climb Kai like a fucking tree real damn quick, and he chokes back a sound as my legs wind around his waist and my arms go around his neck.
“Don’t let her eat me!” I say way too loudly, given how close my mouth is to his ear.
“Can’t. Breathe,” he says through genuine strain.
It takes me a second to realize my arms are squeezing around his neck too tightly.
Releasing him a little, I bury my face against his neck, scared I may accidentally make eye contact with Cougar and she’ll perceive it as a challenge. Her feral claws are scarier than my manicured ones.
My only line of defense is the ability to have a chillingly cruel comeback on the tip of my tongue. I don’t think Cougar will care what I have to say.
His hands land on my ass when I start to slip, and I don’t even mind it, because Cougar would probably look at my ass like a tasty treat. It’s best if it’s covered.
He walks us inside, and when his hands fall away to shut the door and flip on the light, I slide down his body, glancing around.
It’s not the same cabin as before. This one doesn’t have dead animal heads adorning the walls. A few rifles and shotguns are haphazardly propped in a corner, and that’s about the closest to decoration there is in here.
There aren’t any bearskin rugs, nor is there as much furniture. In fact, there’s one big recliner, a small-ish couch, and…that’s all the furniture in here. They’re both sitting directly in front of a TV that has about three or four gaming systems attached to it.
It also reeks of weed.
Total bachelor pad, clearly.
He walks into another room, disappearing from sight, as I stare down at my dripping clothes. My teeth start chattering when the chill sinks into my body.
It dawns on me that I bailed on him, and I’m sure he knows that, since they were supposed to meet up and leave…an hour ago, according to the clock on his oven.
Sheesh. I really did run around in the woods for a long time, but it felt so short. Possibly because time flies when you’re running for your life.
He emerges from the room, and he gestures over his shoulder.
“You can change into some of my sweats, and then I’m gonna take you to town for something to eat,” he states like this is something we’ve discussed and agreed upon.
I almost argue, and then Cougar flashes through my mind. Will he send her after me if I refuse? Surely not. He seems more like a hero than a vicious guy. He could just be pretending, though.
For reasons I don’t really understand, I find myself walking into the room without protest, absently smiling to myself. That’s it. There’s something in the water that makes people around here crazy.
I never should have had a drink from the tainted well, because now I’m putting on a guy’s sweats and planning to go eat with him after standing him up for our sledding date…
“Hey, why didn’t you go sledding with the others?” I ask through the door as I hurriedly pull on the pants…and roll them down a few times because they’re a mile too long.
Sadly, they’re not all that big in the waist. He has a six-pack, and he’s not all that bulky, so I’m not going to freak out about the fact his pants fit me this well.
Not at all.
That’d be shallow and artificial of me, after all…
“Because I figured you just wanted to spend time alone with me. Imagine my surprise when you ran to my house screaming for me and using my cat as your excuse,” he answers, sounding entirely too serious.
“That’s not seriously what you think happened,” I state, slightly worried he’s really that delusional.
“Don’t be embarrassed. I like crazy chicks,” he assures me.
I blink a few times at the door as I drop my wet shirt to the ground. It slaps the ground next to the wet coat I’ve already discarded. I should have dressed more appropriately for snow, but I was planning on riding. Not running and falling and splattering on the ground so much.