His Frozen Heart

All I could think of was sliding my body over his. I actually wanted to grip onto his back and feel the bulge of his muscles, how wide and warm he was. Then I wanted him to lay me down by the fire and take pleasure in my body again and again. I wanted to see how strong he was as he moved inside my body. And I was never like that with men. Ever. Usually, I detested them, their hungry eyes, and their cheating ways.

But with him?

I just wanted to bring him back to the land of the living, to show him all he was missing by marooning himself up here all alone on this inhospitable mountain. I want to … Yes, yes, I was definitely suffering the effects of some sort of concussion.

“There’s a can opener in that drawer right there.”

“What?” I blushed crimson.

“The soup,” he reminded, his brow furrowing.

“Oh. Oh yeah, well … if you’re not eating, I don’t want to.” I looked at him surreptitiously. Had I made my attraction obvious by the way I had stared at him? I checked my lip for drool. All good there, but it was a good thing I was under a layer of blanket because my nipples felt like they were hard enough to show through my parka. He had me aching.

“Fine. I’ll eat with you,” he decided, with a resigned sigh.

Dropping the blankets down on the floor, I noticed Cade looking at me then. I touched my hair and wondered if he thought I was attractive. Lots of guys did, but I wanted him to find me more than attractive. I wanted him to feel an undeniable urge to ravish me. The same crazy urge he aroused in me. I took my boots off by the door and hung my coat next to his. Then, I adjusted my big, chunky sweater over my hips and pulled at my leggings while he watched me. I couldn’t help it, my movements were deliberately sensuous.

“I’ll make the soup,” he said curtly.

“Well, let me help.”

“I said I’d make it.”

An awkward silence wedged between us. I didn’t know where to put myself. There was nowhere else to go in the one room cabin, apart from a level above, which you accessed by climbing a ladder. From where I stood I could see that it appeared to have only a mattress and no room for anything else. If you rolled out of bed in the night you would end up on the ground floor.

Katrina

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj6Y6JCu-l4

I watched him open cans of Campbell tomato soup and pour them into a pan with a blackened bottom. By the time the warm familiar smell filled the small space I couldn’t take the silence any longer.

“So, I guess I never said ‘thank you.’ For getting me out of the car.”

He kept his back to me filling soup into two enamel bowls and didn’t say anything.

I took a deep breath. I might as well try to squeeze blood out of stone. “So, thank you. I guess I would have frozen out there.”

“Here.” He handed me a bowl and a hunk of dry bread and sat on his stool. I looked around for another chair.

“I don’t do a lot of entertaining,” he said. “Do you want to sit here?”

“No, no, I’m fine. I’ll just sit on the floor.”

He grunted and turned his attention back to his food.

“So, I guess you prefer being out here by yourself?”

“Yup.”

“Do you ever have people come to visit you here? Old buddies, friends?”

“No.”

“No one? Not even family?”

He said nothing.

“Have you got any family?” I asked, dipping my stale bread into the soup.

He didn’t answer but lowered his eyes to me. That’s when I noticed how unusual they were, hazel with golden flecks in them. He put his empty bowl down on the floor and stared at me cold. “Don’t you know it’s rude to pry?”

I swallowed the food in my mouth. “Well, excuse me. Don’t you know it’s rude to make your guest feel unwelcome?”

“You are not my guest.”

He was right. I hadn’t been invited, but I couldn’t help feeling wounded by what he said. I wanted him to want me here. I turned the hurt into anger. There was no need for such behavior. I was taking a little too much of his shit. I put my bowl down and jumped up.

“No, I’m not your guest. No, I wasn’t invited here, but I was brought here against my will. While I was unconscious! How do I know you didn’t club me over the head with a tree branch … and … and drag me here like some Neanderthal caveman so you can enjoy the pleasures of a woman while you live out your mountain man fantasy?” I fumed, but even as the words left my lips they sounded ridiculous.

He stared at me incredulously. “You crashed your car. You were unconscious. What the fuck was I supposed to do? Leave you there to freeze to death? And I assure you this is definitely not my fantasy. If you think you’re being held here against your will, then please, walk out. Go on, it will be my pleasure.”

Asshole. He didn’t need to be that categoric and absolute. Now I was beginning to actively dislike him. My hands balled into fists of frustration.

“Are you kidding?” I yelled. “There are bears, mountain lions, and God knows whatever else out there, not to mention the snow storm coming down if you hadn’t noticed.”

“I have noticed. So, sit down, shut up, and stop making so much damn noise.”

We were both silent again. I think I was shocked that I had initiated such a heated and unreasonable argument given my circumstances. I kept thinking if my rescuer had been a little old man or a woman, I would have been totally different. I would have been grateful and polite, and been more than willing to sit quietly without disturbing them until morning came. It was just that he was so sexy, so beautiful, with his chiseled cheekbones, his gorgeous eyes and his aloof, masculine manner that I wanted to know him and for him to know me. And when he made it obvious he didn’t want any such thing I couldn’t help needling him for a reaction, even if it was only anger.

“You’ll have to sleep on the floor,” he said curtly.

“Yeah, okay. I noticed you only have one bed so I figured I’d be bunking on the floor.” I couldn’t help the sarcasm in my voice.

His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Why? Do you think I should give you my bed?”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” I backtracked. I should learn to hold my tongue around him, or I was just going to make this so much harder.

“You think I should be chivalrous or something?”

“Well …”

“Now you’re having a fantasy.”

“Look, I’m fine with the floor. I don’t need you to do anything. You’re the one that thinks you’re some hero, saving me from the frozen wild of my car.”

“Let me tell you something, Blondie, none of this would have happened if you hadn’t been driving too fast over the pass. If you snapped your chains you must have been driving like a bat out of hell. What were you thinking?”

I sighed, embarrassed to tell him about the sleaze-ball on my tail.

He shook his head disgustedly.

“I had to speed up, okay? There was this guy—”

“Oh, here we go. There’s always a guy.”

“He was following me,” I flared up.

“God, I wish I’d left you in that car. Now, I’m going to have some love-sick fool who’s been tracking your scent busting in here. If you’re thinking of making your boyfriend jealous, be warned I am not playing along.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Well, whatever he is to you.” His voice had become hard and disinterested.

“He’s nothing. He’s just some guy who thought he knew me. He was following me like a creep. He scared me, actually. I was trying to get away.” I brushed a tear off of my face before he noticed I was crying. “I don’t, um… I don’t have a boyfriend anyway, since you asked.”

“I didn’t.”

“Well, no you didn’t. You assumed. I’m just correcting you.”

He didn’t counter offer the information, but looking at his surroundings it was pretty clear I was the only human interact

ion he’d had, male or female, for a while. He ruffled the hair at the back of his head. I had to force myself to look away from him, so that I wouldn’t stare. The simple way he moved was sensuous, almost like an invitation, to me. He walked to the door and opened it. A strong gust of freezing wind blew into the cabin. He propped a snow shovel just inside and secured the door against the storm.

“What’s that for?”

He smiled mockingly. “In case I have to shovel snow to clear a path out the door in the morning.”

“Oh.”

“I’m turning in. I’ll drive you into town in the morning first thing.”

“Okay. Yeah, I better get some sleep too. Thanks again. You know, for helping me.” “Whatever.”

“Good night,” I said softly.