Unwrapping His Mountain Package

“Hang on.”

I held up my hand as I slipped past him. My hand found the old rusty knob, and I twisted. The door opened with a loud, angry creak.

I grinned, turning to stick my tongue out at Dane, who sat there shaking his head.

“Cute.”

“Aww, bruised ego?”

“No, shoulder.”

I giggled as I made an exaggerated sweep with my hand for him to step inside. “After you, princess.”

“Very cute,” he growled his hand swatting my ass and making me laugh as he stepped past me into the dark, cold cabin.

Okay, the place was a disaster. I mean, there were four walls, mostly, and a roof that didn’t seem to be collapsed. But, one of the windows was blown out with a heap of snow on the floor under it. There were some holes in the walls too, with the wind whistling through them. But, again, it was four walls and a roof. And nice big stone fireplace too.

“Hey, this might work!” I glanced around, rubbing my hands over my arms. We’d bundled up as best we could for the hike over, but all I was wearing was two pairs of sweatpants and some waffle-knit long underwear beneath that. The hike over had soaked me through, and I could start to feel the wind against the wetness of my clothes.

“Might,” Dane muttered, glancing around as he set down the huge camping backpack he’d brought with us.

“If there’s no wood for that fireplace or to board up some of these holes, the truck might actually be a better shot.”

I wandered into the kitchen, glancing into the half-open fridge to find an old birds nest. The cupboards were also bare, until I opened the very last one, above the stove, and grinned.

“Well, there’s this?”

The bottle of whiskey looked ancient, and Dan chuckled as he took. “That’s one way to keep warm.”

He glanced past me out the kitchen window, and grinned.

“Hang tight for one sec.”

Five minutes later, a frozen, snow-covered Dane came traipsing back inside with an arm-full of flat, worn boards.

“There’s an old back deck on this place that’s falling apart.” He shrugged. “Perfect size for boarding up windows and walls and starting fires if you ask me.”

I shivered, nodding. “So, here or the t-t-truck?” I chattered out.

Dane’s brown furrowed and he dropped the wood before storming over to me. He shrugged his coat off even as I protested and wrapped it around me before hugging me tight in his big strong arms.

“Here. I’m not going to have you catch pneumonia trekking back to the truck tonight. Here, sit. Wrap up tight.”

He sat me down on the threadbare couch in front of the empty fireplace.

“Let’s get you warm.”

***

Half an hour later, I felt my shoulder slowly relax as the heat melted through me. Dane had a fire roaring in the big stone fireplace, and he was almost done nailing boards over the last holes in the wall. And with the fire going and the lack of wind whipping through the place, the cabin was actually quickly becoming toasty and warm.

The hammering stopped, and I looked up to see Dane nod at his own work as he stepped away from the last boarded up hole.

“Hey, you,” I crooked a finger at him. “Come here and get warm.”

He grinned as he strolled over, those piercing eyes of his sending an extra shiver of heat through me. God, we were still basically strangers. We’d known each other for a whopping twenty-four hours. And yet, he felt like a part of me. Being with Dane felt like being home, and even if I knew that was insane, I knew it was true.

He grabbed the bottle of whiskey I’d found off the mantle above the fireplace and slid under the blankets with me. The fire cracked in front of us, snapping and throwing off heat that filled the small cabin. Dane cracked the bottle and took a sip before passing it my way, and when I drank down the fiery booze and felt it warm me from the inside out, I snuggled close to him.

“I’m so glad you were able to book this place for our romantic mountain lodge getaway.”

Dane snorted, shaking his head as he took the bottle from me.

“Oh this place? Yeah, highly exclusive. I paid extra for the lack of food and holes in the wall.”

I giggled as I leaned in and kissed his shoulder.

“So, now what?”

He sighed, nodding solemnly as he gazed into the fire and slid his arm around me. “Now we wait for the storm to settle down and see if we can dig the truck out. Maybe see if we can get back on a road, if they’re even passable right now and find a way down.”

“And where are we?”

“Place called Blackthorn Mountain.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I just know it was a shortcut to…” He scowled, shaking his head.