At first, the silence was deafening — just ringing in my ears as I blinked, trying to focus. My vision swam, and all I could hear as the ringing started to fade was this roaring sound. And it took me a second to realize it was my pulse, thundering in my ears.
I looked around, blinking. The truck was at a forty-five-degree angle to one side, half buried in snow and jammed against the side of three huge pine trees. My vision swam as I scanned the truck. I ducked to glance out the windshield to see how far I’d tumbled, but I groaned at the pain in my neck. Whiplash, from the fall.
I blinked, finding my breath, ignoring the soreness spreading through me as I scanned the dashboard. I looked down and saw my smashed cell phone by my feet, and I swore.
Shit.
The CB radio half crackled to life when I turned it on, but it shorted almost instantly, sizzling and sparking before dying. But then, even if it worked, I didn’t know why there would be a signal on top of a fucking mountain in the middle of nowhere anyways.
Double shit.
The engine was dead, but I had a generator and a space heater built into the thing, if it came down to staying put for a while. And I had food and water too. But not that much. And it wasn’t like anyone was going to be looking for me. Well, Angelo would when I didn’t deliver, and he’d most likely figure I’d run off with his cargo. But even he wouldn’t be looking up here.
My jaw tightened as I stared out through the windshield.
In short, I was fucked.
I was just about to start checking myself for injuries, when I heard it. I froze, eyes darting around outside the truck. The sound came again, and my eyes narrowed.
That wasn’t the wind.
It was screaming. Muffled, urgent, screaming. And it was close.
I yanked my jacket on, wincing at a dull pain in my shoulder and in the side of my head from hitting the window. I pulled the .45 from its hidden holster under my seat, shoving it into the waistband of my jeans as I prepared myself. The door opened after a shove, the icy wind hitting me like a fist, sucking my breath away as I grunted and jumped down from the truck.
The sound suddenly came again. As I turned back to my truck, horrible realization slowly dawned on me.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
I wasn’t carrying guns or drugs. I was transporting a person.
I swore, pushing my way through waist-high snow as fast as I could as I moved to the back of the truck. I yanked the key on its chain around my neck out from my jacket, undoing the lock, gripping the handles, and yanking the door open.
I don’t know what I expected, but I know one thing for damn sure.
…I didn’t expect her.
The girl was shivering. Half naked, wet, scared looking. And gorgeous.
Stunningly gorgeous. Long blonde, golden hair, with this pale snow-white skin that almost glowed in the winter world around us. And big, wide, hazel eyes looked at me with this cold fury. She was practically naked, wearing just a t-shirt and panties, and she shivered, her teeth chattering as they raked across her ruby-red lips.
What the fuck is this?
“Are— Where…” She blinked, trembling, her eyes darting over me, looking past me, glancing up at the crooked angle of the truck ceiling.
Fuck, she was beautiful. Beautiful in a way that took the wind out of me. Beautiful in a way that fucking slayed me, and tore at something inside of me. Beautiful in a way that sent a blaze of heat through me, shaking me to my damn core.
…Beautiful in a way that stunned my military-honed instincts just long enough to not realize it when she suddenly lunged at me, fists swinging, a scream on her ruby red lips.
Her knee caught me in the nuts, and I groaned, doubling over as she rushed past me, jumping into the waist-high snow. I grunted, whirling and shaking my head at the sight of this gorgeous, half naked, and half frozen mystery girl trying to run away from me through three and a half feet of snow.
…Like hell I wasn’t about to chase her.
2
Holly
I’d been cold for hours. My jaw was so tightly clenched to stop my teeth from chattering that it felt locked, and I was so frozen that I was numb.
But not numb enough to stop the pain when my whole world went upside down.
Literally.
I screamed when the vehicle I’d been in for hours suddenly smashed to the side, and then went weightless through the air before it started to roll, and then crash. I screamed at the initial impact, and then it just felt like I kept on screaming until everything came to a thudding stop.