Holiday Heat

An hour later, I’m swearing a blue streak and wishing I had my damn phone. Clouds are gathering over the mountains and there’s a brisk chill in the air raising goosebumps on my bare arms and legs. A loud clap of thunder makes me jump and squeak.

“Oh shit!” I whisper. “That sounded close.” I try to turn around but I’ve gone off the path, chasing a damn deer I saw that I wanted a picture of, forgetting that I don’t have my damn phone.

Now I have no idea which way to go and I’m feeling claustrophobic amongst the dark, shaking trees towering over me and blocking out what little light is left.

Lightning flares over my head and thunder rumbles so loud that I can feel it rolling through my feet and up my body. Covering my ears, I scream and drop to my knees.

Shaking, I crawl over to a tree, curling up and trying desperately to make myself as small as possible.

Another loud crash and a torrent of ice-cold rain sluices down over me, blinding me.

“Well, this is not good,” I say, trembling and curving my body as close to the tree trunk as possible. Anything to get even the smallest bit of cover from the raging elements whirling around me.

“What the hell are you doing out here, baby doll?”

I jump and whirl at the angry, growly voice close to my ear. I didn’t even hear him coming up thanks to the fury of the storm.

“Wh-who are you?” I ask, staring up at the vague outline of the biggest man I’ve ever seen. Even bigger than my brother, Grey.

He leans closer and I see the faint glint of his eyes in the darkness and rain. His hair is plastered to his head and his scruffy beard drips water down onto a chest so wide that I feel the insane urge to bury myself in it and hide from the storm. “I’m Ryker Hawke. And you’re on my land, baby doll. I should be asking you who you are.”

He leans down and gathers me in his massive arms. I feel his biceps curl around me and I jerk up, wrapping my arms around his neck. I can’t stop looking into what I can see of his haggard, lean face. “Wh-what are you doing? Where are you taking me?”

“If you’re gonna wander around the woods in a storm, don’t complain when somebody tries to save your ass,” he growls and I feel a shiver of heat curling in my belly.

I cuddle into him and hide my face in his shirt, inhaling a clean, spicy scent that clings to him along with rainwater. For once in my life, I sit back and let someone else take the lead and do whatever he wants with me without saying a word of complaint.

My brother would be looking for the apocalypse that surely must be coming because I’m not a princess in distress. But for this man? I might try.

His arms tighten around me at the next crash of thunder but I barely hear it. I can’t hear anything over the pounding of his heart in my ear.

Without saying a word, he carries me off to safety. And even with the storm raging around me? I feel better and more calm than I’ve felt in years.

I feel safe.