BLAINE
“You two can take the guest cabin,” Harvey says, clearing away empty bowls and plates. We radioed into Three Rivers to let my buddies, Theron and Jensen, know we’re stranded. Once the storm clears, they promised to come plow a trail to us. But it might be a couple days before the snow stops falling. “Might be a small trek, but Char knows the way.”
“What about the couch in here?” Charmane asks, obviously horrified by the idea of sharing a cabin with me. I can’t exactly blame her, but I’m certainly not upset by this potential arrangement.
“No can do.”
“Why not?”
Harvey sets the plates on the small kitchen counter and looks Charmane square in the eyes. “Because, darling, this is my time of year. I like to walk around naked at will. At this age, I’ve earned that right.”
Heat reddens Charmane’s cheeks, and it’s all I can do not to burst out in laughter. Harvey sounds dead serious.
“The cabin is clean, stocked with a wood pile, and the water tank is filled.”
“It’s not winterized?” she asks.
“No, not yet. I always wait until after your visit, just in case you need it.” Harvey pats her on the shoulder. “You two will just have to share. I promise you’ll have more room in there than in here.”
It doesn’t take more than a quick scan of Harvey’s cramped cabin, filled with personal knickknacks and ancient furniture, to accept that there’s not even enough floor space to sleep on. Though I’m not upset by this arrangement, I know Charmane is fuming. “I won’t bite, sweetheart. Unless you ask nicely.”
Charmane glares, pushing up from the table. “Can I do the dishes?”
“No.” Harvey’s tone is firm as he hands us both our coats, ushering us out. “You two better head to the cabin now before it’s completely dark. Bears might be asleep for the winter, but I’ve got a wolf hanging around. Come back for breakfast. Say ten? You come earlier than that, I can’t be held responsible for what you see.”
I laugh. Charmane cringes.
“Take a shovel with you,” Harvey says when he ushers us onto the front porch.
“Lead the way,” I say to Charmane after I grab a few things from my truck. Unlike her, I packed an overnight bag. I was stationed in Alaska once before, about ten years ago. I learned the hard way not to travel anywhere remote without some emergency supplies. Charmane was apparently in denial about the possibility of us getting stuck overnight.
“At least I have a toothbrush in my purse,” she mutters, still obviously irritated with this arrangement. I follow her into the trees, trusting her footsteps are following some snow-covered trail she knows by heart and not just wandering lost.
Before I can question her on it, the small cabin comes into view. It’s just far enough that Harvey’s main cabin is out of view. Out of hearing range, my dirty mind points out. I’d love nothing more than to make Charmane scream my name as I bring her to the brink of pleasure. Out here in the middle of nowhere, she can be as loud as she wants.
“You want to dig us in?” she asks, nodding at the drift blocking the front door.
Handing her my pack, I make quick work of the drift that might very well trap us inside come morning. My smirk catches her attention.
“Don’t go getting any ideas,” she says, her eyebrows drawn. She can glare at me all she wants. It’s the desire dancing in her gaze that gives her away. It’s been there since day one. Yeah, maybe I fucked that up by being an idiot. But that desire is what’s given me hope that I can turn this all around. “It’s one night.”
“Maybe two, sweetheart.”
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
I scoop away the last of the snow, resting my hands on the shovel as I face her. “You hate this, don’t you? Being stuck with me.”
“I had better plans doing anything else,” she says, pushing past me to open the front door. “Fuck,” she mutters half a second before I step inside.
“One bed. Not a lot of floor space.”
“You have to sleep somewhere else. Go back to Harvey’s. You two can air out your jingle bells together. Maybe you’ll bond over it.”
I close the door behind me, leaning against it. I fold my arms over my chest, smirking extra because I love to rile her up. “Not a lot of room back there. But I might take you up on that idea to air out—”
“No!” Charmane paces the very narrow walkways. There’s a path around the front and one side of the bed, as it’s pushed tight up into a corner. A recliner is in one corner, and the world’s smallest kitchenette and a woodstove in another.
Because I know it will irritate her more to take my own tour that will no doubt collide with her path, I push off the door and stick my head through the only door in the place. “Hey, at least we have a bathroom.” Too bad the shower isn’t big enough for two.
“Harvey’s kids visit him sometimes,” Charmane says, dropping into the recliner to kick off her boots that have left snow trails along the runner rugs. “His daughter would never stay in a cabin like this without indoor plumbing.”
“You and Harvey are pretty close.”
“Yeah.” She pops out of the chair, like sitting still is the last thing she’ll be able to do, and stares at the wood stove. It’s chilly in the cabin, but I hardly notice. My body is plenty heated at the thought of sharing that bed with her tonight.
“You know, being restless in the world’s smallest cabin with a snowstorm and a wolf threat outside—”
She stops me with a glare, but I’m not afraid. Oh no, I’m not the least bit afraid of Charmane’s bite. Maybe I should be, but I haven’t had the good sense to be since the night I first saw her. “Move,” she says when I continue to block her path, cornering her in between me and the recliner.
“Manners are free,” I tease.
She pushes at my chest, stepping forward as if she fully expected to move me out of the way. But my feet are firmly planted in place. Charmane’s body falls against mine. I suck in a breath at the feel of her pressed against me. I steady her with both hands on her arms.
Our gazes meet, that desire dancing brighter than I’ve ever seen it. She licks her lips, lifting her chin slightly. I lower my face a centimeter at a time, afraid I’ll spook her if I move any faster. How long have I fantasized about this first kiss? She can pretend to hate me all she wants, but I know she’s thought about it too.
Her palm flattens against my chest.
My dick twitches against my zipper, hardening with each second she’s touching me. She’s touched me before, many times. But all of those were playful. A friendly flirtation meant to do nothing more than tease me. But this…this is something else entirely.
A loud bang causes Charmane to shriek. “What was that?”
Muttering curses under my breath at whatever the hell interrupted a nearly perfect moment, I strut to the door and toss it open. A massive antlered moose stares at me from around the corner of the cabin. I know he could trample me with very little effort, but I glare at him hard anyway.
“Blaine?”
“It’s a moose.”
“Oh, that’s all?” Living in Alaska, spotting moose has become more common than spotting deer back home. She crawls onto the bed as I close the door, opening a book in her lap. A loud and clear announcement that whatever almost happened will not be carried through.
I see to the woodstove, eager to get the heat turned up so we can shed some layers. I might’ve lost the battle, but I’m going to win this war—and her heart—if it’s the last thing I do.