Page 63 of Snowed In

“What’s your name?” he asks as he stands.

“Hm? Oh, it’s West.”

“I’m Ashley,” he says, grabbing my plate and setting both of them into the kitchen sink. “I usually head to bed early.”

He says it roughly, not exactly apologetic, but like he wants me to know this is his routine even if it’s inconvenient for me.

“Early to bed, early to rise type, huh?” I ask, rubbing at my temples once more. The headache is a little better, thanks to the food, but the feeling of despair is still lingering.

“Yeah.” Two white pills settle on the table next to the glass of water I’ve been sipping on. “For your headache.”

I glance up at him, surprised, but he’s already moved on, heading over to the bed and grabbing a pillow off it, carrying it toward the living room area.

“Help yourself to anything in the kitchen or bathroom,” he says, tossing the pillow onto the large recliner.

“Oh, I won’t be able to sleep upright like that. I’ll just sleep on the floor. Do you have a sleeping bag or something?”

He glances over at me, brows lowered over his crystal clear, blue eyes. “This is for me. You can take the bed.”

I immediately shake my head. “No, you saved my life, and you’re going to have to put up with me for who knows how long. I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed as well.”

“It’s fine?—”

I push to my feet and plant my hands on my hips. “It’s not fine. You take the bed.”

Sighing, Ashley tugs on his beard, eyes me for a long moment, and then says, “I guess we can share.”

My breath catches in my lungs, but I try to play it cool, shrugging and giving a nonchalant nod. “Yeah, sure. If you want.”

Chapter Four

Ashley

Iwake up at 5:30, like I do every day, but this morning is different.

Not just because Carla is curled around my head, nearly smothering me with her fur, instead of on the pillow next to me. It’s also different because my unexpected house guest is sprawled mostly on top of me, his moist breath warming my pecs.

When we’d gone to sleep last night, we’d been on our respective sides of the bed. As I peer around the bed, I can see that I haven’t really moved, but West has migrated over to my half and has his face planted basically in my armpit, one leg thrown over my thigh. His soft breaths are loud in the quiet space of the cabin.

The strangest part, the part that my mind is having a hard time deciding what to do about, is West’s hand inside my underwear, his fingers brushing against my morning wood.

Considering he’d somehow tugged the blankets all the way over to the other side of the bed, exposing most of me and part of him to the chilly air, I’d guess he’d been searching for warmth in his sleep, but that rationale doesn’t really help me in the moment.

He makes a soft noise and nuzzles against me, his fingers flexing and half cupping my dick. Before things can get more out of hand—pun not intended—I decide to extract myself from the situation. I give Carla a quick scratch on the head, and that gets her moving easily, jumping off the bed and heading toward her dish, waiting for her breakfast.

Then I slowly and very carefully tug West’s hand out from my boxers and scoot out from underneath him, easing him gently onto the bed instead of my bulk. I watch him for a moment, making sure he hasn’t woken up, and tug the quilt back over him.

It only takes a few practiced moments for me to attach my prosthetic, and then I push to my feet—one real, one titanium—and head into the bathroom. I have to practice some deep-breathing exercises to get my dick to calm down enough to be able to actually piss, and I give myself a stern talking-to, reminding my dick that even though West is cute as shit, he doesn’t belong on the mountain.

Not that I want him to.

I’m perfectly happy on my own, have been for a long time. Me and the herd and Carla, we don’t need anyone else. Even if the long winter nights get lonely sometimes, someone like West isn’t going to give up whatever life and important job he has to move to a remote cabin.

And again, I don’t want him to.

I don’t want anyone to.

I like my life the way it is.

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