Page 13 of Mountain Mens' Curvy Obsession

Four.

A lifetime for me.

“It was just a bad dream,” I mumble as I start taking deeper breaths.

My body reacts to Booker’s, surprising me. After what happened with Chance, I didn’t imagine, I didn’t consider… Yet here I sit, in the same bed, my temperature rising slowly. The chemical reactions are beyond my control, but I’m startled, nonetheless, and pull back.

He gives me a curious look, his dark hair falling over his forehead. It casts a shadow over the wilderness in his eyes. “Are you okay?” Booker asks.

“I don’t know how to define okay at this point,” I reply with a deep sigh.

“Do you remember anything more?” Booker shifts closer to the edge of the bed, his gaze set on mine. “What was the nightmare about?”

“It’s fading already,” I say. “That’s the sucky part. One moment, I feel like I’m grasping everything so firmly in my hand, and the next… poof! Gone. Go back to bumbling in the dark, Anya.”

I pause, realizing I did retain a few bits and pieces, however. “Hold on. My mom and dad. I saw them in a picture. And my brother, Aleks.”

“You remember a photograph.”

“Yes, and an old lady. I think we’re related. She had eyes like mine. Maybe my grandmother? I can’t find a name for her.” I gasp as a burgeoning headache threatens to ruin everything.

Booker covers my hand with his on top of the furry pelt. “Don’t force it.”

“Still no cell signal?” I ask him.

“I’m sorry, no. It’s inconvenient for us, too, because we have no idea what’s going on out there. But it does look like the blizzard is beginning to slow down slightly. There are longer pauses when the snowfall stops.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means the clouds are scattering. We should be seeing some clear skies in a couple of days, tops,” he says. “How are you feeling?”

I give him a warm smile. “Much better, thanks to you and your brothers.”

“We’re just doing the best we can with what we’ve got.”

“Why won’t you tell me everything you know about me? I can take it.”

Booker gets up and walks over to the window. There’s not much to see out there. Nico cleared some of the snow at some point earlier in the day, but it’s piling back up against the glass, frosted flowers stretching all over.

Carefully, I slip out from under the covers and let my bare feet touch the hardwood floor, welcoming the subtle chill as it travels through my heels and up my calves. The right ankle and knee are still giving me some trouble, but I’m regaining more and more of my mobility as I eat, sleep, and drink plenty of water.

“Tell me,” I insist. “I need to know. And don’t think I didn’t notice how you’re all tiptoeing around the subject.”

“The doctor said it’s not healthy for you to force it. All you need to know, for the time being, is that you are safe here, and that we will do everything in our power to take care of you.”

“That’s not enough.”

“It’ll have to do for now,” Booker replies.

Anger gets the better of me. “You’re keeping things from me. You’re keepingmy lifefrom me!”

“I’m sorry, Anya. Someday you’ll understand. It’s for your own good.”

“I’m not sure what’s good for me anymore,” I snap. Just as I’m about to take a step in his direction, the floor vanishes from under my feet.

Booker reaches me with lightning speed and helps me sit back down, his strong hands making my body surprisingly obedient. “You stubborn girl.”

“I’m fine,” I grumble, annoyed at my own inability to heal faster. Yet another impromptu bout of vertigo. I’ve had a few of those since I first woke up in the car. “I’ll be fine.”

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