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“I’m all right.” I was already shrugging out of my hooded jacket and pushing the unit back into its position blocking the door. “But the weather’s even worse than it was earlier.”

Her brow furrowed as I pulled the waterproof trousers over my boots. “Christ, I didn’t think it could get much worse.”

I wanted to laugh at her naivety. Clearly, Erin didn’t spend much time in the wilderness. The climate out there wasn’t only changeable but sometimes brutal.

“Is there someone else out there?” She wandered closer to the fire, which I was pleased to see was going strong. “It sounded like you were talking to someone.”

She’d heard that?

The idea surprised me. The wind was so powerful that I was shocked she could hear anything over its whining gusts.

“There’s a gale blowing out there,” I told her. “You probably just heard it whistling through the trees.”

She stared at me as though she knew I was fudging the truth but didn’t pursue the point.

“If there was any power in here, I reckon we’d have lost it by now,” I went on, happy to divert her from the subject.

The last thing Erin needed to know was that I conjured the demons of my past crimes into reality. I needed to be the dependable, knowledgeable one who would see her through the storm, not someone she would worry about.

“Crap.” She pulled in a fidgety breath. “My phone is getting low on power as it is.”

“Better that you put it in your bag and save power for the time being.” I carried my gear past her to the fire, buoyed by the flames still roaring there. The logs might have been comparatively small, but so was the space. Before I’d ventured out into the freeze again, they’d done a decent job of heating the cabin, and if we were sensible, we could trap what warmth remained while we slept.

It was the best plan we had.

It’s the only plan.

“The signal is still out on mine,” I went on. “And there’s no mobile data.”

“I noticed.” Her answer was a sigh. “It’s so frustrating to have a fancy device that can’t do anything to help us.”

“That’s the problem with technology.” I laid my waterproofs out on the floor by the fire before appreciating its welcoming glow. I was used to hostile conditions, but even I was thankful for its fiery warmth. “Everyone relies on it these days, so we feel helpless when it doesn’t work.”

I was guilty of that too, having used the compass on my phone instead of the good, old-fashioned variety. Fortunately, I always carried a backup with me.

“Yeah.” Her quivering voice revealed the tension she was feeling. Presumably, losing her friends and ending up in an abandoned cabin with me hadn’t been on her agenda for the day.

I could relate, but from where I stood, things could have been a lot worse. Clinging to the blanket she’d hoisted around her shoulders, her large eyes, full lips, and long limbs were completely mesmerizing. Once more, I wished I was sharing the bed with Erin instead of taking the chair.

“Relax.” Standing beside her, I was struck by just how much shorter than me she was. Smaller, less knowledgeable, and obviously needy. My cock stirred at the idea. I liked needy women. The ones who needed me were the most enthralling. “We don’t need technology right now. We have food, water, and fire. We’re safe.”

“But we need wood.” She caught her lower lip between her white teeth, her expectant gaze searching my face. “Did you find any more out there?”

“Sadly not.” I wished I had better news for her. It would have been good to see some of the tension in her body ebb away. “No storage container and no more wood.”

Glancing behind her, I studied the pile of timber we did have. “We’ll just have to use what we have sparingly. The trees outside have been saturated and won’t be good for burning for a while.”

By which time, hopefully, we won’t be here anymore.

“Do we have enough?” The same uneasiness I’d seen glinting in her eyes about our sleeping arrangements greeted me, goading me to do what I did best—rush in and take control.

“We’ll make it enough.” I didn’t want to be too brutal with her, but I equally wasn’t going to lie. Despite her relative size, Erin was a grown-up. She needed to handle the truth. “Sure, it would have helped to have an extra woodpile, but things could be worse.”

“Yeah.” Her knitting brows suggested she wasn’t sure she agreed, but she said nothing further.

I could see the anxiety snaking in her, though, wrapping itself around her throat until her breaths became shorter and raspy. She needed me to reassure her and make decisions.

It was just as well I was dying to make them for her.

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