Page 112 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
“Oh, no you don’t,” he said as he grabbed my leg to stop my progress. I had only made it a few feet before his hand landed on me.
“No, please, stop.” I tried my best to sound like a damsel being caught by her dragon, but my laughter ruined it.
“Never,” he growled as he came up on top of me. I had rolled over again, and he had lined himself up so his face was only inches from mine. His body pressed firmly against me, holding me in the snow. Our mingled breaths were coming fast and hard.Indecision and desire warred with each other on Charles’ face. I knew what he wanted, and for once, I wanted it, too. Closing the small distance between us, I captured his mouth in a kiss. I could no more have stopped myself than I could have stopped the snow falling from the sky or the sun rising in the east.
So much for going slow. The doubts that plagued me this morning were only a memory as I traced his lips with my tongue, begging to be let in.
He held my hands trapped above my head and I moaned and arched into him when I couldn’t get free. God, I didn’t know how much I would like that.
“Fuck, angel,” he said as I broke free of the kiss to trail my lips down his jaw and nip at his Adam’s apple. “Much as I’m loving this, we need to get the firewood and go back inside. It’s too cold out to do what I really want.”
Chapter 10
Charles
Once I got both myself and Jessica upright and standing, we set off for the woodpile again with her hand wrapped securely around my arm. We would likely have to make multiple trips, but with Jessica, the journey didn’t look so bad. I was just trying to figure out the best way to haul the wood back to the cabin when Jessica interrupted my thoughts.
“Oh look,” she said when we got to the lean-to that protected the wood, “a sled!” She pointed to the side of the small building where a faded red sled was leaning against it.
“That will save us a ton of work hauling this wood.” I led her to the sled and let her get a grip on the small building before digging out the bottom of the sled.
It was old, that much was obvious, but it was still in good enough condition. I pulled at the rope attached to the sled, testing its strength and durability. There was a small amount of fraying, but I didn’t think it would cause problems.
“Good job spotting this,” I said to Jessica. Her cheeks were pink when I looked up at her.
We worked together to load the sled; her handing me wood from her spot by the pile, and me arranging it on the sled for us to bring back. Images of us working together for years to come played in my head and a warm glow filled me at the thought that I could have this, have her, forever.
“Alright, I think that’s all this will hold,” I said as I stacked the last piece on the sled, “any more and I don’t think we will get it back. We will probably have to make one more trip to get enough wood to last through the night and the next morning.”
I held my hand out to Jessica so she could take it and walk over to me. She was getting better at walking on the snowshoes, but I would take any opportunity to hold her.
“Maybe by the end of the next trip I will be able to walk without falling flat on my face.” She rolled her eyes, but was smiling anyway.
“Hmm, better safe than sorry. I’m very sturdy. You should probably just hold on to me for the whole time.”
“You’d like that.” The smile on her face said she might like that, too.
We were nearly at the cabin and I was imagining all the ways I wanted to woo Jessica when we were in the warmth of it when a strong wind picked up and blew the toboggan right off Jess’ head.
“Shit!” she shouted when it started blowing away. “My grandma made that! I have to get it back.” She let go of me and took a step towards the red knit cap blowing in the wind before wobbling and nearly falling over again.
“Wait.” I stopped her with a hand on her shoulder, helping her regain balance. “You’re still not steady on your feet. Let me get it.” I handed her the rope for the sled and went after the hat. It had blown into the tree line and was stuck a little way into the forest surrounding the cabin. The wind was blowing me as I trekked, and I was glad I stopped Jess before she tried coming out here to get it. I grabbed the hat just before it had blown away again, and shouted in triumph, waving the hat at Jess to show her it was safe. I couldn’t make out her smile at this distance, so I just had to imagine how she would swoon at my heroism.
The wind had blown the loose snow over my tracks and was kicking up all the loose snow in the area, obscuring my vision. That proved to be my downfall. I took one wrong step on a low bit of snow and a metallic click echoed across the surrounding forest before blinding pain assaulted me and my legs gave out under me.
“Charles!” Jess called out to me. She was coming to me, but she still wasn’t good on the snowshoes and she fell again in her panic.
“It’s ok, Jess,” I called to her. It wasn’t ok, but panic wasn’t going to do either of us any good. “I need you to get up. Turn your leg to the side and push up.” I focused on my breathing while she did that to control the pain radiating up my leg. “Good girl,” I praised to keep us both calm, “now take the wood up to the cabin and bring back the sled. You’re going to need to be fast.”
Blackness was creeping into my vision. I tried to open the trap clamped around my leg so I could wrap the wounds and staunch the bleeding. The angle was wrong and I couldn’t get enough pressure on the levers on the side. Rust coated the mechanism, and I worried I would break it if I kept trying. Tetanus wouldn’t be a problem, thanks to the military I’m up to date on my shots, but the bleeding might if the wounds are deep. If I can just get back to the cabin, I have a med kit that will have what we need.
I just have to get back to the cabin.
“I’m coming,” Jess called to me. She had added some additional rope to the sled and wrapped it around her waist and was using sticks to aid in her balance.
I tried to get the trap free again while Jess made her way to me, but it was no use. I was going to need her to step on it to loosen it and get me free.
She made it to me much faster than I would have thought with her poles.
