Page 5 of Snowed In with her Mountain Men
I took a sip from the mug, which was apparently hot chocolate, and swallowed. This was the man who’d held me after I’d fallen. He’d wiped the blood from my cheek, and asked me if I was okay. All while his friend, the violent one…
Oh my God!
It came back to me all at once. My landlord, storming in, demanding the rent… pushing me down, grabbing my arm. I remembered the intensity of the pain, flaring in my hand. My feelings of terror, followed by relief and confusion, as someone dragged my attacker off me and pummeled him into oblivion.
That hand was now bandaged, wrapped in a big mitten of gauze. And my face…
I reached up to feel my injured cheek. It felt hot, even greasy to the touch.
“I’d leave that alone for now,” the voice above me advised. “It’s not bleeding anymore, but it’s covered in Bacitracin.”
The man turned, and threw another pair of logs on the fire. Because oh yes, there was a fire. A big, blazing, beautiful fire, set in a double-sided fireplace. It was much larger and more blessedly heat-inducing than anything I’d built in my own little fireplace, over these past few months.
“W—Where am I?” I murmured.
“Montana.”
I frowned, and let out a sigh.
“Not funny?”
“No.”
My savior shrugged. “I could’ve said Earth.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“But to be more specific, you’re in our cabin. About a half mile up the same mountain as yours.”
I shook my head, trying to clear it. The place I was in was tremendous; a modern, beautifully-constructed cabin of shiny yellow logs. A lacquered pine staircase climbed to a sprawling upstairs balcony, and what looked to be a hallway beyond. I couldn’t believe the scale of it all. Everything was just… big.
I opened my mouth to speak again, just as my other savior glided into the room holding a plate of sandwiches. He saw me, and his eyes lit up.
“Hey! She lives!”
He half-ran, half-glided over to where I was sitting.
“Are you alright?” he asked excitedly.
“I… I think I’m okay, but—”
“Does your hand hurt?”
I turned it over in my lap. “A little. I can’t really tell with—”
“Whowasthat guy?” he continued, rambling. “Why did he grab you? And why the hell—”
“Ryder!” the first man swore. He made a gentle, pressing down motion with one hand. “Easy, man. She just woke up.”
Scowling at his friend, the newcomer sat down next me and offered me a sandwich. I could smell what it was before I even looked.
“Peanut butter and jelly?” the first man sighed, shaking his head. “You really think that goes with hot chocolate?”
“PB and J goes with everything,” Ryder smiled, licking his thumb. “Everyone knows that.”
I drank him in as he slid the plate onto a nearby coffee table. The guy was handsome, I’d give him that. He had the chiseled, beardless jaw of a marble statue, and sandy blond hair swept back from a pair of gorgeous, cerulean blue eyes. Right now, those eyes reflected a depth of gentleness and caring that made me feel at ease. They weren’t at all like the eyes I’d seen back in my cabin, filled with wild, animalistic rage.
“Thank you for stopping him,” I murmured softly. “If you hadn’t come…”
