Page 19 of Beyond the Blue Horizon
“I know, baby,” I whispered at his temple.
Theo took a right on a sidewalk that angled off the main building. The pathway was illuminated by low landscaping lights that sent rainbows glittering off the tumbling snow.
The path cut through a dense copse of trees, and the snowcapped tops of the pines disappeared into the gloomy expanse above.
Up ahead were two small cabins that faced each other where they were situated on a small cul-de-sac drive, the one on the left about a hundred yards closer than the one on the right.
A-frames that seemed to almost blend in with the trees that surrounded them, each with a little covered porch out front.
Muted lights glowed like a beacon from within.
A quiver of relief vibrated somewhere in the deepest depths of me. Something about this place oozed a warmth that my weary spirit wanted to fully fall into.
Give in and rest.
I needed to ignore it because there could be no comfort in this.
Theo turned up the path that led to the left one. Unit B was written in bronze letters that hung vertically on a wooden beam that fronted the porch.
He bounded up the single step onto the wooden planks, his movements fluid and lithe as he moved across the space. He dug something out of his pocket.
A keycard, I realized.
Panic churned.
Right.
Of course.
Because he owned this place.
He pressed it to the reader, then opened the door and stepped aside to allow Nelly to ramble by.
He swiveled that heady gaze to me as I raced up behind her, Finn clinging to me as my boots thudded on the porch as I rushed. I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or the man that I was trying to outrun.
But the truth was I was trying to outrun everything.
Every threat.
Any danger.
Still, I inhaled a staggered breath when I stumbled into the warmth of the cabin.
I let my attention sweep the bottom floor of the great room.
A cozy couch sat in front of a gas fire that already roared from the hearth. It was made of rugged stones and had a wood beam mantel with a flat-screen television that hung above it.
The entire wall to my left was made of windows and climbed high to the pitched roof.
Through it, I could barely make out the view of the lake in the distance. An endless expanse that was hugged by the wintry forest.
A kitchen sat on the far side of the living area, the two spaces separated by a low bar with three stools. A four-person round table sat under the giant windows in the corner on the left.
It wasn’t large, but quaint and cozy.
Theo stomped his boots out on the rug in front of the door before he stepped into the space.
Consuming it. The air churning with the tension he emitted.
