Page 3 of Snowed In Sucker
Right now is not the time to be thinking about things like that.
“I don’t even know your name,” I blurt out. Well, who needs tact, right? Sometimes it’s better to just say what’s on your mind instead of trying to tiptoe around the topic.
“It’s Landon. I’m your neighbor, if you can call me that. I live a couple miles that way,” he says, pointing in the direction of his house. “I suppose I owe you an explanation.”
“I wouldn’t say you owe me anything but I am rather curious. They’ve been talking about this storm for like a week. Why the hell were you out there in running clothes?”
Landon’s cheeks turn bright pink and relief hits me. It’s a good sign that he can blush, it means his body is warming up again. Also, I can’t help but notice how cute he is when he blushes.
“Believe it or not, I was wearing running clothes because I was out for a run,” he says, his face breaking into the tiniest smile.“Stupid in hindsight. I should have been paying more attention to the forecast but I went outside, looked up in the sky, and decided today was the perfect day for a run. I just kept going forward and by the time the clouds came, I was way too far away from my place to turn around and run back. So I ran here instead.”
“Impressive stamina,” I find myself saying. That’s not very helpful but it’s not a lie. Being able to run for a few miles like that all in one go is really impressive. I might be a shifter but even I wouldn’t make it that far. Plus, I hate running.
Landon cracks another smile. “Thanks.” He picks up the hot chocolate between his hands, bringing it up to his face and breathing it in. “Gods, this smells delicious.”
“No worries. I’m gonna go toss your clothes into the dryer. Do you need anything?”
“I think I’m good. Thank you again, Jett.”
I give him a nod before leaving the room. I find his clothes right where I told him to put them. When I pick them up, something inside of me freezes up in a way that has nothing to do with how cold they are. The scent coming off of them is like nothing I’ve smelled before.
The first thing that hits me is the muskiness of an alpha shifter. That’s not the part that hits me square in the chest. Landon’s clothes smell ridiculously good. He smells like the freshest air I’ve ever smelled with dew out on the grass. He reminds me of sunshine first thing in the morning as everything slowly melts. He smells homey in a way that’s hard for my brain to translate other than I like it. I like it a lot.
I shake my head, doing my best to clear it. The scent has an effect on me. My body feels lighter and more energetic, like I’ve just finished a great cup of coffee and I’m ready to take on the day. I feel electrified.
This is all very confusing.
I do what I always do when I’m confused; I tuck all of this inside of a box inside the back of my head, far away so I don’t have to think about it. Then I go about my day like nothing weird happened.
After tossing Landon’s wet clothes into the dryer, I walk back into the living room, finding him under a blanket on the couch, holding his hot chocolate between his hands. His glasses are no longer foggy and I can see that he has pretty blue eyes. They stare over at me, like he’s waiting for me to yell at him or something.
“How’re you feeling?”
Landon looks away, letting out a long breath. I walk over to the coffee table, picking up my drink before sitting on the floor, stretching my legs out in front of me.
“Better. Thanks to you,” he says softly. “I can’t thank you enough for letting me inside.”
I shrug. “It’s the least I could do. I’m just glad I was home.”
“Me too.”
We both look outside, watching as the snow comes down. It’s coming down so thick that I can barely see anything other than white. It’s a complete whiteout outside. There’s no leaving even if we wanted to.
“I hope you don’t mind staying here for a while,” I say before taking a sip of my latte. I let out a pleased sigh at the warmth and the taste. It’s perfect.
“I’m the one who should be asking if you mind that I’m here. I’m kind of invading your space, Jett.” Then he softly adds, “again.”
I feel my lips tip up slightly. “I was wondering if you would bring that up.”
Landon’s eyes widen. “Maybe I shouldn’t have! I’m really sorry! If I had known you were bathing, I wouldn’t have gone that way, I promise! I wasn’t trying to be a creep or anything.”
“It’s fine,” I say, waving him off. “It’s not like I was being very careful. I just needed to stretch my arms.”
Landon tilts his head in question. My heart picks up speed. I don’t tell people that I’m a shifter very often. As an octopus, I have a heightened sense of smell, even more so than other shifters sometimes. If someone smells the ocean on me, I don’t mind if they assume but actually saying it out loud? That’s terrifying.
As a shifter, I’ve always been taught to keep this secret close to my chest. Humans shouldn’t know about the paranormal world around them. Worse still, there are hunters out there, willing to take shifters out just because they’re different. In my experience, therearemonsters out there who prey on humans, but that’s a very small part of the paranormal world. Most creatures just want to live their lives and be left alone.
I’m one of those creatures. I like being out here on my own. I like interacting with animals more than people. Does it get lonely? Sometimes. Does the loneliness get to be so bad that I crave human interaction? Not really.
