Page 46 of Three Swedish Mountain Men

I flinch away. “What?”

“You’ve got blood on yourface.How did you even manage that?” She strokes the paper towel under my jaw in slow, soothing strokes, wiping out the blood that probably got dried in my beard. Her tiny fingers brush my skin. Something tightens in my chest.

I can’t handle this. I can’t handle the way she’s touching me. Even though her words are sharp, her fingers are ridiculously tender as she cleans my skin. I don’t remember the last time someone touched me like this, and I don’t want to. I’m not a fucking porcelain doll. There’s no need topetme.

I jerk my head away from her. “Stop babying me.”

She ignores me.

I grab her wrist. “Stop it.”

She sighs, pulling back. “You’d rather sit around marinating in dried blood?”

“I can do it myself.”

“I’m just trying to help.”

“Well don’t! I don’t need your fucking help!” I don’t realise I’m shouting until she jumps. I take a deep breath through my nose, trying to calm down. “I don’t need your help,” I repeat. “Not now, and not an hour ago. I would’ve made it to the cabin fine. It wasstupidfor you to come after me.”

I swear to God, when I saw her out there, my heart stopped. She was stumbling through the snow like bloody Bambi. She didn’t have the right equipment on. She could’ve easily slipped, twisted her ankle, and froze to death before any of us knew about it. Hell, if it was ten minutes later, the visibility would’ve been so bad that she would’ve gotten lost and died.

She could’vedied.

She crosses her arms, standing her ground. “I’m trying to help.”

“Well don’t!” I snap. “You’re not helping! You’re a fucking liability! We werefinebefore you appeared, and now everything’s going to shit!”

Her eyes flash. “And how,exactly,is it my fault you got bitten by a dog? How did I cause the storm? It’s not my fault you don’t give a shit for your own personal safety. You spend all this time calling me stupid, and acting like I’m some dumb tourist, but you don’t see mewalking around dripping blood.I’m not going to apologise for not letting you kill yourself.”

The firelight flickers over her face. She looks sosmallstanding next to me. So fuckingdelicate.

I don’t see delicate shit. I’m used to everything around me being heavy and sturdy and strong. You have to be, to survive these conditions. And now Daisy’s here, all five feet of her, soft and small and gentle. She’s the worst possible combination: fragile, but too brave—or stupid—to care. She’s half of my weight soaking wet, but she still assumes she can keep up with me and the others.

The realisation hits me hard. She can’t stay here. If she won’t look after her own safety, we have to get her out of the North. As soon as possible. Whatever she’s running from back in England can’t be as bad as herdyingfrom her own stupidity.

“I’ve changed my mind,” I announce. “We’re not waiting for your car to get fixed. As soon as the snow clears tomorrow, you’re leaving.”

She sighs like I’m a difficult child. “Why?”

“Because we don’t want you here,” I emphasise.

“That’s not true.Youmight hate me, but the others happen to like me.”

I laugh. The sound is bitter. “Please. They’re only letting you stay here because they want to fuck you.”

I know I’ve crossed a line as soon as the words leave my mouth. Silence falls between us. She blinks a couple of times. I watch throat contract painfully as she swallows.

She drops the napkins in the bin and leaves without a word.

“Wow,” Eli says in the doorway. “I left you with her forten minutes,man.”

The door to the guest room slams shut. Even though the sound is muffled, we can both hear when she starts to cry.

Seventeen

Daisy

I sleep with Riven and Eli that night, tucked between their bodies. Or rather, I share the bed with them. I don’t sleep at all. Even after being shagged into oblivion and coming multiple times, my mind won’t turn off. I lie between them in the dark as they breathe against me, staring at the ceiling, hearing Cole’s words over and over again.

---