Page 8 of Stepbrothered by the Mountain Man

Chapter Three

Levi

The heavy snowfall turned into a mini snowstorm, dropping the temperature of my room drastically despite the wood-burning stove in the corner.

I can’t help but touch the empty space beside me on the bed. It’s always empty, save for Mr. Oso, a grizzly plushie Maya had won for me at the county fair last year. She said the bear reminded her of me, and she’d even dressed it in a kid’s red flannel button-down. He stares at me, wide-eyed.

“Can’t get any rest either, huh, buddy?” I ask, pulling off the blankets before sliding off the bed. “You probably want a Mrs. Oso to snuggle up with instead of me.”

I know that’s what I want. It’s all I can think about, dream about.

Maya.

I envy Grant, warm, snug, and curled around his woman with his baby nestled in her crib and sleeping soundly.

Pressing my forehead against the frosted windowpane, I eye the lonely fir tree a few feet away in front of Maya’s small room we’d built for employees, though she was the only occupant. The tree was getting bombarded with snow, its branches bending, as was its trunk.

“Does it look like that tree is leaning to you, Oso?”

He doesn’t get a chance to answer before a mighty crashing sound pierces the air, and the resounding crash afterward shakes the entire building.

My heart slams to a stop as I watch the splintered ends of the tree trunk stick high in the air, while its canopy punctures the roof, crashing into Maya’s room.

* * *

“Maya!” my cries are shrill enough to curdle my blood. “Maya!”

“What was that?” Beau’s sleepy voice emerges from next door as he steps into the hallway.

Two seconds later, Everly’s screaming at the top of her lungs. Grant runs from his room with wild eyes as I bolt past him. “What’s going on?”

“Maya!” I ignore them all, running to the other side of the U-shaped hallway to get to her.

“Is she okay?” Emmy’s voice calls from somewhere behind me, mixed with Everly’s dying whimpers.

When I get to the room, my heart’s thundering so fast, it’s pounded its way up into my throat. I clutch the doorknob with white knuckles, ripping it open, and thanking the heavens it isn’t locked.

The sight that greets me is fearsome. The tree is impaled into Maya’s mattress. Dozens of branches have torn through her blankets, and a dozen more are broken against her splintered headboard, or scraping against the hardwood.

Maya’s crouching with her arms protectively over her head, just a few feet away from her bed. Her wide eyes travel from the tree to me in slow motion and then back.

“Fucking hell,” Grant says as he follows me into the room. I head for Maya, scooping her into my arms while he and Beau stare at the massive hole in the ceiling where snow continues to fall. There’s already a white dusting of it all over the floor.

“Are you okay?” I ask, cupping Maya’s face, but even as she nods, I check her head, neck, and arms for bruises or scratches. I can’t breathe until I’ve examined every inch of her.

Over my shoulder, Grant and Beau voice their concerns and try to pull her away from me for a hug, but I’m not having it. I hold her close and let them settle on taking turns rubbing her arm instead. She’s too shaken to notice, and I’m too shaken to care. I need to touch her, to feel her rapidly rising and falling chest against mine. It wasn’t just enough to see that she was okay.

“How lucky was that?” Beau asks, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

“It’s amazing you’re unharmed,” Grant says, looking her over.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Maya says when she stops shaking enough to get a word out. “I was freezing, so I’d just gotten out of bed to sleep in the recliner near the fire instead. I’d barely turned my back when—” A sob wracks her, and I pull her tight in my arms.

“You’re alright,” I assure her, stroking her hair, though my heart continues to thunder. If she’d stayed in that bed...

---