Page 5 of Love in the Storm

“Sir? Sir? Are you okay?”

He lifted his head, and dark blood oozed through his fingers and down the side of his face.

No, no, no. She would not pass out. She would not pass out. She’d never been a fan of blood, but she’d just have to block it out. She’d doom herself to an icy grave if she passed out in this storm.

“Sir? Can you hear me?” she said louder.

“Yeah.” His answer was gravelly and strained.

“We need to get you to that cabin.” She pointed down the hill. “Can you move at all?”

He looked up at her and let his hand fall away from his face, smearing the red down his cheek. “Yeah.”

Good. She couldn’t drag the much-bigger man down the hill to the cabin on her own. As if being stranded wasn’t enough, it looked like she’d be stuck on the mountain with an injured stranger.

3

ASA

Asa rested his head against the headrest. The woman’s dark hair was bold against the snow all around them and whipped in the wind, framing her heart-shaped face.

Her face. Between the moments of blurriness, he caught glimpses that he wanted to hang on to.

“Are you hurt anywhere other than your head?” she asked loud enough to be heard over the wind.

His head? What was wrong with his head?

He looked down and frowned at the blood covering his hands before bringing them back to his face. Yep, blood everywhere. He went through vehicular incident procedures enough to dream about them on his off days, but they all involved waiting for the EMTs to clear the victim to move. They wouldn’t be seeing any other first responders for a while out here.

The woman bent to put herself in Asa’s line of sight. “Listen, I need you to help me get you out of here. We have to get inside. Can you stand?”

The concern in her eyes drew him in, and he focused his attention on her and the questions she asked.

The storm. Right. She was shaking and freezing.

Asa swung his legs out of the truck, and the woman backed up to give him some room. Stars flashed on the edges of his vision. The airbag had done its job for the most part, but it hadn’t kept his head from knocking against the window.

When he was on his feet, a wave of dizziness washed over him. The woman was beside him in an instant. She wrapped one arm around his waist and positioned her shoulder beneath his arm.

He sucked in a deep breath of the icy air and steadied himself. “I got it. Thanks.”

“You’re bleeding. A lot.”

“I know.” It had been a while since he’d had a big hit like that, but it reminded him of a direct tackle to the helmet he’d taken from a defensive lineman his senior year.

“We need to get you inside.” Her dark hair danced in the wind as she pointed down the hill.

Asa gave his truck one last look. He’d just paid it off, and now it was a mangled pile of metal.

The woman tugged on his arm. “Come on!”

Asa slowly followed her down what wasprobably a snow-covered drive, trudging on the trail in the snow she’d left on her way up to the road. What were the chances he’d wreck near an inhabited cabin on this mountain? Most of the places were vacation rentals. He’d be up a creek without a paddle if he was stuck out in this storm without a place to get warm. He spotted the snow shovel at the end of the drive and grabbed it. They’d need it to get out later.

She jogged up the porch steps ahead of him, and one foot slid across the icy wood. Her arms and legs flailed, sending her flying backward. Asa barely had time to drop the shovel before she slammed into him. He caught her, wrapping his arms around her, but they both went slipping to the ground.

“Sorry!” she shouted above the whipping wind as they pushed to their feet.

Asa offered her another hand. This time, he couldn’t feel her grip on his fingers. “You okay?”

---