by Parker Grey
His gaze flicks to her. After a moment, he smiles.
"Sure thing," Logan says.
Chapter Four
Rose
I feel like I'm coming back to life, standing here in the warmth. I was so cold that, for a little while there, I swear it made me dumb — even when these two men miraculously showed up out of nowhere, all I could think was oh.
The man standing in front of me takes a shirt from the top of the pile and holds it up, looking from me to the shirt and back. I feel dwarfed standing next to him, because he's easily six feet tall.
Then I look him over for a moment, really seeing him for the first time, and wow. He's got dark hair and piercing blue eyes, a square jaw with a dusting of stubble, and even though he's wearing a few layers right now, I can tell he's completely ripped.
I swallow and look away, glancing toward the other man, the one with lighter hair and green eyes the color of moss, and I let my eyes roam over him for a minute.
And I realize that he's also insanely hot, his muscles bulging through the sweater and jacket he's wearing.
Am I hallucinating? I wonder. Maybe I'm still back in the truck and my brain has made up this nice story about being saved by two sexy woodsmen.
"Can you get your own shirt off?" the man in front of me asks, his voice a quiet rumble.
I swallow and nod, embarrassed because I think he's offering to do it for me if I can't. If I weren't still freezing cold I'd blush, but that might take an act of God right now.
I'm about to turn around to take my shirt off, but then I notice the way he's looking at me, something hungry and wild glinting in his eyes.
No one's ever looked at me that way. Or, I should say: no one who wasn't a pervert twice my age has ever looked at me that way. Definitely not anyone like this man.
Maybe it's because I almost just died and I'm feeling brave, but I slowly grab the hem of my Sally's American Diner t-shirt in both hands, my fingers still cold and stiff, and lift it over my head.
But I'm still so cold that it's hard to move, and suddenly, I'm stuck, my head inside the shirt. I wriggle a little, incredibly aware of what a dork I look like, stuck inside this shirt.
Then warm fingers brush over my body, pulling at the hem, and lifting my shirt over my head. He tosses the shirt onto a chair and hands me the new one, but he's not looking at my eyes. He's staring at my half-naked body in a way that makes something warm and heated squirm through me, and I lower my eyes.
There's a huge lump in his pants. Huge. For a moment, I just stare at it, because I didn't know penises came that big.
Not that I'm very experienced. Not that I have any experience at all, honestly, unless you count the time that Chad Taylor got a boner during the slow dance at my junior prom. I don't.
But the way he's looking at me combined with that thing not to mention my near-death experience is making me a little crazy. A little more daring than I usually am.
I reach behind myself and unhook my bra. It's wet too, after all, and there's no sense in wearing wet undergarments, right?
The cabin is dead quiet, and as I slip the straps over my shoulders, I realize that the other man, the one building the fire, is watching me too. For a moment, I panic, wondering what the hell I'm doing, but then my bra's off and I'm tossing it after my shirt.
My nipples are hard as rocks — I'm literally freezing, after all — made harder by the attention they're blatantly getting right now, and in an embarrassed rush I grab the shirt and pull it on. It's about five sizes too big and goes almost down to my knees, but I button it slowly, my fingers still not fully cooperating.
The other guy goes back to the fire, but the dark-haired man is still watching me fumble to close this shirt.
"Do you need some help?" he offers quietly.
I let my hands drop and just nod. He reaches out and does the buttons up, his fingers just barely brushing the bare skin of my stomach, coming millimeters from my nipples. I have to fight the urge to step forward so he does touch me, but I think I'm regaining some sanity.
Hypothermia psychosis, I think. Even if I've never heard of it, it probably exists, right?
I get my jeans off without much fuss — this shirt is basically a dress. The sweatpants they lend me are also much, much too big, but I manage to secure them well enough with the drawstring.
Meanwhile, there's a roaring fire in the fireplace, and the dark-haired man leads me to a couch. The lighter-haired one has an enormous, fake-fur throw, and he sits me down on the couch, still feeling a little stiff from the cold, and then sits next to me.
"Feeling better?" he asks gently.
I swallow, nodding. The other man sits on my other side. Suddenly I'm sandwiched, in the middle of two of the most excruciatingly attractive, sexiest men I've ever seen in my life, in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
"Yeah," I say. "Thanks for finding me."
He smiles, an easy, friendly smile. Something stirs in my chest, and I look down, smiling at the floor.
"We never did introduce ourselves," he says. "I'm Logan, and Sir Silence over there is Knox."
"Hi, Logan and Knox," I say, because I'm not quite sure what else to say. "Thanks for the rescue."
"Absolutely," says Logan. "But now that you're okay I've gotta ask — what the hell were you doing out there?"
Chapter Five
Logan
Rose sighs and looks into the fire for a long moment, like she's trying to remember for herself what she was doing out there. I've got one arm around her shoulders, sitting on her right, and Knox is sitting on her other side, his arm protectively around her waist, all three of us under a massive fake-fur blanket.
I'm glad for the blanket, because right now it's rumpled so the other two can't see my massive, aching erection. When Rose took her shirt off it was all I could do to not to go over, push her down on the table and take one delicious nipple into my mouth, biting and rolling it between my teeth as she sighed for more.
"You're gonna think I'm dumb," Rose says softly.
Knox grunts, like he's agreeing with her, but I squeeze her shoulder in my hand.
"We won't," I reassure her.
And I shoot Knox a glare over her head.
She nearly froze to death, you can cut the gruff caveman act, I think.
Rose bites her lip and pushes a strand of hair out of her face. We're both just staring at her, the small, white, delicate teeth digging into the fleshy pink of her lip.
And I can tell: we're both thinking about her lips, swollen with rough kisses, her mouth as she cries out in pleasure, totally and completely under our control...
Wait. Our control?
We've shared a woman before, but she was nothing like Rose, I can already tell. Rose is shy, sweet, and innocent, all big eyes and cautious smiles. Absolutely not the kind of girl who'd jump into bed with two huge, rough mountain men.
And especially not us. Rose needs someone who could be... gentler.
"I work in Ragged Point, but I live in Oakville," she says, her voice soft and careful. "It's kind of a long drive to go through Bluejay Pass, on the real road, and I knew this storm was coming, so... I decided to take a shortcut I thought I remembered."
She took a shortcut with a snowstorm coming? I think in alarm.
Practically on cue, the wind howls around the cabin, rattling a window. Rose jumps, and on her other side, Knox's arm tightens.
So does mine.
"Only it turns out that I didn't actually remember the shortcut," she says. "And my dad's old truck broke down, and he'd taken out the — uh, the blankets that he usually keeps there weren't in it, so..."
She shrugs, looking into the fire.
"You should always keep blankets in your vehicle, at least in the winter," Knox says, his voice a low growl.
Rose looks up at him, eyes wide.
"I know," she says. "They were there last time I checked."
"Someone took them out?" I ask, getting angry.
I can't believ
e someone would do that. Around here, everyone knows that sometimes cars break or heaters fail — and if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere, freezing to death isn't hard.
"I share the truck with my dad sometimes," she says, swallowing. "I mean, it's technically his, so I guess I'm just borrowing it. I'm sure he meant to get new ones or something, these were pretty ratty. It was just an accident."
"It nearly got you killed," Knox says. His face is hard, his mouth set in a line, his eyes flashing. I can tell he's almost as upset as me.
"Good thing we came along," I interject, before Rose can get upset.
Knox is my best friend, but there's a reason he's a wilderness ranger. He's much better with trees than people.
"Yeah," she says. "Thanks."
And she smiles at me, her blue eyes lighting up. For a moment, I can't breathe.
"We should call someone, let them know you're okay," Knox says, actually having a good point for once. "You still live with your parents?"
Rose nods.
"But my dad's not home, and he wasn't answering his cell phone earlier today," she says.
She pauses.
"I'm not quite sure where he is, actually," she finishes quietly.
I frown, alarm bells going off in my head.
"Is he missing?"
She shakes her head.
"Nothing like that," she says, smiling sadly. "But he's not around much. Usually off with one woman or another, mooching off of them until they kick him out."
"And your mother?" Knox asks.
"Good question," Rose muses.
"So you were going to take a dirt road shortcut over a mountain, while it was snowing, as the storm of the century was starting, and no one knew where you were?" I ask, disbelief in every word.
"I told you that you'd think I was dumb," she says, her voice even quieter.
She swallows hard and stares into the fire.
"I wasn't thinking straight," she goes on. "I'd just worked a double down at the diner, so I was tired and hungry, and my mind has been elsewhere lately. Plus, I haven't been sleeping well, and I just... it was dumb. I know."
I'm nearly overwhelmed by the urge to kiss her on top of the head, just to let her know that here, now, with us, she's safe. I can't believe that there's no one out there who cares about this sweet, innocent, fucking gorgeous girl.
Over her head, I lock eyes with Knox, and his jaw flexes. Looks like he's thinking the same thing as me.
"You've had a hell of a day," I tell Rose, stroking her hair with one hand. "How about some tea, and then you can go to sleep?"
"Thanks," she says again, her voice still soft.
I make all three of us cups of tea, and as I do, I can hear Knox on the couch, murmuring to her, Rose's soft voice replying. They're only talking about the snow storm outside, but she's leaning against him, her neck stretched out as she looks into his face, and I'm jealous.
We drink tea, Knox and I on either side of her, chatting lightly about the cabin, the forest, the snow outside. When we finish, Knox takes the mugs away and now Rose leans against me, my whole body in turmoil.
"Sleepy?" I ask.
She nods.
"Come on," I say, standing and offering her my hand. "Let's go to bed."
We've only got two beds, and I'm offering first.
"I can sleep on the couch," she says, suddenly nervous.
"It's not very comfortable," I say. "Besides, your body temperature isn't quite high enough yet. I don't want to leave you out here alone."
"I'm okay, really. I don't want to impose on you..."
I smile at her.
"No imposition," I promise.
Chapter Six
Knox
Logan leads Rose into our bedroom while I wash the mugs in the sink, then put them in the dish drain. It puts me into a black mood. I'd already thought of this, that she probably needs to share someone's body warmth, at least tonight.
I'd just wanted it to be mine.
I can hear them talking in the bedroom. Rose laughs. So does Logan, and I stay out in the kitchen so I don't have to go into the bedroom and watch her snuggle up next to him.
But the thought flashes across my mind one more time. Rose, on her hands and knees, looking up at me. Logan sliding into her from behind as her eyelids flutter with pleasure, her mouth open. I guide my cock towards her lips and she opens wide, sucking me desperately as she moans.
Fuck. Now I'm so hard I'm afraid my zipper might break, and worse, what I'm imagining is totally impossible.
Rose doesn't seem like she'd so much as kiss a stranger, let alone have sex with one.
Let alone have sex with two at the same time. She's innocent and sweet, kind of shy. Her own parents have forgotten about her, so it's up to us to protect her.
Protect her. Not fuck her.
I listen to the murmurs of Logan and Rose getting into bed, grinding my teeth as I do, but I walk over to our shortwave radio and flip it on.
Static. The snow's coming down hard and heavy, and the wind out side is howling — I'd probably be more surprised if it were working.
Doesn't matter. None of us is going anywhere for a few days at least, and as soon as the radio is working again, we'll call it in, let anyone who's worried know that she's okay.
After a while I head into the bedroom to go to sleep myself. I don't turn the lights on, because I don't want to wake them, but I can still see the dark outline of Rose's face, curled on her side under the heavy blankets.
Behind her, Logan is sound asleep already, and I take off my clothes quietly, stripping to my undershirt and boxers. My dick is still so hard that it looks like I'm wearing a Boy Scout tent, but who cares? They're asleep.
And then, as I turn down my covers and wish, one more time, that I was getting in next to Rose, she opens her eyes.
I can just barely see her gaze flick from my face to my massive tent and back.
She smiles, just slightly.
Somehow, I fall asleep.
I toss and turn all night. Snow isn't noisy, but the storm is, and I've always been a light sleeper, so every time the wind whips around the cabin I wake up, wondering if I need to get up in the middle of the night and fix something.
In the morning, I'm awake before Logan and Rose. She's on her stomach, her hair fanned out on the pillow around her, and he's turned toward her. I can't see beneath the covers, but from the way they're lying, it looks like his arm's thrown over her.
I pull on a few layers of clothing and leave the room so I don't have to look any more, heading into the kitchen, where I make coffee and then drink it black while I stare out the window and watch the snow come down.
All I can think is thank God we found her.
The snow is probably at least eighteen inches deep already, and there's no sign it's going to stop. It's supposed to keep storming all of today and into tonight, so there's no telling how much we'll end up with. It'll be a lot. Probably enough that we'll need to go outside and shovel off the roof to prevent a cave-in, since all that snow gets heavy.
I finish my coffee and pour myself another cup as my stomach growls. I remember that we didn't even eat last night, just went to bed, and for a moment I kick myself.
She worked all day, nearly froze to death, and you didn't even offer her food?
The cabin's very well stocked for the winter, so I set to work making a feast for breakfast. Yeah, Logan's better at human interactions than I am, but I'd like to see him making a fucking omelet.
In a few minutes, I've got bacon frying, pancake batter made, fresh coffee in the pot, and I've whipped up orange juice from concentrate. Just as I turn on the griddle to start warming up, the bedroom door opens.
Rose steps out. She's still wearing my old shirt and Logan's old sweatpants from yesterday, and they're so big on her it looks like she might drown in them, but there's something oddly alluring about the sight.
Like we've both just had her and she picked up whatever clothes were on the ground.
"That smells amazing!" she chirps, all brightness and light, padding across the kitchen to stand next to me. "You'd think that since I work in a diner I'd get tired of bacon, but I never do."
I look down at her in surprise, a slow smile spreading across my face.
"You seem better," I say.
She smiles and looks down.
"I think I just needed some rest," she says. "Is that coffee?"
I fill a mug and hand it to her.
"How did you sleep?" I ask. I don't mean to, but it just slips out.
Rose glances away, looking out the window where nearly everything is blindingly white.
"Really well, actually," she says. "Considering that I was sharing a bed with a total stranger. I was really tired."
"We're hardly strangers anymore," Logan says, coming out of the bedroom as well.
He's bare-chested, holding his shirt in his hands, and Rose looks at him and then quickly looks away, her cheeks turning pink. Jealousy writhes in my chest.
I know they didn't do anything but sleep. I was five feet away. But I can't shake the thought.
Not that he might have gotten to have her, feel her soft body under his as he ravished this beautiful, innocent girl.
But that he might have done it without me.
Chapter Seven
Rose
I eat like a starving alligator. Knox and Logan chat, sipping their coffee, eating bites one at a time, like regular people, but I inhale bacon and pancakes and eggs and toast and then more bacon and eggs and another pancake, not to mention coffee and orange juice.
In my defense, I'm not exactly sure what the last time I ate was. It might have been yesterday's breakfast, when I sneaked some hash browns and eggs off the griddle at work.
When I finally finish, we all sit around the hand-carved dining table and talk for a little while. I tell them about graduating from high school and there not being the money for college, so I'm trying to save up. They both tell me about their jobs with the forest service — Logan's actually a biologist, in charge of the camera traps out here, and Knox is a former lumberjack and all-around handyman.
