by Ann King
Which girl wouldn’t fall for a guy who risked his own life and braved crazy, inhumane conditions to rescue her? I would be crazy not to feel anything for him. My mind still reeled with confusion.
My thoughts diverted back down memory lane when I first met Cory. God, he was drop-dead gorgeous, just as he was now but he was also a playa from what I remembered. A bad boy who broke a lot of rules, who lived on the edge at times. An emotionally unavailable, mysterious dude with a badass tattoo on his back and down his right arm.
Cory knew everybody and everybody knew Cory. Popularity wasn’t the word. This guy could make a phone call and things could happen. Stranded? No problem, he had tons of hook ups to get you out of a sticky spot. People did favors for him—like all the time. He wasn’t the type of guy to be messed around with, either. He had connections on all levels from the street to Wall Street. It was surreal. At least that’s what I’d heard about him and from what I knew about him. He wasn’t exactly the type of guy to brag or talk about his business either.
I guess other people did that for him.
I wished sometimes that I were that connected. Then again, maybe not.
Cory had always been the take-charge kind of guy. He was always known to be up for any challenge and was fearless from the time I first knew him. Nothing seemed to bother him much and he was always a guy with a strong, resourceful mind.
I’d heard once that he got in trouble in college for hacking into some sophisticated system. Didn’t know if it were true or not but I wouldn’t be surprised. He was always good with computers, gadgets, passwords and figuring things out. I secretly hoped he’d be able to hack our way out of this blizzard, alive.
I realized now that I had nothing on me. My first aid kit was tucked away in the trunk of my totalled car, not to mention my belongings. My clothes, granola bars, water bottles. I hoped Cory would have these on him but I was doubtful since he hadn’t planned on a long journey today. Just a quick trip to the local gas station. Who stocked up for that? During this storm, maybe it wouldn’t have been a bad idea. You never knew where or when you’d get stranded.
My thoughts raced dangerously as I sat in Cory’s heated car, gazing at the windshield as snow pellets slammed against it. So many unanswered questions tormented me. My emotions seemed to spiral out of control.
How long would we be stranded here? Would we have enough fuel to keep us going? Would we be victims of our own boredom or silence? What would we talk about? It was just the two of us here, alone.
We were naked in our own insecurity. Vulnerable to each other.
I should probably give up on the idea of reaching New York any time soon. My heart palpitated in my chest at the thought. There goes my new job. My way out, where my insurmountable debt load were concerned. I breathed in a deep breath, my rib cage burned. I probably pulled a muscle or two when I was flung backwards by the force of the tree fall and gust of wind.
Were we waiting for help—or waiting to die?
Cory had a serious look planted on his devilishly handsome face, his jaw seemed clenched. His dark dangerous gaze penetrated the horrific whiteness outside as if pondering what to do next. His cell phone was on the dashboard. I could read the display and my stomach sunk to my knees.
No Service.
“How long can we last with…the gas tank?” I whispered quietly, my voice trembling. My tolerance for chilly conditions were, unfortunately, very low.
He sighed deeply, his eyes darted to his gas gauge on the dashboard. The level was pointed near the empty mark. “Well, the good news is you can run an engine on idle for a couple hours on a gallon of gas.”
“Oh. And the bad news?” I probed, nervously biting down on my lower lip. I noticed that Cory’s eyes drifted to my mouth. For a brief moment there was a palpable silence between us. Or was that some magnetic pull?
He shifted his eyes from my face and looked out the window, an unreadable expression on his face.
“We’ve got less than a gallon.”
“Oh, no. What are we going to do? You’ve got to shut off the engine,” I quipped.
“And let you freeze to death?” He cocked a brow.
I noticed he said “you” not us.
“No, Cory. But if we use up all the heat…”
“Relax, Kate. I know what I’m doing,” he said, looking out the window of the driver’s side. “We can keep the engine on for ten minutes every hour…”
“Every hour?” Alarm rose in my voice.
“Kate, you know we’re not exactly in the best position right now.”
“I know but…”
“We have no choice. Don’t worry. It’s safe to run the heat for ten minutes and allow it to circulate in the car.”
“Okay,” I murmured. “I trust you, Cory.”
“Thanks,” he said with a chill in his voice as he turned to face me. His smooth reassurance mellowed my mood somewhat. He seemed really sincere and relieved to have my trust.
Another thought struck me. When I told Cory I trusted him, I wondered if he thought I meant in general? My stomach lurched as I recalled a conversation we had six months ago when Peter died. I’d asked him what they were doing out there at that cabin, the night Peter died and he told me he couldn’t tell me then but I should trust him. I, of course, was fuming and distraught at the thought of losing Peter. I told him I didn’t trust him. I lashed out at him. Vowed to never speak to him again.
I glanced at Cory as he fiddled with his cell phone again, trying to see if a signal would come up. I wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. Was he holding me to my words that night? Was he still pissed off with me for treating him the way I did?
The tension of being stranded there alone caused my bladder to twitch. Oh, great! The last thing I needed was to have one pair of panties, a hot guy beside me, no washroom in sight and a weak bladder.
Going outside to relieve myself didn’t seem like a viable option at the moment since the gust of wind was clicking probably fifty miles and hour right now, judging by the way the van was shaking like crazy. The snow pellets ripped into the icy cold. I was sure my pee would freeze midstream if I even tried it.
I was embarrassed at the thought as I hugged myself in his jeep, wondering how far our vulnerability would go. We could be here for hours. It wasn’t unheard of to find drivers who had been stranded for up to fourteen hours in a blizzard like this.
Cory leaned back in the drivers seat, his lips pressed into a thin line. What was he thinking right now? I wondered if he had the same worry on his mind. How could we survive being stranded in the middle of this crazy storm for God knew how long? How long could we survive like this?
Another haunting question stabbed at me. Since we could be stuck here alone for hours, would now be a good time to have a conversation—about the past?
CHAPTER SIX
Cory Knights
Just looking at Kate made me hard like a rock. Talk about bad timing and everything. I was going crazy out of my mind. My testosterone levels were probably off the charts right now. Why was my body reacting so sexually towards Kate?
Good thing I was sitting, so it wouldn’t be so obvious.
I’d read about that stuff with kismet and knowing when you’d meet the right person. You just couldn’t keep your mind off them.
The truth was, I wasn’t the type of guy that reacted to just any girl like that. No other girl had that raw primal effect on me like sweet, innocent Kate. I still refused to believe she’d been intimate with…Peter. The very thought of him with her caused anger to burn through my blood like acid.
He had no freaking right to use her the way he did. The trouble was, she wasn’t even aware of it. Would I come out like the bad guy, the creep for telling her the truth now that he was dead? I just didn’t want her getting all torn up and bitter for the rest of her life thinking that he was her only true love. Well, she may have been in love with him, but he sure had another agenda on his mind.
The true side of Peter
wasn’t so innocent.
He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a counterfeit of a good-guy, a huge freaking con artist. Shit! I could feel my blood boiling over at the thought of what he did to her behind her back. The real reason he died was because his own deception caught up with him.
But how would you tell that to the girl who thought he was everything to her? You don’t.
Kate should have been with me from the start. Okay, I was so messed up back then and I didn’t want her to get hurt. But at least I would have been up front with her, just as I’d been with any girl I’d gone out with.
“It’s been ten minutes now,” Kate’s soft voice pulled me back to reality. “Sh-should we turn off the heat now, to conserve energy?”
She was clearly terrified of running out of gas and being stuck here in the frigid cold. I had planned to keep it running for another five minutes. It hadn’t even been ten minutes yet. She looked so vulnerable huddled in the passenger seat, her legs curled up and her shoulders hunched.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” I asked her.
“Yeah. I just don’t want us to run out of fuel or anything.”
“We won’t. Not for now. I just don’t want you freezing up on me.”
She had no idea about the kinds of thoughts that raced through my head. It was crazy. This girl was driving me mad in a sexual way. Guilt tore at me for having those feelings about her now but I was a warm-blooded guy. I couldn’t help it. At a time like this, I would send a girl screaming with orgasmic overdose and begging for more as I slid my dick inside her.
The thought of being deep inside Kate was hardening my dick like a rock now. Just what I needed!
Her sweet fragrance that she was wearing right now was intoxicating. So sensual. Was she going to meet a guy when she got to the city? What were her other plans besides a new job in the city?
Her long, shapely legs drove me wild with erotic thoughts of what I could do with them. Christ! How would they feel wrapped around my waist? I imagined sucking on her lips then moving my lips further down and taking her between her legs. I wondered if she’d experienced an orgasm yet. I real orgasm. I toe-curling, freakish orgasm that would leave her numb with ecstasy afterwards. I wanted to do all those things with her—to her.
“What’s on your mind?” she whispered in a low voice that sounded more like a sex caller—but I was sure that was not her intension. I’d shut off the engine and the car was getting cooler by the minute.
“I don’t think you’d really want to know right now.”
“Try me.”
“Alright. I sincerely want to fuck you. I want to be inside you right now, Kate. I want you so bad it’s driving me crazy.” A grin of amusement touched the corner of my lips. The deer-in-the-headlights look in her face was priceless.
She was silent. Her eyes wide in astonishment as they searched my face. Well, that probably got her temperature to climb a bit to keep her warm.
“What?” Her voice was almost inaudible. Rouge colored her cheeks immediately. Oh, God! She was really embarrassed by what I’d said. That wasn’t my intention, but then she wanted to know what was on my mind and for all those who knew me, I was never a good liar. I told it like it was.
“I want you, Kate. Is that so hard to believe?” I turned to face her. Adrenaline coursed through my veins.
Her lips were red as ripe strawberries. I wondered if they’d taste as sweet as they looked. I imagined myself suckling on her sweetness, sliding my hot tongue inside her parted lips, searching her own tongue.
I wondered what her lips would feel like wrapped around my hard throbbing cock right now. The ache of my hard erection was driving me nuts.
I tried to resist the urge to pleasure myself right now cause I knew at the time, Kate probably was too stunned to do anything about it.
I tried to divert my thoughts as a gush of heavy snow fell hard on the road.
I switched on my blinkers.
“What’s that for?” she said, not looking at me, her face was still beet red. As dark as her lipstick. I could see her voluptuous bosom heaving, rising and falling with every breath she took. If only she knew how irresistible she looked right now. Her shoulder-length brown hair tossed to one side, accentuating her high cheekbones and delicate facial features. Kate was sexy as hell and yet she didn’t even acted as if she knew that. She was so…modest. Yeah, that was the word to describe her. She was modest.
“For safety. In case any emergency vehicles come around so they could see us.”
“Should we maybe try to walk and see…”
“No,” I replied almost too harsh.
“But we could die here in this car!”
I thought perhaps the thought of me groping her in her sleep—which I would never do—probably crossed her mind. It was after all, both of us here. Alone. Together. Stranded.
“My vehicle won’t budge right now. Even if we tried, we’d run out of gas before we got to the station so we’re better off staying here for now.”
She sighed deeply. A worried expression dressed her pretty face.
“What’s on your mind?” I whispered.
“Nothing,” she answered, too quickly.
“You were never a good liar, Kate.”
“Excuse me?” Defensiveness snaked through her voice.
“Look. I was only fooling with you a moment ago. I wouldn’t dare do anything to you. Not without your consent.”
She hunched her shoulders down and cuddled herself.
“Kate.”
“Yeah.”
“I wasn’t kidding about wanting you. I really care about you. I’ve always cared about you. Don’t ever get it twisted any other way.”
“That’s funny. You never asked me out.”
“Is that what’s tripping you up?”
She said nothing. She bit down on her full pouty lips. God, that drove me freaking crazy.
“Don’t do that,” I snapped.
“Do what?”
“Whatever you’re doing with those lips of yours. It’s not helping.”
“Well don’t look at me.”
I opened my mouth to saying something else then closed it shut. The last thing I wanted to do was get into a heated argument in this cold storm right now. Not with Kate.
“I’m going to set down some safety rules for us.”
“Safety rules?”
“Yeah. We need to get through this in one piece but we’ve got to be smart. God knows how long we’ll be stuck here. There is a possibility that we’ll never be found until the storm is over.”
Ice pellets slammed into the windshield almost cracking it, the heavy gusts of wind bended the other trees near by us. I’d thought about trying to move the vehicle a bit further up but I knew we’d probably get stuck in a worse position. Or worse, we could end up in some ditch from being pushed off the road by this heavy tornado-like wind.
Jeez! This was crazy. I’d never seen a blizzard this violent before. It was as if the environment was reacting in some weird inexplicable way.
The outcome was looking bleaker by the minute as the sky darkened up. What the hell was going on with the environment?
“Okay, rule number one. Sleeping arrangements.”
She spun her head to me so fast it was almost comedic. “S-s-sleeping arrangements?” She cocked her brow and shot me an incredulous look.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kate Samuels
“Relax, Kate. It’s not what you think.” Cory’s deep, silky voice seemed tweaked with amusement.
“Not what I think?”
“No. The truth is we need to conserve energy. We have to take turns being on the look-out while the other sleeps and so on. This way we don’t get fatigued sitting here and we’re always on alert.”
The thought terrified me of being awake while Cory slept. What if something happened to the jeep or some mad man came by and slammed the window or something? I’d read somewhere that one in four deaths in the winter season were from people
, mostly motorists, who were caught outside in a storm.
Okay, relax Kate. Stop being so melodramatic.
The last thing I wanted Cory to think of me was that I was some chicken crap. Still, I was thoroughly thankful to have Cory’s SUV as shelter from the horrendous snow squalls and gusting winds. In this weather some serious frostbite could happen easily from being exposed to the raw chill in only minutes.
I gaped out of the window of the passenger side in horror. The storm was getting worse. It seemed as if the high wind speeds were blowing snow from every direction including snow from the ground, not just the falling snow.
Call me crazy but I thought we may end up buried alive in this van as the snow fell harder and faster. The visibility outside was even worse. How on earth would anyone ever find us? I had to collect my nerves and pull myself together. I shook the thought of impending doom from my mind. Everything happened for a reason my grandmother would tell me and I believed it. I had to. There was no way Cory ended up finding me and saving my life for us to both perish together in this crazy blizzard. I refused to believe that.
“Fine,” I answered. “And rule number two?”
I tried to divert my thinking to something more positive. And just then heat rushed through my body and electricity coursed through my veins. My mind went back to what Cory told me minutes ago. Cory had been explicit with me when I’d asked him what was on his mind. Did he really mean it? Part of me was thrilled yet another part terrified. The part of me that was thrilled carried more weight in my heart.
I couldn’t wrap my head around that. Cory wanted me? Cory freaking-hot-and-popular Knights wanted me? The folds between my legs became engorged at the thought. Naughty thoughts entered my mind to which I struggled to brush them out.
I could not.
Maybe it was the situation talking and not really him.
