by Lia Lee
What the fuck was she doing out here in the snow? Alone? She could die.
“Hey,” I said, trying to wake her up. But her head lolled to the side, her eyes were shut, and she was out of it. I tugged my glove off with my teeth and pressed my hand against her cheek. She was ice cold, on the verge of hypothermia.
I pulled the glove back on and threw her over my shoulder. It was the fastest way to get her to my truck and out of the snow. I put her in the passenger seat, strapped her in with the seatbelt and managed to prop her up against the door before I started the truck and floored it. I had to get her home and warm as soon as possible.
I had seen the effects of hypothermia and frostbite, and it was some nasty shit. I didn’t want her to suffer from it.
I wound my way through the trees and up toward the cabin. I carried her into the house, more gently now that I knew I would have her warm soon and put her on the sleeper couch in my little living room. I tugged her wet coat off her before putting blankets over her and walked to the hearth, building up the fire. In no time at all, the cabin started heating up.
She didn’t wake up. I checked her breathing and her pulse, and they were both regular, thank God. If I had to get her to a hospital now, I might lose her on the way. It was snowing too badly to drive fast, and it was a wild part of Colorado.
While I waited for her to wake up, I put on coffee and soup. The coffee was for me to calm my nerves after I had found a half-dead woman. The soup was for her for when she woke up. She would need heat and nutrition. She would be dehydrated, too.
I had no idea where this woman had come from. Her black hair was in stark contrast to her porcelain skin, and she had long lashes that brushed her cheeks. Her face was delicate, but it was the dark circles under her eyes and her bluish lips that scared me. If she didn’t wake up soon, I would have to find a way to get her to medical care. I knew a little about first aid but not enough to help someone that I had found passed out in the snow for whatever reason.
I didn’t know if I should have feared for her life or if she would wake up and everything would be fine. I glanced at the clock and decided I would give her an hour. She wouldn’t die on my watch, not with the fire and the blankets keeping her warm, but I would get her better medical attention if she needed.
While I waited, I patted her down in search of ID of some kind. Her picture showed me dark eyes with a determined look. Her name was Anna Santora. The name sent chills down my spine.
I knew a Santora. He was a horrible man with no conscious, and whoever disobeyed him was shot. It was as simple as that. He was the reason I was out here. I shook off the thoughts and turned my attention back to Anna. She was starting to move, albeit in her sleep, and I took it as a good sign.
I was sipping my third cup of coffee when her eyes fluttered open.
She sat up with a jolt, looking around frantically. “Where am I?” she asked, and her voice was panicked.
“It’s okay. You’re safe,” I said, walking toward her with my hands out the way I did with a scared animal. “You’re in my cabin. I found you in the snow. My name is Luke, and I brought you in out of the snow.”
Anna swallowed hard, her breathing shallow and she looked around. Her eyes took in the cabin, and I watched as she slowly relaxed, bringing my words and what she could see for herself together.
“What happened?” she asked, swallowing again. She was thirsty. I walked to the basin and poured her a glass of water. When I handed it to her, she sipped it before gulping it down.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I found you in the snow. You were unconscious. I brought you back here to warm you up.”
Anna nodded slowly. She looked at the empty water glass. “Thank you,” she said.
“You’re very welcome.”
Anna was still unsure. She looked around the cabin as if something was going to jump out at her.
I walked to the kitchen and dished her a bowl of soup. I took it to her with a spoon.
“Here,” I said.
Anna shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat something,” I said. “You need to build up your strength, rehydrate your system. It will help you warm up, too.”
Anna hesitated before she nodded and took the bowl from me. She carefully scooped the soup onto her spoon and blew it softly before she took a sip.
“How did you find me?” she asked after we had sat in silence for a while.
“I was driving back home, and I spotted you lying in the snow.”
“You weren’t following me?”
It was an odd question. I shook my head. “You’re lucky I saw you when I did. A few minutes later you would have been covered by snow and invisible.”
Anna nodded and took another spoonful of soup. I was glad she was getting some of it into her system. Her color was starting to come back, her cheeks were becoming flush, and her lips weren’t so blue anymore. Anna kept looking around, nervous. I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t know how she had ended up out in the snow, a million miles away from anything, but she was in a strange cabin now with a strange man, and she’d had nothing on her other than her ID. Not even a cell phone.
Anna didn’t finish the soup, but she had half of it, and I was happy.
“Can I have a little more water?” she asked, and I nodded, refilling her glass. I handed it to her, and she drank it slower, this time. Her hands were wrapped around the glass as if it was a lifeline. She had long, elegant fingers, slim hands.
She handed me the empty glass and her half-eaten bowl of soup, and I put it in the fridge. When I turned back to her, she was watching me with drooping eyes. She had to be exhausted.
Despite her exhaustion, she was beautiful. Her dark eyes were soulful, large and round and so pure if I were a lesser man they would be unsettling. Her long dark hair was wavy, maybe it was after being wet in the snow, and her skin was smooth like marble. I wanted to reach out and touch her to see if she was real, but that was ridiculous. I had found her in the snow, of course she was real. And if I did something stupid like that now, she would be frightened all over again.
I had just managed to calm her down.
“Do you mind if I lie down again?” Anna asked.
I shook my head. “You should get some rest. Sleep as long as you need. I’ll be here in the morning, and we’ll take care of everything.”
Anna nodded, closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. I watched her, but I kept looking away so that I wasn’t staring. I didn’t want her to open her eyes and catch me ogling. But she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She looked like what I would imagine Snow White to look like in all those fairy tales.
And kissing her would almost be a dream come true, wouldn’t it? Ironic that I had rescued her and helped her wake up.
When I was sure she was sleeping soundly, I got ready for bed as well. I changed into the sweatpants I slept in, checked that the fire in the hearth was still burning, and climbed into bed. I left the bedroom door open even though I usually closed it so that I could check on her throughout the night, or so that she could find me if she needed me.
I lay in bed and closed my eyes. I was tired, and the wind howled outside, blowing the storm back and forth, painting the world with a white paintbrush until everything looked different in the snow. But I couldn’t sleep.
There was a mysterious woman on my couch. How had she ended up in the snow? Who was she? And how long would she stay?
The latter probably didn’t matter, but I didn’t want her to disappear again as soon as she was ready to leave. I wanted her to stay awhile so I could get to know her. A woman as stunningly beautiful as her was a woman I wanted to get to know. I wanted to make sure she was safe, too.
Chapter 3
Anna
I jolted awake, and I had no idea where I was. Nothing was familiar, and I had a headache. I pressed my hand to my head and looked around. Slowly, it all came back to me. I was in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains.
I had passed out in the snow when I had traveled on foot to find someone that could help me.
A man had found me and brought me here. He had saved me.
Sounds from the small kitchen drew my attention, and I leaned to the side. The small kitchen was open plan and visible from where I was set up on the sleeper couch. The man that had saved me moved around the kitchen, comfortable in it. What was his name again? I had been out of it when he’d told me last night. I watched him as he moved between a coffee pot and the stove, cooking something. He was well-built, I noticed. He wore a cliché flannel shirt, but it looked unusually good on him. The material stretched over perfectly sculpted muscles. I couldn’t see his face from where I sat, but I was pretty sure he was handsome if I remembered correctly.
The smell of coffee filled the cabin, and I groaned.
When he looked at me, he smiled. “You’re up,” he said.
I nodded.
“Hungry?”
My stomach rumbled in response, and I nodded again. I hadn’t eaten much since I’d gotten off the plane yesterday. It felt like a lifetime ago, now. The soup my rescuer had offered me last night had pulled me through.
“Breakfast is just about ready,” he said, scraping scrambled eggs onto two plates. Toast popped out of the toaster, and I jumped.
My rescuer carried two plates to the small table in the corner where he had set two places. I stood up and walked to the table, sitting down with him.
“This looks amazing,” I said, the smell making my stomach rumble once more. “Thank you.”
He nodded. “Of course. You need to get your strength up. It’s tough living through winter out here, never mind coming into close contact with it the way you did. You’re lucky I found you.”
I nodded. I was very lucky. I was more than aware that I could have died out there last night.
I took a bite of the food, and it tasted like heaven. The coffee was just as great. This man might have been living an isolated life in the mountains, but he sure could cook.
We ate in silence. I was a little unsure about him, still. I looked around the cabin. Aside from the bedroom and a bathroom, everything else was open plan. It was spacious as far as I imagined cabins go, but it was clearly a one-man kind of place.
“I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name,” I said.
He shook his head. “It’s okay, you were pretty out of it last night. I’m Luke.”
“Luke,” I said. “Thank you. For all of this.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“I’m Anna,” I said.
Luke nodded. “I know.”
I was immediately suspicious. “How do you know?” I asked. “Why do you know who I am?” A million thoughts swirled in my mind. What if he knew my dad? What if he had been sent to pick me up? What if my dad had found me? I didn’t even want to think about how furious he would be and what he would do if he found me. I had taken a big risk running away from home. It could either work out and I would be free, or it could blow up in my face, and I would be my father’s prisoner forever.
“It’s okay, calm down,” Luke said, his hands lifted as if to show he was unarmed. “I had to check your ID to see who you were when I found you, in case you needed medical attention.”
I swallowed, turning his answer over in my mind. It made sense. And he looked genuine, not as if he was trying to pull one over on me.
“Sorry,” I said, taking a deep breath. “All this is a bit much to take in.”
Luke nodded. “It’s understandable. You’ve been through a bit of trauma. Don’t worry about it.”
I nodded, feeling silly for reacting the way I had. I was a mess. My emotions were all over the place, and now that I was on the run from my dad, I was scared I couldn’t trust anyone anymore. My dad had resources like no one I had ever seen, and he had followers all over the country that would do anything for him.
What a prize it would be to help him retrieve his daughter.
I shook off the thoughts. I would only drive myself crazy by thinking about it like this. I had run away for a reason, and I had to trust that I could make it, that I could get away from him. If I questioned myself around every turn, I would go mad. I glanced at Luke, still unsure of him. He didn’t look like the type that would collaborate with the Mafia to take me back to my dad, but they were everywhere, and not all of them looked like they had ulterior motives the way Sam did.
“What do you do here?” I asked.
“What do I do?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, for a living.”
Luke shook his head. “I’m not working at the moment. I’m taking a hiatus. I had a bit of money put away, and I needed to get away from the hustle and bustle of civilization for a while. Not everyone understands it, but I felt trapped.”
I sighed. “I understand it more than you know,” I said. I doubted his situation was the same as mine, but I could relate to feeling trapped and not feeling like I had a way out.
“I can see you’re worried about being here,” Luke said. “I know it’s not personal, either,” he added when I tried to apologize. “But you’re welcome to leave whenever you like. I’ll help you find your way, too.”
When he offered help like that, I couldn’t help but feel like maybe I could trust him. This man wasn’t trying to hold me prisoner here, which was what I had been afraid of. But not everyone was like Sam and my dad. Not everyone was trying to own me and control me.
We ate breakfast in silence. I glanced at Luke every now and then, trying to gauge who he was. He had amazing eyes. He was handsome, everything about him was attractive, but his eyes got me. He had light blue eyes, the color of Fall skies, and they were drowning deep when he looked at me. I could get lost in those eyes if I wasn’t careful.
To stop myself from gushing over someone I’d just met, I tried to make small talk.
“I don’t know if I thanked you for saving me,” I said.
Luke nodded. “You did. Last night. But you’re welcome.”
He smiled at me, and it was a smile that could make me melt. I had to be careful of this man. He was drop-dead gorgeous and a gentleman to boot. He was the full package, and that was dangerous. I couldn’t let my guard down only because his face was a pleasure to look at. His hair was dark which only made his eyes more prominent. He had a rugged-looking face, but something about him was kind and gentle, too.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Luke said, interrupting my train of thought, “where were you headed when you got stranded in the snow?”
I thought about it for a second. Was it safe to tell him? I was hesitant to trust anyone, but Luke didn’t look like he meant me any harm.
“Steamboat Springs,” I said.
Luke raised his eyebrows. “You were a little off course, then. It’s about a two hour’s drive up North.”
I hadn’t realized I’d been that far South. “I’d taken the wrong turn and ended up on the I-seventy instead of the forty. I don’t know this area so well. I ran out of gas. I didn’t budget correctly.”
Luke nodded. “The wrong turn will do that to you. Why weren’t you in your car?”
I felt silly, now. Looking back at the day and night while I was warm and safe, I had made a lot of stupid decisions.
“When my gas light came on, I took the exit for a gas station, but it was closed. I hoped I would find something if I carried on down the road, but my gas ran out completely. I wanted to wait out the night in my car, but the battery died, too. So, I had no heat.” I pulled up my shoulders, almost embarrassed, now. “I had to find help.”
Luke didn’t shake his head or laugh at me or make me feel like an idiot the way the men in my life had always made me feel. In fact, Luke looked sympathetic.
“That gas station has been closed for years. I know exactly which one you mean. Someone should have that sign removed. I’m sure you’re not the first person to be lured off the main road thinking you’d be saved.”
He made it all sound so intense, so valid.
Luke nodded. “You were on the verge of hypothermia. Even when you survive, that’s not a fun one to go through.”
“I wouldn’t know. Thanks to you.”
Luke smiled again, and it was that same charming smile. What was it about this guy? He was charming and attractive and polite enough that I didn’t feel threatened, all at the same time. After I had grown up around assholes, it was a welcome change. And difficult to believe.
“Why were you out there last night?” I asked. “When you found me.”
“I was on my way back from Dillon. It’s a small town not too far from here. I had to pick up a couple of things. I buy supplies twice, sometimes three times a week. It’s hard living up here and hunting is great, but it’s good to have things like Oreos, too.” He chuckled. “I took a different route than usual, and thank God I did.”
I couldn’t believe the coincidence.
“I have to head back to Dillon today, actually,” Luke carried on. “I want to pick up a few more things now that it’s the two of us out here.”
“Oh, I don’t want to be a bother,” I said.
“You’re not,” Luke said quickly. “I don’t want you to head out there again in the state you are. After a near-death experience, you need good food and a good rest, and I intend on giving that to you. Once you’re better, you can set out into the wide world again, and I won’t complain.”
I smiled. Luke was being kind, taking care of me when I wasn’t his problem at all.
When we finished breakfast, I helped Luke clean up before he bundled up in a thick coat and snow boots.
“I’m off. I will be gone for about two hours. I don’t want to take any longer. You’re perfectly safe here. Help yourself to anything in the fridge but don’t go outside until I’m back. We are up in the mountains, and there are wild animals around.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere other than my bed,” I said. I was starting to feel tired again.
