Snowbound with a Stranger

by Rebecca Rogers Maher

  Eyes.

  In the silence a log cracked and fell into the fire.

  “They’re beautiful, Dannie.”

  She stared at him. A long quiet unfolded over the room.

  Lee reached over for a handful of peanuts. “What brought you to this trip?”

  Her eyes rested on his fingers. He had big hands. Strong hands. She almost felt them, against her skin.

  “I…I don’t know. I wanted to get away.”

  “From the city?”

  “I guess.”

  “You grew up there, right?”

  “Yeah. Bensonhurst.”

  “Tough lady.”

  She smiled. “How about you?”

  “Carroll Gardens. Before it became Yuppieville.”

  “Ah. You’re old-school.”

  “Deeply.”

  His hair was very short. The kind of buzz cut men get when their hair is going. It looked absurdly sexy on him, the gold of it catching the green of his eyes in the firelight. He had a bit of blond beard stubble coming in too. The combination was frankly intoxicating.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this attracted to a man. Maybe never. The thought terrified her. She returned to her game pieces.

  What she found there was not reassuring. And yet it was the only word she had. She set the word down.

  Scared.

  He looked across the board at her. Even from that distance she could feel him breathing. As though the energy coursing through him was somehow connected to her.

  What had it been? Ten hours? Ten hours ago she had first seen him climbing out of his car in the parking lot. It couldn’t be possible to want someone this badly so quickly.

  But she did. She did want him.

  He watched her from across the Scrabble board. He didn’t touch her. He didn’t even move toward her.

  Every nerve in her body began to sing. “I don’t know you at all.”

  “That’s true. I don’t know you either.”

  “We’re alone here.”

  “Very.”

  “I’ve been a straight arrow all my life. Do you know that?” Dannie shook her head. “Good student. Married my high school sweetheart. Stayed faithful for fifteen long years, though it nearly killed me. He left three years ago. I don’t know the first thing about how to do this.”

  “You don’t have to do anything.”

  “I want to, though.” She closed her eyes. “I…I want to. That’s the thing. Is that wrong?”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing, either, if that helps. Stevens said he was inviting a woman he knew. Someone he thought I’d like.”

  “He said what? This was a…a setup?” Dannie stood.

  “I didn’t know it until I was in the car already, on my way here. I don’t think even he masterminded the snow, though.”

  Despite herself, Dannie laughed. She went to the window.

  Night had fully fallen. Outside was a war of black and white.

  “You want to know the craziest part? I’m having a good time.”

  The fire lit Lee’s face. “Me too.”

  “Is it gonna be a what-happens-in-the-cabin-stays-in-the-cabin sort of thing?”

  He laughed quietly. “If so, it would be the first time in my life I’d ever done anything like this.” His voice was a low rumble that seemed to vibrate through her body. “I usually know somebody for at least a day before I…well—”

  “Me too.”

  Lee watched her. His chest rose and fell with each slow breath. “It’s like we’re on the edge of the world out here.”

  Behind her the wind blew cold through the window. “Maybe we are.”

  Lee held out his hand.

  Something in her began to unravel. She crossed the room and knelt beside him.

  For a moment he was very still. And then he lifted his palm to the side of her face. “I’m having a good time too. I don’t know why. I should be worried or irritated or, I don’t know, inconvenienced or something. But I can’t remember the last time I felt this good.”

  His thumb brushed over her cheekbone.

  Inhaling, she leaned into his hand.

  “Dannie. I’m just going to say this. I want you.”

  She closed her eyes.

  “I don’t want to fool around. I don’t want to hook up. I want to make love to you.”

  Beneath his hand she began to tremble.

  “Do you want that too?”

  She drew a ragged breath and nodded.

  He slid his hand into her hair and pulled her nearer. Her eyes met his. When his lips brushed against hers, it was as though a snake unfurled itself inside her chest. She opened her mouth.

  Ten hours earlier, she couldn’t even allow herself to look at him. Now, his tongue trailed a hot path along her lower lip. He tightened his fingers in the tangle of her hair.

  She’d been right to be afraid. He was barely touching her and already she was on fire. It would have embarrassed her, except that he seemed to be feeling it too. He lifted her onto his lap.

  Unthinking, she pressed down into his hardness and he groaned, deepening the kiss, winding his fingers into her hair. That quick tug at the back of her scalp opened a flame of feeling along her spine. She tightened her legs around him. The muscles in his thighs made her tremble all over. He struggled to free her from her borrowed clothes.

  She wanted him inside her. Already. Right away. She didn’t want to be caressed or talked to or seduced. She wanted him. Right now. On the couch. On the floor. Anywhere.

  The ferocity of her need shocked her. She slid her fingers under his waistband and took his cock into her hand.

  “Jesus.” Lee tore open the remaining buttons of her shirt. His teeth closed around her nipple; his tongue flicked over her. She bit down hard on her lip to keep from crying out.

  “Wait.” Lee rose from the floor and disappeared into the back room.

  Dannie sat on the couch and waited for some sudden shift of apprehension to overtake her, some hint of regret or sense or trepidation of any kind. None came. She shrugged out of her shirt and waited for him.

  He came back with a condom in his hand and knelt before her. Meeting her eyes, he let out a short, disbelieving laugh, and Dannie returned it, the laugh turning into a giggle, which she covered with the back of her knuckles.

  Lee pulled her hand away, kissed her again and she gasped, and grabbed him to her. He yanked off her pants. He rolled on the condom, pushed her back onto the couch and entered her.

  She had never in her life come this way, just with penetration. But Lee lifted her hands above her head and held her wrists in his fist. As he thrust his cock inside her, he brought his mouth to her ear and said, “Oh. Fuck. Dannie.” And she came hard against him, immediately.

  He was huge and thick and hot. The hard weight of his body covered her. She tightened around him as he moved inside her. Fast. On the couch. Falling onto the floor. Knocking over the pieces of the Scrabble board.

  He bit her neck. She gave a strangled cry and came again. He was building, tensing. She wanted him to feel what she felt. She lifted her hips to him, locked her legs around his back and met his thrusts with her own. She dug her nails deep into his back and arched into him.

  He exploded inside her, pinning her to the floor.

  * * *

  Lee held her there, struggling for breath.

  Drafts of cold winter air fought with waves of heat from the fire, shifting and moving over their skin.

  He let his forehead fall on Dannie’s shoulder. It was a long while before he could speak. “I have a feeling,” he said, “that was just the beginning.”

  He reached around her back and pulled a letter Q tile off her damp skin.

  “Ten points. Nice.”

  Chapter Six

  There must be some graceful way to peel yourself off the floor after making love to a virtual stranger, but Dannie did not know what it was.

  She wrapped a blanket around her body and rose. “Just…I’
ll be—”

  Lee lay on his side on the floor, his face resting against the inside of his arm, a blanket draped over his hip. Like some bronze freaking action hero. He smiled up at her.

  Dannie hastened up the stairs to the bathroom.

  It was dark now, and cold as hell. She shut the door behind her and sat on the edge of the freezing porcelain tub.

  What had she just done? This was the sort of mess other women got themselves into. One night stands. Hookups. Meaningless sex. Her legs were trembling. She still felt him all over her skin.

  It hadn’t been meaningless. To her anyway. Heaven only knew what Lee thought.

  If she could have, she would’ve simply left. At home, she would’ve at least had the option of an early-morning walk of shame back to her apartment. Here, she was well and truly stuck. Trapped. Whether she liked it or not, sooner or later she’d have to go downstairs.

  Briefly, she considered strapping on a pair of snowshoes and getting the hell out of there. Only a healthy fear of hungry bears and death in general kept her feet planted to the floor.

  She blew out a harsh breath and stood.

  The water in the tub was cold enough to knock sense into the devil. She stripped off the blanket and splashed it generously over every part of her she could reach.

  * * *

  Downstairs, the fire was burning low. Lee was nowhere to be found.

  Great. HE took the snowshoes.

  On the table their abandoned Scrabble game stared back at her accusingly.

  “Shut up, you.”

  Lee had folded her pajama pants and placed them on the couch. That thoughtful bastard.

  From the back of the cabin, Lee called her name.

  “Just a minute.” If she had to face him, at least she was going to get dressed.

  A flicker of light led her way to the master bedroom. There, Lee knelt by the second fireplace—wearing a pair of boxer briefs and nothing else—feeding a log into the flames. A line of muscle moved across his back as he worked, and the breath left Dannie’s lungs entirely. Why he had to be so goddamned beautiful she had no idea. It was a torment on top of torment, and wasn’t at all fair.

  * * *

  Lee placed the last log in the fireplace. The crackle and hiss of flames enveloping wood temporarily drowned out all other sound. It was only when the logs settled into place that he heard the creak against the door behind him.

  He turned, and there she was, framed by the doorway. Shadows and light flickered over her face. For a moment he forgot to breathe. “You took your hair down.”

  She touched it, tentatively. “Yeah.”

  “You’re very beautiful, Dannie.”

  “Hardly.”

  “You should see yourself.”

  “You don’t need to flatter me, Lee.”

  He leaned back on his hands, stretched out his legs and narrowed his eyes. She still hadn’t come in the room. If possible, she looked warier than before. As if making love with him had made her less comfortable with him rather than more.

  He, on the other hand, felt looser than he’d felt in months. Possibly years. He felt like hauling her down to the floor and doing it all over again.

  It occurred to him that maybe she would not appreciate that. She stood in the doorway coiled up like a knot of piano wire, refusing to come in.

  “You don’t relax too often, do you?”

  Dannie tensed even more against the doorframe. “Why do you say that?”

  “Just a hunch.”

  “Do me a favor, okay?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Don’t act like you know me.”

  He held up his hands. “Okay. Just saying.”

  “Well. Don’t. I relax all the time.”

  Lee bit back a smile. “Yeah? When?”

  “I came on this hike, didn’t I?” She shifted to the other side of the doorway.

  “Yeah. And didn’t talk to anybody. And wandered off into the woods alone rather than pee next to the trail like a normal human being.”

  “So I’m shy, okay? You’re gonna make fun of me for that?” The color began to rise in her face.

  Lee shook his head. “You’re not shy.”

  “What the hell do you know?”

  “A little.”

  “Listen, dude. Just because you fucked me does not mean you know who I am.”

  He sat up. “Whoa now.”

  “No. Don’t ‘whoa’ me.” Dannie stomped over to where he sat and stood above him. “You’re an asshole.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Really.”

  He rose to his knees, grabbed her wrist and pulled her down.

  And kissed her.

  Unbelievably, she responded. She pressed her body against his and kissed him in return. His heartbeat rocketed in his chest, and he struggled to keep hold of his balance.

  She pulled away, but held a hand to his shoulder. To hold him back, presumably, but the contact of her fingers on his skin kept the circuit of energy racing between them. He glanced down at her fingers. Long, slender, pale. Strong. He wanted to lift them into his mouth and suck.

  “I’ve read romance novels like this.” Her voice was shaky. “Two strangers trapped together somewhere, getting it on. Every damn time the guy is an alpha, strong-arming the heroine. And she pretends not to like it, but she really does.”

  Lee covered her hand with his. “Am I strong-arming you?”

  “A little, just now.”

  “And you liked it?”

  Dannie shook her head. “I shouldn’t have.”

  “Huh.” He sat back. “I’m not really an asshole though.”

  “I know. You’re a social worker, for God’s sake.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Dannie smiled, clearly glad to have him on the defensive. “It means you’re a nice guy. You care about people.”

  Worse things could be said about a man. “That’s true.”

  “So you’re a beta.”

  “Seriously?” He made a stupid hangdog face,

  “Yeah. Sorry.” Dannie laughed. “I like you anyway.”

  “Do you now?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Dannie. Are you okay with all this? With what we—”

  “Oh, yeah.” She pulled loose and stretched out in front of the fire. “Why wouldn’t I be? I just had sex with a guy I met this morning. Typical Saturday.”

  Lee grinned. “Must be hard to keep our names straight after a while.”

  “Totally.” She wiggled her toes toward the heat. “So, Larry, tell me about yourself.”

  He lay down on his side and propped his head up on his hand. “I mean it, though. Are you okay with it?”

  “I don’t know.” Dannie looked away. “I don’t know if I’m okay with it. I feel a little idiotic, to be honest.”

  “Idiotic? Why?”

  “Well, you’re never going to ask me to prom now. I’m too easy.”

  He laughed. “Dannie. It’s true that I don’t know you that well yet. But one thing I know for damn sure is that you’re not easy.”

  “Thanks a million, fella.”

  “No. I didn’t mean it like that. I mean that you’re a complicated person. I don’t think I’ve even penetrated the surface yet.”

  “Ha.” She pushed him on the shoulder. “You said penetrated.”

  Lee shook his head. “Sex makes you a little punchy, I see.”

  She giggled. Actually giggled, like a teenage girl. It was the first crack he’d seen in her armor since she stood at the door. He liked it. He wanted it to open wider.

  “You know something, though?” Lee took her hand again, still smiling. “We are stuck here together. Nothing to do. Nowhere to go. And we’ve already done it once.”

  Dannie nodded, solemn. “Yes. Very true.”

  “So it wouldn’t really make much difference either way if we did it again, right?”

  She shook her head. “No. It wouldn’t.”

  “I don’t think you’re go
ing to feel idiotic this time, though.” Slowly, he stroked his thumb along her wrist.

  Dannie breathed in. The smell of firewood filled the room. Except for the flame in the fireplace, it was dark. “Why is that?”

  “Because.” He sat up and trailed his lips along her earlobe. Her shiver raced through him like sparks. “You’ll be too busy feeling other things. And listen.” He slid his free hand inside her shirt, from her hip to her ribs and down again. “I might not be an alpha in real life. But I can be one here, if you like that.”

  Dannie pulled way. “What do you mean?”

  He pressed his lips to hers, lightly, and tasted her. She was so fucking delicious it was all he could do not to throw her down on the ground and shove himself into her.

  She wouldn’t mind, he could see that. She was softening against him, melting, the heat coming off her in waves. He wanted to bury himself inside that fire.

  But they’d done that already, the first time. Too fast. He couldn’t help it and neither could she.

  But this time.

  This time he would control himself. He would slow it down. For her. So she could see what it felt like to truly relax. To open up.

  To open up for him and to him. To open up and let him in.

  “I mean we’re all alone here.” He held her hot gaze. “Nobody to hear us. Nobody to see. We can do whatever we want.”

  He brushed his mouth along her jawline, down the curve of her throat. “Before, you were quiet. You were holding back. Biting your lip. Trying to be silent. This time, I want to hear you. When I kiss you. When I touch you. Don’t hold back.” He slipped a palm lightly over her breast and she shuddered. “We have all night. I’m going to make you wet all over, Dannie. I’m going to make you beg me to let you come.”

  She sucked in a breath. He felt her shock, and her arousal. Her hesitation. He slid the pads of his thumbs in circles over her nipples.

  “I want you to scream for me. Do you want that?”

  Dannie trembled. She held still under his hands, indecision freezing her in place.

  “Tell me.” He pulled his hands away and she whimpered. The crack in her composure widened, and he pushed through it. He said again, through his teeth, “Tell me.”

  She gasped and closed her eyes. “I want you to make me scream.”

  “That’s right. Now take off your clothes.”