Emma woke in darkness. It was an odd sensation – not knowing where she was. She was warm and on a soft bed.

She snuggled deeper beneath the blankets, not wanting to wake up yet. It was quiet. Too quiet. She strained to hear the steady hum of her refrigerator. Silence.

She wasn’t at home.

Then she remembered being cold. So cold her bones felt frozen.

She shifted her ankle and felt the familiar pain.

Aiden. She was in Aiden’s cabin, but not on his couch. She peeked from beneath the blankets. No fireplace.

She was someplace different. Had he taken her back to her cabin?

No. Skylar had rented it out.

Please don’t let me be in his bed.

Her eyes tightly closed, she reached across the bed until she felt the other side. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was alone. Though she was still wearing his t-shirt and boxer shorts. They really were comfortable. Maybe she’d buy some boxer shorts to sleep in at home. The thought made her chuckle to herself.

Perhaps having hypothermia had addled her brain.

It was much too dark. There were no lights in the room and no moonlight.

Dammit. She needed to go to the bathroom. She climbed out of the bed, making sure to put as little weight on her ankle as possible. The floor was like standing on an ice rink. She felt around until she found her way to the door.

She opened the door and light from the fireplace flooded her eyes. Aiden was stretched out on the couch reading.

“Hey.” He jumped up and went to offer support. “Where are you headed?”

“Bathroom. What time is it?”

“It’s just after midnight.”

He led her toward the bathroom. “Do you always stay up this late?”

“Sometimes.” He left her at the bathroom door. “I’ll wait on the couch.”

Emma washed her hands and examined her face in the mirror. First thing tomorrow, she was taking a shower and washing her hair. Aiden must have put her toiletries bag in here. She brushed her teeth and washed her face. After running a brush through her hair, she felt almost human again.

Opening the door, she saw that Aiden wasn’t there. She walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa. She wasn’t sleepy anymore, but Aiden, it seemed had gone to bed.

She went to stand in front of the fireplace, mostly to warm her feet.

“Hey.” Aiden walked back into the room with a tray. “I brought some hot chocolate.”

She smiled. “You’re an awesome host.”

“Yeah, well. Don’t tell anyone. My reputation will be ruined forever.” He set the tray on the table and glanced at her. “Need some help?”

“I don’t think so.” She limped her way for a few steps and sat on the couch. “I won’t tell on you if you won’t tell Doc that I’m putting weight on my ankle.”

“Deal.” He handed her a cup of hot chocolate, the steam wafting from the mug, and sat next to her, close but not touching.

“Tell me again how you came to be here.”

Emma blew on the hot chocolate, took a tiny sip. “I’m a teaching assistant at the university in Pittsburgh. I teach an intro to wildlife biology class as part of my assistantship requirements. I wanted to get a real video that I could show them.”

She left out the part that really got her here. One of her students had raised his hand with a question no one had asked her before. I heard that there are shape shifters in Colorado. His question had reminded her of the conference presentation she and Henry had attended.

“So you came here.”

She shrugged. “I looked on the Internet, and I liked that your lodge is right at the foot of the mountains and that I could rent a cabin and hike from it.” She gestured to her foot. “Of course now, I won’t be hiking anywhere.”

“That’s unfortunate. I feel responsible.”

“You said that before. I don’t understand.”

He shook his head. “I guess I feel like I should have been there a few minutes earlier to prevent you from falling.”

She watched the fire and finished her hot chocolate. Her eyes felt heavy. “I should probably get back to bed.”

“I’ll help you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“I know. I’ll walk you to your door anyway.”

She made it to her door, turned to smile at him, and landed in his arms with a gasp.

He picked her up and carried her to the bed.

“Maybe the doctor had good advice after all.”

“So it seems. Can I take a look?”

“Sure.”

He checked the bandage, mostly by feel. There was only a shadow of light from the fireplace in the other room. He checked her toes. “Is it too tight?”

She shook her head. His fingers on her bare skin was almost more than she could bear.

He glanced at her, then gently massaged her toes. He took her other foot and lightly ran a finger along the bottom. Then he lightly massaged her foot, going deeper when she didn’t pull away. She leaned back and sighed.

Her eyes flew open when he put her big toe in his mouth and sucked, his tongue soft as it swirled against her skin. One by one, he sucked on each of her toes while massaging the bottom of her foot. She lay her head back against the pillow, tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

The feel of his lips on her toes set every nerve in her body on fire. His lips were soft and firm on her toes. This man whom she’d never even kissed had her body aching with need just by having his hands and mouth on her feet. It made her feel so… adventurous… and naughty.

She gasped when his hands and lips made a trail up her calves, then he kissed the backs of her knees. She shifted on the bed, her body on fire.

As he kissed the insides of her lower thighs, his hands slid beneath her boxer shorts and kneaded her bottom. She arched toward him, all logical thoughts locked out of her brain.

His lips moved up her thighs at a tortuously slow pace. Her hands fisted in the comforter.

He used his teeth to push aside her shorts and licked the inside of her thigh. She moaned.

Then his tongue was there, gently caressing her. He shifted and parted her knees while his tongue explored her crevices and folds. Then he was licking her again.

“Don’t stop.” She breathed. “Oh. My.” He knew just the right place. Just the right pressure.

His hands moved to her knees and spread her legs wide. Holding up her bottom, his tongue massaging her there, she orgasmed, and her world exploded into a million tiny shards of glass.

Aiden slid up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He pressed his lips against hers and kissed her as she shuddered in the aftermath of the orgasm.

As she came back to Earth, she lay quiet, too spent to move. Or speak. Or think. He whispered her name against her cheek and rocked her gently.

Emma was overcome with emotion. A tear slipped down her cheek. Then a second one landed against Aiden’s cheek.

“You’re safe.” He murmured.

Somehow he had intuited that she was feeling vulnerable.

It was too much to question.

Something like that just was.