The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the fact that one…I was naked, and two…my head was splitting in half with the most enormously massive headache that I’d ever experienced in my entire life.

My memories started flooding back to me. The heavy rains. The lightning. The guns. Me drowning. I knew something bad had happened to me. The fact that I was alive told me that a tour guide or someone must have found me just in time.

I tried to speak, or scream, or yell…but the only thing that emerged from the depths of my throat was a faint and fizzled out crusty croak. I glanced around me. It appeared that I was in some kind of cabin or cottage or something. My vision was still blurry as I tried to gauge my surroundings with weary apprehension.

I knew I was out in the middle of nowhere in this small town, but why did this hospital room look like the interior of a home? Or was I even in a hospital?

As I blinked my eyes, the world around me began to get clearer and more focused. I saw a blazing fire in a fireplace that was crackling and popping as the logs hissed and burned. It seemed like a cozy environment, but I was frightened because I didn't recognize anything.

So much for keeping a low profile. I was always paranoid about something like this happening. I only had myself to blame for my own damn foolishness. I should have left my belt bag where it was and stayed with the group like the tour guide had warned.

The last thing I had remembered before waking up was the horrendous, bone tingling lightning. It had been so scary, trying to duck and dodge the jagged stripes pounding from the sky. Whatever this place was, I was thankful to have found a little shelter that could help keep me at least somewhat protected from the golf ball sized hail that was pouring out of the sky by the bucket loads. Even now I could hear the rain pounding against the rooftop.

As I glanced around and more of the world became centered, I gasped. A man was standing over me. He was wearing an angry expression. I could tell this by the way his brow furrowed. He was big and toned. Muscles covered every square inch of his body.

I sat up quickly and instinctively drew my knees up to conceal my naked body, which, I still hadn’t figured out why it was unclothed.

“Who are you?” he asked.

I jumped at the sound of his gruff voice. He spoke with a sexy Russian type of accent.

“I…um…” I fumbled.

“Who are you?” His voice roared through the room. There was a vein that pulsed and bulged in his neck.

“I’m…Alexis,” I squeaked. “Are you a…doctor?”

“No.”

“It was you,” I mumbled, as a stream of images hit me like déjà vu. “You saved me.”

“Alexis who?” he asked again.

He was profoundly intimidating, but he was so gorgeous that part of my psyche told me not to be afraid of him. I wasn’t sure what part of my brain I would listen to. I felt as if I just answered his questions and remained calm that he would let me live…and maybe even let me go.

“Alexis Mancini.” Why had I just told this stranger my real name? I didn’t understand why he seemed so suspicious of me.

“Mancini?” His gaze narrowed.

I nodded, diverting my gaze to the floor as he studied my face almost as if he was examining me.

“Italian?” he asked, leaning in closer. He smelled good too, like spicy cologne mixed with the outside fresh air.

“Yes. My dad was.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Um…” I stumbled over my words again. “I’m from…”

I wasn’t supposed to say anything. I wasn’t supposed to give strangers my real name. If someone found out who I really was, I’d have to start all over again in another city just like I’d been forced to do several times. I also feared the worse. I could end up dead like my parents.

I swallowed as a painful lump rose in my throat.

“Where?” He raised his voice again. “Who sent you?”

“Nobody!” I blurted out and shook my head. Tears stung my eyes, but I looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath so that he wouldn’t notice. “Nobody sent me. Look, why are you questioning me? Where am I?”

“You tell me where you came from and I’ll tell you where you are,” the man said.

“New York,” I mumbled.

It was only a partial truth. What I really was, was a nomad. New York might have been my home base, but could I really call it home? No, not really. I had been born and raised in Virginia, right outside of the D.C. area. After my parents got killed and I began flying all over the world though, things changed. I didn’t really have a place to plant roots.

“New York?” He narrowed his eyes again, but his tone was softer now. “What are you doing here in Arrow Lake?”

His voice was accusatory as if he didn't understand how the tourism world worked.

I sighed with relief. I was still in Arrow Lake. So, there was that, at least. I wasn’t off in some cabin in the woods in God knows where.

“I won a trip,” I said with a gulp.

“Trip?” His voice was smooth and sexy, even though he was towering over me with a domineering presence.

“Do you think I could get some…clothes?” I asked sheepishly. I felt the heat of humiliation rush to my cheeks.

“No.”

His eyes were as blue as the sky and pierced my soul in such a way that I trembled. His hair was a rich mahogany, the same color as his beard which looked like he hadn’t shaved in a week or so. He had a firm jaw and a hardened look that could scare anyone into submission.

My attention roamed to the cloth bandage he’d wrapped around my left ankle and heel. I must have hurt it when I had fallen as a sting of pain still lingered. I must have appeared to be like a hurt bunny because he quickly changed his demeanor even if it was only for a fleetingly brief instant.

“Here,” he said and threw a plaid blanket at me. “Cover yourself with this.”

“Thank you,” I said gratefully and draped the blanket over my body but not before I noticed how he was studying my body with affection and almost a lustful and hungry desire.

I couldn’t help it. I was naked, and the thought of sex rushed to the front of my mind. I couldn’t understand why I’d been thinking about sex so much lately. I quickly shook it out. I didn’t know this guy. He seemed dangerous, but that was a turn on too in my warped and confused state of mind.

“Now…tell me,” he stated again in the same gruff voice as he had before. “Who are you?”

“I already told you! My name is Alexis and I’m from New York. I won a trip through my work to come here for an all-inclusive paid stay at a nearby bed-n-breakfast.”

“What bed-n-breakfast?” He scoffed as if he didn’t believe such a thing could exist. I both hated and loved the way his eyes searched mine. It was like he was trying to undress me again from the inside out.

“Um…the one nearby. It’s called Lakewood Inn…I believe.” I scratched my head. I was stressed out and trying to remember everything that had happened since landing here last night.

“Lakewood? You’re far away from your hotel,” he said.

“You know where the hotel is?”

He said nothing, but by the look he returned, I could tell that he knew exactly which hotel I was talking about. Thank God.

“Can you get me back there?” I asked eagerly.

“There’s a storm.”

“After the storm? Can you…?”

“You said you won a trip from work,” he said, ignoring my question. “Who do you work for?”

“Jet Stream Airlines,” I stated quickly. “Please, I need to go back. I’ll miss everything. I’ll miss my flight out of here.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he stated flatly.

Neither one of us spoke after that statement. The only sound between us was the fire crackling. It was romantic, scary and sexual at the same time. I didn't understand why I felt so drawn to him. Was I his prisoner? I didn't have answers. He had been the one probing all the questions, but I had a few of my own for him that I needed to unearth.