CHAPTER 6
MELANIE
I woke up with my body curled up into the blankets of a huge bed. My hair was splayed across the pillows and I was finally warm. I lay there with my eyes closed and listened to the silence of the home, which struck me as odd. If the kids were up, shouldn’t there be some sort of noise?
Rolling over, I spotted a clock next to me. The red numbers flashed 5:32, and I groaned as I flopped back down onto the bed. Holy hell, I’d slept through dinner.
And through the night, at that. After the adrenaline of the accident and being forced to stay with a complete stranger – hot though he may be – left my body beyond exhausted. At least the charging cord had worked enough to let me call and talk to Dad.
I’d been pleasantly surprised that he’d sounded better than he had in a while. I’d reminded him to take his meds and stayed on the phone with him until he did. He had made some oatmeal while we talked and I had promised to call him again in the morning to check in on him.
I battled for a while between staying in the warmth of the bed and getting up to tame the hunger rising in my gut. My stomach was growling, but the blankets of the bed were so warm and soft against my skin. I was loathe to leave the coziness of my little cocoon.
Nevertheless, I finally got up and stretched. I’d slept in my clothes the previous night, just in case Evan hadn’t been telling the truth about not having a key to the room. Though I was reasonably sure I could trust him, my guard remained mostly up.
I wrapped my arms around my chest as I started down the hallway, and soon the smell of bacon and eggs was wafting up my nose. My stomach audibly growled, begging for the food I could smell.
I came down the hallway and rounded the corner to find Evan cooking. His massive form was standing at the stove while he tossed the eggs around in the pan, but I didn’t see the kids. There was a high chair at the table that had a bottle sitting out as well as a small plate of food, but there were no tiny people filling the spaces just yet.
“They’ll be up soon,” he said. “You hungry?”
I studied his hulking form as he cooked. The sight of him making breakfast and setting out food for the kids struck me as incredibly sweet. Though I was still a bit leery, I couldn’t help but admit that I was insanely attracted to him.
I hadn’t been with anyone in a long time, no one being able to break through the barrier I’d erected around myself the last few years. As I looked at him, my sorely neglected body reminded me just how much I had missed out on.
“I am,” I said, nodding. “Thank you.”
“I’ll fix you up a plate,” he said.
His voice was low and rumbling, and sexy as hell. It was powerful, but at the same time, gentle and quiet so as not to wake the children before they were ready. I sat down at the kitchen table as he made me a plate, my mouth drowning in saliva as my stomach readied itself for the food. He sat it in front of me as the steam rose to my nose, and I closed my eyes and inhaled the wonderful scent.
“This smells wonderful,” I said.
“Just some bacon and eggs. I’m about to make some toast. Juice or coffee?” he asked.
“Coffee would be great, thank you,” I said.
He went back to the kitchen and put bread in the toaster before grabbing a mug and pouring me some coffee. “Did you sleep okay? You must have been exhausted, you never came out for dinner,” he said, looking at me curiously.
I nodded as the coffee warmed me from the inside. “I guess I was. Once the adrenaline wore off, I was done for. I slept fine, thank you.”
He nodded. “Were you able to get ahold of your dad?” he asked me as he buttered the toast.
“I was, yes. I let him know where I am and that I’m okay,” I said, wanting to be sure Evan understood that someone knew where I was.
He glanced over at me and smiled. “Good,” he said.
“Has it stopped snowing yet?” I asked.
“It has, but it dumped quite a bit on us.”
“So, with the snow piled so high, when will the kids’ parents be back to get them?” I asked.
“Not for a while,” he said after a moment of hesitation.
“You said they’re your niece and nephew. Are they your brother’s kids or your sister’s kids?”
“Brother’s.”
His tone had changed the slightest bit, but I detected something in it that told me I had broached a sensitive subject. Not wanting to offend the man who had so far been nothing but gracious to me, I decided to let it go. I bit into my bacon and tried to stifle a moan as he set a small plate of toast next to me, then I watched him as he made his way down the hallway.
Studying him as he walked away, I took in the tightness of his muscles. His shoulders were broad and his ass looked like it was sculpted from marble. His thick thighs filled out the legs of his dark jeans rather deliciously, and his large, powerful hands swung easily at his sides.
Sensations I hadn’t let myself feel in a long time came bubbling to the surface. It had been so long since I’d desired physical contact with someone, the sensation hit me hard. I pressed my legs together to try and quell the growing ache. What the hell was wrong with me?
I heard Evan’s low voice coming from down the hall, followed by that of Liam’s high toddler pitch and Hadley’s soft cooing. I couldn’t help but smile. As unsure of himself as he seemed with his niece and nephew, it was obvious that he loved them very much.
Liam came careening down the hallway, stopping in front of me and giving me a big smile.
“Hi Menamie!” he said enthusiastically.
“Good morning Liam,” I returned as the child sat and happily dug into his food. “Why don’t you just call me Mel?” I said. “All of my friends do,” I winked and he giggled.
“Mew,” Liam said, his ‘l’ becoming a ‘w’.
“Exactly,” I said, smiling. “Is your breakfast good?”
“Mhm,” Liam said.
“And what about you?” I asked Hadley. “Is your breakfast good?”
She blew me wonderful spit bubbles filled with pureed foods, and I giggled at her reaction when they popped.
“Gotta be careful with those,” I said, as I picked up a napkin. “They’ll getcha every time.”
I wiped her face off before I finished the last of my breakfast. The kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, something that took me three cups of coffee to obtain. Evan stayed in the corner of the kitchen with his coffee as he watched us, a look I couldn’t quite discern on his face. I rose from the table and took my plate to the sink. “Why don’t you sit and eat, and I’ll clean the kitchen,” I offered.
He shook his head. “No, you don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind,” I said. “Think of it as repayment for taking me in.”
He sat down and began to eat while I started cleaning up the kitchen. I put all the dishes in the sink and ran some hot water over them to let them sit, and then I got Hadley out of her high chair. Liam was already running back to his room to play, so I put the little girl in her playpen, watching with a smile on my face as she started to play with her toys.
“They’re good kids,” I said.
“They are,” Evan said.
“How long have you lived up here?” I asked.
“Two years.”
“Do you enjoy it here?” I asked.
“The quiet was nice.”
My eyes locked on the back of his head as he continued to eat the plate of food.
“Well, I’ll make myself scarce then,” I said, slightly taken aback by his comment.
I ventured back toward the opening of the hallway just as a loud sigh emanated from behind me.
“That’s not what I meant,” he said.
“I don’t want to be a bother. And you said the snow’s let up, right?” I asked.
“But it’s deep. Very deep. The ditches will be full of snow. All the way to the top.”
“Which means no one will find my car,” I said.
“I have a snowmobile, but all four of us aren’t going to fit on it,” he said.
“It’s fine. I’ll figure something out.” I turned to head back to the room to check in on Dad.
“Mel?” I heard him call my name softly.
I turned my head toward him and caught him staring at me. The look in his eyes told me that he might be fighting the same feelings I was. That both terrified and intrigued me.
“I wasn’t implying that you were a bother,” he said, his eyes boring into mine. “I’ve just had a lot of changes in the past couple of years that I’m still adjusting to,” he said.
I nodded and offered him a smile. If anyone knew about adjusting, it was me. I continued down the hall and called my father.
The day wore on and I grew more comfortable as I watched Evan interact with the children. He laughed with them, played with them, and didn’t become immediately annoyed when they fussed. With each passing moment, he was becoming more and more attractive to me.
My dad still sounded good and assured me that he was eating. Luckily, I had just gone grocery shopping, and there was plenty of soup and lunchmeat to keep him fed until I could get home. He took his pills while on the phone with me again and told me he was going to take a nap.
Dinner had been served and cleared, and Evan was bathing the kids and getting them ready for bed as I cleaned up the kitchen. About half an hour later, he appeared from the hallway, looking exhausted.
“Man, those two wear me out,” he said.
I laughed and came to sit in front of the fire once again.
“Would you like a beer,” Evan offered as he threw another couple of logs into the fireplace.
“I’d love one, thank you,” I said.
He went into the kitchen and returned a moment later with two frosty bottles. I took a long pull of mine and closed my eyes, sighing.
He chuckled a bit, a sound that shook my knees and seemed to flip a switch within my gut.
“Tastes good, doesn’t it?” he asked.
I smiled and nodded. “It does,” I answered.
We sat in silence for a few minutes before I spoke again.
“It’s really beautiful out here,” I said.
“One of the reasons why I bought the place,” Evan said.
“Is this your permanent residence?”
“It is,” he said.
“Where were you living before that?” I asked.
“Los Angeles,” he said.
“That’s a very stark change,” I said. “Do you like it better here?”
“Oh, yes.”
It was the way he said it that caused me to turn my gaze toward him. He looked tired and haggard at the mere mention of the city, and I wanted to know what had happened. What had pushed him from a budding place like L.A. all the way to a cold and tiny place on the outskirts of Bozeman, Montana?
“Do you work?” I asked.
“Nope, not anymore,” he said, without further explanation. We sat there in relative silence as we both finished our beers. Our eyes were trained on the licking of the fire around the logs that were burning, though I was becoming more aware of how closely Evan had sat down next to me. He wasn’t at the far end of the couch anymore, but rather more toward the center of it.
I started wondering if he’d intentionally moved closer to me.
“Care for another?” he asked.
“Sure. I could go for one more,” I said.
I could feel my body loosening up a bit as the iron walls of my mind slowly came inching down. I snuggled deeper into the cushions but, as Evan sat even closer to me, my body went on high alert.
Part of me wanted to run, but another, larger, part of me wanted to lean into him.
“What did you do?” I asked. “When you were working, that is.”
“I.T.,” he said.
“Ah, so you’re a tech guy.”
“Of sorts,” he said, shrugging.
“Did you enjoy it?”
“A great deal, yes,” he said.
“Do you think you’ll ever go back to it?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?” I asked.
His eyes quickly flickered in my direction before he settled farther back into the couch with me.
“It’s just a part of my life that’s done,” he said. “Time to move forward.”
“I wish I was good at that.”
“What?”
“Moving forward,” I said.
His head slowly turned toward me and I could feel his gaze boring into the side of my face. I’d opened the door a crack and now I waited for him to want to peek inside.
“What keeps you from moving forward?” he asked.
I turned my gaze toward his and felt rooted to my seat by his eyes. I could see them more clearly now, and they were just beautiful. The dark brown was peppered with flecks of gold, lending a brightness to his face. My uneasiness was slowly beginning to dissipate.
“Well, right now? Those eyes of yours,” I said.
“My eyes?” he asked.
“They’re beautiful. And very intense. It’s hard to move beneath your gaze,” I said.
I brought my beer to my lips as I settled my sights back onto the fire. Whatever in the world had possessed me to say that to him? Though he had been nothing but hospitable to me the past two days, I still didn’t really know this man. Yet, I had just opened up to him more than I’d opened up to any guy in four damn years. Suddenly, I felt exposed.
“Well, thank you for the beers,” I said, breathlessly.
I stood up from the couch and felt Evan’s eyes follow my movements.
“I need to check in on my dad,” I said as Evan continued to sit silently studying me.
I set my beer on the coffee table and quickly made my way to the hallway. Once inside the bedroom, I closed and locked the door behind me and flopped down onto the bed. My emotions were at war inside me and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all.
The past four years of my life had been spent trying to forget, trying to move forward, but ultimately being stuck in one spot. Yes, I’d gone back and finished college. Yes, I’d kept up my friendships and I even occasionally went out. But when it had come to men and relationships, I’d closed that part of my life off.
I’d even convinced myself that I was fine with it. Something about Evan, though, was making me question my decision. Could I continue to live in fear? Did I want to? Did I want him to be the one to show me it was okay to trust again?
I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes and sighed deeply. One thing I did know, was that if I didn’t get out of this cabin soon, I was going to find out.
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