The snow whipped around us, the wind howling as we slowly made our way towards the cabin. It wasn’t a huge distance from where the truck was across the flat area of hilltop to the cabin, but in that weather, it took us close to twenty minutes to get there.

The door shuddered, creaking as Dane grunted and slammed his shoulder into it. He tried again, pulling back and then crashing into it as the old building groaned and shook.

“Hang on.”

I held up my hand as I slipped past him. My hand found the old rusty knob, and I twisted. The door opened with a loud, angry creak.

I grinned, turning to stick my tongue out at Dane, who sat there shaking his head.

“Cute.”

“Aww, bruised ego?”

“No, shoulder.”

I giggled as I made an exaggerated sweep with my hand for him to step inside. “After you, princess.”

“Very cute,” he growled his hand swatting my ass and making me laugh as he stepped past me into the dark, cold cabin.

Okay, the place was a disaster. I mean, there were four walls, mostly, and a roof that didn’t seem to be collapsed. But, one of the windows was blown out with a heap of snow on the floor under it. There were some holes in the walls too, with the wind whistling through them. But, again, it was four walls and a roof. And nice big stone fireplace too.

“Hey, this might work!” I glanced around, rubbing my hands over my arms. We’d bundled up as best we could for the hike over, but all I was wearing was two pairs of sweatpants and some waffle-knit long underwear beneath that. The hike over had soaked me through, and I could start to feel the wind against the wetness of my clothes.

“Might,” Dane muttered, glancing around as he set down the huge camping backpack he’d brought with us.

“If there’s no wood for that fireplace or to board up some of these holes, the truck might actually be a better shot.”

I wandered into the kitchen, glancing into the half-open fridge to find an old birds nest. The cupboards were also bare, until I opened the very last one, above the stove, and grinned.

“Well, there’s this?”

The bottle of whiskey looked ancient, and Dan chuckled as he took. “That’s one way to keep warm.”

He glanced past me out the kitchen window, and grinned.

“Hang tight for one sec.”

Five minutes later, a frozen, snow-covered Dane came traipsing back inside with an arm-full of flat, worn boards.

“There’s an old back deck on this place that’s falling apart.” He shrugged. “Perfect size for boarding up windows and walls and starting fires if you ask me.”

I shivered, nodding. “So, here or the t-t-truck?” I chattered out.

Dane’s brown furrowed and he dropped the wood before storming over to me. He shrugged his coat off even as I protested and wrapped it around me before hugging me tight in his big strong arms.

“Here. I’m not going to have you catch pneumonia trekking back to the truck tonight. Here, sit. Wrap up tight.”

He sat me down on the threadbare couch in front of the empty fireplace.

“Let’s get you warm.”

***

Half an hour later, I felt my shoulder slowly relax as the heat melted through me. Dane had a fire roaring in the big stone fireplace, and he was almost done nailing boards over the last holes in the wall. And with the fire going and the lack of wind whipping through the place, the cabin was actually quickly becoming toasty and warm.

The hammering stopped, and I looked up to see Dane nod at his own work as he stepped away from the last boarded up hole.

“Hey, you,” I crooked a finger at him. “Come here and get warm.”

He grinned as he strolled over, those piercing eyes of his sending an extra shiver of heat through me. God, we were still basically strangers. We’d known each other for a whopping twenty-four hours. And yet, he felt like a part of me. Being with Dane felt like being home, and even if I knew that was insane, I knew it was true.

He grabbed the bottle of whiskey I’d found off the mantle above the fireplace and slid under the blankets with me. The fire cracked in front of us, snapping and throwing off heat that filled the small cabin. Dane cracked the bottle and took a sip before passing it my way, and when I drank down the fiery booze and felt it warm me from the inside out, I snuggled close to him.

“I’m so glad you were able to book this place for our romantic mountain lodge getaway.”

Dane snorted, shaking his head as he took the bottle from me.

“Oh this place? Yeah, highly exclusive. I paid extra for the lack of food and holes in the wall.”

I giggled as I leaned in and kissed his shoulder.

“So, now what?”

He sighed, nodding solemnly as he gazed into the fire and slid his arm around me. “Now we wait for the storm to settle down and see if we can dig the truck out. Maybe see if we can get back on a road, if they’re even passable right now and find a way down.”

“And where are we?”

“Place called Blackthorn Mountain.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, I just know it was a shortcut to…” He scowled, shaking his head.

“To Mr. Black.”

Dane growled, his teeth flashing.

“Okay, so we get ourselves out of here and then…?”

“And then we go somewhere,” he growled quietly. “Somewhere where no one can find us?”

“Like the people you work for?” I said quietly.

Dane tensed, looking deeply into the fire.

“I don’t work for them,” he muttered, shaking his head. “I mean, I do, here and there. But not like that. The whole bring you to…” He growled. “That isn’t what I do. I don’t smuggle people, Holly.”

I nodded slowly, pulling close to him and feeling the heat of him and of the fire wash over me.

“It started when I was in the Marines,” Dane said quietly. “When we were over there, I saw all the shit going on and all the people it was destroying that had nothing to do with it. And both sides were doing it — us and them. Villages bombed, wells poisoned, crops burned. People lost their ability to survive just because some terrorist asshole picked their village to hide in. The drones would come in and level the place, and those people who survived would have nothing.”

He swore, taking a drink of the whiskey.

“I didn’t know…” I whispered, my fingers entwining with his.

“I know you didn’t,” he said quietly, turning and kissing me. “But I want you to know this, because I want you to know me.”

I kissed him again, letting my lips linger on his and tasting the whiskey on his lips as the storm raged outside and the fire crackled in front of us.

“These people didn’t deserve to die or watch their kids die just because a war picked their country to play out in. But, you know, they’re the ‘enemy.’ That’s how we’re supposed to see them. But, no way. Not the ones I knew or saw. They just wanted to live. And I couldn’t let them die like that, not when it was our bullets blasting into their lives.”

“So what’d you do?”

“I started bringing people things they need to survive. Medicine, food, water. It was against the rules, big time. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I started getting good at hiding stuff when I left base — first in my own clothes and body armor, and then bigger loads in hidden places on trucks and Humvees. I got real good, until a guy in my squad ratted me out after I wouldn’t give him a cut. Motherfucker thought I was making a profit and wanted in. I told him to go fuck himself, and the next day…”

Dane growled, his body tightening as he kicked at a bit of wood on the ground, knocking it into the flames.

“The next day, I was arrested, court martialed, dishonorably discharged, and sent home.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, squeezing his hand.

“It is what it is.” He smiled. “Turns out, one of the officers on base was cousins with Angelo, and when I got back, that’s what I ended up doing. Smuggling for the family. Guns, drugs, cash.” His brow furrowed. “But never people. Never women, Holly.”

“I know,” I said softly. “But hey, on the bright side, you got me.”

He grinned, and suddenly, I watched that storm cloud blow away from him. He turned, his eyes fierce and hungry, and I giggled as he suddenly pulled me into his lap.

“Damn right I did,” Dane growled. “And I’m not ever letting you go, just so you know.”

“I think that works for me,” I breathed.

“So what’s your story? How the fuck did you end up in the back of my truck?”

I looked down, taking a deep breath before I finally looked back up and told him everything. And when I was done, his face was furious, his mouth tight.

“What a piece of fucking trash,” he growled. His hands tightening on me possessively, sending this thrill of heat through me.

“Any man who does that? Any man who trades his woman like she’s an object is no man at all.”

“Uh, yeah. Seconding that.”

Dane shook his head. “This Tony have a last name?”

My brow perked. “Why, so you can go kick his ass?”

“I was thinking more ‘throw his ass off a fucking building after I cut his balls off with a rusty fork,’ but yeah, sure.”

I grinned, wrapping my arms around Dane’s neck and leaning into him. “Protecting my honor?”

He grunted. “That and the idea of that prick putting his hands on you makes me want to cut his off.”

I laughed, melting into him as our lips brushed together. “Well maybe you could start with putting your hands all over me.”

Dane growled under me. “That I can do.”

I moaned as his mouth pressed to mine, kissing me slow and deep and taking my breath away. I’d never in my life met a man like him, and now that I’d found him, I never wanted this to end.

He pulled back, and I looked up, past him, to the big window set into the wall behind the couch.

“Oh, wow.”

The clouds had cleared a little, and suddenly, I saw exactly why someone had gone and built a cabin up here on top of this mountain in the middle of nowhere.

Holy shit.

“Dane…”

He turned, and he slowly whistled

“Well damn.”

The view was spectacular. The whole valley and mountain range was laid out before us with the sun setting low over the horizon. Oranges and reds and purples dyed the snow and the trees in magical colors, and it felt like we were on top of the whole world as we sat there looking out.

“We could just stay here,” I said quietly. “I mean instead of running somewhere to escape them. We just say here and make this our home.”

“It does have a pretty fucking great view,” he murmured.

I smiled, but when I turned back and saw his eyes on me and not the sunset, I blushed. “Smooth talker.”

He grinned, kissing me before he looked past me. “What do you think that is?”

I followed his gaze, looking out at this little round patch of flatness right outside the back door to the cabin. Like a little circle ringed in a low little fence, covered in snow.

“No idea?”

Dane nodded slowly. “You know what? It’s a water trap. Whoever lived here probably cut a side-channel off a stream or made some sort of rain collection for fresh water up here.”

“So you’re saying our weekend retreat has an outdoor hot tub?”

He arched a brow. “I’m saying it’s a giant pool of frozen fucking water.”

I wagged my brows, grinning at him, and suddenly, he got what I was thinking.

“Oh, fuck no.”

“C’mon!” I giggled, jumping off his lap. “It’ll be fun! Real quick, in and out, and then back in here to warm up.”

Dane shook his head. “Not a fucking chance. How much of that whiskey have you had?”

I laughed, turning and slowly peeling my shirt off. I tossed it back to him, glancing over my shoulder and winking at him as I peeled my dry sweats off and kicked them away. I wiggled my bare ass at him, and when I heard him growl lowly behind me, I shivered heatedly.

“What are you, chicken?”

Dane eyed me. “No, I just like my dick not frostbitten.”

“I can think of a few ways to warm it up after we get back inside,” I purred, biting my lip as I turned and cocked a hip. “Unless maybe you’re just a pussy?”

Dane’s jaw tightened, and I shivered as the grin spread over my face.

Oh, that did it.

I screeched as he lunged to his feet, kicking his clothes away before darting to grab me. And I was still giggling as he ran out outside with me in his arms, both of us buck naked, shivering, and laughing. Dane used a rock to smash the ice, and we stopped for one second on the edge of the pool, looking at each other in the glowing dim of the sunset.

This was wild. This was totally insane. But, he made me insane. He made me want to do crazy things. He made me never want to leave his side.

…He made me want to take the leap of faith and take the plunge. And that’s exactly what we did.