Kara

 

Kara collapsed into the easy chair across from Ryder. It’d taken just about every bit of her strength to get him onto the couch. The man was built as solid as a tank and moving his limp body had felt to her like dragging three big, tied-together sacks of rice.

 

Kara glanced around the cabin as she caught her breath. It was a spacious place, though she couldn’t make out many of the interior details through the dark. Outside of the windows, she saw that the snow was coming down in wild angles. She sighed, realizing just how happy she was to get out of the weather.

 

Maybe there’s a generator or something, she thought, feeling refreshed enough to look around the place. Kara fumbled through the dark, heading towards the kitchen. Once there, she checked the drawers one by one, eventually finding a flashlight. She flicked it on and a bright beam of yellow light cut through the darkness of the cabin. Pulling her coat tight once again, she prepared to head outside to check around the property.

 

The snow had somehow gotten even worse, and Kara had to fight through the wind as she looked around. Finally, on the other side of the cabin, she spotted a small, fenced-in area covered by a steel overhang. Looking over into the area, she saw that there was a small generator. It was nothing fancy, but likely big enough to power the cabin. She stepped over the fence, squatted down in front of the generator, and checked the fuel, seeing that it was nearly full. She flicked the power on and pressed the starter, the machine rumbling to life.

 

Relief washed over her as the lights around the property flicked on. Moments later, she was back in the cabin and pulling off her scarf and coat. She was more than ready to be inside for a long while.

 

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Kara took stock of the place. All things considered, it was a pretty homey little setup. The place was one big room, with a small hallway leading to presumably a bedroom or two. Near the couches was a large fireplace, and a long farmer’s table dominated the other half of the room. Three tall bookshelves packed with colorful spines lined the left wall, a high-backed reading chair in front of them. A big desk that looked to be handmade out of wood was tucked in the corner. The place struck Kara as the second home for an academic, the type of person who enjoyed getting away from people for a long while to hunker down with his books and work.

 

Hopefully, he’s not thinking the same thing about spending the storm at the cabin, she thought.

 

Glancing around, Kara spotted a black steel teakettle. Filling it with water, she set it to boil, gathering a mug and some tea. Despite being warmer than the outside, there was still a chill in the air, and Kara found herself warming her hands over the stove’s open flame for a several moments before making her way to the fireplace. Luckily, there was plenty of wood—more than enough for the two of them for the night. Kara packed the fireplace full and used a nearby lighter to set it all ablaze. Moments later, a fire roared, the house growing warmer by the second.

 

Then, Kara’s eyes settled on Ryder. His face was smeared with blood, and his clothes were soaked with it. She winced as she watched him shift and smear more red on the couch, picturing in her mind some gray-haired professor coming into his cabin for some post-semester relaxation and finding a scene that looked like someone had stuck a pig in his living room.

 

Kara grabbed a washcloth and squatted down in front of Ryder, wiping the blood off of his face. As she cleaned more and more of it off, she couldn’t help but notice just how incredibly handsome he was. Ryder’s hair was a short, dark buzz. His eyes were a startling green that were brilliant even though they were barely opened. His nose was slim but strong, and his lips were full and looked as kissable as they came. He had a wide, manly jawline dusted with a few days’ worth of stubble. Once all the blood had been cleared away, she found herself staring at him, entranced by his rugged good looks. And thankfully, he seemed unharmed on the head other than the scuff on his forehead.

 

Focus, girl, she thought to herself as she headed back to the sink to ring out the washcloth.

 

Returning to Ryder, she realized that she was going to have to strip this guy down and assess the damage.

 

“Just gonna ... get you kind of naked here,” she said, slipping her hands under his leather jacket and pulling it off over his shoulders. “Sorry.”

 

Ryder moaned, his eyes still only open just a bit. Once his jacket was off, Kara saw that there were a few fist-sized splotches of blood here and there on his white, skin-tight V-neck T-shirt. And she could also see that his arms were covered down to the wrists with winding, intricate tattoos. Taking his shirt by the bottom hem, she pulled it slowly up over his torso. Ryder let out a slight moan of pain, a gruff, throaty noise that actually had the unexpected effect of making Kara think of sex. She shook the idea out of her head as she pulled the shirt off over his head.

 

Speaking of sex, Kara nearly stumbled backward when she took off Ryder’s shirt. To say that he was “muscular” would be an understatement. The man, she realized, was positively shredded. His muscles were toned and sculpted, and not a single trace of fat could be spotted anywhere on his body. And the tattoos continued onto his torso, a large skull on one pectoral and some intricate, exotic-looking design on the other. Kara had to stand up and take it all in, realizing that this was about the best damn looking man she’d ever seen in her life.

 

Too bad about the tattoos, she thought, looking over the designs. Not really my thing.

 

That’s what she told herself, at least. Deep down, however, she felt herself more than a little intrigued by the aura of danger that they gave Ryder.

 

She went back to work with the washcloth, wiping away the blood and getting Ryder cleaned up. As she removed the blood, she saw, to her relief, that there weren’t any major wounds, just a few deep-ish cuts here and there—nothing like the stab wounds or protruding ribs that she was expecting. He seemed like he was in quite a bit of pain, but Kara figured that he likely just had a broken rib or two. The frostbitten skin was already starting to return to normal, and she let out a shudder at the idea of what might’ve happened had she not found him when she did. But nothing that she could spot looked life-threatening, and she, in her amateur opinion, decided that he just needed some rest and maybe some food.

 

So she set off to find something to make. As she rummaged through the kitchen, however, Kara couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder, stealing glances at the gorgeous man just a handful of feet away.