An hour later, Nadia luxuriated in the bubbling hot tub. She had eaten and taken a shower, something she had not realized how much she missed until the steamy water hit her skin. She had dropped her letters for Maria in the mailbox just as the mail truck stopped by. She had called her assistant to make sure the meeting was still on between her team and Perry Evans, and she had left a message for her father to let him know she was safely back at the cabin.

She nuzzled Lincoln’s neck and snuggled closer as the water floated them to arousal. He was freshly shaved, and smelled like soap. His wavy hair was clean and silky, it glistened in the sunlight. She sighed with contentment. The only thing missing was Perry; he was somewhere inside the house.

When they locked eyes, Nadia shivered at the obvious affection she saw in Lincoln’s gaze. “Cold?” he asked, pulling her closer.

“No, just thinking. I can’t stand the thought of us saying goodbye at the end of the week. But, my father…”

“Forget what your father wants. What do you want?”

Smiling with regret, she let her hand trail over his muscular chest, down to his smooth, hard erection. “We both know you can’t always get what you want,” she whispered. He eased her astride his cock, pushing inside of her with a soft exhale.

“That doesn’t stop us from craving. What do you want, Nadia Marson?”

His lips coasted over her mouth. She hitched in a breath at the tantalizing coils of pleasure tightening as he began moving with unhurried thrusts. He glided in and out of her satiny pussy, and he stroked a fire to life. She wrapped her arms around his neck and bracketed him between her legs.

She chose to ignore the question. Tried to ignore his questing eyes. But she could not ignore his undemanding kisses. She let the water rock her in his arms and bring her against his sexy hard body. His manhood plumbed her depths. His lips coasted over her mouth again, and she hitched in a breath as a hint of vulnerability flitted across his face.

“Say it,” he said quietly.

“You know what I want.”

She gripped him tighter. He buried his fingers in the hair at the base of her skull, and his burning mouth skimmed over the pale mounds of her breasts. “I want to hear it,” he whispered.

Melting in ecstasy, Nadia let her head loll back. What would happen if she caved in? She could tell him she wanted him. She wanted Perry. They had no chance, but she wanted them. In fact, she was falling in love with them, but she could not say that.

“I want this,” she whimpered.

“Then, we do whatever it takes,” he said. “I don’t want to lose you. How do either of you expect me to give this up?”

Her body molded to his, and everything he said made sense. But she knew it was the foolish kind of sense that was only reasonable in the heat of the moment. With a growl of rapture, he clasped her hips and drove her up and down on the long, hard spear of his cock. As the sex intensified, the water splashed over the edge of the tub.

They writhed together, locked in bliss, but she struggled to understand what he was trying to say. So, he did not want to ‘give this up.’ In the woods, he had said he cared about them. Perry had said it, too. Neither of them had mentioned the L-word. Love. She had too much at stake to risk it all for a good time. But, damn, isn’t it good, she thought.

Suddenly, Nadia’s insides quaked in release. “Lincoln! Yes!” she cried out. Lincoln remained buried to the hilt, and the intensity her climax took him over the edge. He went stiff, shuddered. She felt his orgasm blossom in her garden.

“Oh, my God!” he gasped. “Nadia!”

He buried his face in the crook of her neck and squeezed her close as he poured out everything he had to give. She went limp in his arms, sated. Even as they recovered, she did not want to move. She rested her head on his shoulder and listened to him breathe, felt his heart beating against her chest. Her throat burned with unshed tears.

“You have a career to get back to in LA, and Perry needs to get Survive Anything on track. You know my situation. With everything at stake, why would we fight to keep this going?” she whispered.

Lincoln leaned back and looked her in the face. “Because we’re in love with each other, Nadia.”

Nadia studied him closely to see if he was just saying what she wanted to hear, but he looked serious. The house phone rang before she could ask further questions. “Perry will get it,” she murmured. It was a bad time for interruptions. No one moved inside the house, however. Nadia half-rose and peered through the patio door.

“Is he in there?” Lincoln asked as the phone rang again.

“I’ll go check.” She got out of the hot tub and grabbed a fluffy towel from a hook on the cabin wall. She slipped inside where the heater and fireplace warmed the room to a comfortable temperature. Perry was nowhere in sight. She absently picked up the phone, taking one last look around. “Hello?”

“Nadia?”

“Dad! Hey, I called you an hour or two ago. We made it back to the cabin. We came in early.”

“Yes, I got your message,” said Wilson Marson. “In fact, I was pleased to hear you came in early. I took the liberty of arranging a car service to pick you up. You’ll be at the airport by later this evening and home before morning.”

“No, I think you misunderstood me, Dad. I have another week left before the training course is over. We agreed I can stay here until it’s done.”

“Nadia, what’s one week going to change? I need you at the lab. I’ve already made arrangements. You’re coming home.”

Nadia stood her ground, thinking of Lincoln’s confession in the hot tub. “No, I’m not. I can’t. I’m thinking about investing in a business venture with my instructor.”

“Excuse me? You’ve been out there two weeks with him, and you’re ready to throw money at him?” Wilson said in disbelief.

Nadia explained, “Perry’s survival training course doesn’t have the reach it could have if he packaged it in television format. The other student, Lincoln Easley, happens to know a thing or two about how the entertainment industry works. I want to help. I know I can do this. You just have to…trust me.”

“You will not have my backing on this. I raised you better than this. I raised you to be smarter than this.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat and fought tears. “Cancel the car service. I’ll—I can make my own way home when I’m good and ready.” She dropped the phone into the cradle with a dejected sigh. She had stood up to her father, and it felt exactly like she thought it would. Like defeat.

* * *

Lincoln tucked a towel around his hips and limped into the house. The therapeutic effect of the hot tub had taken away some of the pain in his ankle, but he was grateful for a soft couch and a warm fire. He slumped on the sofa and turned on the television.

The news channel filled the room with the cautious voice of a meteorologist. He raised a brow and increased the volume. “…Everyone in our viewing area to take this weather event seriously. We’ll see extremely heavy snow and damaging winds beginning tomorrow.”

“Nadia,” Lincoln called out. “Is he in here?”

She appeared at the living room door, eyes sad and weary. “No, I don’t think so. He must’ve gone somewhere while we were in the hot tub, probably to town to pick up some supplies.”

“Watch this,” Lincoln gestured at the forecast.

The meteorologist stood before a map covered in blue and purple. A split-screen showed a city blanketed by a few feet of snow, and the image transitioned to cars slowly crawling along an icy highway past a bad pile-up. Nadia crossed her arms and moved closer with a frown.

Lincoln shook his head in dismay as the meteorologist continued, “A wintry mix of rain and snow has already developed to the west, but we’re seeing a low-pressure system rapidly intensifying to our south, meaning this weather will stall right over much of our viewing area. Authorities are telling residents to stay inside.”

Nadia gestured at the television. “What’s that mean for us?”

“I don’t know, but I hope we have enough food and firewood. We’re gonna be stuck in here for a while. Maybe Perry saw it coming and got out to restock.” Lincoln made his way to the guestroom to get dressed. She followed him, sitting at the foot of his bed, watching with curious brown eyes.

“I’m glad I just turned down a flight home from my dad.”

“What about the job offer?”

She rubbed her temple and looked away with a tired sigh. “You said yourself that we have to do whatever it takes. I told him about the television idea for Perry, and he immediately assumed I was blowing my money on a shitty investment.”

Lincoln hummed sympathetically as he settled beside her. “Reminds me of how my parents reacted when I told them I wanted to go to Hollywood.”

“I’m scared,” Nadia admitted. “Without my dad’s support, I’ll go broke before I can do anything substantial to help Perry. I was honestly counting on him to lend his support.”

“He’ll come around,” said Lincoln. “And, if he doesn’t, don’t worry about it. We have a plan. We know this isn’t a bad investment. Prove it to your father and remember, you’re not alone in this.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I needed it.” She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and inhaled the scent of his cologne, comforted by his words. “Now, come on. We have to prepare for this bad weather. The last time I ignored a storm warning, I ended up stranded in a category three hurricane.”

“I wonder when Perry will make it back,” Lincoln mused aloud.

While they waited for him, they took stock of what was in the kitchen pantry. There was a modest supply of nonperishables, but not enough to last more than a few days. It made Lincoln nervous, but he tried to hide the fact.

“Well, there’s a gas range, at least…in case the power goes out,” Nadia noted.

“You want to look around and see if you can find oil lamps or candles? We don’t want to be stuck in the cold and dark when the lights go out.”

“God, I hope it doesn’t get that bad,” Nadia murmured.

“I’ll go make sure there’s enough firewood,” he called out.

The temperature had already begun dropping and the wind was picking up. The sky was a shade of mottled grey that promised heavy snow. Lincoln noticed a neat stack of logs against the side of the cabin and another pile that needed splitting. He grabbed the ax and got to work, but his mind was on Perry’s whereabouts.

The Jeep was still in the garage, he noticed. Perry could not have gone to town. Lincoln glanced at the kitchen window where he saw Nadia refilling a rustic old lamp from a bottle of lamp oil. He decided not to tell her about his growing concerns regarding their instructor.

Lincoln shaded his eyes and gazed up the mountainside. Don’t tell me he went back up to pick a fight with Rick. He swung the ax again. The sharp blade connected with a thwack, and two roughly equal halves of wood tumbled to the cold, hard ground. He pushed himself to work faster.

About an hour later, a light drizzle started up, and Lincoln’s uneasiness skyrocketed. Perry still was not back. Nadia was in the cabin with limited food and resources, and he had a sprained ankle. The situation was getting serious fast.

* * *

Perry entered the cabin followed by a blustery gust of snow. The blazing fire sputtered in the fireplace as icy wind ripped through the room. Perry slammed the door behind him.

“Fuck!” he swore, shivering. When he turned around, Lincoln hugged him like he had been gone a thousand years. Perry’s eyes widened in surprised pleasure, and he slowly wrapped his arms around him. “Nice to see you, too.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Lincoln countered, pushing away. “We were worried sick! I thought you were stuck in the goddamned blizzard. I even called nine-one-one, but they told me first responders were only coming out for emergencies.”

“I was, uh…” Perry shrugged out of his coat and eased the gloves from his fingers, face burning from the cold. “I was with the park rangers.” He ambled to the fireplace to work the chill out of his bones. Nadia trailed him, clasping his hands in hers.

“You’re damn near frozen,” she whispered. Her warm touch delivered comfort as she traced his cold palms. she ushered him to the loveseat. Lincoln settled beside him, while she took the armrest.

Perry studied them, realizing they both looked like the strain of trying to figure out where he had gone had taken a toll on them. He regretted leaving without telling them. He simply had not expected things to go the way they had gone.

“We were worried you went after Rick,” Lincoln said.

“I was halfway there,” Perry admitted. “Then, one of the park rangers spotted me and told me about the snow storm. Rick had broken camp already. We had no way to hear about the changing conditions since he stole our gear, but he knew the weather was about to take a turn for the worse.

“We’re talking a storm of the century. Last time we got weather like this, the power went out region-wide, roads were closed for days, and people died. Apparently, deputies are going door-to-door, telling people in isolated pockets like this one to evacuate.”

“It sounds like you’re saying that heartless bastard Rick Feldman tried to get us killed,” Lincoln said.

Perry furrowed his brow, having considered the same thought. “I say we refrain from speculating about Rick’s motives. The bottom line is, I called the sheriff and told him what Rick did to us. We’ll let the authorities deal with that problem. Now, we have a new problem. It’s too late for the three of us to leave here by Jeep. The snow is coming, and it’s dark. We have to ride out the storm.”

“We checked the pantry. I don’t think we have enough food for a long stay,” Lincoln murmured.

“We have at least enough for a week,” Perry pointed out.

Nadia waved her hands and marched over to the house phone. “I can have a helicopter get us out of here.”

“No one will fly in this weather.” The phone fell into the cradle with an ominous click, and Nadia crossed her arms and gnawed on her plush bottom lip fearfully. Perry was unnerved, too, but they could handle this.

He gravitated to the patio door and peered out, noting that someone had transferred the firewood from outdoors to indoors. Perry was grateful one of them had taken the initiative. Nadia’s mouth straightened in a firm, resolute line as she stepped up beside him.

“Tell me one thing, and be straight with me,” she said. “How worried should we be?”

“If it was up to me, I’d get you two out of here fast as lightning, but it’s not up to me. We’re in it for the long haul. So, we’ll run the heater while we have power and conserve the firewood as much as possible. We’ll go easy on our food and water.” Perry managed a rueful half-smile. “But we’ll be fine. I promised I’d teach you how to survive anything. We can survive this.”

“Then, what’s the game plan?” she asked.

Perry turned away from the storm raging beyond the frosted glass and led his charges to the kitchen. “We continue with business as usual,” he said. “Our last week of coursework centers on self-defense training. We’ll start that tomorrow. Tonight, we take a break. I think we could all use some down time. Who’s up for a dinner of something other than coon, rabbit or squirrel?”

Some of Nadia’s fearfulness faded away as he took charge of the situation. The art of distraction was working. Perry helped Lincoln get dinner started while Nadia searched the pantry for hot cocoa. When she was out of earshot, Lincoln leaned close and whispered, “How long do you think we’ll be stuck here?”

“Once the snow stops, I have a snowmobile in the barn to take you guys back to town. I say we enjoy this little time to ourselves.” They locked eyes, and Perry saw the spark ignite. Lincoln knew exactly what he was talking about. Hot chocolate and even hotter nights in a cabin in the snow-blanketed woods. It sounded like bliss.