Chapter Three

Jake

I realized it was going to be a long walk back to the lodge. The woman was short, like really short. When the snow started dumping, I had sent Casper home. It would be too deep for him and I wasn’t going to risk losing him. The dog was smart and listened well. I knew he would be waiting for me when I returned. The woman, on the other hand, I doubted her legs were much longer than my dog’s.

Looking at the woman standing there, freezing in her ridiculous get up, I was irritated. She was dressed for a spring hike in the woods, not a blizzard. The snow was going to be a real bitch for her to walk through. Not to mention, she was likely already bordering on hypothermia. Thankfully, she wasn’t one of those skinny little things and had some meat on her bones to help insulate her body.

I shook my head again, realizing that walking to the lodge was not feasible and hoping that someone could grab a sled and haul her ass back up there.

“Gabe,” I said into my radio.

“Here.”

“Got her.”

“Good job. I’ll head back to our rendezvous point.”

“See you there.”

When I shone the flashlight in her direction, I could see her looking at me, disappointment on her face. I wasn’t sure what had her disappointed and I didn’t really give a shit.

“We need to move,” I said in a loud voice, making sure she heard me before setting off back the way I had come.

“You don’t have a snowmobile?” she asked in a terse voice.

“No, I don’t have a snowmobile,” I replied, irritably.

It was a stupid question. Why would I be walking if I had a damn snowmobile? We didn’t use snowmobiles in case we ran over the missing person or missed their call for help. If she wanted to tell me how to rescue her, she could damn well go sit back in the snow.

“Oh, well, that sucks,” she snapped.

I shot her a glare, but didn’t bother responding. I wasn’t going to get into a war of words with her. I wanted to get my ass home and she needed to get out of the weather.

The woman trailing along beside me was struggling to keep up. I could feel the frustration coming off her in waves. I glanced over to get a better look at her. She was built. I could see the curves and knew some of what I saw could be blamed on the snow gear, but she wasn’t exactly wearing the warmest coat or pants for the cold. The flimsy Gortex jacket she was wearing wasn’t designed for cold weather. It was thin and hugged her body. I had noticed the straining zipper over her breasts and imagined she was at least a D-cup. The perfect size for me to bury my face in.

I wasn’t going to apologize for noticing, either. I was a boob man, the bigger the better. Actually, I was a tits and ass kind of guy. I hated the skinny, waif-thin women who trotted around on legs that looked as if they would snap in a strong wind. I liked my women with some substance. More cushion for the pushin,’ I mused. When I was thrusting deep inside a woman, I didn’t want a hip bone jabbing me.

My mind was going places it had no business being and I wasn’t even sure why. I didn’t consider myself an overly-horny man, but one look at her wide hips had triggered something inside my brain. She elicited a sexual response that surprised me.

“I can’t walk as fast as you,” she bitched, reaching out to grab hold of my coat with one of her gloved hands.

We trudged along, the snow making it difficult to see. Snowflakes combined with the below freezing temperatures stuck to my eyelashes. The cold air when the breeze kicked up stung my eyes, making them water. I could feel her pulling me back as she clung to my coat. If she pulled me down, I was going to be pissed. I stopped walking and evaluated the situation. It was closer to my cabin than the rendezvous point and I wasn’t about to head back up that mountain to take her all the way to the lodge.

“Stop,” I called out.

“Gabe,” I said into my radio.

“Here.”

“Heading to my cabin. I’ll radio command and they can pick her up there. It’s too far to walk back in this weather. I need to get her out of the cold.”

“Got it. I’ll let the others know.”

“Heard you loud and clear,” Tom’s voice cut through the radio.

Turning to see where I had lost the woman who was no longer clinging to my coat, I was just in time to see her fall forward again.

“Dammit!” she cursed.

I fought back a smile. She was feisty.

Walking back, I reached out my hand to assist her to her feet once again. The snow was making it difficult to move with any speed. I could have made it on my own just fine, but with her short stature and inexperience trudging through the snow, everything was three times as hard.

“Here,” I said, stopping to take off my snow shoes. “Put these on so we can get out of this damn weather.”

“I don’t need them,” she shot back.

“Yes, you do, unless you enjoy face-planting in the snow. I want to get home. I don’t want to sit out here with you all night,” I shot back, not in the mood to argue with someone dumb enough to head into the woods so ill-prepared.

I dropped down onto one knee in the snow in front of her, waiting for her to lift her booted foot so I could put the snowshoes on her.

She stood there, unmoving.

“Lift your foot,” I growled.

The moment she did, she fell backwards.

“Dammit!” I shouted in frustration. She had to be the clumsiest woman on the planet.

I stood up, grabbed her hand and yanked her up.

“Put your hand on me to steady yourself. Lift!”

She lifted her boot a few inches off the ground, teetering on one leg with one hand on my shoulder. I quickly put the shoe under her foot and fastened her small boot onto the shoe before doing the next foot.

“I don’t know how to walk in these,” she complained, standing there with her arms wide.

“I don’t know that you know how to walk in general,” I muttered under my breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. Lift one foot and then the other. High knees. You’ll figure it out,” I demanded, pissed that I was forced to walk in the cold, wet snow without my snowshoes. I imagined my coffee was ice-cold by now. My plans for the evening had been ruined by this woman and I wanted her to know I wasn’t pleased.

We started to move forward again, her speed a little better, but nothing to write home about. I considered just picking her up and carrying her, but took another look and thought better of it. I was big, but she wasn’t exactly a tiny woman. I couldn’t risk falling and getting hurt myself.

As we got closer to my cabin, I picked up the pace, pushing her to move faster if she wanted to keep up with me. All I could think about was getting out of my wet gear and getting warm by the fire.

“Come on, Casper!” I shouted. I knew he was close by, he always was.

“Who?” I heard her ask, but ignored her.

I walked up the front steps of the porch, stomped my feet a few more times to kick off the snow and pushed the door open.

She was standing at the bottom of the steps, staring at them.

“Uh,” she said, waving a hand at her feet.

I realized she couldn’t navigate the steps with the snowshoes on and now frustrated to the max, made a sound that was a cross between a growl and a roar.

Stomping back down, I quickly unfastened the shoes and took them with me as I headed inside. I could hear her stomping her feet behind me. I hoped it was because she was knocking the snow off and not because she was throwing a mini tantrum.

Once I made it through the doorway, I untied the laces of my boots and headed for the woodstove, peeling off my coat as I walked. I hung my wet coat off one of the hooks behind the stove and stripped off my snow pants, leaving them in a crumpled heap in front of the stove.

I turned to find her standing in the doorway, and marched back across the room, stepping on cold chunks of snow as I went. The cold, wet slush only incited my frustration with the woman. I gently pushed her backwards onto the porch and quickly and rather forcefully wiped the snow from her coat and pants. My hands rubbed over her ass and my earlier suspicions were confirmed. She was all meat and little bone.

There was a grunting noise as I roughly wiped the snow from her back and shoulders. I had a feeling she wasn’t pleased with my rough handling, but she didn’t seem to have enough sense to do it herself. I didn’t know if it was hypothermia setting in or if she was dimwitted. No matter the cause of her lack of concern about being cold and wet, her life was in my hands.

Once finished, I grabbed my radio.

“We’re at my cabin,” I announced on the channel we were all using.

I waited to hear how long it would take for them to pick her up.

There were a few seconds of static and I could hear the mumble of other voices. “You’re going to have to keep her overnight,” Gabe’s voice came over the radio.

“Negative,” I shot back.

“Is she in need of medical attention?” Tom’s voice cut through the silence of the cabin.

I looked up to check her out. She was still standing in my open doorway. The cabin was dark, the glow from the glass in the door of the woodstove was the only light. Maybe she was afraid of strangers.

She should be.

“Shut the door,” I demanded in a rough voice, looking directly at her, before returning my focus to the radio in my hand. “Negative,” I repeated.

“Visibility is zero. Nobody is going anywhere. It’s too dangerous. We’ll send a team over in the morning when we can see. She’s with you tonight,” Tom answered.

“Fuck,” I said aloud, forgetting all about the woman standing in my doorway, eying me as if I might attack her at any moment.

I ripped my beanie hat off and threw it on the small table next to the couch.

“Ten-four,” I confirmed over the radio. There was no point in arguing. I knew it was the best, safest option. It was too risky to send anyone out in what had turned into a blizzard.

“What did they say?” I heard her soft voice squeak out.

Shaking my head, I tried to figure out how to tell the woman she was stuck with me overnight, all the while trying to figure out what I was going to do with her. I wasn’t one for overnight stays in my cabin. It was my domain and I didn’t care for people to be in it.

I turned to look at her again and for an instant, I was excited. I quickly brushed that feeling aside and focused on getting her warmed up. This was going to be awkward for both of us.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me tonight.”

“No!” she gasped.

“Sorry, princess, no one else needs to risk their life to keep you comfortable and happy. You’ll be fine here. I don’t bite,” I said, my back to her as I stoked the fire.

I heard the cabin door close—finally. The woman didn’t have a whole lot of common sense I feared. It was going to make for a long night. Maybe I could convince her to pass out. I’d spend the rest of the evening in my bedroom reading. Anything to avoid having to make conversation with her.