Chapter Four
Mia
I stared out the widow, wanting to finish this meeting before the weather got any worse. I glanced back at Stewart Kline, a client of the real estate firm who refused to travel, and who was wealthy enough my place of business clearly bent over backward for him. He was going over the paperwork I’d brought for him to sign for the tenth time. Normally, I wouldn’t have cared if he wanted to have someone read it over with a fine-tooth comb.
Hell, I could have suggested it if it set him at ease, but the weather was turning from nasty to downright fucking atrocious. I still had an hour’s drive back to town, and with the snow falling harder by the minute, I knew it would be longer than that.
“Yeah, this looks feasible,” Stewart finally said and signed the last document.
I was bouncing my leg out of annoyance and nervousness, not wanting to be stuck here and forced to stay the night. I just wanted to get home. I’d already been here half the day because of his nitpicking.
“Great,” I said and took the papers he slid over to me. I gave them a once over, making sure he’d crossed his T’s and dotted his I’s. When we were both satisfied with how everything was handled, I shook his hand and started making my way toward the front door.
“It looks pretty apocalyptic out there, and I hear it’s only supposed to get worse. Drive safely.”
I clenched my teeth and held in the smartass retort I was going to give him. If he hadn’t needed to go over each paper ten times I would have been out of here well before the weather had gotten this bad. Even though it was March, the weather this high up was unpredictable, and there were even some parts of mountain territory that had snow year-round.
“Yeah, thanks,” I said instead.
I got my jacket on, pulled my lapels closer to my neck, and pushed the front door open. A gust of cold, wet air hit me, snow swirling around me. It was like a blizzard. Once I was at my car and seated in the driver’s side, I cranked the engine and turned the heat on full blast.
Maybe it’s smarter of me to just stay the night here?
Yeah, it would have been smart, but I was too damn stubborn to do that.
I sent a quick text to Flora, letting her know that I was heading back and to let our office manager know. Then I headed back home, and prayed like hell that the weather let up.
* * *
I squinted, leaned forward, and tried to see past the thick weather that was currently surrounding me. I’d been driving for over two hours now, double the time it should have taken me to get home, and I wasn’t even back in Rockbridge yet. But I was driving well below the speed limit, afraid to go much faster than thirty since the roads were icy as hell. God, this was a freak storm, something out of a crazy movie or book.
I saw the sign for town come up in a blurry wave of color and lettering. I was close, but not close enough to give me peace of mind. My hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, my knuckles white, my skin burning from the force it took to hold on. I was tense all over. And then it happened as I rounded the corner. My tires caught on ice, the car skidded, out of control. I might have screamed, or maybe that was all in my head. But as I slid into a ditch, I realized I was good and fucked.
For a second I did nothing but sit there while the snow started to really accumulate on the windshield. The engine died on me, and when I tried to restart it this awful clicking noise came through. Dread settled into me.
Reaching across the seat and grabbing my cell out of my purse, I half expected the damn thing to be dead. That would have been my luck. But I had battery power and a signal. I quickly did an Internet search for the tow truck place in town, called them and told them my shitty luck, and breathed a sigh of relief when they said they’d send someone out to help me. But that relief was short-lived when they told me they couldn’t give me an estimate on time, seeing as there were a lot of accidents because of the weather.
I disconnected the call, tossed my phone on the seat, and cursed. God, what the hell was I supposed to do now? For twenty minutes I sat there, the interior of the car starting to get frigid. I’d freeze to death before they got to me. I was exaggerating, but it could be true.
I saw headlights of an oncoming car, and because I wasn’t thinking rationally at the moment, I found myself climbing out of the car. A gust of wind slammed into me, taking my breath away.
I was about to wave the car down, hoping it saw me off to the side, the snow piling on my car and camouflaging it. But before I could try and get the driver’s attention I slipped on the snow and the slight incline of the ditch. There was no stopping myself from going down. My legs went out from under me, my foot twisting in a horrible, awkward angle. I cried out and gripped my ankle just as I heard the car pass me. I cursed my shitty as fuck luck.
Noah
The turns were treacherous, the ice thick. And even though I had chains on my tires and my truck was built for this kind of weather, I was still taking it slow on the winding roads.
The rhythmic sound of the windshield wipers moving across the glass was calming, even though I was stressed out as fuck over trying to drive in this bullshit weather. I took another sharp turn, driving slow, safely, or at least as safely as I could in this freak weather.
It wasn’t uncommon for us to get snowstorms in March, April, hell, even in late May. But this one was the worst I’d seen.
I was about ten minutes out from home, but at this rate it would take double that time, if not more just to reach the road I needed to turn onto to make the trek up the mountain to my cabin.
The snow was thick as it slammed against my truck, and it was a crazy sensation, as if I were underwater trying to swim through this shit. I pitied anyone who didn’t have the proper vehicle for driving in this weather. And then, as if my thoughts conjured up the yuppie who would attempt mountain driving in a snowstorm, I saw a car in a ditch, the snow already thick and covering it. It was obvious it had been sitting there for a while, and although there were no hazard lights on, and anyone smart enough wouldn’t be sitting inside in this weather, I pulled slowly to a stop off to the side across from it.
I left my engine running as I put on my beanie, zipped up my jacket, and climbed out of the truck. The snow crunched under my boots as I made my way toward the car. I stood there a second just staring at the vehicle. The back tires were in the ditch, and the hood faced the road. Even if I wanted to, there was no way I could help the poor sap that was stuck in this situation. Maybe if it weren’t a storm, but right now he’d be lucky to get a tow truck out here to haul his ass out.
I turned around, about to head back to my truck, deciding I’d call the sheriff’s office so they knew about the accident, when I stopped, thinking I heard something. I listened again, and then heard it again. A fucking cough.
Shit, someone was actually in the car in this fucking weather, with the engine not running, and the hazard lights not even on? What the fuck kind of person could actually be in there?
I turned back around and brushed the snow off the passenger side window before leaning down. It was hard to see anything with the windows fogged up from the inside. I knocked on the glass and took a step back. “You okay?” I said loudly enough for whoever was in there to hear me. I didn’t hear anything at first, but then a muffled voice came through.
“I can’t hear you,” I shouted.
A second later I heard the driver’s-side door open and a head popped up over the hood. Everything in me froze, which had nothing to do with the frigid weather. There stood the woman who had consumed every single part of me, snow falling over her hair, her eyes wide as she took me in, probably the same way I was doing with her. The forest incident came to the forefront of my brain, with vivid images of what I’d wanted her to do to me then. I could see her swallow, and wondered if the pink on her cheeks was actually from her thoughts about watching me jerk off and had nothing to do with the bitterness in the air.
What were the fucking odds that I’d come across her now?
We stood there for a second, neither speaking, the wind slamming all around us. “Car trouble?” I clenched my jaw at what I’d just said. Of course she’s got fucking car trouble.
“Um,” she said and nodded. “Yeah. A tow truck is coming.”
I glanced toward town. I didn’t want to burst her hope, but the odds of a tow truck making it out here before dark were pretty fucking slim.
“I know,” she said. “I’ll be waiting here forever. But they’ll come...eventually.”
A huge gust of wind came at us, and I saw her grab onto the edge of the door as she was rocked backward. She gasped and looked down. Every part of me wanted to go to her, to make sure she was okay. In that moment I didn’t think about what happened in the woods, didn’t care about anything else aside from getting her out of this fucking weather.
“You okay?” I asked, taking a step forward, not wanting to freak her out by invading her personal space. Hell, she didn’t know me. I’d watched her at the café like some kind of fucking creep. Getting all up in her business probably would just scare the fuck out of her.
“I’m fine, just twisted my ankle pretty good when I was an idiot and slid down the ditch.”
There was no way I was letting her stay here and wait for the tow truck. No way in hell.
“Come on, I’ll take you to my cabin to wait for the tow. It’s closer than town.” Maybe I should have offered to take her to her place, but my cabin was closer, and it only made sense to go there. She was silent for long seconds, probably weighing if coming with me—a strange man who was offering to take her back to his place—was really a smart idea.
“Um,” she said and looked toward the road.
“I’m not a serial killer,” I said, trying to lighten the mood as I smiled. But maybe I shouldn’t have said that. “I’m Noah Ash. I own Ash lumber with my brothers—”
“I know who you are,” she said softly, the pink in her cheeks seeming to get darker.
“You do?” I was a little surprised, despite it being a small town and everyone seeming to know everyone. She nodded.
“Not that I’m stalking you or anything,” she said swiftly and chuckled a little. Another gust of wind slammed into us. “I’m Mia Richards.”
Mia.
I played her name around in my head. It would sound good rolling off my tongue when I had her under me, in my bed, her cries of pleasure filling the cabin. My body heated, and sweat started to line my spine. “Come on, the weather is a real bitch, and I’ll take a look at your foot. We can call Lenny at the tow company and let him know where you’re at.”
Finally she nodded and grabbed her things out of the car. I waked around the front of the vehicle when I saw how badly she was limping, and the way she grimaced. I slipped my hand under her arm and helped her toward my truck, this feeling of possessiveness claiming me hard. I had no idea why I felt this way, but it was undeniable. It was a feeling I wanted to cover myself with, to bask in.
Once we were both in the truck I punched Lenny’s number into my cell and waited until he picked up. I explained where we would be, but made sure it was on speaker so she felt more secure with what was going on.
“Ready?” I asked after I disconnected the call. She nodded, and as much as I should have looked away, I couldn’t help but stare at her. She was gorgeous, petite but womanly, even under the layers of clothes that covered her. Hell, I remembered how she’d looked at the café, the skirt and shirt molded to her body, showing me her curves.
My dick got hard, and I shifted on the seat. Turning my attention back to the road, I put the truck in gear and headed to my place. I needed to get my head out of the fucking gutter and just focus on being a gentleman.
But damn, it was hard not picturing her as mine, not envisioning her in my home, under my sheets. I wanted that like a fiend, but I also needed to keep my fucking cool. I sure as hell didn’t need to spout all this shit off and scare her before I got to properly know all about her. And I would. I wanted to know everything there was to know about Mia. I wanted to memorize every single inch of her, as well. I held back my groan.
I wanted that. I wanted that pretty fucking badly.