Page 110 of Mountain Men Heroes
Loud rumbling crunched her midsection, and she splayed a hand across her treacherous stomach to squelch the sounds.
“Tell me, when is the last time you ate?” he asked again softly.
“Don’t know.” Which was the truth. “The second my rotation at the hospital ended I grabbed a cab for the airport. here I am. I think I might have had a stale bag of peanuts.”
The crease between his brows told her he didn’t like her answer. “Let’s get you settled.”
Sounded good to her. “Thank you.”
Ethan came up beside them and planted a big kiss on her cheek. “Until next year, little sis.”
He retrieved a thick, colorful scarf from a nearby chair and passed it to a woman huddled inside her own cocoon before disappearing under the Savage Fire’s red and blue sign hanging above the door. Bright fingers of color bled into the rapidly dimming daylight to cast a colorful glow over the unsullied snow.
Her heart softened and she struggled to make sense of the emotions that swelled inside. Ivy knew it was lame to take any kind of comfort from the tender gesture of inclusion into the fold.
She shoved it aside like she did everything else and dealt with what she could control. The here and now.
More and more people flooded by, but Damon cut through the throng with ease and made a beeline around tables butted up against each other, stools dotting every space a chair didn’t occupy and aimed for a door that had the sign Manager stamped on it in stencil-styled white lettering.
Damon slipped his hand to the small of her back as he eased her to the floor, and though common sense said she shouldn’t feel the heat of his touch through the inches of cloth, she did. Her imagination could summon a lot, but not that. It melded through the coarse cotton-wool blend and soothed away the cold that took root deep in her bones.
“Thank you.” She spoke softly as though anything stronger would break the small bubble cast over them as she huddled in her blanket, his back blocking everyone from view.
He smiled gently; an elbow braced above her head on the wooden doorjamb.
“Thanks goes to you, actually. I haven’t had so much fun in... a while,” he added cautiously, his gaze swinging back over the growing crowd before finding hers again.
She brushed a finger over her cheek as she secured the blanket around her shoulders with her other. “I won’t take long and then I’ll be out of your hair.”
His expression softened and the hard edge that had taken hold faded. “Take as long as you like. No one will bother you. Drake put your bags by the back window. You can warm up in the shower and join us when you’re ready.”
He paused before he continued as if considering what to say next.
“There are clean towels on the back of the chest in the bathroom. Soap and a variety of shampoos, too. My sister swears by a few in there so I’m sure you’ll find something. And afterward, we’ll get you something to eat from the kitchen. And maybe you’d like a Savage Fire to chase away the last of the Alaskan hello from your bones.”
His normally bright eyes swirled with a golden tinge. He wore wild energy like she wore perfume and it made her feel dizzy.
Chin tilted high, she stared into his eyes, mentally prepared for anything. “Believe me I think I already had a little too much Savage Fire for one day.”
“You’re stronger than you think.”
He stood so close she couldn’t take a half breath without inhaling everything that made up Damon Savage and suddenly she wanted to know everything about him.
“Believe me, Ivy, you’ll know when you have a Savage Fire in your hands.”
She didn’t miss the hidden message in the otherwise innocent words. She didn’t need to read his shuttered gaze to know his words went deeper than just the drink his famed drink. Though tempted to push his limits and toy a bit with his on-again-off-again antics, she decided against poking the bear and bit her tongue instead of taking the bait he dangled between them.
The way her name rolled off his tongue made her smile, and she took delight in the small things. As if he made love to the double syllables before letting them fall from his lips.
Gah, she needed a shower. Now and preferably ice cold. Her blood alcohol level must be hitting sky high. She didn’t know how she wasn’t seeing double of him.
He leaned across her and flicked the knob and let the door slowly swing open to reveal a softly lit office with a single window on the far wall.
“What about you? Though the female population probably doesn’t mind its men running around like Tarzan, you have to be cold.”
He retrieved a key from behind the bar to his left and somewhere out of her line of sight. “I’ll use the one upstairs. See you in a few.” She watched as he turned to go, quickly swallowed by the crowd.
“Good heavens, that man is walking temptation.”