Page 153 of Mountain Men Heroes
“We’re almost there,” Damon shouted and she squeezed her arms around him to signal she heard.
They crested a ridge and came to a sudden stop before continuing down the slope at a slower pace. In the distance, she could make out the rooftop of a cabin that took all of three minutes to reach. Damon killed the engine and helped her dismount.
“Trust me. Follow me.”
She didn’t have a choice. Ivy followed his steps as they slowly rounded the edge of the cabin. Damon led them to the top of the porch. In seconds he had the key pulled out of some hiding spot above the door and them inside.
He made fast work of loading the fireplace as she found the light switches.
“Amazing they still work with how hard it’s coming down out there.”
“One thing about Alaskan homes, they are sturdy and can take a beating.”
“I know the feeling. It takes a sturdy anything to survive out here.” Soft lighting filled the open space that held a dining room table, rustic and a little worn, a couch pushed to the middle of the room to face a large window set to overlook something she bet was spectacular in the daytime. She twirled and peeled off one layer of clothing after the other as the heat built from the roaring fire.
Down to a single sweater, a pair of gloves and her snow pants and boots, Ivy made herself useful by fetching more wood from the wood box by the front door. “Here.” She passed four more logs over as Damon tossed each onto the growing blaze. “I don’t really think you can make it too big, do you?”
Damon laughed and stole a kiss.
“Hey, that was unfair.”
“I know. But delicious. Love the taste of fresh snow on your lips.”
“That’s beside the point, Damon Savage.”
“Then what is the point, angel?” he asked as he stood and nailed her with a look that said it was time they got things out in the open.
Fine. “I’m leaving as soon as the storm lets up.”
The small crease lines at the corners of his eyes and between his brow deepened and she knew her words caught his attention. “Oh yeah? Wanna make a bet?”
Fact: she might have met her match in stubbornness.
Heat swelled through the small cabin, and she peeled off the last sweater over top her pullover long sleeve and mimicked his posture. Crossing her arms over her chest drew the cotton material tight across her breasts and made the Santa face iron on look wide-eyed. His eyes shot to her cleavage poking out from her V-neck. He might as well have reached between them and pinched her nipples into tight little berries. They puckered the second his gaze roamed over them and now she couldn’t release her arms if she wanted to. No way she’d give him an ounce of ground if she was to win the standoff.
“Don’t think I didn’t see what you did tonight. Or last night as it were. You can’t go around canceling people’s flights whenever you fancy.”
“And you can’t take it upon yourself to think you know how to handle yourself in a blizzard, my little Texan angel. I’ll make a thousand calls and wake the fucking Archangels of Heaven if it means making sure you are safe.”
Damn, he was good, she’d give him that. When he wanted to make a point he made it. Leaning forward, he gazed at her from beneath heavy-lidded eyes. Golden light bathed every crevice of the living room but nothing matched the brightness of his irises. Shot through with anger and a mixture of fear, they caught her gaze and refused to let go.
He dropped his arms and she lifted her chin in defiance. The last of what she had left zinged through her blood and held her in place, when what she really wanted to do was fall into his arms and let him kiss her with the promise of passion she knew he held.
“Damon. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
He shook his head softly and lowered his voice to a gravelly baritone that raked over her and eased some of the tension wrapped around her heart. “Have you thought about asking for help? Letting someone close enough to help you every once in a while? You’re not alone, angel. There are people in this world that love you.”
She brought her head up. “Love? Like actual love and falling in love? That doesn’t exist for me. Or at least I never thought it did.” But the conviction she once felt wavered and she caught the second he noted the change in her tone.
“Doesn’t it? I felt the same way before you came into this town, but now…can’t you feel it? It wasn’t just sex between us, Ivy.”
Featherlight fingers dusted across her mind cheek where he brushed away a strand of hair. Her eyelids drifted closed, and for a brief second everything silenced. All the worry and all the concern around what her future held drifted to the back of her mind and all she could feel was peace. Standing here with Damon with the snow falling like fairy kisses from the sky just beyond the window.
It all seemed so magical. But was it real?
She sensed Damon shift closer, and her eyes sprang open. “What am I feeling? No medical book describes what I’m feeling.”
A slow grin spread across his face. “Love, angel. What you do to me every time you look at me, what you make me feel every time you’re in the same room. What you’re feeling isn’t in a textbook.”