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You can’t take on the role of father at seventeen and not have it find a way into your make-up I guess. Jasper was fourteen when it happened, not ready for responsibility, Ashton was eleven, and Carver was nine. They needed someone to set the rules since Mom was always following whatever Dad wanted.
The others don’t look at their marriages that way and that’s fine for them, but after twenty years of it, I know that’s the only way I’ll make a marriage work. I want to be the strong one in it, doesn’t mean I can’t lean on my partner but the baser part of that is what I want, what I need. I need someone to take care of, who will let me take care of them even if they are capable of doing it themselves.
Most of the women I run into these days are all the same, gold-diggers that just want a rich man to leech off of, and perhaps some enjoyment in bed. They’re too cold for me, I want someone I can light a fire within, let it consume us until we’re sure we’ll die from the heat of it.
So for now, despite my mother’s regrets, I’ll be just fine staying single, living in the log cabin style lodge I built rather than at the resort about twenty-miles from here. It’s close enough I can get there with ease if I’m needed but I have computer access to run the overall company for the resorts from there. Which then lets me go up in the mountain like I did today, only I stayed out later than normal and am now going to be stuck at the cabin in the shitty loft instead of in my Texas king size bed.
Hell, I might have to just sleep on the floor instead of trying to cram my six-seven frame into the loft. My brothers aren’t quite as tall as I am; the tallest is Carver and he’s still only six-three. I am the epitome of a big mountain man right now, flannel shirt, jeans, boots, tall with a knit cap over my still full head of dark hair and a beard to match. Granted my beard is kept groomed more than other’s might since I have to deal with others about things to do with the resorts.
I pull the truck up next to the cabin under a lean-to that will keep the bed of wood I always have with me during the winter from being covered. There’s not always a guarantee that the cabins will have wood at them. After all, while it’s private land, people do occasionally hike or cross-country ski through here and they’ll pilfer some of the cut stuff.
I don’t necessarily mind. I enjoy cutting wood, it’s a stress reliever for me after a long day staring at spreadsheets and data projections or dealing with issues such as no snow at a ski resort. I’ll spend a day just chopping wood, letting it all go so I don’t explode. For now, I’m getting into the cabin and finding something to eat. Each cabin is stocked up and locked so there should be plenty.
I move to the door, a frown hitting my face seeing a glow from inside the place. Someone was here and that doesn’t exactly put me in a good mood. Not if they left a fire burning putting the place at risk if it had gotten out of the fireplace. I move my hand to the door, the knob turning before I even put the key into it, and I stop short taking in the form in front of the fire.
She’s draped in a sheet but the pile of clothes next to her says that’s all she’s in and I look around not seeing anything or anyone else there but the woman that is clearly asleep. The knob doesn’t appear to be broken and there’s only the draft from the door that I shut behind me as it starts to blow the weak fire out, chilling the space. I don’t know who she is or how she got in here, but I do know even if she if a thief or burglar, I can’t throw her out into this weather and I’m not going anywhere else either.
I see the wood crate empty and move outside again. Grabbing enough to get the fire burning higher and head back inside, seeing the woman up close when I put a couple logs onto the fire and stoke it. She isn’t what most would call gorgeous. I’m sure there are men that would look completely past her on the street but there’s something so vulnerable about her that makes it nearly impossible to look away, ignore.
She has the palest skin I’ve seen in a long time, most women use spray tans at least but not this one. She’s natural and the long hair that’s nearly white looks to be as well. She’s not overly tall; she might come up to my shoulder if she was standing but not much further. She’s wrapped tightly up in that sheet, and I force myself to move before I let myself concentrate on just how sweet those slight curves she has are undressed.
I move to the kitchenette and stop seeing the message there from one of the park rangers.
Thanks for the loan, brother, I met a pretty thing in the woods and couldn’t resist from getting a taste of her. Your place was closer than town and she was in a hurry to get some and then get out before the storm hit. I’ll replace the beer we used, Joe
That perhaps explained how the cabin got unlocked but not if this woman was the one that was in such a hurry to get out of here. Did Joe forget to lock the cabin and she came back after he left thanks to this weather? Hell, I’d rather know she broke in to get out of the storm than have someone else die in one when the place is right here unused for the most part.
Joe knows where I have a key hidden for each of the cabins. Most of the park rangers do since my place borders their hiking trails. There’s nothing in these cabins that is special to any of us, so if someone broke in and stole the food or the bedding they clearly needed it more than we did. I just like knowing the story, especially when it involves someone as intriguing as the woman now asleep on the bearskin rug in front of my fire.
I don’t leave a lot of perishables in the cabins but there is usually beer and water, in one of the internal walls that stays a nice forty-degrees even in the worst weather. Which reminds me I didn’t get the generator started, and I head through the back door to get to it, making sure it’s full before I crank it. It brings the couple of lights in the place on, and I move back inside to make some coffee.
The woman stirs slightly when it’s brewed, her cute nose twitching a bit and I pour out a second mug, moving over as she squirms a bit, shivering.
“Hi there, sleeping beauty,” I state making her gasp and jerk upright, the sheet slipping until she grabs hold of it tightly, blue eyes widening, and they are fucking stunning. They’re like a clear blue sky on a winter’s day, one I enjoy being outside on. The bruise around one of them is hideous though, sends a blazing fury straight through me.
“What? Where?” she gasps out, looking around us, her eyes confused as her hand slips up to her head, touching a bump tenderly.
“It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you,” I tell her, setting the coffee down on the table behind me, squatting so she doesn’t have to crane her neck up towards me. “I’m Kellan, this is my cabin.”
“Sadie…no one was here…I just needed out of the snow,” she says, and I nod as her eyes slip over her clothes, color hitting her cheeks. “I was freezing…wet…”
“I get it baby, I’d rather you have broken in than be stuck out there in that storm.” I nod towards the window where it’s blowing past with huge flakes making her eyes widen again. “Were you out in the park today?”
“No, I…no,” she says, and I look at the backpack near the sodden coat before moving towards the closet where I have extra clothes. I grab out a tee shirt and then a flannel and a thick pair of socks moving back towards where Sadie sits still clutching the sheet tightly to her.
“You’re stuck here until this weather blows over. I’m really not angry that you broke in here so why don’t you put this on and warm up more? I’ll find us something to eat,” I suggest setting the clothes down next to her as she stares at me still unmoving. “I promise I’m not some crazed mountain man that carries around an axe all day or who kidnaps virgins to play with.”
Her cheeks flame higher, and she looks away making me extremely curious now, but I won’t push her. She’s scared about something, I can tell that. The swollen eye and bump on the head—someone clearly hurt her, sent her running most likely. Well, I’m not going to let someone get to her here. Not when she clearly needs someone to protect her which is just pure hell considering she could be exactly what I want. Then again, we are stuck out here alone in my cabin. What else is there to do but get to know her really well?
Chapter 3
Sadie
Holy crap, talk about waking up to a dream. Or in this case, a dream of a man that has sent my brain completely out of whack. It seriously took me a couple minutes to catch up as this near giant of a man moved around the tiny space making it feel tinier yet warmer and safe. He moves back towards the kitchenette, and I slide the socks onto my freezing feet before shrugging into the t-shirt leaving the sheet draped over my lap then wrap myself up in the massive flannel shirt.
They’re like a nightgown and robe on me, the socks going up to my knees with ease and I push myself up, achy everywhere from being so cold and wet when I got here. His comment about breaking in resonates though and I look back to him after picking up the hot mug of coffee, the fire filling the space with heat that I am desperately grateful for, especially right now.
“I didn’t break in,” I tell him moving towards the counter space cautiously. I feel safe with this man, but I know how crazy that is. I don’t know him. He could be anyone and yet, he feels so much safer than Jonah ever could. “I saw the smoke from the fireplace and knocked. No one answered and the door was open.”
