Goddammit. Now I regretted telling her that I'd lost my brother, being fucking melancholic about coming here to escape.
"Are you stupid?" I barked. "You came all the way here during the storm just to give it back to me? Why the fuck didn't you just put it outside my house? Why the hell did you wait for me?"
Fuck. This coat could rot in hell for all I cared. I'd postponed my flight, and she hadn't known about it. She must have waited for me while I fuckingfell asleep.
"What if someone else took it?" she insisted, her voice barely a whisper.
I could care less about our argument. Fear built up inside me as my mind tried to figure out how to make her warm as fast as I could.
My heart thumped wildly inside my chest. I couldn't let her condition get worse.
I carried her in my arms, rushing toward the warmest room in the house—Victor's bedroom. My jaw tightened as I placed her on the bed.
Cassie still couldn't open her eyes, her lips still trembling and her body shivering. That sight pained me to the core.
Just when I was about to leave the bed to find something that could warm her, Cassie’s voice made me halt. “Luke.”
I snapped my head toward her and found her looking at me with fear skating all over her face.
“Don’t leave me,” she stuttered. “Please, stay.” Her voice broke. She looked so frightened, as though she could die while I was away. “S-stay with me.” She was using all the power she had to speak, but what came out was only a broken whisper.
I immediately returned to her side, pulling her into my arms as I lay on the bed. Cassie’s entire body was shaking uncontrollably.
She let out a soft cry. “It’s so cold.”
I tightened my hold on her, muttering a silent curse in my head. My mind was a complete mess. I was trying to find a way to make her pain go away, to save her. Her clothes were so damp with snow that they wouldn’t keep her from freezing to death.
There was one way to do this faster, but I didn’t want to force her. “Cassie,” I warned her. “Your clothes—”
“Just take them off,” she spoke through chattering teeth. I watched her, waiting for her to confirm. “Please,” she almost cried again.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing that I was doing this for the sake of saving her. It was Survival 101. “You need the heat transfer. In that case, I may have to take off my clothes too—”
“Just do it,” she urged.
With her consent, I yanked her clothes off her body, piece by piece. Victor's coat. Her gloves. Her wool sweater. Her jeans. Her thermal underwear.
And her bra. But I didn't take off her panties.
If we were in a completely different situation—if she wasn't dying—my mind would have gone far. But right now, I could fucking care less about that.
However, it didn't mean that my cock wasn't as hard as a rock right now while I saw her naked form.
I quickly undressed, wearing only my boxers before joining her on the bed again and pulling the blanket over us. I pulled her into a tight hug to transfer heat.
Her body was wrapped securely in my arms, her face buried in my chest as I gritted my teeth. Cassie was still shivering, and I was trying my best to make her warm, holding her even tighter.
Please hold on. Don't you fucking leave me, Cassie.
I don’t know how long we stayed together like that, but as time went by, Cassie began to relax. She wasn't shaking as she'd been earlier. Her body wasn't as cold as before either. It was gradually becoming warm.
I even felt like it was getting hot. The heater in the room, the blanket and our mixed body heat made me think that I would be sweating soon.
Cassie half-opened her eyes, staring at me, but her gaze was still weak.
"Be still. I'm still keeping you warm,” I whispered.
She nodded. Relief washed over me as I realized that she was no longer in danger.
