“Hi,” I whispered, offering a tiny wave.
Witty, I know, but every other word in the English language had suddenly flown the coop, and that was all I could come up with. Just… hi. It took everything I had in me to keep my eyes on his face like a polite gentleman, rather than following the path those beads of moisture were currently taking, drawing paths down his torso… through the treasure trail leading south, beneath the towel, and…
“Hi!” I barked again, startling us both as I slapped a hand over my traitorous eyes. “I’m so sorry! I don’t belong here!” The truth of that statement had yet to be proven one way or the other, but the poor man deserved privacy to get dressed at the very least. “I’ll just… leave.” I fumbled for the doorknob with an outstretched hand, still blind behind my splayed fingers.
“Attends!I mean, wait,” he said sharply, and I might’ve actually whimpered. Fuck, he had an accent. Was that French?Swoon, the language of love. I was so screwed! My feet, of course, stopped exactly where they were. He could’ve asked me for anything with the timbre of that voice, and I would obey.
I listened to him breathe for a second, but then the silence dragged on well past the awkward phase. “Um… now what?” I finally asked.
“Right. Hang on, don’t leave yet,” he said, and I heard him rustling around, probably getting dressed. Dammit. “Okay, you can open your eyes.”
I peeked between my fingers, then finally pulled my hand away. Damn, he was almost as sexy with his clotheson! His dark jeans clung tight around his hips and thighs, and his red plaid flannel shirt still hung open and loose. I watched with longing as his fingers worked to close the gap, one button at a time.
Suddenly, this man’s lack of surprise made me realize there was another possibility for his presence in my room. “Oh! The escort service sent you!” Of course! My date had to cancel, so obviously they sent someone in his place. “I have to say, you are worth every penny. Everyone will be very impressed.”
“I… what?” he asked in that delicious accent of his, now rough with a growl, his thick eyebrows dipping in a frown. “I am not anescort. Wait… are you expecting someone else?” A stricken expression crossed his face. “You’re not single.”
“What? No, I’m single.” It seemed like we were having two different conversations. “You do understand that this is my cabin, right?”
The last of his chest hair vanished behind flannel, and he brought his hands to his hips. “No, this is my cabin. Cabin 5.”
“But cabin 5 ismine,” I said, indignant. “The guy from the desk dropped me off right outside.” It didn’t matter that this guy was smokin’ hot, I needed this room. I refused to stay with my parents for the duration of my stay. My sanity depended on it.
He crossed those beefy guns of his over his chest, putting the flannel’s durability to the test as the fabric stretched taut. “Well, my key worked in the door,” he said, eyebrow arched as if to say “so there.”
I hated to admit that was a valid point in his favor. “Well, obviously, someone has made a mistake and booked us both in the same room. I’ll just have to go back down to the main lodge and sort out this little mix-up.”
I turned toward the door, but for the second time, he stopped me from trying to leave. “Wait!”What now?I looked back at him, and he seemed to struggle with what he was going to say, floundering, before he pointed out the window. “It’s getting dark. Oh! And look, it’s starting to snow. Maybe it’s a blizzard. You could get lost, and there are probably wild animals in the forest. Wolves or bears! You should wait until morning… right?”
I knew what he was saying was ridiculous. The chances of getting lost along the clearly marked paths was slim, and it wasn’t likely to snow that much in the next half-hour, but when I opened my mouth to say goodbye, I found myself instead saying, “Hmm, you’re right, I would hate to get eaten by wolves.” I mean, what was one night sharing a room with this sexy stranger? He gave off nice-guy vibes for days—or maybe it was just the accent. I wonder if he slept naked. Gods, I hoped so. “Alright, well, if we’re going to be spending the night together, you should at least tell me your name.” He nearly choked, eyes wide, and I quickly backtracked. “I didn’t mean spend the night like… You know.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “Please pretend I never said that. Let’s start over. Hi, my name is Fable. What’s yours?”
A smile teased at the lips behind his light beard. “My name is Guy.”
Did he just say his name was Ghee?! I snorted before I could stop myself. “Like, clarified butter?” That was a weird name, but who was I to judge? Maybe his parents were foodies. I could relate with that.
He shook his head. “What? No! Like Guy Lafleur.”
“Who’s that?” I asked.
He blinked a few times. “I can’t tell if you’re being serious.”
“I’m always serious.” A total lie, but in this case, I wasn’t kidding.
He let out an epic sigh that the mattress seemed to mirror as he sat on the edge of the bed. “He was a Montreal Canadien.”
“I would imagine everyone from Montreal is a Canadian.” Did he think I didn’t know my geography?
Another sigh, this one deeper and somehow more accented. “He also played for the New York Rangers?”
“They’re not Canadian.”
That earned me a groan this time, but at least he seemed to be done with the sighing. “No! I mean… Guy Lafleur was a famous hockey player.”
“Oh, I don’t watch hockey. What about me says I’m someone who watches sports?” I swept a hand over myself, indicating my glasses, lack of muscle tone, and all the coordination of a plastic bag trapped in the breeze. I knew nothing about sports, but if you wanted to discuss the pros and cons of different flour blends, I was your guy!
Since Guy was still busy looking frustrated, I distracted myself from his smoldering scowl by tipping my suitcase over on its side and unzipping it, in search of my toiletries bag. “Since I’m here for the night, I hope you don’t mind me taking a turn in the shower?”
“Of course.” I heard him get up off the bed and cross the distance between us—which was one measly step, because this cabin was itty-bitty, and his massive body just happened to take up most of it. And I totally didn’t mean to take a deep breath of his cedar scent when he leaned over my shoulder. Was that his cologne? I’d never smelled anything like it in my life. “Is that a frying pan?”
