AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do I look like I have a lot of guests?”
“I suppose not.”
“I prefer to be alone. I don’t really care for people.”
“But-”
“No more talking,” he snapped.
I never really had someone hold me before, and the feeling was disconcerting. I expected to feel smothered, but it was the opposite.
Comforting.
Perhaps it was because I was so cold, and it was a relief to feel warm. Or maybe it was because it was a hair’s breadth away from being dangerous. And danger was an old familiar feeling for me. Which made it predictable. And I liked predictable things. Either way, my eyes began to grow heavy, and I was asleep before I knew it.
It was early morning when I woke. Thin sheets of ice lined the windowsill, and a pale light filled the room. Rhys was gone, but the bed was still warm where he lay. I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the mess I was in and how I had botched everything up.
“Get up,” Rhys said as he opened the door.
I sat up slowly, running a hand through my hair. “Please let me go,” I said.
He handed me a cup of tea. “That depends on what you tell me.”
The cup was warm on my cold hands. “You’re hiding something,” I said tentatively. “Maybe it’s not to do with the missing girls, but there is something you don’t want me to discover.”
His brows turned down in a scowl. “Put your shoes on. We’re headed out.”
I set the cup down and put on my boots. “Did you hear what I said?”
“Hurry up,” he barked. I followed him out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. “Here,” he said, giving me a down coat and the woolen beanie. “Put those on.”
“Where are we going?” The coat and hat smelled of him and the outdoors. Fir, moss, and something underlyingly masculine.
He didn’t answer but instead grabbed an old backpack and opened the kitchen door. “Let’s go.”
We hurried across the drive until we came to a trail. Oak and ash trees formed a canopy above us as we made our way down the path into a small valley. Rhys kept a fast pace, and I hurried to keep up. The trail began to open up when we came to a sheltered stretch of beach surrounded by tall rocky cliffs. The ocean crashed against the shore in violent explosions, shooting white foamy spray high into the air.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, taking in the majestic view and briefly forgetting my current predicament.
“It is.” There was an old wooden shack just off the trail. Rhys opened the dilapidated door, coming out with a surfboard. He led me over to an outcropping of rocks well away from the waves and set down the board and his backpack. “You’ll be safe here.”
“You’re surfing?” I asked. “In this weather.”
“Every morning,” he said, pulling his old shirt over his head. Lean muscles covered his chest, extending down his stomach into a perfect v, where his pants sat low on his hips. I bit my lip and looked away. “And don’t think of running away,” he continued as he sat down and took off his worn hiking boots. “I have your car keys. You won’t get far, and I know these trails like the back of my hand.”
I hadn’t thought about escape until he mentioned it, but he was right. I would never make it without my car, not to mention the trail we took crisscrossed several times over other trails. I would never find my way.
“Aren’t you freezing?” I asked as he removed his pants and only wore a pair of swim trunks.
“I told you I don’t feel the cold.”
I sat down on the icy rocks. The sun, which still sat low in the sky, was trying to break through soft gray clouds with meager success. Rhys ran into the water and dove under the waves, expertly coming up on the other side as he paddled out into the swells. I watched as he waited for the perfect moment when he effortlessly stood up and rode the wave to shore, disappearing for a few seconds as it barreled over him, only to reemerge at the end. Forty minutes later, he came in from the water and sat down next to me, rubbing his face on a towel before putting it over his shoulders.
“That was impressive,” I said. “Have you always surfed?”
“I got into it when I went away to school in Scotland. Some lads and I would go on the weekends. There are great reef breaks there.”
Steam rose off him, surrounding him in a hazy mist and making him look as if he was smoldering. “What’s it like?”
