by Lauren Wood
“Well you are on the main thoroughfare, so you are lucky you hadn’t turned off yet. Where are you going?”
I didn’t know the address, but I squinted at the GPS and pushed a couple of buttons to give him the address.
“You’re going to Angie’s old place?”
Angie was my aunt and I felt a little better that he knew who she was. It made it all seem a little less scary that I was going to be riding into the cold, winter night with a complete stranger.
“Yeah she’s my aunt. Well she was my aunt. I got her cabin in her will, so I’m up here to make a go of it.”
“Oh, well I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I doubt you’re going to be able to stay there tonight. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to the cabin to get it ready for winter.”
“It’s June though. I figured that I would have time.”
He looked at me dubiously and I tried to ignore the look as I made my way to the back again and tried to find some boots. I knew that I had brought a pair, but after a few minutes of searching, I gave up and slid my tennis shoes back on. They were just going to have to do.
“That is what you are wearing?”
“Well it’s all that I can find at the moment and I don’t want to keep you waiting.”
“I don’t mind.”
But I did, so I told him that I was fine and that we should get going.
“Okay, suit yourself.”
He had that tinkling sound to his voice and told me to hold on tight when I got on the snowmobile. As I got out of the van to go to him, I was overwhelmed with how much he towered over me and it was hard to deny how it made me feel. I felt like I was a child next to him and he was just so big. It was more than I was willing to think about, though when he got in behind me and wrapped his arms around me to steer the snowmobile, I was almost instantly warmer. He had opened his jacket so that I could tuck into it and it made a big difference. I was thankful for it and when I leaned back against his chest, I was surprised how hard it was against me. There was something about this man that was hard to deny and I wished now that I had been able to see his face. When we started to go though, it became impossible because I had to keep my head down. The cold air and snow whipped at my face and I wanted to burrow into his shirt and jacket even more.
“We will be there in a few minutes, though I don’t think you’re going to like what you find.”
It had to be better than the van. That’s what I kept telling myself, sure that he was just being overly cautious or something. I wasn’t as delicate as I looked. I was going to make this work, one way or another.
All of that bravado changed when we drove up to the cabin. It wasn’t at all what I had expected and I was a little scared. The windows were broken in the front and it looked like there was a door, but it was pushed open so much that I couldn’t see it. All I could see was snow had filtered and piled in, as well as several animal tracks as the headlights hit the front of the cabin.
The porch was small, but it was rickety as well, the stairs were broken and my heart sank into my chest. I had sold everything to come up here and now I had to wonder how much of a mistake it was going to be. What the hell had I gotten myself into? It was clear now that the man whose name was Bill was right. I wasn’t as ready for this as I thought I was. There was no way that I was going to be able to live here and sleeping here tonight was not at all a thought in my mind. What had I done?
“As you can see, Angie’s place has been taken over by critters and I think that there were a couple of kids up here drinking that got a little too rowdy. Ayla, I don’t think it would be too safe for you to stay here tonight for many reasons. It is going to be cold.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t have anywhere to go and the van was looking like my only viable option as I stared at reality.
“Is there any way you can take me back to the van? I knew that it wasn’t going to be like a hotel, but I didn’t think it was going to be this bad.”
“Nonsense. You can come stay the night with me and we will figure it out in the morning.”
“Why are you helping me Bill?”
“Because that’s what we do up here Ayla.”
I wasn’t sure about his answer, but I needed help and I wasn’t going to turn it down. I couldn’t because apparently my life depended on it. Not the best way to start this adventure, but it could have been worse, I was sure of that.
Chapter 2
Bill
We got back to my house and I was still a little bothered by the beautiful young woman that I had picked up on the side of the road. She was too pretty to be in Alaska and I had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be here too long. It was hard to tell her the truth, but girls like her didn’t last very long in the wilderness and even though her aunt was one that was able to, I didn’t think she was going to have the same grit as Angie did. Angie was admirable for how she had toughed it out up here alone all of these years. I didn’t think that her beautiful niece was going to be the same.
“Here we are. It’s not much but it will be warmer than your van and you don’t have to worry about being bothered by anyone.”
“Who would bother me? There aren’t any people around here from what I have seen.”
“There is actually. Quite a few men live in these parts but they don’t come down from the mountains very much. You’d be a sight for sore eyes for most of them.”
My words seemed alarming to her and though I was only semi joking, I realized that she was most likely feeling vulnerable in her current situation. I can’t say that she hadn’t been a sight for sore eyes when I had stopped to see what was going on. I had seen the van tags and figured that it was just a tourist that was passing through, but the sight of her had been alarming.
She had red hair that was flaming and bright green eyes that complimented the streak of freckles on her face. She was pretty petite, but it was hard to tell what she looked like under the two coats that she had on. The leggings were tight though and I could see a round ass and long legs that I could only imagine would be perfect wrapped around me. I was just as bad as any other man here. She was going to have her fill of suitors once people knew that she was here and I was thankful that I had found her first.
I got off of the snowmobile and helped her off as well. The snow wasn’t packed down that well so it was still pretty high and I didn’t want her to fall. I was trying to be chivalrous, but in the end I was trying to get her to see me as less of a threat because what I had in mind was going to need it. I wanted Ayla, it was just that simple. I didn’t imagine she was going to be staying long after she seen the state of her inheritance and I was an opportunist. I wanted to make the best of her short time in Alaska and her being under my roof and hopefully in my bed was going to make that easier.
She didn’t have anything with her and that was going to make it easier to carry out my plans. As soon as I saw her, I knew that I was going to find a way to make her mine and everything seemed to be working towards this cause. I couldn’t have been happier and the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that it was meant to be. I was meant to run across her and she was meant to keep me warm tonight. It had been too long since I had seen someone as pretty as her and even longer since I had had my hands on a woman. I was one of the mountain men that I had warned her about, though I wouldn’t say it out loud. I wasn’t that stupid.
“So how far are we from my aunt’s cabin?”
“Just a little over a mile. We were neighbors by Alaskan standards.”
She smiled at me in a way that made my heart melt a little bit. God, she was hot and I was ready to get her inside where the wood stove would get her out of all of those coats and I would be able to see what I was working with. Though Ayla was still nervous, I could tell that she was trying to at least pretend like she wasn’t afraid of me. That was going to have to be enough. I had her by a foot at least and I tried not to tower over her as much as I helped her off of the snowmobile and walked behi
nd her to the cabin door.
The heat blasted our faces as we entered the cabin and her red cheeks were easier to see then. It was better to see her as well and I could tell that she was noticing the same thing as I was. She was looking at my face and it was the first time that I wished I had shaved this morning. I hadn’t in days and it was somewhat a strange thought to have because I never really thought much about my appearance all that much.
“Thank you Bill. I didn’t expect this adventure to go like this. I was hoping for something different. I was hoping that Alaska was going to be the answer to all of my problems. I guess I was more wrong than I could have guessed. I don’t know what Angie was thinking living all the way up here.”
“A lot of us live up here to get away from the rest of the world. Why did you want to come up here Ayla?”
She was silent for a minute and she wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Shrugging she told me that she guessed that was her reason as well. “I guess getting away from everything and everyone sounded good at the time. I guess I didn’t really think about how desolate it was going to be. Silly huh?”
“There are more people here then you know. Stay a while and you will see there is a community here. Not too many of us mind you, but we are quite a few, more than you can see in one night.”
“I planned on staying, but I don’t know how I’m going to be able to now.”
I waved her off and told her that it was going to be okay. She was already thinking about leaving and that didn’t sit well with me. I was going to have to show her the Alaskan hospitality that I knew was here and make her stay. If she didn’t, I was going to be saddened. A night or two with her wasn’t going to cut it. I was going to need more time and since I didn’t have much to do for the next couple of weeks, I decided then and there that I was going to make helping her a priority.
For now though, I wanted to get her comfortable so that she could see that it wasn’t so bad. I had never been one to take that much time in comfort, part of the reason that I was here, but at the same time, women were more delicate and I didn’t want to scare her off so soon. There was a lot to be nervous about her and I knew that I was going to have to figure something out to make her want to stay.
“Trust me Ayla; it’s going to be fine. I’ll help you get it worked out at the cabin. It’s not as bad as it looks. It just needs a little work.”
“I don’t really have enough money to do all of the fixing that the cabin needs. I sold everything to move out here, but I wasn’t prepared to spend so much in the beginning. I was thinking I would need it for food and supplies for the winter.”
I could tell she was overwhelmed and I made her sit down at the table and take a coat or two off.
“I got some stew that I made earlier. Get something in your stomach and a good night’s sleep and everything will be better in the morning, I promise.”
She smiled at me and I tried not to look too hard at the round breasts that revealed themselves in her T-shirt. She wasn’t dressed at all for the elements, but that helped me a little because her nipples were rock hard and begging for attention. It was going to be harder than I thought to ignore her.
The cabin was a one room style so while it was pretty big for just me; it was rather small in the grand scheme of things. I could see her looking around and when her eyes stayed on the bed for a little too long; I knew that she was thinking about sleeping arrangements and how that was going to work. I didn’t bring it up. I wanted her mind to go where it would and I wondered to myself if she was going to lay with me or insist that I sleep on the couch. Either way was fine, but I was practically hard just thinking about her lying beside me. I made a mental note to not load up the wood stove so much tonight. If I couldn’t get her in my bed as quickly as I wanted, I had a feeling that the cold in the cabin would do it for me.
We talked a little bit over stew and I tried to get to know her. She had been driving for a couple of days and it as clear that she was tired. It was also clear by the sideways glances that she kept giving to the single bed in the corner that she was worried about where she was going to sleep tonight. Finally she asked and I left it up to her.
“You can sleep there or on the couch. It’s going to be cold tonight and it’s always better to have a bed partner, but it’s up to you. You can have the bed if you want.”
“Can you even fit on that couch?”
I hadn’t slept there before save for a couple of times that I was reading and had fallen asleep, so I wasn’t so sure that I was going to fit, but I told her that it was fine. I was still hoping that she would relent, but instead she insisted that she not take my bed and she would sleep on the couch. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was insistent and I wasn’t going to push the issue. It was clear to me that there was something holding her back and if I was going to help her get the cabin together, I rationalized that I would have plenty of time to get into her panties, which was all I could think about at the moment.
“Not a problem. I’ve got extra blankets for you in the linen closet that I can get out. You look tired, are you ready to go to bed now?”
She shook her head that she was and I knew that it was as far as I was going to get at the moment. I knew that there was a part of me that wanted to push the issue, but I was a patient man, I had to be to live here.
“That’s okay. I’m ready too I think. Do you want something to sleep in?”
I could already see her in one of my big T-shirts and I liked the idea of it, but she said she was fine with her thin shirt and leggings. My only hope was that it wasn’t enough and I woke up to her crawling into bed with me at some point tonight. I was going to let it get cold in the cabin, really cold, to see if I could convince her to do what I wanted.
Chapter 3
Ayla
I woke up freezing. I was underneath two blankets and I still had my outfit on, but I woke up with my teeth chattering. The stove looked like it was out and I had to fight the urge to wake the man up. It was hard to imagine how I had gotten here. It took a minute when I first woke up to even remember where I was and when it all flooded back in, I was a little embarrassed. Here I had thought that I had done so well being prepared for the trip, but in less than one night, I realized that I was in way over my head.
Sitting up, I heard Bill breathing and I thought about what luck I had that he had come by when he did. I was in a cabin and under blankets and I was still so cold. How bad would it have been to spend another night in that van, stuck in a snow pile on the side of the road? I knew that I was lucky, but at the moment I couldn’t get warm and it was hard to concentrate when all I could think about was getting warm.
I looked over at the bed and seriously thought about getting into bed with Bill. He was a hulk of a man and handsome in a rugged sort of way. I had never heard the term mountain men before, but he would have been what I’d imagined if I did. His beard covered up most of his face, but nothing was able to cover up how big and hard he was. When he had taken his coat off, his bright blue eyes had twinkled at me and the shirt he was wearing underneath was rather tight on his huge biceps and it was hard to keep my eyes away. I had a feeling that he was looking at me in the same way and it was startling what thoughts came to my mind. I wanted him, I knew I did and it wasn’t something that I had counted on happening. I mean, I was here to get away from men and the first one that I met had me thinking about how long it had been since I had been touched by one.
Finally I made a decision to get into bed with him. He had offered and it felt like the only way I was going to warm up. I needed his body heat for that, as well as some sort of reassurance that it was all going to be okay. He was my savior at the moment and it was hard to feel any other way about it. I shivered inside to think of what could have happened if I hadn’t wrecked my van and met him. If I would have went to the cabin in the dark, in the state it was in. Would I have been any better off? I kept hearing a resounding no in my head.
I made my way to the bed and tried
to be as quiet as possible. He looked like he was in a deep sleep and that was just as well as far I was concerned. I didn’t want him to wake up and make it any more awkward. I was already getting into bed with a complete stranger. It doesn’t get any worse than that as far as I was concerned. He was nice and had given me a wide berth, but lying in bed next to such a large man was still a bit hard to grasp, especially when I had such thoughts in my head that I couldn’t silence. It really had been too long.
With all of the thoughts running through my head, I almost backed out and went back to the couch to freeze, but I didn’t want to stay there and be cold the rest of the night. I didn’t see a clock, but it didn’t seem like it had been all that long since I had lain down to go to sleep.
I moved the covers over a little bit and lay down as far as I could on the edge, but Bill was a big guy and he took up a lot of the bed. It was hard to lie down and not touch him. It was almost impossible really and I knew that it was going to be impossible not to touch him. Finally I settled in and I was immediately warmed by the heat that was radiating from his body. I moved closer to the warmth and it was then that I realized he wasn’t wearing all that much clothing. I could feel his hard chest on me and then he turned enough to pull me into an embrace. His breath was still even so I knew he was sleeping, but it did nothing to deal with the fact that he was driving me crazy with the contact.
As I snuggled in deeper and he pulled me closer, part of him was nestled against my ass and I could feel the hard length. I didn’t know if he had on any boxers, but it didn’t feel like it because I could feel ever single inch of him pressing against me. It was a distraction to say the very least and the more he moved in to settle against me, the more troublesome I realized it was going to be. I was horny and turned on to no end and his hardness pressed against me in the most intimate way. I could feel my face getting red with the touch and it was all I could do not to get up and run. It felt big and I wiggled a little bit against it, only to find that it grew a little bit more to my chagrin.