by Vivian Wood
But worth it, her mind conceded as she watched Wolfe open the truck door and pull out a large black duffel bag.
Shelby couldn’t argue with that. She would have walked an even farther distance if it meant learning more about Wolfe Carmichael.
As it was, they still had a long walk back to the cabin ahead of them.
Wolfe slammed the truck door shut, turning to face her as he slung the strap of the duffel bag over his shoulder.
“Well, mission accomplished,” he said, patting the bag that rested against his hip for emphasis. “Ready to head back?”
“Sure,” Shelby said, straightening up from how she’d been bent over with her hands braced on her knees.
“Great,” he replied enthusiastically, throwing her a wolfish smile that made Shelby want to gulp. “Because now it’s my turn to ask the questions.”
7
“But I haven’t finished asking all my questions yet!” Shelby protested as they started walking back toward the cabin.
“You’ve asked enough for now,” Wolfe replied easily, unfazed by her pouting. He gave her a pointed look. “Besides, I wouldn’t put it past you to try and weasel out of answering my questions if we get back to the cabin before I can even ask them.”
Shelby’s scowl only deepened at his words, which made Wolfe grin.
She’s damn sexy when she purses her lips like that, Wolfe thought appreciatively as he watched her out of the corner of his eye. It looked like he could add getting Shelby riled up right after blushing on the list of things he liked to do to her.
Ah, but there’s so much more I’d like to do to you, Shelby.
That is, if you’re as interested in finding out as much I am.
“Alright, fine,” she relented, throwing her hands up in defeat as she stomped ahead of him through the snow. “Go ahead and ask your damn questions.”
Wolfe just smirked, easily catching up to her and matching her pace.
He tilted his head back and studied the iced-over canopy of tree branches overhead as he pretended to ponder his options for a moment, but he already knew the first question he wanted to ask.
It was just a matter of whether or not she would actually answer it.
“Sooo…” Wolfe started slowly, trying to gauge her reaction as she turned her head to finally look at him. “Why did you freak out like that earlier when I told you I was a SEAL?”
Shelby’s cheeks erupted with an instant blush as she faced forward again.
“Pass,” she said after a short pause of silence, her voice mildly strained as she avoided his gaze.
“What?” Wolfe said, incredulous. “You can’t just say ‘pass’!”
“I just did,” Shelby said stubbornly, still not looking at him.
“Oh, come on,” Wolfe cajoled, reaching out to grab her hand and pulling them both to a stop. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”
Shelby shook her head, but she still refused to meet his eyes.
Wolfe let go of her hand so that he could take her by the shoulders instead. Gently, he bodily turned her to face him, though her eyes remained focused on her boots.
“Listen,” he said softly. They were standing so close that the misty clouds of their breath mingled together. “I told you some stuff about myself that I’m not all that proud of. Do you think less of me now than you did before?”
That got Shelby’s attention.
Her eyes darted up to his, wide with their sincerity.
“Of course not,” she said earnestly. “If anything, I think it’s amazing that you’ve come so far from who you used to be.”
She thinks I’m amazing?
Wolfe was overcome with an unprecedented feeling of pride at her admission. No one had ever said something like that to him before.
“Okay,” Wolfe acknowledged carefully with a nod, not wanting to give away how much her words had affected him. “So after all that, why would you think anything you have to say about yourself would make me think less of you?”
Seeing as how he was still gripping her shoulders, Wolfe felt Shelby shift her weight uneasily. He let her go and took a step back to give her some space, though his instincts were screaming at him to do just the opposite. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and never let her go again.
What the hell is this woman doing to me?
“It’s just that…well, it’s sort of embarrassing,” Shelby said at last, her arms coming up to hug herself self-consciously.
“Well now you have to tell me,” Wolfe teased, trying to lighten the mood.
It worked, sort of.
Shelby rolled her eyes at him playfully, but then she gave a heavy sigh as her arms dropped back down to her sides.
“Okay, so there’s this guy…” she started, but then winced as if talking about it was painful.
Wolfe barely noticed.
He was too busy trying to tame the wave of unbridled jealousy that had suddenly washed over him at the mention of another guy. He forced his outward expression to remain calm, while internally his emotions raged out of control. He knew his feelings of possessiveness over her were irrational—hell, he barely even knew her—but still, he couldn’t help it.
In less than a day, this woman was making him feel things in ways he’d never experienced before.
And to lose her before he even had an actual chance with her just made him feel…hollow.
Cool it, man. You said so yourself back at the cabin: there’s no way she could be single.
But despite that, Wolfe had started to feel like there was something happening between the two of them.
He was brought back from his internal struggle when Shelby started talking again.
“I’ve known him my whole life; him and his two brothers—all three of them Navy SEALs, by the way,” she added with a pointed—if not slightly accusatory—look in Wolfe’s direction.
All things considered, Wolfe was surprised to feel the edges of his lips twitch into a smile in the face of her surliness. Even consumed with inner turmoil as he was, this girl could still get to him.
As she continued talking, they came to a silent agreement to resume walking again, though at a much more leisurely pace than what they had set before.
“Anyway, our two families are pretty close,” Shelby continued, her gaze fixed on something in the distance. “His older brother is actually married to my sister. They have two kids together now, but they still go at each other like they’re teenagers.” Shelby’s nose wrinkled a little at that, but she quickly moved on.
“A while back, his younger brother, Colt, fell in love with a girl who is now one of my best friends. She was new to town at the time, but Colt snapped her up before anyone else could,” Shelby said with a wistful smile at the memory, but then her shoulders slumped. “Which left Walker and I as the only two single people.”
Wolfe perked up a bit at hearing her admit that she was single, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she was available.
He forced himself to ask his next question, bracing himself for whatever her answer might be.
“This Walker guy…do you love him?”
Wolfe held his breath as she seemed to think about her answer. After a moment, she shrugged and shook her head.
“No.”
Wolfe didn’t think he’d ever been so happy to hear that word before in his life.
“No,” Shelby reiterated, as if needing to reconfirm it with herself. “I don’t love him—at least not in that way. But I probably could have someday, given enough time.”
Okay, not quite the explanation that he wanted, but Wolfe wasn’t ready to give up on her just yet.
“So, what happened with him?” Wolfe prompted when she failed to elaborate more on the situation.
But then a sudden, horrible realization dawned on him.
“Did…did he die?” he asked tentatively, not wanting to upset her.
Shelby startled him by laughing.
“Oh my god, no!” she wheezed, trying to catch her breath
from her little hysterical outburst.
But then another fit of giggles would take hold and she’d have to start the whole process all over again.
Wolfe just watched her, bemused. They’d stopped walking again, but neither of them seemed to be in much of a hurry to get back at this point.
“No, Walker’s not dead; though he might as well be, for all the romance I see in our future,” Shelby said, wiping at her eyes as she finally composed herself again.
“No, the bastard went and got himself married.” She spit out the last word like it was a profanity and not a holy union, all her former humor gone. “And then my sister had to go and suggest that both our families go on that damn Christmas cruise together and I just…couldn’t,” she said, winding down her impromptu rant with a sigh.
But for all that, Wolfe still didn’t get it.
“So you and he never…?” Wolfe trailed off suggestively, not sure how to even pose the question he was asking.
Thankfully, Shelby got the gist of it.
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head.
“I’m not sure I understand then,” Wolfe admitted after a moment, frustrated. “If you guys never had, you know, a thing, then why are you so pissed that he married someone else? I mean, you just said yourself that you didn’t love the guy.”
Shelby huffed and looked away.
“It’s complicated,” was all she said as explanation.
Wolfe just watched her, expectant. He was beginning to learn that silent and persistent patience was the best way to get Shelby to talk.
She didn’t keep him waiting long.
“It’s just that…I mean, haven’t you ever pictured your life turning out a certain way, but then something happens that screws up all your plans?”
Wolfe thought about that for a moment.
“Does my truck giving out in the mountains and then me almost dying from exposure count?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Shelby laughed like he’d hoped she would, but she shook her head.
“Not really what I was talking about, but you get points for experience,” she replied with her signature sass, making Wolfe chuckle.
Shelby quickly became serious again, though.
“But no, I guess the real reason I’m so hung up about Walker is that…I don’t know; it was just so easy to see what our life together would have been like, you know?” she said, her brow furrowed in contemplation. “Our families would have completely merged as one. We would have either lived on my family’s ranch or his, maybe raised a couple kids…”
Shelby blushed at that last part.
And again, Wolfe was forced to check his jealousy.
Wolfe cleared his throat uncomfortably and Shelby looked up at him, blushing even harder now.
“So, it sounds to me like you don’t miss him, so much as the idea of him,” Wolfe said eventually, trying to clarify things. “Is that right?”
Shelby nodded.
“Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it up.”
“And you’re out here all alone in The Smokies because you’re single and he’s not?”
Another nod.
Wolfe couldn’t help it; he had to laugh, if only at the sheer craziness of her story.
Shelby didn’t take too well to this.
“See? This is why I didn’t want to tell you!” Shelby whined, her face turning red.
Wolfe just chuckled, not realizing that she was actually angry until she turned and started to walk away from him.
Wolfe sobered instantly.
“Hey, wait!” he called, following after her as fast as he could while lugging his heavy duffel bag.
Shelby ignored him as she trudged ahead, obviously still pissed.
Wolfe cursed himself under his breath.
Way to go, you bastard. Now you’ve gone and fucked everything up.
“Come on, don’t be mad,” Wolfe pleaded as he caught up to her again. “I wasn’t laughing at you, I swear.”
He tried to snag her hand again, but Shelby anticipated the move. She avoided him, spinning out of reach as she wheeled to face him.
“You weren’t laughing at me?” she scoffed, her blue eyes like ice. “Because it kind of seemed like you were.”
Wolfe just shook his head, resisting the urge to reach out and touch her for fear of her rejecting him again.
“Look, I’m sorry that I laughed, okay? It’s just…don’t you see how insane all this is?” he asked, waving a hand at the surrounding wilderness in emphasis. “You come up here on a whim to spend Christmas alone, all to avoid your family and some guy you don’t even have real feelings for. Once here, you rescue a complete stranger in the middle of the night, saving his dumb ass from freezing to death on your front porch. Then, to top it all off, you invite said stranger to stay with you, alone, even though he could totally be some random psycho murderer who has a thing for pretty blondes.”
Wolfe was slightly breathless once he’d finished his tirade, but Shelby didn’t seem to notice.
“Well, are you some random psycho murderer who has a thing for pretty blondes?” she asked, arms crossed and lips quirked in a sardonic smile.
Wolfe sighed his relief; the return of her sarcasm was a good sign, in his opinion.
Wolfe shook his head, taking a small step in her direction. He was pleased when she didn’t back away from him again.
“Only half of that is true,” he said, feeling his pulse jump in response to the risky game they were both playing.
Wolfe took another step. Now they were standing less than a foot apart.
Shelby was not the least bit intimidated by his close proximity. She just raised her chin as she looked up at him, her blue eyes glittering mischievously.
“Which half?” she asked, her voice pitched seductively low.
“The good one,” he replied simply.
And then he kissed her.
Well, they both kind of reached for each other at the same time, but Wolfe wasn’t really one to split hairs.
Especially not in this instance.
The kiss was both chaotic and passionate.
Which amused Wolfe, because those were two words he’d probably use to describe her now that he’d gotten to know her a little better.
Shelby moaned into his mouth as he deepened the kiss further. His tongue twined with hers as her hands slid up his neck, her gloved fingers tightening in the hair beneath his hat.
He felt his duffel bag hit the ground at his feet, the strap sliding from his shoulder as he moved to grip her by the waist. He pulled her as close as their thick winter clothes would allow, which wasn’t nearly close enough to satisfy him.
Shelby apparently felt the same way, because she suddenly broke away from the kiss, releasing her hold on his hair as she began to unzip her puffy coat.
In that moment, Wolfe snapped back to reality.
“Wait,” he said, stalling her progress with the coat zipper by laying his hand over hers.
“What?” Shelby asked, still breathless from their kiss.
They were both panting slightly, their breath fogging out between them like little puffs of smoke.
“We can’t do this; at least not here,” he explained, eyeing the snow all around them. “It’s too cold.”
Shelby seemed to regain her senses then, her face turning red as she stepped back from him to readjust her coat and scarf. He did the same, pulling his hat back down over his ears and reaching down to reclaim his momentarily forgotten duffel bag.
“It’ll be getting dark soon, anyway,” Shelby said quietly, not looking at him. She turned away to start walking toward the cabin again. “We best get back before that happens.”
Wolfe trailed after her silently, wondering if he was only imagining the sudden awkwardness he felt forming between them.
Or if the kiss had just been a big mistake.
8
Shelby rolled over for what had to have been the zillionth time in the past hour, trying to find a position th
at was comfortable enough for her to finally fall asleep.
She closed her eyes, trying to think of only peaceful and soothing thoughts. But after a few minutes, Shelby’s eyes sprang back open and she flopped over on her back with a sigh.
It was no use; she just couldn’t sleep.
The problem wasn't that the bed was uncomfortable, or that she’d had too much caffeine before bedtime—though she wished it was something so simplistic.
No, the problem was lying on the couch in the living room less than fifty feet away from her, probably sleeping like a rock.
Shelby sighed again as she stared up at the bedroom ceiling, thinking of Wolfe.
He’s all I seem to think about anymore, she thought grudgingly. Him, and that damn kiss.
Just thinking the word had Shelby conjuring up memories of how it felt to have his arms around her, her fingers twisted in his hair. How the shadow of his unshaved beard rasped against her bare skin as he brought his face down to hers.
And how his hot tongue had delved against her own, flicking expertly around her mouth as if it belonged to him.
The kiss had been short, but intense. That much was certain.
Shelby felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment as she recalled how she’d been so caught up in the moment, that she’d been willing to let Wolfe take her right there in the middle of the forest, the snow and cold be damned.
That was, until Wolfe had stopped her.
Shelby groaned, throwing an arm over her face as if she could hide from her own shame.
Three days had come and gone since then, and Shelby had nothing to show for it aside from the near constant ache at her core that even touching herself couldn’t assuage.
It didn’t help that the source of her sexual frustration was trapped inside this cabin with her, unwilling to touch her in any way that wasn’t strictly platonic.
And it all started after that damn kiss!
Neither one of them had brought up the kiss since it happened, which was probably their first mistake.
They had both been quiet for the rest of their walk back to the cabin afterward, Shelby being too mortified about her brazen behavior to make conversation. And Wolfe…