Snow must have clogged the tail pipe, sending carbon monoxide into the car with them. Drowsiness, headache, nausea, even his own irritability could be explained by the oxygen-depleted air they’d been breathing. By running the engine to stay warm, he could have killed them both. He’d unwittingly turned their shelter into a death trap.
“Dammit!” He cut the engine with a vicious twist and leaned over the center console toward Ellen. “Ellen?”
She slumped against the passenger door, her head lolling to one side. Fear squeezed his chest. What if he was too late?
Clenching his teeth, he battled down the negative thought. Do something!
He had to get her outside, get her into the fresh air, get her to breathe oxygen before the carbon monoxide could do more damage.
“Ellen, wake up!” He slapped her cheeks, shook her shoulders, desperate to rouse her. “Come on, sweetheart. No napping right now.”
When she still didn’t respond, panic gripped his gut. Ellen was smaller than he was, and the lack of oxygen could have taken a far harsher toll on her. “Ellen!”
Zach clambered into the backseat and tried to open the door, jamming his shoulder into the immoveable blockade. The deep snowdrift they’d sunk into and the icy temperatures had the doors sealed tight. Plan B was the window. He’d get her out of the car one way or another. He had to.
Or she’d die.
Chapter 6
H aving fought the frozen window down, Zach pulled Ellen’s limp body through the gap between the front seats into the back. Holding her under her arms, he awkwardly turned and maneuvered his feet out the window first. After kicking snow out of the way and packing it into a firm shelf with his legs, he rolled to his stomach, positioning himself to drag Ellen through the small opening.
Bitter winds lashed them as the promised cold front moved in. Despite the arctic chill, he yanked off his jacket and spread it across the snow as a layer of protection between her and the icy bed of snow. Again he patted her cheeks, trying to wake her. “Ellen! Please, honey, open your eyes.”
With a groan, a wrinkled brow, and a hard shiver, she peered up at him through narrow slits. “Go away. I feel like crud, and I just wanna sleep.”
He expelled a sigh of relief when she roused, his breath clouding in front of him and the bubble of panic in his chest easing its grip. “You feel like crud, because we were inhaling exhaust.”
He shook her shoulder when she closed her eyes again and turned, burrowing her head deeper into the folds of his jacket.
“You need to stay awake until I’m sure you’ve gotten the bad stuff out of your body and replaced it with good oxygen.”
She moaned a protest, then raised unfocused eyes to his. “Your coat smells good. Like summer. Pine and…hmm, sunshine.” She lifted a corner of her mouth groggily. “And sex.”
He barked a startled laugh. “Sex? I promise you, I haven’t been wearing my coat during sex.”
Although now that she mentioned it, the idea had merit. Nothing like a little body friction to build heat.
She hummed drowsily in response, the low rumbling sound conjuring images for Zach of the topic she’d raised—images of Ellen’s body nestled against his. Naked. Sweaty. Arching into him. Would she make that low rumbling purring in the throes of lovemaking? He huffed, irritated with himself. Now was neither the time nor the place to let himself get sidetracked by his libido. Even if she had brought the subject up.
“Can you sit up? Take a few deep breaths? We gotta get some O two circulating in your blood.”
“Blood?” She wobbled to a seated position. “Am I bleeding?”
“No. No blood. You just need to breathe deeply. Get some fresh air.”
She glanced around at their surroundings. “What happened? Where are we?”
Zach sighed and rubbed her arm to calm her. Confusion was another effect of carbon-monoxide poisoning. “We ran off the road. Remember? Santa’s reindeer. We’re stuck until someone finds us in the morning.”
Please, God, let someone find them in the morning if not before. Without food or water, without heat, he doubted they could survive much longer than a day or two.
Zach chafed his arms and surveyed the isolated stretch of road where they’d gotten stuck. As the clouds were pushed westward by the encroaching cold front, the moon cast a bright glow over the wintery landscape. Evergreens burdened with snow and ice bent low to the ground and icicles tinkled in the crisp whip of the breeze.
“It’s f-freezing out here. I want to get back in the car.” Ellen tried to move past him, and he caught her around the waist.
“Not until the car airs out. Stay down behind the bank of snow, out of the wind.”
Color slowly crept back into her complexion and her lips, and the anxiety tying Zach in knots loosened. If she’d died…
Gritting his teeth, he shoved the chilling thought of losing Ellen aside and focused on their survival. Tomorrow they’d have to do something to make the wrecked car more visible from the road. The white car blended into the backdrop of the snow too well. Surely the highway patrol would be out in force looking for stranded travelers. Wouldn’t they?
Ellen hunched her shoulders and tucked her nose inside her scarf. Without the car’s heater, the night’s cold would be brutal. He surveyed the back end of the Malibu, estimating if he could scoop the snow away from the tailpipe. The back fender was sunk in about three feet of snow, meaning the tailpipe was closer to four-feet deep. Giving the snow a test scoop, he encountered a hard crusty layer of ice on the top. The plunge in temperatures had left the slushy snow frozen and impenetrable. Without tools other than his hand, it seemed unlikely he could dig the tailpipe clear enough to run the engine.
Tipping his head back, he gazed up at the plethora of stars that twinkled through the clearing clouds.
“I always wonder how many are up there.”
He jerked his gaze back to Ellen when she spoke, surprised to hear her so alert and cognizant already. She, too, had her head tilted back admiring the night sky.
“Without the city lights, you can see so many stars.” She hugged herself, and her teeth chattered.
In the pale wash of moonlight, the high cheekbones and soft lines of Ellen’s face were cast in sharp relief. Snowflakes dusted the fringe of her scarf, and the wisps of her frosty breath swirled around her like confetti in a snow globe.
Nothing she could wear at the wedding tomorrow would make her any more lovely than she looked at that moment. He acknowledged the tug of emotion in his chest, even if indulging in sentimentality was rare for him. The scare she’d given him with her unresponsiveness, her skin so pale and her lips white, had shaken him. Shattered the illusion that the attraction and connection between himself and Ellen was no more than passing interest. She’d gotten under his skin in a way no other woman had.
With her golden hair lit by the moon, her cheeks rosy from the cold and the diamond glint of snowflakes clinging to her eyelashes, she reminded him of the winter fairies from his childhood bedtime stories. His mother used to read the magical tales to him on cold nights like tonight. The winter fairies were cousins of Jack Frost, his mom said. Enchanted pixies dusting the earth with glittering snow and sparkling ice.
He swallowed hard when a lump of nostalgia swelled in his throat. He and his mom had made some good memories, come through some tough times.
Ellen turned to him, caught him staring.
“Zach?” She cocked her head and gave him a peculiar look. “Where’s your coat?”
“You’re sitting on it.”
“I’m wh—” She glanced down, seemed surprised to realize his jacket was her buffer to the snowbank.
Your coat smells good. He wondered how much of the time she’d been under the influence of the carbon monoxide she’d remember later.
Her gaze snapped up to his, wide with horror. “You must be freezing!”
Yeah, pretty much. He suppressed a shiver. “I’m all right.”
“Why’d you let me
hog your coat?” She scrambled to pull it from under her and hand it to him.
He shrugged and gratefully accepted his coat back. The lining was still warm from her body heat. “I didn’t want you lying in the snow after I pulled you out the window.”
An incredulous look crumpled her brow, and she shook her head. “And they say chivalry is dead.” She touched his arm, her eyes bright in the moonlight. “Zach, that has to be the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.”
Her accolades left him off-balance. He’d only been doing what he thought was right. “Any guy would do the same. It’s no big deal.”
“It is to me.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. Her lips warmed his frozen cheek, and a tantalizing heat spread through his core when she met his gaze again.
He cleared his throat. “So…how are you feeling now?”
“Besides cold?” She flashed him a wry little smile that wrapped around his heart. “A lot better. Thanks to you.” Her grin brightened as she took another cleansing breath, exhaling a puff of white fog. “I hate to think what could have happened if—”
He touched her lips to stop her. “But it didn’t, and we’re going to be fine. Let’s not borrow trouble, huh?”
She chuckled. “Look at you being the positive one, the encourager. I thought that was my job.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m full of surprises.” Hitching his head toward the car window, he added, “Let’s get out of this wind. I think the car is safe now.”
With an enthusiastic nod, Ellen scooted across the packed snow and climbed through the back window of the Malibu. Zach followed her in then leaned forward and turned the key only long enough to roll the window up, leaving a crack for ventilation—just in case.
Neither of them bothered to climb back into the front seat, as if by mutual consent. In the dim light from the moon, Ellen sent him a lingering gaze and voiced his thoughts. “If we can’t run the heater, then maybe…we should share body heat.”
Zach’s pulse kicked into high gear. “I—”
“Not, like, getting naked or that kind of extreme survivalist thing,” she hurried to add, then glanced down at her hands.
Lifting the corner of his mouth, he chuckled. “I was actually about to suggest the same thing.” He scrunched across the seat, and she stiffened when he put his hand on her coat sleeve. “Let me know if you change your mind about that getting naked part—” He grinned again when she whipped a shocked expression toward him. “—’Cause that kinda sounds like fun to me.”
“Wh—Zach!” She gave him a nervous-sounding laugh but relaxed enough for him to nudge her forward on the seat. He slid in behind Ellen, pulled her onto his lap, and folded her snugly inside the lapels of his coat. She propped her feet on the seat and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Go to sleep if you want. Lord knows there’s not much else to do,” he said.
“We could sing Christmas carols.”
“Pass.”
She chuckled. “We could play I Spy.”
He snorted. “No thanks.”
He felt the vibration of her soft laugh against his chest, reverberating through him. Naked or not, the press of her body fueled a rush of heat through his veins.
“I know…” She flattened a hand over his heart and tipped her head back to look up into his face. A whimsical grin dimpled her cheek as she started to sing. “Ninety nine bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of beer…”
Zach groan-laughed. “No!”
Ellen’s smile brightened, her eyes twinkling with mischief in the moonlight. “If one of those bottles should happen to fall—”
Temptation overwhelmed him, and he caught her lips with his.
Ellen’s eyes widened. Her body tensed. For a split second, he feared she’d bolt across the car, scrambling away from him.
Instead, she sighed into his mouth and plowed her fingers into his hair. When her lips parted, he deepened the kiss, tasting breath mints and pure bliss. Desire hummed through his body as their mouths meshed and their tongues dueled. She mewled softly, igniting his every nerve ending.
After a moment, when she ducked her head and sucked in a deep breath, Zach fought down the surge of adrenaline pounding through him. Maybe he was rushing her. Maybe he was wrong about her intentions. He needed to give her space and time and—
“Or we could make out like teenagers in the backseat at a drive-in.” Her breathless suggestion interrupted his recriminations.
She lifted her chin, grinning devilishly, and met his eyes with an expression that mirrored the fire blazing in his blood. Cradling the back of his head with one hand, she drew his mouth back down to hers.
Ellen’s heart thumped a nervous cadence, unsure how Zach would react to her boldness. She’d surprised herself, tossing caution to the bitter northern wind to steal a few minutes of reckless passion with Zach. Normally she was so much more reserved, more patient in her relationships with men. But nothing about this situation was normal, and she sensed Zach wasn’t like the men she usually dated. He had a raw honesty and depth of emotion that he tried to hide, but which she read in the intensity of his gaze. She felt an elemental connection to him that went beyond her profound physical attraction to him. If she’d believed in something as mystical as fate or destiny, she’d say this night, the storm, their being stranded was all part of a cosmic plan.
From deep in his throat, Zach growled his agreement to her suggestion and tucked her more firmly against his body. Holding her close, he slid down on the seat until she was lying on top of him. In the cramped confines of the backseat, he had to bend his knees, and Ellen straddled him, her legs folded under her. The position was awkward, but at the same time highly erotic. Her pulse kicked faster.
Zach’s hands framed her face, and he captured her mouth again, nibbling at first then drawing harder, fuller kisses from her.
Angling her head to brush her lips along his jaw, Ellen savored the rough scrape of his unshaven chin.
“You’re right. This is better than I Spy,” she whispered, while skimming kisses across his cheek, moving toward his ear.
He finger-combed her hair behind her ear, providing himself access to the curve of her neck for hot, open-mouthed sampling. She sighed when he feathered his tongue over the throbbing pulse point, and she gasped when he bit gently on her earlobe. Pure pleasure skimmed through her veins as he teased the sensitive spot behind her ear…under her chin…at the hollow of her throat.
His hands skated down her back then up, under the hem of her coat and inside the edge of her sweater. When he settled his hands against her warm skin, she gasped and arched away from his touch.
He sent her a curious frown. “Ellen.”
She smiled ruefully. “Your hands are cold.”
He winced. “Sorry.” He pulled his hands from under her clothing and rubbed them together briskly.
She caught his wrists, stopping him. “Allow me.”
He held her gaze as she guided his hands under the front hem of her sweater and beneath her bra. His throat convulsed as he swallowed, and even in the dim light from the moon, she saw the fire that brightened his gaze. Her heart thrashed against her ribs as he cupped his hands over her breasts and gently molded them with his fingers.
Liquid heat pooled low in her belly, and a hum of pleasure vibrated in her throat. When he shifted his grasp so that his thumbs could abrade her nipples, an electric sensation coursed through her and almost made Ellen come undone. Arching her back, she strained to be closer, feel more of his body pressed to hers.
“More,” she murmured as her mouth mated with his. Need flared hot and wild inside her, urging her on, obliterating the voice of caution. She’d almost died earlier tonight, yet when she kissed Zach, when he touched her, she never felt more alive.
Her body cried for him, longing to have him buried inside her, binding them. The power of the urge that drove her forward made no sense to her, went against everything she’d professed about relationships. But in t
he few short hours she’d known Zach, she’d experienced exhilarating joy and bone-chilling fear with him. Now, as he dipped his head and drew her peaked nipple into his mouth, she felt the most exquisite pleasure she’d ever known. Her skin flashed hot as he slid a hand up her thigh, under her skirt and inside the elastic of her panties.
His fingers stroked her nimbly, and Ellen angled her hips to provide better access. He sank one finger, then another, inside her, imitating the coupling her body craved. Closing her eyes and savoring the sweet friction, she saw spots of light dance before her. She mewled softly as the pulsing tension built inside her, until her every muscle was strung tight and her nerves crackled.
Finally, with a gasp, she plunged headlong into a maelstrom of sensation and a heated rush of pure bliss. She gripped his shoulders and cried Zach’s name, bucking against his hand as her climax swept through her.
In the wake of her powerful release, he held her more tightly and their teeth clicked as she kissed him, trying to express physically the intensity of emotion that swamped her. She thrust her fingers into his hair and delved deeper with her tongue, her heart racing, her body quaking. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing so tight it almost hurt. And still she couldn’t get enough of him. Breathlessly, she clambered to wrap herself around him, lock herself more fully against his taut, lean frame.
“Zach—” she rasped, her hands fumbling with his belt, fighting to rid him of the cloth barrier that kept them from the union of bodies and souls.
A groan rumbled from his throat as he stilled her hands, bringing them to his lips. The muscles in his jaw bunched as he gritted his teeth. “Ellen, we have to stop. We…I don’t have any protection with me.”
She raised her head and blinked at him, her vision unfocused at first. For a moment, his words didn’t register. All Ellen knew was the drumming of her heartbeat in her ears, the whirlwind of emotion that muddled her thoughts, the pounding hunger for some elusive something that only he could fulfill. But when he curled his fingers into her hair and drilled her with his laser-blue eyes, her breath caught. And his words clicked into place.
Stranded with the Bridesmaid Page 5