by Ruby Shae
If she had to spend the night with someone she didn’t know, she would rather be where at least one person knew her location. The Matchmaker trusted her date, and that was better than spending the night with a complete stranger.
Her fingers clung to the steering wheel in a death grip as she hit a small patch of ice hidden beneath the swirling powder. The looming threat of ice wouldn’t completely disappear until she reached the cabin, and the whites of her knuckles remained, even after the patch was long gone.
When she’d left The Last Civilization, the snow had barely begun to fall, and she hadn’t been worried about making it to her destination. Now she had no choice but to keep driving, thankful the road was only two lanes instead of four.
They had snow in Shadow Creek, but never more than an inch or two, and it never stuck around for long. If she had to guess, she’d day four inches had fallen already, and it was still coming down.
It was a lot of snow—way more than she was used to—and she couldn’t wait to get to the cabin and get out of the car. If she had to bet money, she’d guess the Matchmaker knew about the storm, and also knew it wouldn’t be safe for her to drive home until Tuesday.
That was fine with her.
At this rate, unless he was a complete asshole, she was ready to stay with the guy all week.
When the first street on the right came into view, CeCe exhaled the breath she’d been holding. She only had a couple more miles to go. Another right turn led her further up the mountain, but she cheered out loud when a sturdy mailbox came into view.
The driveway was long, and though it wasn’t completely plowed, it was easier to drive on than the other roads she’d traveled. It was as if the path had been carved out of the land, and snowbanks nearly three-feet high hugged both sides of the lane.
She followed the route until a large, beautiful log cabin blocked her path.
She pulled up next to the other vehicle, an SUV, and put her car in park. Before she could turn the ignition off, the front door opened, and a man stepped out into the cold.
Ian.
He was dressed in a pair of faded, loose fit jeans, and a wrinkled t-shirt bearing the emblem of her favorite superhero. She hadn’t thought he could look sexier than he did in a suit, but seeing him in the causal outfit put the tailored suits to shame.
His short brown hair stuck it out in all directions, as if he'd been sleeping.
Or having sex.
Oh, God.
Why had the Matchmaker sent her here?
She put the car in reverse, and stepped on the gas. Unfortunately, she stepped too hard, and the tires spun wildly before catching a patch of ice, and hurling her backward. She slammed her foot on the break, and the car fishtailed out of control. She spun one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, and then crashed into a snow bank on the driver’s side.
The force of the impact killed the engine, and sent her head flying toward the driver’s side window. Luckily, the seatbelt prevented any damage beyond a hard bump on the glass. Pain raced around her skull, but aside from bump and a few bruises, she knew she would be okay.
An enraged roar echoed over the quiet earth, and a second later, the back end of her vehicle shifted three feet to the left, away from the snowbank.
Suddenly, Ian was by her side.
He yanked the door open with so much force the hinges creaked, and suddenly he was leaning into the small space, assessing her body for damage with his eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked, focusing on her bruised head.
“I’m fine,” she said, “just shaken.”
His stare was too intense, and she lowered her eyes to avoid his scrutiny. The first thing she noticed was the fact that his feet were bare, and shame swamped her. She definitely shouldn’t be thinking about his sexy feet. In fact, it must be a mate thing, because she’d never thought of feet as sexy before.
“You don’t have any shoes on,” she stated, dumbly.
“No, I don’t.”
His voice was calm and even, and she got the sense he was trying to placate her. He moved further into the space, set the parking break, removed the keys from the ignition, and undid her seatbelt. Before she had a chance to move, he slid his hands under her knees and back, pulled her from the vehicle, and started walking toward the cabin.
“Ian, I can walk,” she said.
“Are you crazy?” he asked. “You might have a concussion.”
“I don’t have a concussion,” she said, forcing a laugh. “A huge goose-egg? Yes, but not a concussion. The seatbelt took the brunt of the hit.”
Ian seemed to ignore her explanation, and continued carrying her into the cabin. He set her down on a couch facing the fireplace, grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch, tucked her in, and walked into the kitchen without a word. Shifters weren’t affected by the cold like full humans were, but she still appreciated the sweet, comforting gesture of the blanket.
Ian quickly returned with a bundle of ice wrapped in a dish towel.
“Put this on that bump, and don’t move,” he ordered. “And don’t go to sleep either.”
As if she could.
Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. She was exhausted, but the fact that she’d somehow ended up at Ian’s cabin kept her alert.
She held the ice to her head, and watched him walk back out into the cold with his feet still bare. Up until now, the door had been left open, and small clumps of ice made an odd trail across the hardwood floor. She shook her head, instantly regretting the sharp, abrupt motions, and forced herself to use smaller movements as she looked around his home.
Except for a few basic necessities, including a couch and a small dining room table, the place was bare and hardly looked lived in. She wondered if he’d just moved in, or if he preferred the minimalist look.
The sound of a car engine starting up pulled her out of her thoughts, and relief swamped her as she realized she wouldn’t be trapped for long. As soon as Ian returned after righting her car, she could get back on the road and find her date. She’d obviously made a wrong turn somewhere, and as much as she didn’t want to drive again for a very long time, she couldn’t be in the same cabin with Ian and his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day…or on any day, for that matter.
Ian silently returned, and walked directly into the kitchen. He returned with a glass of water, and a container of Motrin. He handed her the glass, pulled the top off the medicine, and shook the bottle until two tablets fell into her hand.
She swallowed both the pills and the water, and then handed him back the glass.
“Thank you,” she said, meekly.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, placing the glass and the pills on a small end table on the opposite side of the couch.
“Okay,” she said, honestly.
“Good, I’m glad,” he nodded.
He seemed calm, and sympathetic, but his next words boomed around the room.
“What in the hell were you thinking?”
***
Ian hadn’t meant to yell, but CeCe had scared him half to death. The sight of her spinning around in his driveway while he was forced to stand by and watch, helpless, had shaved a few years off of his life.
He’d left Shadow Creek at dawn, picked up supplies in the populated part of Pine Hill, and arrived at the cabin before noon. Snowfall from the night before coated his driveway, and after a quick lunch, he’d walked the snow blower up and down the path.
When the unexpected squall blew through the area, he’d had the urge to walk the driveway again after the heaviest dump of snow, but he hadn’t understood the feeling until CeCe’s car had crept toward his cabin. If he hadn’t cleared the path for the second time that day, she probably would have gotten stuck halfway up the drive.
That might not have been a bad thing.
That was true. She would have had to walk to the house, and when she ran, it would have been on two legs, not while operating heavy machinery.
Fuck!
Even though she sat on
his couch, safe and in his care, he couldn’t get the images of her accident out of his head. His bear paced, agitated, beneath the surface, and he took a deep breath to try and settle his nerves.
Yelling wouldn’t accomplish anything, especially with his stubborn mate, and he wanted answers.
“Look, I obviously made a mistake,” she snapped. “If you can just call me a cab, or a tow truck, I’ll be on my way as soon as possible.”
“Even if I had phone service, which I don’t,” he said, “no one is going to travel until the roads are clear. And don’t you even think about shifting. You don’t know the area, and I’ll just hunt you down and bring you back.”
“You can’t keep me here,” she challenged.
“Wanna bet?” he growled. She was testing him, and he was not in the mood to be tested. Now that he had her here, he planned on getting answers. “You’re not leaving until it’s safe to do so, and that’s final. I do have some questions though.”
She glared at him, and he figured it was as close to an agreement as he was going to get. He wanted to gather her in his arms, and sit down with her in his lap, but he knew she’d put up a fight, so he settled himself on the opposite side of the couch.
“I’m not mad you’re here,” he started, “in fact, I’m pretty damn ecstatic to see you, but I am mad that you tried to kill yourself. How did you end up here? And more importantly, why were you leaving?”
She’d gasped when he’d said he was ecstatic to see her, and he had no idea what was going on in her pretty head. She’d lowered the ice, and the lump had turned a light shade of purple, and stood out like a bullseye on her creamy white skin, but it didn’t take away from her beauty. Even with the bruised bump, she was still the most gorgeous woman he’d ever met.
“The Matchmaker set me up on a date, and gave me directions out here, but I must have made a wrong turn somewhere. I was leaving because I didn’t want to interrupt your Valentine’s Day celebration.”
Anger swamped him, but he quickly pushed it away.
There was no way she could have taken a wrong turn by following the old she-bear’s directions, because there weren’t any other cabins around for miles. His cabin was the only one anywhere near Pine Hill.
The implications were amazing. The Matchmaker had sent him his mate.
“First of all, you are always a welcome interruption. Second, there is no way you could have taken a wrong turn, because this is the only cabin around for miles, and I own most of this land. It seems you went to the Matchmaker for a date, and she sent you to me.”
“I didn’t go to her for a date,” she clarified. “I owed her favor in exchange for her attending my party. I had no idea it would be a two-night getaway.”
“Two whole nights, huh?” he teased. “That woman is my new best friend.”
“Very funny,” CeCe said, deadpan. “Spending the weekend with you and your girlfriend is not my idea of fun.”
His mate was talking crazy.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked. “There’s no one here but me, and I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“You…” she wrinkled her brow as she digested his words. “What do you mean you don’t have a girlfriend? What about the woman from the coffee shop? I’ve seen you two together several times.”
“Inari?” he laughed. “That’s my sister. I haven’t even been on a date since the first time you walked into the hotel.”
“That can’t be right,” she said. “I’ve seen you flirt with all of those women.”
“You’re wrong,” he said. “I don’t flirt with anyone except you, and we both know how well that goes.”
“But…they’re always giving you room keys, and money, and—”
“And I’m always kind, polite, and professional when I give all that stuff back. Is this why you’ve been avoiding me? Because you think I have a girlfriend, and that I cheat on her with all of the women in the hotel?”
He couldn’t help being offended. She’d painted him out to be a man-whore, and questioned his honor. No wonder she’d rejected him. She didn’t think he was a worthy mate.
“I…”
Her silence confirmed that was exactly what she’d thought.
Disappointment raced through him, but he couldn’t put all of the blame on her. If he’d been a better mate, she would have never doubted his loyalty and desire.
“Why did you come up here alone?” she finally asked.
“I always take off a few days before and after Valentine’s Day,” he explained. “People, especially women, get crazy this time of year, and I prefer not to be a part of it. I came alone, because my mate thinks I’m some womanizing asshole, and wants nothing to do with me.”
Okay, he was still mad.
“I…I’m your mate?”
“You seriously don’t know?” he growled.
“Honestly? I’m not sure. I know you’re my mate, but you don’t seem interested in me at all, so I thought maybe fate had made a mistake.”
“Not interested? You’re in denial,” he laughed. “The only reason I backed off is because you kept rejecting me, and then Inari needed my help. She graduated college, and got dumped on the same day, so I let her stay with me for a few months. Luckily, she has her own place now, because I can only take so much of my little sister. You, on the other hand, I will never get tired of.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “All of this is making my head hurt.”
“Classic denial,” he teased, standing. “How about some dinner? I’m sure you’re hungry, and I’ve been trying to have dinner with you for over a year. You owe me.”
“Dinner sounds amazing,” she smiled.
Chapter Five
CeCe sat at the small table in the kitchen, and watched Ian prepare their meal. After he methodically chopped the potatoes, he prepared another ice pack for her head, and then started to pan fry the steaks. The silence between them was comfortable, and she was grateful for the time to think.
Ian had said that she was in denial, and she wondered if that were true.
Had her own insecurities stopped her from perusing her mate?
She thought back to the day she’d met him for the first time, and remembered how they’d flirted so easily. Ian hadn’t ignored her, in fact, he’d been the one to approach her first. Their relationship had bloomed over tiny conversations each day, until two months later when she’d been excited to call him and ask about a favor for her friend.
Up until then, she’d been happy with the way things were progressing, but when he took the opportunity to ask her out, she’d laughed it off, and ultimately, rejected him.
What about the other women?
Yes, women swooned over him on a daily basis, but she’d never actually seen him with anyone except his sister. She remembered how she’d chalked their teasing up to a couple in love, but could their easy rapport been based on the fact that they were siblings?
Being an only child, the question would be hard to answer except that she had plenty of friends with siblings, and many of her clients were large families with multiple generations of relatives.
If Ian and Inari’s behavior wasn’t enough to convince her, then what about their features? The fact that they shared the same dark hair and eyes had been one of the first things she’d noticed, but why hadn’t she ever surmised they were related?
Was she really stupid enough to push her mate away based on, ultimately, nothing more than her own poor self-esteem?
Apparently, the answer was yes.
Hell, Ian had been right.
She didn’t deserve him.
“Whatever it is you’re thinking, just stop it right now,” Ian said, setting a plate down in front of her. “You look like you’re planning to escape again.”
Her stomach growled, and she laughed and dug into her meal. Ian was a good cook, and she savored the flavors of the meat and the oven fries.
“This is fantastic,” she said, after swallowing another heavenl
y bite. “Thank you, Ian.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “I’m just sorry I don’t have any dessert. A cookie would be amazing right now.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, way. I can make us a cake tomorrow, but I wish I’d bought something ready-made for today.”
“You might not believe this, but I have a tin of cookies in my car. The Matchmaker gave them to me.”
“Damn, that woman is eerie,” he said, standing.
“Right?” CeCe laughed. “She’s kind of freaking me out.”
“Yeah, me too, but I’m still going to eat the cookies,” he laughed. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
CeCe finished her meal, and waited for Ian to return. A couple minutes later, he walked in with her suitcase in one hand, the cookie tin in the other, and a guilty smile on his face.
“Did you save me any?” she teased.
“I had to check them for poison,” he volleyed back.
“Yeah, too bad I already did that yesterday,” she laughed.
Ian placed the open tin on the table between them, and they both grabbed one of the treats. She liked being with him, liked their casual companionship, but a few things still bothered her.
“How come you hid me from Mrs. White in the hotel the other day?”
“Because she’s mean and nasty, and I didn’t want her anywhere near you,” he stated, matter-of-factly. “She would have lashed out, and I would have defended you, but I didn’t want you hurt. If our relationship was stronger, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but you were still running from me. She would have used that against you.”
She nodded.
She believed him, and with that information, the scenario looked completely different in her mind. The new version was definitely better, but she needed more.
“Did you mean it when you called me gorgeous? Because I’ve always been curvy, and that’s never going to change,” she said, holding up a cookie for emphasis. “I don’t eat junk all the time, but I like food, and I like my body. I also like the comfortable clothes I wear to work, and I hate dressing up.”
“Sweetheart, my dick has been hard for hours. I’ve wanted to kiss you from the moment I realized that you were okay, and it’s not just because you were in an accident. It’s like that every time I see you. You’re a smart, kind, friendly, beautiful, companionate, highly talented business woman, and your curves are sexy as hell.”