I stuck the shovel in and picked up the first bit, looking for a place to throw it. It was either throw it in front of the other door or forward. I decided to the side was best and that was what I did as I pushed my way forward. my muscles were screaming at me by the time I was only two feet out from where I started. I didn’t know how anyone could do this repeatedly.
I took my jacket off and tossed it in the garage. I was getting hot, sweating through my sweater. I looked at the driveway and groaned. How were they going to get back here and plow the road? I shrugged and continued with my morning workout.
Better than the home gym and better than sex for the muscles. Fine. Nothing is better than sex, but this was coming close for exercise. I threw another shovel full of snow. It landed in the pile, the pile was getting larger as time went on, between my shovel fulls and the constant falling of snow, I felt like I wasn’t making a dent.
I wished I had some music to listen to while I was working, but I wasn’t going to go back inside, just to come back out and start over. The snow was already beginning to pile back up behind me, and I still had to get the Chevy into the garage. Thankfully I was almost there.
I looked back at the house and groaned. The pathway to the door was going to be a bitch. There were almost another three inches of snow from when I started and more still coming. I made a path to the door of the rig, got inside and drove it into the garage. I was not happy with the situation, but I would survive. I walked outside and closed the garage door.
I turned and started my task again to the front door. I was beginning to wonder why I had bought the house up here, and why I hadn’t listened to my dad when he told me not to buy the house.
I threw shovel after shovel into the yard, carving a path to the door. I walked inside to the smell of the coffee I had started before I went outside. I poured myself a cup and heard Alexa stir in the bedroom. I turned and waited for her.
Chapter Eighteen
Alexa
When I woke up, Daniel was already up and moving. I couldn’t find him so I decided to get breakfast started. Eggs, bacon, French toast. It would be the perfect breakfast. When I walked into the kitchen Daniel was already there, a pile of snow melting off him, onto the floor at his feet. I frowned at the wet mess he was making in the kitchen. I smelled the coffee what was already brewed and smiled. One less thing for me to do.
I walked out of the room and into the kitchen to see Daniel there, making a face as he took a sip of his coffee. I raised an eyebrow and smirked. I knew that face. It was the same face I made when my coffee was cold.
“Put it in the microwave. That’ll help.” I told him, yawning.
“It’s snowing like mad out there. It’s crazy.” He put his cup in the microwave to heat the coffee back up.
“How much has fallen since last night?” I tried to make small talk as I pulled out the makings for breakfast.
I shooed Daniel to the other side of the island, not liking people hovering over me while I cooked. The sound of the bacon sizzling though seemed to draw him back around to watch me, a couple of pans warming for other food. Daniel reached over to the plate where I was starting to place the bacon, to steal a piece and I swatted his hand with the freshly greased spatula.
“Don’t touch that! Unless you want to starve and watch me eat this.” I told him, turning back to the stove.
Daniel huffed and growled at me, “meanie”, before slapping my ass as he walked by me. I turned to glare at him. This was my kitchen. His house, but my kitchen, and no one got away with anything in my kitchen.
He was staring at me like I had lost my mind. I smiled sweetly at him, adding a confused look on my face for good measure.
“Yes?”
“You slapped my hand. No one slaps my hand.” Daniel had a predatory look in his eye, and I felt the heat rush to my core. It was breakfast time and I was hungry, but at the moment, I was sure that he only wanted me for breakfast.
“Oh. I don’t like people getting in my way. John has a habit of filching food when I’m cooking.” I turned back to the stove, taking the bacon out of the pan and flipping the French toast before adding more bacon to the pan. I hadn’t cooked in silence in so long that I didn’t know what to do. So, I asked Daniel to turn on some music.
“Fuck! I can’t get online, and the satellite isn’t working.” Daniel swore as he looked for his cell phone. I watched as he wandered around the house, holding his phone up. “Damn! It looks like the storm is blocking the signal for everything. I can’t get a signal on my phone. I hope this doesn’t last long.” He sat down heavily on the stool he had just vacated. “Well, looks like we are on our own for right now, sweetheart.” Throwing his phone on the counter, he slammed his fist down angrily. I just smiled and pulled out my iPod, and asked him to put it on the base. It wasn’t long before the sounds of Metallica’s Enter Sandman were filling the downstairs and I was singing along.
I finished the bacon and scrambled the eggs, using some of the bacon grease. Checking the toast, I knew it was ready for the oven. I grabbed some berries, sugar, and dumped it all into the pan. In no time the berries were bubbling, ready to be squashed into pulp. I loved my syrup all natural and seedy. I squashed them before turning the pan to simmer. I dished up our plates, grabbed the pan of syrup, and poured it into a bowl. I liked free access to syrup. I had learned a long time ago, not everyone liked the same amount of syrup.
“How much toast would you like?” I hovered over the freshly cooked toast. Daniel held up two fingers as he studied his phone and tried to make it receive a signal. I dished up his toast, sprinkled some powdered sugar over it, and loaded him up with bacon and eggs. I placed his plate in front of him and all he did was grunt at me. I shook my head at took his phone from him.
“You can throw a fit about the phone later. Right now, you need to eat.” I brought my plate over and sat beside him, as he stuffed his food in his mouth, pouring half the bowl of syrup over his toast, eggs, and bacon.
“This is really good.” He said around a mouthful of food. “Why did you agree to do this for your brother? You could've told him no.” He looked at me as I ate.
“John has been there for me through so much, I owed him one. Even if he wasn’t paying me I would have done him this favor. He took me in after Sean fucked me over. He didn’t have to. He has always been there for me. I want to get out on my own. This job will help me move out of his house.” I shrugged as I thought about it. There was so much more than that, but I couldn’t tell anyone those reasons. Yet. Or ever.
I could never tell John I felt like a third wheel. He would feel so guilty for keeping me there for so long and I could never do that to him. He had helped me out so much, I would be eternally grateful to him. “And well, once I saw you, I figured it was an even better deal, because, well, you’re hot.” I could feel the heat filling my face as I turned back to my food.
Well, that cat was out of the bag. I had told him what I thought about how he looked. So hopefully he wouldn’t run screaming now. I looked around the room as it seemed to grow smaller. Daniel got up and closed the space between us, he was speaking but the blood pounding in my ears wouldn’t let me hear him.
I needed to get out, needed to breathe. I pushed away from Daniel, leaving the cleaning up to him and went to get dressed. I pulled on my boots and my jacket and headed to the front door. I was almost there when Daniel blocked me. I looked at him and he just shook his head at me.
“You don’t want to go out there. You could get lost or hurt. It’s nasty, Alexa.” he tried to keep me from pushing past him. I opened the door and looked out. It was white everything. Driveway, path, trees, front yard. There was nothing untouched by the snow. And the flakes were huge. Giant fluffy flakes that meant business, not the little flakes that would take forever to stick to something.
Didn’t Daniel have a landline? Well, no he wouldn’t have one out here. I had already looked for cords or wires coming to the house from the road. I had to go look for someon
e with a radio. He wasn’t as prepared as he should have been for this weather. I would have to talk to John about how little he had told Daniel about living out here in the woods.
“I hadn’t thought about that yet. I told you, I came back here on the spur of the moment. Given time I would have installed a house phone, but for now, it’s just our cell phones.” He sounded almost apologetic. “Alexa, wait, please? It’s not safe out here alone. Please, stay near the house.” He begged as I stormed off into the swirling white blindness.
“Why should I? I grew up here in this state. I know it better than you do. Why should I listen to you when you weren’t even prepared enough to have a house phone? I’m going to see if I can find a neighbor somewhere to call John.” I yelled over my shoulder and turned back down the driveway. The determination to find a phone somewhere that wasn’t one of our cells filled me. I didn’t know what the likelihood was of there being any neighbors this far out, but I had to try. Come hell or high water. I steeled my nerves, turned back to the door, yelled at Daniel and took off down the road, to where I hoped there was another house.
I couldn’t believe how easily he’d let me walk away. It was too easy. Or, maybe he knew what I said was true. I knew my way around in this weather because I had grown up in it. Honestly, I hoped he wasn’t just leaving me to die. It was already starting to get dusky; it didn’t stay light this far north very long in winter. Only about three hours and she was pushing into hour two right now. It was only about 11:30 in the morning, I was pretty sure of it. But this was a lot further north than Anchorage, and I knew there were differences in the amount of daylight between the two areas.
I had started to despair at the thought I may not find another house with life in it when I barely saw the smoke through the snow. Someone had a made a fire up ahead of me. I pushed forward, to their front door. When I knocked on their door, I hoped they had a phone. No one answered though, so I looked through the window to see if they were coming to the door; or even home. I knocked again, louder this time and kept watching.
When no one came to the door, I tried the knob, not many people locked their doors out in the woods. Just my luck though, it was locked. Find the only house with signs of life and they weren’t even home. The owners were probably out enjoying the fresh powder. I groaned as I looked up the road, my footsteps already being filled in by the quickly falling snow. I tried my best to follow my trail, but that wasn’t good enough. I never saw the ice patch until I stepped on it, my feet flying out from beneath me, my head hitting the hard ground as the world went black.
Chapter Nineteen
Daniel
I was done waiting. It had been forty-five minutes and there was no sign of Alexa coming back up the drive. I knew she had gone away from the highway, in search of neighbors that may or may not be there in search of a telephone. I had my mind set; I was going to go look for her.
I pulled on my jacket, hat, and boots and opened the door. I didn’t think it was possible but I could’ve sworn it had snowed at least another six inches. This was going to make finding Alexa a whole lot harder than I needed it to be. I closed the door and started out toward the road. It was getting dark already, and it was only noon. I’d heard Alaska winters were cold and dark but had never truly believed any of it until now.
I took a left and started to head in the direction Alexa had wandered off toward earlier. Maybe, I would catch her on her way back and I could find out if she had found any neighbors or anything about the weather. I just hoped she wasn’t in danger. I walked for what seemed like forever when I noticed the smoke coming through the snow. That must be where Alexa had gone.
I was turning to go up the driveway when I noticed movement in the snow. I heard a groan and some mumbling. I stopped and kneeled, dusting off the area I had seen moving a moment before. It only took me a minute to recognize the clothing that Alexa had worn out of the house. Hurriedly, I brushed off the rest of her and checked her for injuries. Nothing felt broken, aside from a large lump on her head from where she hit the ground.
Carefully, I tried to shake her awake, saying her name. Her lips were starting to turn blue from the cold. I knew in that moment, injured or not I had to move her. She was close to hypothermia, and I had to get her back to the house and warm her up as quickly as possible. I stood, gently lifting her into my arms. Her weight was familiar, yet strange in its limpness. She belonged in my arms, but not in this state. She belonged there, awake, alive, and cuddling into me.
Oh, for fuck's sake, what was I thinking? I needed to stop getting sidetracked and get her home as soon as possible. It was dark and the temperature was dropping again. Quickly, I half walked, half jogged back to the house. When I opened the door and laid her on the floor, I made short work of her clothes.
Now was not the time to admire her body, and I was glad I had left the fire burning when I left. I ran to get the blankets from the bedroom, stripping my clothes off, before running back to the living room. I had been a boy scout and we were taught how to handle hypothermia. Skin-to-skin contact, blankets, and as much warmth as possible were the best things.
Slowly, I began to rub the warmth back into her body, checking her for signs of frostbite, and any other injuries I may have missed. To my immense relief, her skin started to turn pink with my administrations. Once she had started to warm, I wrapped her back in my arms and pulled the blanket more tightly around us. It felt like an eternity before she was finally warm enough for me to move out of the blankets and check her head again.
She stirred as I gently poked at the lump on her head. Stretching, she yawned, before glaring at me. I held my hands up, letting her know nothing happened. I asked her questions, who she was, birthday, what year it was. And what the last thing she remembered was.
She told me all she remembered was trying to get home, and flying onto her back, but nothing after that. And, no one was home in the house she had found. So, they were stuck until service could be gotten back after the storm.
“What happened?” She looked at me, probably hoping I could fill in some blanks, as she slowly moved her hand up to feel the large lump on the back of her head. Wincing she put her hand back down. Alexa looked at me then and realized I was just as naked as she was and wrenched her arm back and slapped me across the face.
I’d never been slapped by a woman I had saved before. Well, at least not before I was able to give an explanation. I was extremely taken aback when Alexa’s hand connected with my face. Despite myself — and the stinging to my face — I smiled at her. It was funny to think this was in reaction to us being naked on the living room floor in front of the fireplace… wrapped in blankets. Oh… I got it now. She thought I’d taken advantage of her. Well, I would have to remedy that, and I might as well start from the beginning. I didn’t relish getting slapped across the face. Even if it was a legitimate misunderstanding
“Well for starters, you’re welcome,” I smirked at the outraged look on her face when she began to open her mouth to retort. I put a finger to her lips and brushed my hand against her face. “Now wait a damned minute, I didn’t say I was done. First off, after you stormed off to look for one of the neighbors, I let you go for almost an hour.
“When you hadn’t returned by then, I went out looking for you. It was a good thing I did, because I found you on the ground, at least an inch of snow covering most of you down by one of the neighbor’s houses. I picked you up and carried you back here, and made sure hypothermia couldn’t set in completely.
“I stripped you from your cold, wet clothes, stripped out of mine, grabbed the comforters and laid us down by the fire. I only touched you in an appropriate fashion, rubbing your legs, feet, arms, to bring warmth and feeling back to them. Now, if you feel like slapping me again, could you please give me fair warning. I’d like to defend myself this time.” I stated matter-of-factly, watching her carefully to see if she was going to slap me again. I was shocked when she lunged at me and planted her still chilled lips against mine.
I hesitated when Alexa laid back, not sure what to do or where she was going with this. She took my hand and placed it on her breast not needing to say the words, that was all the invitation I needed. I set a slow, gentle pace, making sure I wasn’t hurting her as I kissed down her neck, over her shoulder, down her chest, catching first one and then the other nipple in my mouth, swirling the hard peaks with my tongue, the relaxed sigh enough to drive me nuts, but I still unsure if she was okay enough for this.
She arched forward, pushing herself into my mouth, urging me forward, I continued my trek down her body. She moaned softly as I gently licked along the folds of her warm supple flesh, her sweet taste flowing onto my tongue. I continued the downward exploration of her body, stopping to nip behind her knees, before starting my way up her body, following the path I had taken on her other leg. I stopped to suckle at her pussy again, before sliding my body up her, positioning myself at her entrance, waiting for her permission.
She stared deeply into my eyes, answering the unspoken question with a lift of her hips, and I slid slowly home, making sure she was okay, before taking her. I felt the warmth spread through her blood, the heat growing around my hard cock and the quickening of her walls starting to quake around me as I thrust into her. It was hard to hold on, knowing I was warming her up. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t hold on anymore and sent us both flying over the edge, into sightless paradise.
“Are you warmer now?” I reluctantly slid out of her warmth, breathing shallowly, and pulled her into my arms.
“Much, thank you,” Alexa replied groggily as she closed her eyes and fell asleep on my chest.
Snowed In (Lost and Found Book 1) Page 9