“Stop it,” he said, hearing a bit of anger in his voice. “This is survival. You need to do what you have to do to survive.”
She lifted her chin and her voice rose up just a notch to match his. “This is your survival, too. It's not just me anymore.”
He sighed and slumped back to a sitting position on the floor. “I just want to hold you,” he admitted. “I’ve never been scared the way I’ve been since you've been here. Well, not in a long time anyway.”
“Me too,” she said softly.
“I don't like being scared. I don’t like being scared for someone else. That's why I like to be alone. I only have to worry about me and what might happen to me.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “But you're not alone, Nash. I'm here with you.”
“That's what scares me the most. You almost died.”
She smiled up at him. “But I didn’t. You said yourself it wasn’t going to happen and it didn’t.”
He bent his head and looked into her eyes. His face was just inches from hers. He could feel her warm breath against his cold cheek.
He couldn't take it anymore. He had to taste her lips. It had been driving him crazy ever since he'd walked into the dispatch office and saw her sitting there at her desk. There was absolutely nothing special about what she was doing aside from sitting there with those headphones on. And yet, his eyes had focused on her lips and he'd wanted to taste them.
He’d resisted all this time and now it was too much. He had to know. He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. To his surprise, she didn't pull back or seem shocked that he’d kissed her. That both thrilled him and terrified him.
He wanted her to pull away. He wanted her to be stronger than he was because right now he had no strength to fight against the feelings that were coursing through him.
When he pulled back he saw that her eyes were filled with desire and it made things all the worse. How do you walk away from something like that? Something so beautiful and innocent and intoxicating?
“Just hold me, Nash. We’ll warm each other up by the fire and stay there. It's okay. I want this too.”
He kissed her again, this time with more passion than he'd allowed himself to feel in years. He liked being in control, even in the world that seemed uncontrollable. And maybe that was why he was so drawn to Harper. He felt safe when he wasn't in control with this amazing woman.
He got up from the floor and stripped off his jacket. Then he reached out his hand for hers. He marveled at the way her small hand slipped so easily into his larger hand. When she was standing beside him, he peeled off her jacket and let it fall to the floor. They rid themselves of the boots and walked over to the wood stove that was pumping out warmth because he'd stacked so many logs inside of it before they’d left earlier. Now it was burning strong.
He grabbed one of the folded blankets from the sofa and spread it out on the floor in front of the wood stove where he'd slept these last few days. Harper crawled across the blanket like a cat and then curled into a ball with her face toward the fire. He grabbed another blanket and pulled it with him as he fell to the floor beside her. Then he wrapped his arms around her and covered them both with the blanket.
It had been a long time since he'd had a woman spooned up next to him, warm and soft and desirable. And yet it seemed so right with Harper to just lie there together and not push things further. He kissed her behind her ear and then whispered, “Are you warmer?”
She made a soft sound, and then said, “I was warmer the moment I met you.”
* * *
Nash was still sleeping when Harper heard commotion somewhere down the mountain. She got up and ran outside to the porch, listened, and then ran back in.
Nash lifted his head from the pillow. “What is it?”
“I'm not sure, but I think there's some activity down the mountain. I think the plows are here to clear the road.”
“That means one of the officers from the department will be there. If they manage to get through all that snow today, one of them should be able to get you home.”
She looked down at herself. She was still wearing Nash's sweats. “I need to get changed.”
“You’re not going down there yet. It could be dangerous,” he said, lifting up from the floor. His dark hair was sticking up on one side with bed head and his eyes were still squinty with sleep.
“What do you mean? I’ve got to get their attention.”
“I’ll go. I can take the truck.”
“But the radio was lost when the snowmobile got buried in the avalanche.”
“I can get their attention somehow. It’s not rocket science.”
She chuckled. “I guess you’d know since you’re a scientist.”
He nodded as sleep still made him groggy.
“Will you be able to get down with the truck and get back up?”
He nodded. “The snow is still high, but the snowmobile tracks are compacted. I’ll keep it in four-wheel drive and stay in the snowmobile tracks. I should be okay. Just get yourself ready for when I get back. I shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“What about coming back up the mountain? How will I know if you get stuck?”
“I should be able to get back up following the same path.” He smiled. “I'm pretty resourceful.”
She gave him a smirk for his teasing. “I've seen that.”
“I'll be back as quick as I can.”
“Are you sure you
