Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
As the cabin emerges, I run harder, my lungs on fire. Seconds later, I burst through the door with a force born of raw fear, the impact sending a jarring shock through my tense muscles.
Kicking the door shut, I barricade us against the icy death outside.
The next steps are a blur of frantic action. My hands, numb and clumsy, work to ignite the fire. Sparks catch. Flames lick the air, and soon, the hearth radiates heat.
Turning my attention to Frankie, I peel away her waterlogged clothes, each piece a frozen layer clinging to skin that’s alarmingly icy to the touch.
Her lips have taken on a deathly blue hue against the ghostly white of her complexion. Veins weave a glowing web beneath her translucent flesh. Her circulation can’t maintain enough warmth in her core.
She stares up at me, unable to speak, seemingly in shock, and that alone sends my heart rate into a frenzy.
I’m losing her.
Her teeth chatter uncontrollably, her breathing terrifyingly shallow, struggling against the cold that constricts her airway.
Every second her skin remains exposed is a second too long.
I quickly strip my clothes and drape my nude body over hers, around her, sharing my warmth, skin to skin, covering us with every blanket and fur pelt in our possession.
She shakes viciously under me, each shiver more violent than the last. Her arms lay limp and unresponsive, heavy with the creeping numbness that threatens to immobilize her permanently.
I’m acutely aware of the gravity of her condition, every symptom a dire warning of the precipice upon which she teeters between life and death.
My body heat is all I can offer her. So I hold her close, trying to will my warmth into her, to stave off the chill that has taken residence inside her.
“I’m so sorry.” I squeeze her tighter, my brow against hers, my hot breath falling over her face. “I told you it was safe, and you trusted me. I failed you.”
The terrain, deceptively solid under the weight of the recent snowfall, gave way with little warning, betraying her.
I betrayed her.
“I-I-I…” Her eyes find mine, half-closed and glazed, barely conscious. “T-t-tru-sssst y-you.”
“Shh.” I kiss her brow, her frozen nose, her trembling lips. “Conserve your energy. I’ve got you.”
Her breath, faint and uneven, is the only sound in the cabin, a fragile thread binding her to life.
I whisper encouragement, promises, anything to fight back the silence that tries to envelop us. The fire crackles, spreading its warmth, as I use every shred of my strength and will to ward off the grip of hypothermia.
It’s a race against time, against nature itself, and I’m determined to win, to pull her back from the edge with nothing but sheer willpower and the heat of my body.
The blaze in the hearth grows hotter, but it’s the warmth between us, the shared fight to stay alive, that will save her.
She. Will. Not. Die.
It’s a long night.
My eyes remain open, my hopes quietly murmured into her ear. For hours, she drifts between awareness and unconsciousness, lethargic and unresponsive.
But as the light of dawn filters through the cracks of the cabin, her shivering recedes. Her strength returns just enough for her arms and legs to wrap around me, clinging to me even in sleep.
Slowly, color returns to her skin, her lips recovering their sexy pink glow. Her core temperature appears to have normalized. Still, I refuse to move.
My arms shake in their locked position, my elbows bracketing her head and bracing my weight just enough to trap our body heat without crushing her.
Her lashes fan upward, revealing those deep, stubborn eyes that have become my everything. Lying beneath me, wrapped in my arms, she exhales, close enough that I feel the soft return of her breath against my face.
Proof that we won another battle.
“You stayed.” Her voice, barely above a whisper, carries her gratitude and her surprise that I didn’t move from my protective position.
“All night,” I confirm with a silent vow never to be anywhere else but with her.
A faint attempt at laughter escapes her, but it’s laced with weakness. “It must be exhausting…playing my hero all the time.”
The idea of being her hero fills me with ridiculous joy, even though deep down, I know it’s not about being a hero. It’s about being hers—entirely, fiercely, without reservation.
“Watching over you? That’s the easy part.” I drag my nose through her hair. “Watching you fight, never giving up, that’s inspiring and terrifying.”
“Just trying to keep you on your toes—literally. Are you planking?” She reaches between us and runs a hand along my engaged abs. “Jesus, Kody. No wonder you have an eight-pack. Come here.”
“I’ll crush you.”
“Yes, please, be my weighted blanket.”
Unable to deny her anything, I lower my weight into the cradle of her thighs and release a sigh.
“Thank you.” She finds my hand in her hair, squeezing with a strength that refutes her brush with death. “For saving me, for being my warmth in the coldest night.”