Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Tessa was woken abruptly by a heavy thump against the driver’s window. She jerked upright, confused about where she was and why she couldn’t move any of her limbs. After a moment of panicked thrashing, she remembered. Going perfectly still, she peered at the darkness surrounding her. Her hand warmers had gone stone cold. Her face felt like an icy mask.
The thump sounded on the driver’s window again. She twisted towards it, breathing shallowly, heart hammering. What if it was an animal? If she rolled the window down or opened the door, a grizzly could rip her head off like a champagne cork.
“Hello?” she shouted.
“Tessa?” somebody shouted back.
“Yes! It’s me p>
“Open the door!” he shouted, with an accusatory impatience that
identified him immediately.
Declan. Of course.
Tessa worked her arms free of the mylar blanket, then back into her parka sleeves, then struggled to find the zipper on her mummy sleeping bag with her cold–numbed hands.
“Would you open the fucking door!” Declan shouted.
“I’m trying!” she snarled. Finally, she found the zipper and jerked it down, freeing her arms. She pushed the door open to the howling wind, dropping a curtain of snow on her head.
Chapter 37
Big hands clamped onto her shoulders. After the absolute darkness of her snow–blanketed truck, Declan’s face was surprisingly easy to see. He wore a snowmobile helmet with the visor pushed up. He squinted against the wind, staring down at Tessa with an expression of pure rage.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” he demanded furiously.
“Seemed like a nice night to go camping,” she said caustically. “What do you think I was doing? My truck broke down p>
“And you didn’t think to call anybody?” He looked ready to wring
her neck.
“I lost my phone!” Instead of being relieved at being rescued, she was so angry and embarrassed at her stupidity, she was on the
verge of tears.
Declan’s grip eased on her shoulders. He shook his head and leaned past her to look at the dashboard. The gauges were all lit up, but the truck was so heavily blanketed by snow that they couldn’t see the headlights at all. Declan turned the key and pulled it out of the
ignition.
“Come on,” he said. He nodded at the sleeping bag and mylar blanket still wrapped around her. “Bring your kit p>
“I’m not that cold. Once I get in a warm vehicle, I won’t need p>
“I don’t have a warm vehicle p>
“What? How’d you find me p>
“Snowmachine. The roads are impassable right now.” He reached out and unzipped her sleeping bag all the way. “Come on. Roll that up. You’re going to need it p>
Chapter 37
That sounded ominous. “Why p>
“We’re not going to make it back to Longtooth in this. There’s a dry cabin not far from here. We’ll hole up there until the blizzard
passes p>
Stiff from the cold, Tessa stumbled as she stepped down from the truck. Declan caught her by the arm. He grabbed her gear with his
other hand and guided her to his waiting snowmobile without a
word. He lifted the seat and stuffed her things into the compartment underneath. He stuck a spare helmet on her and strapped it beneath her chin when her fingers were too stiff to work the nylon through
the buckle.
“Are you going to fall off?” he asked impatiently as she clumsily
boarded behind him.
“Hopefully not p>
“Seriously, Tessa. Don’t fall off p>
“Oh, well, now that you told me not to, I definitely won’t p>
He growled, but faced forward and started the sled.
In the darkness and the swirling snow, Tessa couldn’t see what was coming at all. They dipped up over the snowbank and then plunged steeply down the embankment on the edge of the road. Trees appeared suddenly in the snowmobile’s headlight, startling her. And then they were in the woods, weaving between trees, lurching over uneven ground. Even within the cover the forest, wind and snow drove at them. Tessa closed her eyes, buried her face in Declan’s back, and held on tightly. Her thighs were clamped against his, and she could feel the flex of his muscular torso as he shifted with the movements of the snowmobile. It was uncomfortably intimate, but the discomfort was not as great as the fear of falling off.
The snowmobile came to a stop. In the glow of the headlight stood a
Chapter 37
rustic little cabin. A blanket of snow at least six inches deep covered the roof. Declan grabbed the gear from the seat compartment and then led Tessa inside.
She dug the flashlight out of her roadside emergency kit and flicked it on. The interior was about as sparse as a cabin could be. The uninsulated walls were just wooden planks nailed to the exterior timbers. Plywood platforms were mounted on both sidewalls, one above the other, forming rustic bunk beds. There were no bedrolls or mattresses of any kind. A narrow walking space ran between the bunks, leading to the back wall where a small wood stove sat next to an empty wood bin.
Declan let out a sigh. “Of course it was too much to expect firewood.” He looked over at her. “We’ll have to bundle p>
“Bundle p>
“We’re going to share your sleeping bag p>
“Are you serious p>
“It’s for warmth p>
“I’ve heard that one before p>
He scowled. “Fine. Freeze to death p>
(4)
Cedella
Cedella is a passionate storyteller known for her bold romantic and spicy novels that keep readers hooked from the very first chapter. With a flair for crafting emotionally intense plots and unforgettable characters, she blends love, desire, and drama into every story she writes. Cedella’s storytelling style is immersive and addictive—perfect for fans of heated romances and heart-pounding twists.