Читать книгу Winter Lodge Wolves Complete Boxed Set - Kayla Gabriel - Страница 9

Heart pounding. Breath ragged. Leaves and branches whipping at her bare skin as she raced through the forest. Sultry moonlight filtering down through the trees, the scent of dark, rich soil filling the air.

Behind her, a man. A glance back shows him to be tall and broad, all rippling tanned muscle, dark hair and glowing green eyes. He grins as he chases her, challenges her.

Penny surged forward, arms pumping, feet flying, heart filled with indescribable joy.

She won’t win.

Can’t. Not against him.

Still, the chase… the chase is everything.

Just as she spots the edge of the forest, where the trees will break and she’ll be free, strong arms band around her waist. Warm lips find her neck as he slows her down, stops her in her tracks.

A soft bite, just in that place at her nape, the spot that makes her weak in the knees. Hands cup her breasts, and she feels his long, thick cock pressing against her lower back.

Penny shivered. He was going to take her, possess her, brand her with his body…

Penny blinked and squirmed. She was way, way too warm. Sweating. Also weighed down with a ton of blankets. She squinted up at the ceiling. This wasn’t Amber’s lilac living room… the walls here were stark white.

The blankets weren’t her favorite comforter, either. These were fleece and wool, and they didn’t smell like her floral-scented detergent. They smelled like fresh pine needles with a little musk, like… like man should smell.

Penny shot up, looking around. Where the hell was she? The room was just white walls and wood floors, very simple. The decor was bare bones, nothing but the bed and a side table stacked high with thick novels. The Sun Also Rises caught her eye.

Whoever lived here, apparently they liked Hemingway. She screwed up her face as she climbed out of the strange bed, staring around. When the last blanket fell away, Penny was shocked to find that she was completely naked underneath.

She wobbled on her feet, her muscles cramping and protesting the abuse they’d suffered. She was bombarded with a sudden burst of memory, of leaving her car and trudging up toward the Winter Pass ski lodge.

Was that where she was now? This room seemed much too small, but maybe she was on the second floor. There was no window in the room, so it was impossible to tell.

Snatching up one of the fleece blankets, she wrapped it around herself like a towel. Then she spotted a chair in the corner, behind the door. Her wet clothes hung there, drying… underwear, bra, and all. They were still damp in places, meaning she hadn’t been knocked out for too long.

An oversized blue t-shirt and a pair of gray thermal longjohns were sitting on the seat in a neat stack, apparently meant for her. A bright spot in the midst of a very unhappy moment in the life of Penny Marie Harding.

Penny had never dressed so fast in her whole life. The whole time she was getting the clothes on, she was also trying her hardest not to imagine how they’d come off.

Someone had undressed her. The realization gave her a chill. She padded to the bedroom door and forced herself to open it, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind herself before she could lose her nerve.

She was clearly in one of the small rental cabins, not the main lodge as Penny had first thought. To her left was a small bathroom, which was her first stop. When she emerged, the hallway led out into a small front room, a kitchenette and table across from a sofa and a recliner.

And him.

He stood at the window, his tight white t-shirt and jeans silhouetting him against the darkness outside. Before he even turned around, Penny knew what he’d look like.

After all, she’d just seen him… in her all-too-real, all-too-sexy dream.

“Shit,” escaped from her mouth as he turned to face her.

He was gorgeous. Six and a half feet tall, pure muscle, lean and thick in just the right places. Short dark hair, a few days’ worth of stubble on his face, and the most eerie, piercing green eyes Penny had ever seen. Blazing bright with every bit as much intensity as her dream had foretold. And his mouth… he had the fullest, sexiest, most bitable lips in the universe, hands down. Just looking at his mouth sent half a dozen great uses for those lips into Penny’s brain like a bolt of lighting.

Damn. Harlan was so hot, he might as well be on fire.

Penny’s legs went out from under her, and she let it happen. Better to be on the floor than to face the level of shame she felt right now at the way her body was responding to this complete stranger.

“Whoa now,” he said, striding over to her.

Penny went beet red as he picked her up and moved her to the couch, as easily as if she were a rag doll.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. This close, his musky pine scent overwhelmed her, making her breasts tighten, the place between her thighs warming unbearably.

He released her and crouched down in front of her, tipping her chin up with a finger. Penny was too embarrassed to form words, angry at her betraying hormones. She never responded to men like this, not even when she and Steve had first started dating.

Penny was frigid. All her life, except right this moment, the worst possible time.

“Did I hit my head?” she asked, raising her hand to feel the back of her skull. She was honestly suspicious that she might have a concussion. It would explain her… symptoms.

“I don’t know,” the man admitted, looking concerned. He shifted to kneel before her, reaching out a hand, then pulling it back. It was a little funny, because Penny got the idea that he wasn’t used to any kind of uncertainty in his life. He licked his lips, which sent another flare of desire through her body, then spoke again. “What’s your name?”

“Penny.” That was all she had. Her mouth was dry, her tongue in knots. Basically she was trying not to stare at him like a total moron.

“I’m Harlan.” He paused, then stood and moved back, crossing his arms. “What are you doing at Winter Pass, Penny?”

“I… I got stuck in the storm. I was just looking for somewhere to wait it out, and I remembered that the lodge was here,” Penny said, nibbling her lower lip. She was leaving out substantial chunks of the story, but he didn’t know that.

“Winter Pass has been closed for six years,” he told her, his eyes hard. Accusing, almost.

“Uhhh… I know. It was my only choice. I didn’t even know if I’d make it to the lodge,” Penny admitted with a shrug.

“You didn’t make it to the lodge,” Harlan said, looking almost amused.

“Not with people shooting at me,” Penny said, remembering the gun fight. “Why were people shooting at me?”

“You didn’t know them?”

Penny crinkled her nose.

“I don’t usually hang out with people who fire guns at me, no,” she said.

Harlan seemed to accept that, and his face softened a little.

“They were poachers, looking for some endangered species we have around here,” he explained.

“What… like deer or something?” Penny asked, confused. Growing up in the same town, she couldn’t remember there being a long list of endangered animals, or poachers for that matter.

“Wolves,” Harlan said. He arched a brow, as if daring her to disagree.

“Oh,” was Penny’s only response. “Are they still… out there?”

“They left when the sun went down. It’s too cold to hunt. They’ll be back tomorrow morning, though. Which is why you need to leave as soon as the sun’s up.”

A tiny bit of Penny’s pride withered. True, she was trespassing, and she didn’t exactly want to be here. But the way he said she had to leave, like it was personal… that rubbed her the wrong way.

“Fine,” she replied, rubbing her hands over her arms. The muscle tremors had moved up to her arms, and her body trembled unpleasantly.

She caught half a mumbled curse on Harlan’s lips as he turned and went to the bedroom, then came back with some of the blankets Penny had left behind.

“You need to stay warm. You were unconscious when I found you, your body’s had a lot of stress.” Harland thrust the blankets at her, and Penny took them without a word of protest. She didn’t feel cold, but she didn’t want to argue with him, either. Grumpy though he may be, he had probably saved her life.

Harlan went over to the kitchenette and set a kettle on the tiny stove. To her surprise, he returned with two steaming cups of Orange Pekoe tea.

“No sugar,” he said, claiming the chair across from Penny.

“It’s okay. I don’t much like it,” she said, sipping the tea gratefully. A long moment passed, the silence heavy, before Penny spoke again. “So… if the lodge is closed, why are you here?”

Harlan set his cup down, and Penny could see him weighing what he should tell her.

“I know the owner,” was his eventual answer.

“The Harbin kid?” Penny asked, surprised.

Harlan gave a low chuckle.

“Chase? That kid is thirty four years old and has at least an inch and twenty pounds on me,” Harlan said.

“Chase! Man, I could not remember his name for anything,” Penny sighed.

Harlan went tense again. It was odd; he wasn’t that expressive, nor did he gesture much, but Penny found him absurdly easy to read. Something about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“You know him?” Harlan asked.

“I mean… he’s a few years older than me. We went to the same school, but we don’t know each other know each other. Not more than anyone in a small town,” she rushed to explain, to ease his obvious discomfort.

Not that Penny should care.

“Ah.” Harlan glanced away, leaving Penny to wonder what he was so worried about.

“Let me guess,” she said, something clicking into place. “I remember Chase going into the Marines. That must be how you guys know each other.”

Harlan’s brow hunched, and he gave her a slow nod.

“We served together for a long time, yeah.”

Penny needed to say something, start talking. Any conversation was a good thing at this point, distracting her, keeping her from staring at Harlan. Every time she stared too long and Harlan caught her, he shifted in his seat, looking ready to jump up and run out of the cabin. He alternated between seeming disgusted by her presence and staring back at her, like he hadn’t seen another human in a thousand years.

“Where were you stationed?” Penny asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, that is.”

“Where wasn’t I stationed?” Harlan said. “Germany. Aruba. Afghanistan. Syria. Kuwait, for a minute.”

“Oh. Uh, cool,” Penny said, feeling lame.

“What do you do?” he asked, leaning back and crossing his arms. Penny tried desperately not to ogle his sexy, tanned forearms. She dropped her gaze to her lap.

“I’m an art teacher. Or I was.”

“Past tense?”

Penny’s face began to flame again, but she wasn’t one to skirt around the truth of what had happened.

“I got fired. My ex was sleeping with the headmistress of my school, and when I caught them together, she fired me. The same day he kicked me out of our apartment.”

A growl rumbled through Harlan’s chest, and Penny looked at him with surprise.

“Some loser cheated on you?” he asked. His eyes blazed bright, and for a half second Penny wondered if he might be teasing her in the cruelest way. But no, he was serious. Offended, angry, and confused on her behalf, for some unknown reason.

“Well, he was sort of…” Penny pursed her lips and twined her fingers in her lap, trying to find the right words.

“A worthless prick?” Harlan suggested.

Penny laughed, then nodded.

“Yeah. He—”

“I don’t need the details. Forget about him,” Harlan said, shifting again in his seat. The movement drew Penny’s attention to his upper arm, where a few spots of red were spreading across his white t-shirt.

“Harlan, I think you’re bleeding,” she said, hand flying to her throat.

He looked down at his shoulder, then hefted a sigh.

“It’s fine,” he said. “Now that you’re up, I’ll just grab another shirt from my bedroom.”

“It is not fine!” Penny said with a gasp. “You didn’t say you got shot!”

The idea of him sitting here chatting with her while having a wound made her angry.

“It’s nothing,” Harlan said, but Penny was already on her feet.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” she demanded to know.

Harlan gave her a measuring glance, then rolled his eyes.

“In the medicine cabinet,” he said.

Penny retrieved it and came back, putting on her best take no prisoners expression.

“Take off your shirt,” she ordered, giving him what she hoped was a steely glare.

A flare of humor lit his face, followed by more eye rolling.

“Fine,” he said, rising and pulling his shirt off, every muscle in his torso rippling as he moved.

Penny’s dry mouth and shaky legs returned, and she had to rip her eyes away from his obscenely flat, defined abs.

“Couch,” she said, pointing. Her cheeks and neck were red and hot with a mixture of hunger and ire. Thankfully Harlan dropped onto the couch, his eyes roaming up and down Penny’s body from head to toe.

It struck Penny that Harlan might actually be interested in her, not repulsed. It seemed insane, someone like him looking at plain little Penny, mousier than ever in her borrowed pajamas. But the look on his face was hunger, unmistakable hunger.

“Penny,” Harlan said. There was a dangerous edge to his voice, and it shook Penny to her core.

In that moment, she knew that if she really, really wanted it… wanted a hot, hard, single night’s fling, she could probably have it. With him.

No no no no. She’d just been dumped, she a sad little wounded bird. Getting horizontal with Harlan, no matter how incredibly hot he was, would not solve her problems. Probably.

“Penny…” he said again.

Penny jumped, dumping the first aid kit on the couch.

“Right! Sorry!” she squeaked, killing a bit of the tension. She busied herself opening some bandages and tubes of ointment, then hesitated.

She’d managed to forget that she was actually going to have to touch him. Crap.

Kneeling next to Harlan on the couch, Penny blew out a breath and leaned over to examine his shoulder. It was a bunch of tiny, deep cuts, not the gnarly wound she’d expected.

“It was just flying tree bark,” Harlan said, his magnificent chest rising and falling as he spoke.

“You were right. It isn’t that bad,” Penny said, gently probing one of the cuts with a finger tip.

Harlan didn’t flinch, though one of his pecs tightened.

“Told you,” he ground out, looking away toward the door again. Ignoring the potential awkwardness that might spring up between them any minute now.

“Alright. I’ll be quick.” Penny spread a little antiseptic gel over each of the cuts, trying to focus on her work. Her eyes strayed over his shoulder to his back, where black swirling tendrils announced a large tattoo of some kind. She peeked, and saw that it was a very simple rendering of a wolf howling at the moon. “Pretty serious about saving the wolves, aren’t you?”

Harlan grunted and shifted, not meeting her gaze or acknowledging her question. Penny grabbed some gauze and medical tape, then started covering his cuts. Her gaze trailed down his front side this time, dipping lower and lower.

Her curiosity earned her an eyeful, making her fumble and get tape stuck to her fingers. She jerked her gaze away from his crotch, but not before she saw the thick, long outline of his cock pressed up next to his fly, running all the way up to the waist of his pants.

Holy cheese and crackers, Batman.

Not only was Harlan packing some serious heat, he was hard as a rock right now. Penny bit her lip to stifle a laugh as she realized that all his staring off in the distance and shifting in his seat hadn’t been because he disliked her.

No, it was quite the opposite.

For the barest second, Penny almost convinced herself to lean over and cup his thick erection, just see how it felt against her palm. Or kiss his sinful, proud lips, maybe…

Harlan cleared his throat, and Penny realized that she was staring at his mouth, a blank expression on her face.

“Maybe you should head back to bed,” he suggested.

Penny’s mouth opened, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.

“—and get some sleep. You look, uh… worn out,” Harlan finished.

“I—” Penny faltered, her momentary confidence fading. “Uh, right.”

“I’ll clean this stuff up,” Harlan said, clearing his throat again. He was looking anywhere but at Penny, and making her more confused than ever. He might be hard for her, but he didn’t seem very happy about it.

“Alright,” she said, shoulders drooping. Maybe this whole thing was in her head after all, just exhaustion combined with some leftover breakup blues.

“You need help getting there?” he prompted.

“Uh, no,” Penny said, abashed. “I got it.”

“I’ll wake you up at sunrise,” Harlan said, plucking a few bandage wrappers from the couch, staring a hole into the first aid kit.

“Great. Sure.”

Penny lurched to her feet and propelled herself forward, glancing back as she hit the hallway. Harlan was definitely looking at her now, those green eyes of his practically glowing as he watched her walk away. His lips twisted when their gazes caught, but Penny didn’t stop moving.

She scooted straight into the bedroom and closed the door, then climbed onto the bed and sprawled out on her back.

What in the hell was happening between them?

Penny squeezed her eyes shut and prayed for sleep, though it didn’t come for a long, long time.