Chapter Twelve
Connor
I told myself that I should be happy about this potential rescue, but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. It wasn’t just because of the raging hard-on I was dealing with that wouldn’t get any relief now, but I couldn’t suppress the foreign feeling of possessiveness that came over me the moment I looked out the window and saw two men dismounting the snowmobiles.
They were heading for the cabin, and it should have elated me to know that we were finally getting out of here. Wasn’t that the reason I dug through the snow all yesterday afternoon?
But I had that sinking feeling that my stolen time with Sophie was coming to an end as the men walked closer. Then, I realized that she was still naked. No way in hell was I going to let anyone see her that way other than me. Hurrying over, I helped her pull her shirt over her head while she shoved her legs back into her jeans.
I wondered if she felt as conflicted about this as I did. Did she wish that we could have a little more stolen time together too? I didn’t get a chance to ask her what was going on in her head because there was a knock at the door.
“Hello? Mr. Renshaw, are you in there?” a deep voice asked. “This is the MRA, the Mountain Rescue Association.”
“Uh, yeah,” I called out, making sure that Sophie was completely covered before crossing to the door and pulling it open. Two men wearing thick, fur-lined parkas, goggles, and gloves stood right outside. “How did you know I was here?”
“We tracked your rental car to this area and figured you’d found the caretaker’s cabin when we saw the light through the window while we were searching for you,” one of them said.
That made sense, and I nodded in a detached manner. “We had a little accident and got stuck here when the storm hit.”
“We?” the other man asked.
Sophie came up beside me, giving them a little wave. “Hi.”
“Oh. We didn’t realize there were two of you, Mr. Renshaw. Your sister contacted us to request a search and rescue operation on your behalf when you didn’t return home from Colorado two days ago.”
“I’m his assistant,” Sophie explained, and I had to fight back the urge to correct her, to tell these men that she wasmine.
This wasn’t the time or place for my possessive side to emerge. I hadn’t even toldherthat she was my girl yet.
“Well ma’am, it’s a good thing that we brought two vehicles. We’re getting you both out of here.”
“Please, call me Sophie.”
“I’m Adam,” the man said, flashing a charming smile as he pushed his goggles to the top of his head.
“Give us a minute,” I said through clenched teeth, and shut the door.
“Connor, what are you doing?” Sophie asked, her tone incredulous. “You can’t just leave them out in the cold like that. They came to save us.”
“They have coats,” I said gruffly, when the truth was that I didn’t like the spark of interest I saw in Adam’s eyes as he looked at her.
“Are you okay?” she asked with her brow furrowed.
“Yeah, let’s just gather our stuff.”
I went into the kitchen and started stuffing everything back into the emergency bag more aggressively than necessary. I didn’t want to come off as an ungrateful asshole, but it was jarring to have reality crop up unexpectedly like this. Especially when I didn’t even get to bury myself inside of her again…
“You ready to go?” Sophie asked, and I looked up to see that she’d put on her coat.
No.I wanted to stay here forever with her, knowing everything was going to revert back to how things were once we left this place behind. Hell, I was the idiot who’d even suggested that we treat our time together here in the cabin as nothing more than a fun, sexy diversion.
“Yep,” I replied brusquely. “Let’s get out of here.”
Grabbing the box of baking soda I’d seen in one of the cabinets, I smothered the fire as Sophie opened the door, spilling light into the cabin from the headlights and allowing me to take one more quick look around. It was strange that I felt an emotional connection to this place after just two days, but I knew that this was a Christmas that I would never forget.
We stepped out of the cabin, and I saw that the snowmobiles were parked at the edge of the path that I’d shoveled out of the snow yesterday. Both men were waiting for us, and I didn’t even know the name of the other guy with Adam, but that didn’t matter. If we were getting on the back of these things, I was going to be with Adam. I didn’t want him near Sophie. It was bad enough that I was going to be separated from her for our ride back to civilization.
The wind was brutal on the ride back, and I understood why the men were wearing goggles over their eyes as mine watered. My short hair whipped around, and I hoped that Sophie wasn’t as miserable as I was during the ride.