grasping on to a nearby tree trunk. Damn these shoes. If I’d known the weather would come in so fast, I’d have worn boots with a decent tread.
Athena’s footprints had long since disappeared under the heavy snowfall. Thankfully, I was as familiar with the route as she. I walked as fast as the conditions—and my inappropriate footwear—would permit, using the torch on my phone to light the path.
The buttery yellow light of the store appeared in front of me—a warm and welcoming sight. I pushed open the door. The bell overhead dinged, and a blast of warm air hit me in the face. I closed the door behind me, shutting out the wind and cold, and strode over to the counter.
“Hi, I’m looking for someone,” I said. “A young woman by the name of Ath—”
“Ryker?”
My head snapped to the left. Athena was sitting at a small bistro table, warming her hands around a large cup of hot chocolate.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I roared, stomping over. “I’ve been worried sick you’d gotten lost, or fallen into a ravine, or been fucking kidnapped.”
She lifted her mug and grinned in a completely unapologetic kind of manner. “Want one? It’s delicious.”
“No, I don’t fucking want one,” I bit out, the fear-driven adrenaline that had raced through my body receding at a rapid rate, leaving me shaking and furious. “Jesus, you are so… so… exasperating.”
“Take it easy, Ryker.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “You’ll burst a blood vessel. It was either stay here and take the time to calm down or return to the cabin and continue a pointless argument.” A slight curve showed her amusement at my expense. She set down her mug. “I’m feeling much better now.”
“Good for you,” I snapped. “Now get your ass back to the cabin.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“No, I damn well won’t excuse you. I imagined all sorts of shit, like having to tell Elliot I’d found his sister’s frozen body.”
She laughed. “Don’t you think you’re being a little ridiculous?”
That did it. I’d had enough. I gripped her upper arm, hauled her to a standing position, and propelled her toward the exit. “Out!”
She surprised me by trotting out the door, although the smirk she wore almost had me losing my shit.
We tramped back to the cabin in silence, each slip on the ice bringing a curse to my lips. The biting cold ate through my clothes. I wasn’t exactly dressed for tramping through the snow. No gloves, no boots, a pea coat instead of a thick, quilted ski jacket. By the time we returned to the cabin, I swore I had frostbite.
“I’ll start a fire.” She tossed her purse aimlessly on the table as if she hadn’t almost given me a heart attack with her stupid, thoughtless antics and ambled over to the fireplace.
Rage grew in the pit of my stomach. “Are you fucking joking? That’s all you’ve got to say? I swear to god, Athena, I’ll—”
She spun around to face me. “You’ll what, Ryker?” she spat, shrugging out of her coat and letting it fall to the floor. “Allow me to finish that thought on your behalf. You’ll do nothing because, where I’m concerned, you’re the nothing guy. You’re too scared to own up to your feelings, to accept that regardless of whatever is going on between us, the very least you owe me is honesty.”
I moved faster than I thought myself capable, considering my limbs had turned to ice. I curved my freezing hands around her face and covered her mouth with mine. My heart thundered against my ribcage, the sound resonating in my ears, like a tornado devastating everything in its path. Athena had destroyed me for anyone else, and I’d spent every second since the night she’d crawled into my bed seven years ago trying to forget her.
She knitted her hands into my hair, her fingertips playing with the nape of my neck in a way that sent me crazy. Our tongues danced to music only we could hear, every inch of her body melding into mine.
This is where I’m meant to be. This is home.
I tore my lips from hers, nuzzling the soft skin of her throat. The smell of her perfume, and her own scent lingering beneath was more intoxicating than any drug.
“Ryker,” she breathed. “Please. Don’t deny me. Don’t deny us.”
With a groan, I maneuvered her to the couch, my body caging hers, my lips ravaging every bare inch of skin.