Lumberjacked (A Holiday Lumberjack Mountain Man Romance) - K.C. Crowne Page 0,14
and other debris scattered about. I’d parked in a small clearing where the ground was flat.
Viktor took another step forward and I followed him, looking at the devastation that stretched out in front of me. I didn’t recognize the place. The trail I’d followed to get there had washed away. The entire mountainside looked different. Trees had been yanked from the ground like weeds, their roots sticking up in the air like fingers reaching for the sky. Flat ground was now puckered, and the smell of raw earth filled my nostrils.
“It won’t be easy getting down this mountainside,” Viktor said, indicating the lack of a road. “It might be a while.”
“Will they come clean it up?”
Viktor barked a laugh. “No one cares about this part of the woods.”
But if no one came to clean it up… how was I going to get out of there? And where the hell was my truck?
As we stood, looking at the carnage, rain started falling. At first, it was just a rustle in the leaves above, the sound beautiful, but the water didn’t reach us. As it penetrated the leaves, though, the water splashed on my face, wetting my hair and dripping on my clothes. I shivered, suddenly cold. The rips in my clothing did nothing to keep me warm.
“Come,” Viktor said. “We need to get back to shelter.”
“Is there no way I can get home?”
Viktor shook his head. “The main route back to Grizzly Falls was washed away.”
“How do you know?”
“It’s my business to know,” he stated. He turned and walked up the slope.
I scrambled after him. “That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the truth,” he told me. “The mountain road is impassable for now.”
“But I need to get home!” Thunder rumbled above me, scaring me a little. I actually ducked, then looked up at the menacing sky. “Whoa!”
“Come, Malen kiy. You don’t want to be caught out here in a storm.”
As he said it, the rain fell harder, falling around us like there were no leaves blocking the water from above. The forest disappeared in the torrential downpour. The water came down in sheets, changing the scenery so that nothing looked like it had before.
I followed Viktor, trusting that he knew where to go. Because I had no idea.
When we returned to the cabin, we were both soaked to the bone. Viktor opened the door and let me get out of the rain first before he ducked in through the doorway behind me. I turned around and he was very close to me. I had stopped too soon, and he’d rushed to get in out of the rain. Our bodies were so close together, I could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. His chest rose and fell as he looked down at me, and his eyes were filled with things I didn’t know how to put to words.
Viktor lifted his hand and brushed the back of his fingers against my cheek. His caress was always so gentle. I shivered when he touched me.
“You should get out of your wet clothes,” he murmured. His voice was a deep baritone, caressing my skin. It made me want to press my ear against his chest to listen to the sound rumbling through me. I wanted his hands to skim over my skin instead.
I wanted him to help me peel the soaked clothing from my body.
But his words broke the spell, and I took a small step away from him, both for the sake of being polite, and for my own sanity.
“How will I get home?” I asked again. My voice was breathy. I swallowed, trying to pull myself together.
“You’ll have to ride out the storm here with me,” Viktor said. “It won’t last forever.”
I nodded. I didn’t have a choice. There was nowhere else to go. And the idea of being stranded here with him wasn’t altogether a bad one. Even if the storm did last forever…
“I’ll go change,” I said, jerking myself into action lest I stand there staring at him like a fool again.
On the way to the bathroom I grabbed my phone. The battery was still charged, which surprised me. I didn’t use it - without signal there wasn’t much I could do on it. I didn’t want to be rude and make Viktor feel like I didn’t feel welcome. I was grateful for his hospitality, but I was starting to worry about checking in with the people who expected me home by now. My mom would be going crazy with worry.