But then I hear what sounds like thunder or the roar of a monster. The ground itself shakes beneath me, and I look up to see a plume of black smoke coming toward me. I must be hallucinating, because as I look through the snow, I see the headof a massive cat rushing toward me. Its eyes glow hot white like lightning.
The thunder crashes, nearly deafening me. The smoke billows, clouding the already dark sky. And then I see the truth.
It’s not a monster. Not a wild cat. It’s a snowmobile with bright headlights, and it’s speeding down the mountain straight at me. And standing tall, with both hands on the handlebars,is him.
My God…
The man racing through the snow, carving between trees, is somehow shirtless, his teeth bared and his sparkling blue eyes gleaming like they’re filled with electricity. His chest and arm muscles seem impossibly huge and chiseled with not an ounce of fat. They’re covered with tattoos, and his veins pulse as he skids to a halt beside me.
I open my mouth to speak, but no sound comes. My lips are cracked and frozen. I can barely feel my body. Ice clings to my eyelids, forcing them to close. But just before they do, I watch the man leap from his snowmobile and rush to my side.
I feel like I’m being carried up into heaven as his massive hands curl around my waist and lift me like a feather into the air. I’m set on my back onto something soft, and then I feel his hot, muscled legs wrap around me.
“You’re gonna be okay,” a deep voice growls.
Despite being almost frozen, a tiny spark of warmth blazes in my chest. That voice…it does something to me.
The snowmobile roars, and we start moving. And then the world goes black.
2
ROURKE
Gorgeous.Absolutely gorgeous.
My blood screams through my veins as I lift her off the snowmobile and carry her into the cabin. The cold is just starting to get to me. Burning at my skin, turning my hands red. I even slashed my left side on a piece of ice as I was pulling her from the snow. But all that can wait. It doesn’t matter now. All that matters is her.
Gorgeous. Innocent. Vulnerable.
Her skin is cherry red from the cold, her lips are plump, and her hair is almost a block of ice. Her tiny body quivers in my arms as I carry her through the rustic-style living room of my cabin and over to the massive stone hearth where a fire is already roaring.
As I set her down on the warm stones, my cock swells beneath my jeans.
My hands move on their own, begging todo thingsto her. But I gnash my teeth against my cheek and push back the urge.
What kind of a man would that make me?
So what if I haven’t touched a woman in over three years? I’ve been up here, alone, hiding from the world. And now suddenly, I’m blessed withher?
She’s beyond gorgeous. But what the hell is she doing out in this storm dressed like that? Flats, jeans, a T-shirt, and that sorry excuse for a jacket? She’s lucky I found her or she’d be dead.
Lucky, yeah. Real lucky…
My cock twitches as I start stripping her down, not out of lust but because her clothes are essentially ice now. And if I’m gonna warm her up, I need to get her out of them.
I slip off her flats, revealing tiny cute little feet. Toes like pink gumdrops. It’s tough getting her jeans off over those baby-making hips. Her panties come with them. It’s like a punch to the gut, but I manage to avert my eyes as I peel off her shirt. Christ, what is an angel like this doing here?
Here in my hideout near the top of Stoneridge Mountain.
I escaped here three years ago, leaving everything behind. There’s only a handful of other inhabitants up here, and we rarely run into each other. I’m an ex-CIA operative. One of the guys they send in when they need something done off the books, akaillegal.We were chasing a bigtime criminal for over a year, Damon Vale, but he was always one step ahead of us. That’s when I realized he had a mole in our operation and I had one choice: get out or get killed.
I chose the former.
Nightmares plagued me for the first year. All the thoughts of the things I did, people I killed, all in the name of national security. But when I realized just how corrupt many of the people I was supposed to trust were, how many of our operations were really just about getting them rich, I got the hell out.
Using the skills they taught me, I came to Stoneridge and turned into a ghost.
Three years later, I’ve found a semblance of peace. I know I’ll never be normal again, but I’ve got a routine up here, and no one bothers me—