I finally dragged my eyes up, taking him in from his bare feet up. His plaid, flannel sleep pants looked worn and soft. So cozy I almost had the urge to reach out and touch them. And his… oh, my god. He was shirtless. Shirtless! His abs were tight, and his chest was the right amount of furry.
Definitely my type.
But that was the thing.He was shirtless. Which, after it sank in, had me trying not to freak out or get mad.
I wasn’t stupid enough not to catch onto what was going on here. Thank fuck I hadn’t crossed the threshold.
“Look, I don’t know how you found out, but just because I’m a sex worker doesn’t mean that this is okay,” I said rather frankly.
I tried to stand my ground as the icy wetness began seeping through my layers and chilling my entire backside. I saw the flames of a fire dancing behind him and just wanted a moment to stand by it and warm up.
“The fuck you talkin’ about?” he asked, looking more grumpy than when he’d first opened the door, as if that were possible.
He seemed genuinely confused. Like, confused about everything. If this is how he was on a regular basis, I wondered how he even made it through a day.
“Can I come in for a minute?” I asked once I sensed he wasn’t a threat. I didn’t even give him a chance to reply, choosing to take the opportunity of him being stunned to slide right past him.
There was some kind of misunderstanding or mix-up here, and I needed to get to the bottom of it. However, I couldn’t do that when I was so cold I was nearly an icicle.
“Are you… just going to leave those dicks on my front yard?” he asked.
I saucily looked over my shoulder at the artwork fate had helped me create.
“What dicks?” I said with a shrug as I walked my frozen ass over to the fireplace.
Using my teeth, I snatched off my gloves and shoved them in my pocket. I let out a relaxed, grateful sigh as I held my frozen hands up to the fire, letting my eyes close for a second as I did my best to push away the exhaustion of the day. I may not havehad my sight at the moment, but I was still very aware of Mr. Sexy Chest.
The door closed with a heavy hand, but he didn’t seem to move closer.
“Who are you?” he finally asked.
My eyes opened, and I took in the cabin. It seemed a little smaller than the pictures had made it look. I chalked it up to camera angles, and boy, did I know about those. But a second glance had me questioning everything.
In the images, the bedroom had definitely been a whole room and not a loft built over the kitchen. And said kitchen only had enough counter space to make a sandwich, not a entire Christmas meal like I had been visually promised.
Where was the plush red couch? The hot tub that I was supposed to be able to see from the living room windows? The cutely decorated white walls, which were going to make such a great backdrop for my holiday scenes?
None of it was here. Instead, I was standing in the middle of a dark wood cabin decorated by a lumberjack.
Oh no. This was not the cabin I rented.
My vision dimmed and my hands shook as I fumbled with my phone. I had done everything I was supposed to. I’d checked the address a million times. I’d checked the directions a million times. I made sure this place was real before I forked over all that money. And it was a real location with a cabin! So what the fuck happened?!
“Is this…” I choked on my words, my lungs felt tight as the panic started to overtake all of my functions.
I hated it when I got like this. I couldn’t control it, couldn’t stop it.
Damn panic attacks.
And to top it all off, I was having one in front of a stranger.
“Hey,” came his low, gravelly voice. It was close, like he was right beside my ear. Then his hand was on my back, and for some weird reason, it helped to remind me where I was. I wiggled my frozen toes in my boots, then pressed my knees together. My fingers tingled as I flexed and stretched them as far as they would go. I gave my hips a little shake next before rolling my shoulders. Breathing out a slow, controlled breath, I tilted my head from side to side. Then finally, I scrunched up my nose a few times.
There. I was aware of every part of my body. It was all together, intact, and I was standing upright. My feet were on solid ground, and when I opened my eyes, I could see the room wasn’t spinning like I was in the middle of a tornado.
“Are you okay?” he asked with only a slight hint of irritation in his tone.
I couldn’t speak yet, so I nodded.
