She approached, sliding her arms over his shoulders and clasping her hands together at his neck. Harper could feel his throat bob as he swallowed.
He reached back, wrapping his big hands around her thighs, and stood. Harper leaned forward, pressing her knees against his sides as she brought her feet around him.
Chase carried her through deep snowdrifts with surprising ease, the warmth of their bodies between them keeping her toasty along the way.
“Doing okay?” he asked.
She could see their breath as puffs of white mist in the frigid air and thought she could feel him trembling. “Fine. More importantly, how are you?”
“I’m good,” he said, but she knew the effort of carrying her through the deep snow must be weighing on him.
“Really, I can walk.”
“Nope.”
The man was frustratingly stubborn.
After several more minutes, Harper was relieved to see the outline of a dimly lit structure ahead of them.
The A-frame was larger than she’d anticipated for a fishing cabin. She was thankful, since it appeared they’d be stuck there for the night. Did it have occupants? If so, she hoped they’d be willing to share.
At last they reached its shelter, and Chase set her down on the deck. He’d been strangely quiet for the last of their walk.
She studied him under the porch lighting, alarmed by the exhaustion she could see on his face. And was it her imagination, or were his lips slightly blue?
Her heart began to race. She knocked even though she was sure no one was there. At the answering silence, she tried the knob, relieved when it turned.
Chase trudged behind her as Harper flipped on the lights, pleased by the warm wood walls, beautifully comfortable furnishings, and the gleaming stainless steel, gray cabinets, and white countertops of the kitchen.
She crossed to Chase, who still stood by the door, taking his hand and tugging him into the kitchen for a good look. Her alarm sharply increased as she looked at him under the lights. His lips were indeed a blue tone, and his eyes were heavy-lidded. He was also beginning to shiver violently.
“Oh, my God! We need to get you warmed up, right now.”
She pulled Chase through the doorway into what she rightly assumed was the bedroom, all the way through into the bathroom. “See? You should have grabbed your coat,” she said, hoping picking a fight would liven him up, but he didn’t answer. Turning on the shower to slightly warm, she spun around to Chase, who stood unmoving, a slight frown on his face.
“Chase? Are you alright?” His gaze moved slowly to her. “You need to take a shower to warm yourself up.”
His fingers moved to the zipper of his hoodie, clumsily trying to grasp it and pull it down. She gently batted them out of the way, unzipping the damp hoodie and pulling it off, tossing it aside.
She didn’t ask before unzipping his jeans, stopping to pull off his sneakers and socks, then pushing them down over his hips and his thick, powerful thighs, which she tried desperately not to notice.
Even harder to ignore was the bulge beneath his boxer briefs. She averted her eyes, standing to help him with his sweater and T-shirt. “Bend towards me,” she instructed, pulling off both garments after he complied.
There was one more item left. Should she remove that, too? In the end, she left his underwear on and guided him into the shower, beneath the warm spray of water.
He shivered again as the water hit his torso, but remained standing underneath it. After a few minutes, Harper turned the temperature a little higher, watching him carefully.
Normal color was returning to his lips and his skin, and his eyes looked more focused now. Another minute passed, and he reached up to turn the knob himself, his body giving a satisfied shudder before he turned to look at her.
“You know, Harper, if you wanted to get me naked, you could have just asked.”
Her cheeks heated immediately. “I, I?—”
Chase grinned lazily. “I’m sorry, I’m just teasing.” His face turned serious. “Thank you, Harper. It was colder out there than I anticipated. I should have been smarter than that.”
She wanted to reach out to reassure him, but touching him now felt dangerous. “Hey, you had no way of knowing we’d run over something and end up out here. The important thing is that you got us to safety, and now we have somewhere warm to wait out the snow.”
His lips curved into a slight smile. “Thank you. But now,” he tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his boxer briefs, “I should probably get these off and quickly wash.”
