Josiah was wringing his hands and biting his luscious full lower lip. I knew he was about to put up another argument, so I decided to stop this before it started.
“Hop on my back, and I’ll carry you, Josiah. It’s either that or carry you in a bridal carry. Either way, I’ll have my hands on your ass in a few seconds. You choose how it happens.” He was still worrying his lower lip, and without thought, I reached up and gently placed my finger on his lip and pulled down. “Don’t hurt your pretty lip, Josiah. I’m not kidnapping you. I’m carrying you, so you don’t hurt your feet. Let me carry you so we can get out of this evil white shit and get warm and dry.”
Josiah let go of his lip and instinctively licked his cold lips. His tongue caught the tip of my finger, and the sight of him licking me sent a jolt straight down to my cock. I mentally had to tell it to calm down, but it was hard. So hard.
Completely oblivious to the way he’d just hit one of my instant attraction buttons, Josiah finally made his decision. “Okay, but I’m heavy.”
He looked like a little kid right now and so unsure. It was unexpected from him. Even though he was tall and had a beard and carried himself confidently most of the time, this vulnerability was just another layer to Josiah that I liked.
“You’re not too heavy for me, Josiah.” I turned around and slapped my hands on my ass. “Hop on and let’s get inside, it’s starting to get dark, and the snow is coming faster.”
I didn’t have to wait more than a second before I felt Josiah’s arms around my neck and felt him jump up before setting his legs around my hips. I dip under his weight. Holy fuck he wasn’t lying.He was fucking heavier than he looked. I would never tell him that, though. I placed my hands under his thighs on either side and planted my feet before starting out.
“Okay, don’t move around too much, but I’m gonna take a step forward, and I need you to close the door, okay?” I stepped forward carefully and felt Josiah slam the door. Now the journey could begin.
I took one careful step at a time up the incline to the porch since I didn’t want to risk losing my footing and send us both tumbling down into the snow. It took a long time, but I didn’t want either one of us to fall and get hurt. Okay, I was enjoying having Josiah’s body plastered to mine, even if it was out of necessity. I might have taken a little longer to walk up the hill that necessary to prolong it. I had really only touched him on his neck or hand up until now, even though we had experienced something mind-blowing and hot together. I wanted more.
We finally got to the porch, but I carried him until we made it inside to the front hallway before I let him down. I didn’t miss the fact that he slid down my back instead of jumping down. Maybe it was progress.
“This is a really nice place.” Josiah walked around the room, which was a combination living room, dining room, and kitchen. There was a fireplace on the wall opposite the front door with the kitchen to the left. The dining table was on the left further toward the back wall, and the living room was in front of us and to the right. Josiah walked straight to the fireplace. “Do you know if this is wood-burning, or is it gas?” He bent down and moved the fire screen out of the way. “It’s wood-burning, but it’s got a gas starter. That’s fantastic. All we have to do is turn on the gas and find the wood, and I’ll build us a fire to warm up the place. It’s not cold in here, but if we lose power, and that’s a definite possibility with all the ice out there, we’ll need the heat.”
“I think Bruce said there’s wood on the back porch. I’ll go look and see how much there is and bring some in. I hope it’s been covered, so it’s not wet.” I saw the door to the back porch near the dining table, so I walked over and opened the door. The sight beyond the screened wall of the porch was breathtaking.
“Josiah, come here.”
“What’s the matter? Is all the wood gone?” He came out of the door and looked down at the huge stack of wood next to the door. “There’s plenty. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. Just look out there.”
He looked up, and I heard him take a deep breath before he let it out with a long whispered, “Ooohhhh, it’s beautiful.”
All the time we’d been climbing up the mountain, I hadn’t thought about the elevation we were reaching or how high up we’d be when we finally got here. Now, it was crystal clear. We could see for miles and miles across valleys and hills, but the most stunning part was that it was all covered in a pristine blanket of new snow. The snow was still falling fast, making all the sounds muffled except for the occasional snap of twigs or limbs giving way to the weight of the ice and snowfall.
“It is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it feels like we’re the only people for hundreds of miles. We have this cabin, and everything else in the world has stopped for a while.”
“Exactly.”
Josiah shivered in the cold since he’d taken off his jacket inside and only had on his jeans and navy long sleeve Henley. Like before, I didn’t think. I just reached for him and pulled him into my side with an arm around his shoulders. He didn’t hesitate, just let me hold him while we watched the snowfall and the outside world slow down around us.
It was one of the most intimate moments of my life.
“We should get the fire started soon. I keep hearing limbs snapping, so we don’t know if that’s going to affect the power.”
“You get in and get the gas started, and the pilot light lit, and I’ll get the wood.”
“Sounds good.”
I let Josiah go, and he went back into the house. As I gathered an armful of wood, I wished I’d kissed Josiah while we were watching the snowfall. We weren’t there yet, or were we? I was so confused about what we were doing. I liked him. I really liked him, and I didn’t like a lot of people. Even when he was annoying me, I still liked him. Maybe we just needed to talk about it, so we both knew what was happening.
Decision made, I got one more piece of wood and went inside our cabin.
Our cabin. I liked the way that sounded.
Chapter 11
Josiah
