“Ye-yes.” I shivered and tried to ignore him calling me that. My brain had little capacity left to spare for any non-essential thoughts. Between musings about his butt and the cold creeping up my legs, he could call me anything he wanted.
If it makes him happy...
The chicken dude was strange and nothing about it made any sense at all, but I trusted him…somehow. The feeling was amplified when he stopped in his tracks and unzipped his camo jacket.
What? Right here? No way, man.
My dick had retreated into my body. That’s how fucking freezing it was, but ugh…
My mouth fell open when he next unzipped the high neck of a fuzzy black sweater and took that off, too.
Sweet Baby Jesus.
The sight of his pecsmade me momentarily forget about his ass. They were almost as large as my head, and my family had called me ‘Big-head Nate’ for my entire childhood. I’d always joked with Dad that I considered suing them for it.
Fuck.
A single tear froze on my cheek and I tried for a few deep, steadying breaths. In, three, four, hold, out, five, six. But it didn’t work. If anything, the memory of my teammates—even grumpy-ass Nik—upset me even more.
Life always got in the way, and I kept in touch way less than I meant to, but that didn’t mean I didn’t give a fuck. I loved my family.
How would they react to me dying? It was too late, of course, but I regretted not having called my mom in over a week. I’d been too busy training. It would have been nice to hear her voice one last time, to have the chance to say goodbye…
The idea that I would never have my mom’s pecan pie again made my heart squeeze painfully in my chest. No more family holidays where Dad took me to his favourite bar to brag in front of his friends. He always called me Nathaniel in front of them, not Nate, and insisted on wearing my jersey. Hot tears filled my eyes, but I managed to keep them from falling down my freezing cheeks. “Here. Put this on.”
I’d have felt better about myself if I had hesitated even for a heartbeat before wrenching it over my thin jacket. Or if I wasn’t still drooling over this guy’s chest, and not in a ‘Hey, bro, give me your workout plan’ way. I wanted to rest my head on his pecs. I bet they made for an extremely comfy pillow.
Oh, fucking hell.
His sweater was so blissfully warm that something way too close to a groan escaped my lips. It sounded like I’d sunk my cock into a particularly tight hole, not as if I’d simply put on another guy’s sweater. It fit me well considering the guy it belonged to was at least half a foot taller than me, and a tempting scent clung to it.
Don’t be a creep and sniff chicken man’s sweater, Nate!
He huffed as he zipped up his jacket over the massive chest again. “Better?”
“Yeah, thanks, man. Won’tyoube cold now, though?”
He looked at me for a second, then motioned for me to follow.
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay. It’s not far, and I’d hate having to explain to my boss why you froze on my watch.”
“Your boss?” I asked, my spirits perking up now that I wasn’t in any immediate danger of passing out from the cold. Maybe I wasn’t dying after all.
“I work as a forest ranger,” he said but didn’t elaborate.
The shaking had finally stopped, and my hands felt like hands again.Good. I kinda need those for my job.I had them tucked into the long sleeves, so I had a bit more brainpower to check out my guide some more.
There was no way my dickwasgetting any action tonight, not with how hammered I was, and the surprise of finding Vee in my dumbass trap.
I mean I wouldn’t have really minded hooking up with him. His gleaming feathers and powerful body turned me on, and he had totally been hitting on me earlier. I spotted a cabin after a few more minutes. It was a cute place with a gentle glow coming from a window overlooking the night.
As we got closer, I couldn’t believe how big the cabin actually was. The front of the wooden house had a big porch with a couple of steps leading up to it.
“Thisis your place?” I couldn’t believe it, but he nodded.
“Yeah, it’s too late and too cold to turn back now. You can stay here till morning, and then I’ll drop you off wherever you need to go, alright?”
He grabbed a bunch of keys from his pocket and unlocked the green door. It led to a cosy open living area with a surprisingly nice kitchen for a wooden house in the middle of a German forest.
