The fresh scent of soap, the aroma of fire, and the spice of cologne all created an enticing concoction that even in this short time had me thinking of Van. Slipping my arms into the sleeves, I realized that Van had been right; this could be a dress. As I began to button the front, the tails in the front and back came to just above my knees.
While I had dresses that were shorter, wearing this man’s shirt—a man whom I barely knew—somehow felt more scandalous. I was in the process of rolling the sleeves up when the door opened. As he’d done before, Van used his booted foot to kick the door closed. This time, instead of logs, his arms were filled with a wooden crate that he set down on the floor. Between the slats of wood, the orange spheres made my mouth water.
After shedding the hat, gloves, and coat, Van retrieved the crate from the floor and brought it to the kitchen counter. Once there, he turned in my direction and smiled. Without a word, his green stare scanned me from my messy hair to my bare toes.
With each passing second, I became more self-conscious, and yet he didn’t speak. Van’s lips formed a straight line, his cheeks rose, and his eyes sparkled with flecks of gold I was just now noticing.
“Thanks for the shirt,” I said, slapping my thighs with the palms of my hands. “It’s better than wearing that quilt.”
“It definitely is.”
His deeper tenor and slower cadence twisted my core and returned my nipples to their hardened state from the earlier cool air.
“You’re making me self-conscious. What are you thinking?”
Van walked around me, all the way around, the entire time keeping his eyes on me. “I think it’s better if I don’t say.”
“What?”
His smile grew. “I’m thinking that if I ever plan an abduction in the middle of a blizzard, I need to remember a flannel shirt because on you, it’s sexy as hell.”
I lifted my hands to my cheeks, feeling the growing heat.
Van took a step toward me. “Come on, Julia, there has to be a man in your life who tells you how damn sexy you are.”
Swallowing, I turned away, avoiding the subject, and began to open the crate of nectarines.
As I tugged on a plastic cord holding the lid in place, Van’s hand came over mine.
The electricity from before returned.
When I looked up, Van held a pocket knife in his other hand. “Step back so you don’t get cut.”
Without speaking, I did as he said. The plastic snapped as the blade sliced through it. The muscles in his arms bulged as he lifted the lid and placed it under the counter. Turning, he held out a nectarine. “Dinner.”
I took the golden and red fruit from him, careful that we didn’t touch again. “Thank you.”
Retrieving our mugs, I added more coffee to each one and took them to the hearth. Even with the roaring fire, the air farther away was chilled. Basking in the warmth, I settled on the blankets and rugs where I’d awakened. After taking off his boots and leaving them by the door, Van joined me on the blanket.
With our legs crossed, we both stared into the flames. Every once in a while, our knees would touch as we both ate our nectarines and drank our coffee. As the fire warmed me outside, the coffee and his incidental touches warmed me inside.
Julia
My teeth chattered as I opened the door to the outhouse and sheepishly smiled up at Van. The snow blew around us as he tucked me under his arm, and we hurried back to the cabin. Once inside, I shivered as I shrugged off my down-filled coat and looked down at the ridiculous waders.
“Thank you for going out there with me.”
“What good is it to hold a beautiful woman captive if I let her freeze to death?”
“Or if she’s eaten by wolves.” I had been ready to venture outside to the outhouse by myself until I heard the howl of a wolf. There weren’t many literal wolves to deal with in the Chicago suburbs.
“Wolf attacks are rare,” Van said with a grin.
“Rare implies that they do occur.” Holding onto the wall, I pushed down the giant rubber waders until I could step out with one foot and then the other. When I turned, Van was looking in my direction. “If you say the waders looked sexy, I’ll know you’re lying.”
He came toward me and grabbed the waders, taking them to the pegs on the wall to let them dry. “No, Julia, the waders aren’t sexy.”
I nodded. “Maybe you don’t lie like other men.”
My attention went to the one bed. I reached for a pillow. “I can sleep by the fire.”
“There are plenty of blankets on the bed. You’ll be warm.”
“How do you know?” I asked, pulling back layer after layer of blanket. “You’re right.”
Van gestured out to the room. “I figured if all these blankets are out here, there would be plenty on the bed.”
“Shit,” I said, noticing my phone. Picking it up, I saw that not only was there no signal, the battery was down to less than ten percent. “I meant to turn this off.” Once I did, I put it back on the bedside table. Slowly, I turned toward Van. His dark hair was mussed from the hat and there was dark stubble on his cheeks. His coat and boots were again near the door. Starting at the floor, I scanned his wool socks, long legs in faded denim, the way his shirt stretched over his chest and arms, his five o’clock shadow, high cheekbones, emerald green eyes, and back to his messy dark hair.
It wasn’t until my scan reached his stare that I realized Van had been doing the same to me. Nervously, I ran my fingers through my hair and laughed. Seeing the door, I asked, “Should we lock that?”
“If anyone finds their way out here, they deserve a warm shelter.”
“But what if they’re bad people?”
“What if I told you that I was a bad person?”
I reached again for the pillow and hugged it in front of me. “I wouldn’t believe you.”
Van took a step toward me. “Why?”
I stepped back as I hugged the pillow tighter. “Because you saved me. You gave me coffee and fed me.” I grinned. “And protected me from the wolves.”
He came even closer, his scent clouding my thoughts as he reached toward me and then...beyond me, pulling down the blankets on the bed. “Climb in, Julia. You’ll be warm in no time, and I promise it’s more comfortable than the floor.” He lifted his chin toward the fireplace. “I’ll sleep by the fire and keep it going so we don’t freeze.”
Bending my knee, I knelt on the soft mattress and wiggled my way under the blankets. Once I did, Van pulled them up over me. For a moment he hesitated. Shaking his head, he turned, but before he could go, I seized his large hand.
“Wait.”
Turning his hand over, I ran my fingers over his palm. “Your hands, they’re not callous.”
“I have a great lotion regimen.”
A smile came to my lips. “I was beginning to think you lied about not living here. But if you lived out here and chopped wood, your hands would be rougher.”
He shook his head. “Don’t try to figure me out.”
“Is that mutual? Are you not trying to figure me out?”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he sucked in a breath. “I already have you figured out.”