Stuck in the Cabin (Exiled Dragons Book 8) Page 3

  “Nope. Are you telling me that Ballymoney never hit on you or gave off any vibes when you were working with him one on one?” Neil asked.

  “Well, yeah. I sensed that he was a bit of a creep, but I had no idea all of that was happening in the background,” she said, quietly seething.

  “Well, it was. After that, you were so short with me and always seemed to be on the defensive. I just figured we weren’t meant to be friends. Besides, who can afford friends at work anyway? You’re my biggest competition. There is no one else at that firm that can even come close to giving me a run for my money when it comes to who is going to slide into the next open senior slot,” he said.

  “You’re lucky that you’re a guy. Something like what went on behind my back with Ballymoney would never have happened if I were a man,” she said, the irritation in her voice apparent.

  “Well, of course not. You’re the one that is gay, not Ballymoney,” he said with a devious little laugh.

  “Not funny,” she responded, getting up to make herself another drink.

  “Does it seem cold in here to you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it does seem a little cool. You can hear the wind whipping through the tree branches and against the house outside, so I guess the temperature is dropping pretty rapidly,” she told him, punctuating the comment with an unintentional shiver as if her body agreed.

  “Johnston had a fire going when we got here, but he did say he was low on wood. He would have said he was out if he used the last of it, so where does he keep it? Did you see any outside when we came in yesterday?” he asked.

  “Not that I noticed. Why would he have a mountain cabin with a fireplace and let himself get so low on firewood?” she said. “I’m hungry, too. I missed lunch and I don’t guess your girlfriend is coming over to make us dinner, huh?”

  “My girlfriend?” he asked, caught off guard by the reference.

  “Samantha. The two of you seemed to be hitting it off pretty well when I went to take a nap earlier,” she said, not sure why she was bringing it up at all.

  “Ah, Samantha. Yeah, her husband won’t let her date,” he said.

  “I see. Struck out then, did we?” she said.

  “Yes, I struck out. Happy?” he growled.

  “Maybe,” she replied. “Anyway, how about I fix us something to eat and you go outside to forage for firewood?”

  “That sounds kind of sexist to me. How about you go outside and look for wood while I make us some food?” he retorted.

  “I’ll tell you what. If you will go out and look for enough to get a fired started, I will make us something to eat and then go back out with you to get the rest in case it gets any colder, assuming there is a wood pile out there somewhere that’s not completely buried in snow,” she said.

  “Still sounds a little sexist, but okay. I will be the big, strong man while you play the helpless homemaker,” he said, heading over to where their coats hung on a nearby coatrack and getting bundled up to go outside. His heavy wool dress overcoat was designed for walks down the sidewalks of New York, not lumberjacking, but it was probably all he had with him, and it was too cold to go out without it. He slipped on a pair of expensive leather gloves that would definitely be ruined by hauling in logs.

  Stephanie was pleased to see that the cabinets and fridge were well-stocked, thanks to the groceries Samantha had brought in this morning, so at least they wouldn’t starve. She found a fresh salad already made up and some steaks marinating, presumably intended for tonight’s dinner. Looking around, she spotted an indoor grill and plugged it in to heat up for the steaks. She moved the rest of their work things from the table and began to set out plates while the grill heated up. By the time Neil made it in from outdoors, she was tossing the steaks on the grill.

  “How do you like your steak cooked?” she called out to him when she heard the front door close, but he didn’t answer. She stepped around the corner to find him standing inside the door, holding a small armful of wood and looking around for a place to lay it down. He looked absolutely frozen, his normally tawny skin several shades lighter in appearance. Stephanie hurried over and pulled out a small metal log carrier that was stacked full of magazines, dumping them out so that he could fill it with wood instead.

  “I have never felt air so cold as it is out there in all my life,” he told her.

  “Is there a lot of wood?” she asked.

  “No, just what I brought in and maybe one more load about the same size. I don’t know if he just didn’t plan on building any fires while he was here and changed his mind at the last minute or what. He did say he had some coming, but that’s not going to get here in this weather. I’ll go back and get the rest and what small branches aren’t already buried in the snow out there. It’s getting pretty deep already,” he told her.

  “Okay, dinner will be ready in just a few minutes. If you wait, I can help you,” she said.

  “Nah, there isn’t much to be had out there without a saw or something to cut it with. We’ll build a small fire before bedtime and just double up on blankets while we sleep. The heat is working, so we won’t freeze. It’s just all the big windows in this place that are keeping it from getting as warm as it could be,” he told her.

  “I guess that’s all we can do. Hurry up, and I’ll get dinner finished. Looks like your steak is going to be medium-well,” she said, hurrying back to the kitchen to pull the steaks off the grill before they turned into well-done.

  Neil went back outside, gathering up everything he could find and carry and brought it back into the house. He had a good enough stash that it would keep them warm until bedtime. After dropping it all into the caddy, he stripped off his coat, gloves, and boots and sat rubbing the feeling back into his toes and hands.

  “Dinner is ready,” Stephanie said, looking at his pained expression from the other side of the room.

  He came into the kitchen and washed his hands, letting the hot water flow across them for a minute to warm his nearly frozen hands. He dried them quickly and walked over to the kitchen table to eat. She could tell that something had changed drastically about his demeanor in the time he had been outside, but didn’t ask. They ate their dinner in silence, and he set out to build a fire while she cleaned away their dishes.

  Chapter Six

  They were both glad to see that at least Mr. Johnston had some small fire starter blocks and a metal tin filled with long matches and a backup lighter. At least they weren’t completely without resources.

  “I can’t believe how bitterly cold it was outside. The wind cut right through my clothes and made my eyes water from the intensity of the frigid air blowing across my face. I went numb after only a few minutes out there, especially having to pry the frozen logs apart to carry them inside. Hopefully, things won’t get any worse than just being without a few modern conveniences up here. It appears we are ill-prepared for anything too harsh.”

  By the time Stephanie finished putting things away and washing the dishes they had used, he had a roaring fire going in the fireplace. It was barely six, so they still had a while before bedtime. Hopefully, the wood would last until then and they could let it die down as they slept under heavy covers until morning. Perhaps it would have cleared a little by then and they could look for more wood, or a snow plow would come through to clear an exit path for them.

  One thing was for sure – they both agreed there was no way Mr. Johnston was getting them to stay another day on this mountain once the weather cleared. It was too close to Christmas to be stranded in the hills of Tennessee with a person that loathed you, and that sentiment applied to both of them.

  Stephanie wished she had possessed the backbone it took to reject this little work retreat, but she had been too afraid that Neil would get the upper hand if she said no like the others had. Then again, she was glad she was here. What if he had come alone and been stranded in this cabin by himself? I mean, it wasn’t like it was some wilderness trail to be survived, but it had the potential to get
worse before it got better, and after hearing exactly how bad it was out there, she was a lot more concerned about a loss of power or water up here.

  “Stephanie, can you turn on all of the faucets just a hair? My father used to make sure they didn’t freeze up by doing that. I don’t know how well insulated they are, and I’ve lost what little signal I had on my phone. I would think they would be well wrapped in this type climate, but it’s better safe than sorry,” he called out to her as he stoked the fire.

  “Sure,” she told him, crossing over to the den and sitting two fresh drinks down for them for once they were done getting settled back in. She went back to the kitchen and turned the tap a little and then went to the bathrooms to do the same. When she returned, he was settled into one of the overstuffed recliners, enjoying his drink.

  “It feels better in here already,” she said.

  “I think so, too,” he replied, seeming distracted by his thoughts.

  “So, how about that game of twenty questions?” she asked, uncertain as to whether she wanted to know more about him or just thought it would help pass the time quicker.

  “All right. I’ll even let you go first,” he replied.

  Stephanie sat there for a moment, biting on her lower lip as she considered her first question. Then, a smile came across her face.

  “Okay, it’s a thing,” she said.

  “Can someone hold it in their hands?” he asked.

  “No,” she said.

  It was the answer to most of his questions as he went down a variety of paths to try to get closer to an answer. By the time he finished his twenty questions, he was no closer to an answer than when they had begun.

  “Okay, I give up. What is it?” he told her, obviously exasperated that she had stumped him.

  “A promotion. You know, that thing I’ll be getting over you one day,” she said with a wry smile.

  “Very funny. Now, it is my turn,” he told her.

  They continued the game for a while, continually stumping one another as they moved on to more concrete facts about their childhood or personal lives. Neither of them were having any luck at guessing answers, but they were getting to know one another a little better, which was kind of nice since they were stuck alone in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. After a while, they got bored with the whole twenty questions game and began to just talk like two friends. It was a nice change of pace from their usual coldness toward one another.

  “I’ve always lived in the city. This is about as far out in the boonies as I’ve ever been,” she told him.

  “Don’t feel bad. I always tell my southern clients that I’m from South Carolina because I know it helps them identify with me, but I’m no more country than you are. My father was a Harvard tax attorney, and my mother was a classical musician. We lived in Boston until I was almost sixteen. Then, Dad decided he wanted to move back to South Carolina where he was raised as a child, though he was born in Ireland, as was my mother. He found a place he liked in a rural area just outside of Charleston and started his own practice there. Mother taught piano lessons. I was only there for two years before starting classes at NYU and deciding to stay in the area when I graduated,” he said.

  Stephanie laughed at his confession. She had always suspected there wasn’t much country about him, though she wasn’t sure how he managed to lose the typical Boston accent. Of course, he didn’t have a southern drawl either. He was one of those people who had so little of an accent that you were unable to place them geographically just from their speech patterns. She told him a bit about growing up in Queens. Her father had died when she was young, leaving just her mom, herself, and a younger brother who was currently overseas in the Peace Corps.

  “It’s funny how things affected my brother and me so differently. We grew up poor. I worked my way through college. The one thing I wanted most in life was money. It’s important to me to be successful, both for me and so that my mother is proud of me. She sacrificed a lot to make sure my brother, Charlie, and I had everything we needed growing up. I don’t ever want to go back to that kind of existence again, though, scraping for every dime. But Charlie seemed to embrace it. Instead of wanting out, it seemed to fuel a passion to help others. I admire that, but I’m just too ambitious to give up everything like he has and move from one third world village to the next, tending to the needy,” she said.

  “You sound like you’re apologizing for wanting more,” he said.

  “Maybe I am. I sometimes feel like I’m not giving anything back,” she said.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. I see people like your brother and wish I could be that giving. I grew up with plenty of money, and to be honest, I don’t know how to be poor. I don’t know how I would handle it. I guess that sounds incredibly selfish. If something happened and I was broke, I suppose I would learn to deal with it. It’s not something that I’m going to willingly choose, though,” he told her.

  They talked well into the night until the fire started dying down and the drinks they had consumed began kicking in, making them tired. After only a few hours’ sleep last night and a couple hours of naptime today, the one thing they both sorely needed was a good night’s sleep. Standing side by side to brush their teeth, it was obvious that a bond was forming between them. Perhaps they would never be best friends, but they were learning that they actually had a lot in common with one another. They said their goodnights and went to their rooms to get some rest, hoping they might get to go home tomorrow.

  Chapter Seven

  The loud thud and vibration against the side of the house went unnoticed by the sleeping occupants of the cabin. However, hours later, Stephanie woke to find that she was shivering, despite being beneath buried beneath the healthy stack of blankets on top of her. She reached for the bedside lamp and turned it on, looking around for an open window or something that would explain the bitter cold of her room. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she slipped out of bed and put on her robe, padding downstairs in her fuzzy socks and pajamas. It was cold all through the house, but the electricity was on, so it wasn’t a loss of power. Had it just gotten so cold outside that the heat wasn’t putting a dent in it?

  She looked at the thermostat on a nearby wall and saw that the display was on, but nothing was showing up. It was not functioning. Apparently, it was so cold in the house that the temperature wasn’t even registering. Walking over to the fireplace, she saw that there was no wood left to burn, so that was out of the question.

  Grabbing the throws off the sofa, she went back upstairs, wrapping herself snuggly beneath the extra covers in an effort to stay warm. There was no need; she was too cold to drift back off and was honestly afraid that if she did, she might not wake up. She wondered why Neil wasn’t awake, but not for long. Only moments later, she heard his door creak open and his footsteps coming down the hall and onto the stairwell.

  “I’ve already checked,” she said from the balcony overhead as he tapped on the thermostat.

  “It’s freezing in here,” he said as if it were something she wasn’t aware of.

  “Yes, I guess the heating unit is out. Now what are we going to do?” she said.

  “Well, I don’t want to seem too forward, but we’re going to have to combine resources and keep warm. It’s almost 3 a.m. and the snow is still coming down out there. There’s not much we can do in this weather and in the dark. Let’s take the blankets from your bed, my bed, and the guestroom and bring them down here to the master bedroom. We’ll pile up beneath them until daylight when we can get outside and see what we can do about this,” he told her.

  “Sleep in the same bed?” she said uneasily.

  “Look, I’m not hitting on you. I’m just trying to keep us warm until morning without getting frostbite out in the snow in the middle of the night. It’s only a few hours and the blankets combined with our body warmth should be enough to get us through,” he said. She didn’t feel good about this whole thing, but she knew he was right.

  “Okay. I’l
l grab the blankets from up here then. See if there are any more in the closets or his bedroom besides what are on his bed,” she told him as she went to gather what she could find upstairs. She began tossing blankets over the balcony for retrieval at the bottom of the steps, rather than trying to carry them down. When she was done, she made her way downstairs and began carrying them into the bedroom where he was layering what he’d already found across the bed.

  “I can’t believe he doesn’t have an electric blanket somewhere in this place,” Neil scowled. “Let’s get these all on here and get beneath them. I feel like I’ve been soaking in a tub of ice. You must be just as cold,” he told her as they stacked the blankets one after another on top of the bed.

  “All right, there we are,” she said as they piled the last of the blankets on the bed.

  “Great. I just need for you to promise me one thing before we do this,” he said in a very serious tone.

  “What’s that?” she asked with a single eyebrow raised.

  “Promise that you’ll still respect me in the morning?” he said without a hint of a smile.

  “Sure, and I won’t even wait the required three days before calling you again,” she said, laughing despite how out of sorts she felt about this. A bit of levity couldn’t hurt.

  “All right, no touching my ass. I mean it, Stephanie,” he told her as they climbed into bed.

  She laughed as she turned off the lamp and slid beneath the covers with him. It was cold, but she hoped that the warmth of their bodies and the extra blankets would quickly warm them. While they stopped short of cuddling together for warmth, they moved in close to the center of the bed and snuggled into the pillows for the rest of the night. Before long, they were both sound asleep again, oblivious to the cold that surrounded their little cocoon.

  Before they realized it, the night was gone and the sun was shining in through the windows. Stephanie awoke to find herself wrapped securely in Neil’s powerful arms as he continued to sleep soundly behind her. Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was almost seven a.m. They had managed to make it through the cold night and snoozed pretty comfortably into the morning. Rather than get out of the warmth of the bed, she snuggled back against him and went back to sleep. They both needed the sleep, and they could deal with things in a couple of hours just as easily as they could right now.