Snowed in with the Mountain Man (Log Cabin Christmas)

Chapter 1

1

JAKE

F ucking snow. I didn’t want to be a Scrooge, but this weather was getting in the way of seeing family. Since it was Thanksgiving, that was a problem.

I planned to get up this morning and make the five-hour drive to Memphis, where my sister and her family lived. Instead, I’d be thawing out one of the ribeyes I had in the freezer on my back porch.

But right now, I was sitting on my couch, drinking coffee and barely watching the parade. It reminded me of childhood. Before my parents had died, Thanksgiving morning always saw my sister and me on the couch, watching the parade while Mom and Dad got the turkey started.

I was a loner, but even I didn’t want to spend Thanksgiving alone. It sucked.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and lifted my mug to my mouth. When the liquid hit my tongue, it was jarring. It had been piping hot just seconds ago and now it was lukewarm at best. How long had I been sitting here, grumbling about the Thanksgiving that wouldn’t be?

Yeah, I needed to stop being such a grump and be grateful for what I had. A warm house and a freezer full of meat. Plus, I’d go to my sister’s for Christmas. It was no big deal.

I pushed myself up from the sofa and headed toward the kitchen with plans to microwave the coffee and bring it back to life. I’d only taken two steps when I heard a sound that stopped me in my tracks. A loud screech, then a bang.

Had one of the trees fallen? I hoped like hell it hadn’t taken down one of the electrical wires. The last thing I needed was to be without power in this never-ending snowstorm.

Coffee mug still in hand, I walked to the window, peering through the still-closed blinds. Normally, I would have thrown them open first thing, but the snow was blinding. I needed a little more coffee before I could handle that much light in the room.

I frowned at the scene on the other side of my window. Then I blinked several times to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. The gigantic Christmas tree that the previous owner decorated every year was now at a slant. It tilted to my right. To the left of it was the brightest red SUV I’d ever seen. Christmas red. Festive, but not something I wanted in my front yard.

“Ugh,” I said, already walking toward the door.

I set my coffee mug on the stand where I dropped my keys and wallet when I came in every day. Then I snatched up my coat from its hook near the door. If I was going to help a stranded motorist, I wasn’t going to get frostbite doing it.

The cold hit me as soon as I opened the door, and I spoke the profanity I’d thought earlier. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

I thought being snowed in on a ridiculously sloped mountain road on Thanksgiving morning was the worst. But no, stepping out of my seventy-two-degree cabin into twenty-degree temperatures while snow pummeled my face? That was worse.

As I lifted the hood of my coat and pulled the ties to tighten it in place, the sight in front of me shoved all other thoughts out of my mind. There was no driver standing anywhere near the SUV. There should be a driver, right?

I started across the yard, squinting in the blinding snow. As I drew closer, I saw her. Longish hair on a slumped head. Holy hell. Was she okay? If not, we were fucked. There was no way an ambulance was getting up here in this weather. Maybe one of the volunteer firefighters with paramedic training could come help, but it would still take a while, and if something was seriously wrong…

My feet and ankles were getting soaked since I still wore my house shoes and pajama bottoms. I should have changed into more appropriate winter wear, but that wasn’t important. Right now, my entire focus was on the vehicle in front of me and making sure the driver was okay.

The head remained bowed as I approached. If she was okay, she would have looked up by now. I was sure of it.

I moved faster, stepping it up to a full run. I just thanked my lucky stars that the vehicle was red. Otherwise, I might have had a tough time seeing it through all this snow.

The driver’s side was even more beaten up than the passenger side. The hood had caved in under the force of the hundred-year-old pine tree trunk. Who knew those suckers could hold up to an SUV hitting them?

I approached the window and leaned over, looking inside. The windows were steaming up, but I could make out a beautiful profile, eyes closed, blonde hair having fallen to cover the side of her face.

But no, her eyes weren’t closed. I could see that when I took a closer look. Her lids were lowered because she was staring down at something. The steering wheel? No. Something that was glowing. A phone screen.

Had she gone off the road staring at her phone? It was possible, but my guess was that she was looking for a way to get help. As spotty as cell phone reception was up here, that could take a while.

I knocked on the window and she jumped, looking up at me with lips parted. Once she saw what was on the other side of her window, her eyes widened. She looked terrified.

Suddenly, I was aware of how I must look to her right now. Stubbly chin and jaw, deep frown, a hood covering part of my face. She probably thought I was some kind of snow creature.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

I waited for her features to relax when she realized I was just here to help her. And that I was a man, not a snow creature. But she was frozen in what seemed like shock. Hitting a tree could do that to a person.

Finally, her wide eyes narrowed a little and her brow furrowed. She was frowning at me. Frowning was definitely not a sign of trust.

She reached down in a move I assumed would be to roll down her window. But instead, the door burst open, nearly slamming into my crotch.

“Oof,” I said, stepping backward.

Was she trying to hit me with that? Oh yeah, that would make sense. If you wanted to disable a deranged lunatic, hit him where it hurts the most.

Luckily for me, the door had mostly hit me in the thighs. Luckily for her, I wasn’t a deranged lunatic.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” she asked.

I’d taken quite a few steps back and now stood a good ten feet away from her and that car door. It was a protective move, but I had more to protect than my family jewels. The woman who stepped out of that car wearing a hot pink zipped-up jacket and snug-fitting leggings was the kind of beautiful that could tempt a man who’d vowed to stay celibate until the new year.

And her generous curves were only part of the temptation. Her big brown eyes had a sparkle to them and her prominent cheekbones framed those eyes in a way that made it impossible to look away. And then there were her lips. They were shiny—I assumed from some kind of lip gloss—but they were also full and pouty. The kind of lips a man wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about kissing.

Not me, though. No, I couldn’t be tempted by a beautiful woman. Not even the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Not even a woman who had now wrecked her car and would probably be stranded here.

I had to invite her in. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. And if we ended up discarding our clothes somewhere along the way, would that really be my fault? Who could blame me?

A man had to do what he had to do to stay warm.