Chapter Ten

Growing up in the mountains had taught Meadow a lot about survival, and rule number one was hypothermia was a bitch. If she didn’t get out of her drenched clothes fast, she was going to be found frozen stiff in this cave.
Colton’s stare washed over her. She could see by his face that she’d shocked him with how easy she was willing to shed her clothes, and she braced herself for his comment.
When it never came, she continued to peel the wet fabric off her skin. Her jeans were most difficult, though they weren’t as tight as some she wore. Once she was stripped to her birthday suit, she grabbed for Colton’s drover coat.
Her first attempt to sling it around her shoulders failed, but before she could try again, his hands were draping the coat around her.
She snuggled in as best she could and dropped into a crouch, knees to her chest to conserve body heat.
Only a shiver or two tore through her system before she realized Colton was also stripping off his clothes. The vision made her shudder for another reason.
God, he was a beautiful specimen of a man. Masculinity rolled off his chiseled form in waves. His face was turned in profile to her, and she studied the angles of his jaw and hard planes of his cheeks. His nose had a small, crooked bump in the middle, obviously having been broken at some point.
As he peeled off his plaid outer shirt, she took a moment to admire his biceps. When his T-shirt followed, she restrained a gasp. His sculpted chest rounded into hard pecs and tapered down his trim torso to washboard abs.
Wet jeans clung to his hips, and she knew just how impressive his cock was when hard. She was not prepared to see it hard now.
Turning his head slightly, he eyed her. Deciding that a thin set of boxer briefs could prevent them from acting on the urges that had been pounding through their systems for weeks now, he left them on.
Her teeth chose that moment to start chattering.
He looked at her full in the face. “Thank god. That means you’re finally warming up.”
She shook so hard that the jacket slipped on her shoulders. In two steps, Colton was there, crouching in front of her. As he drew the coat into place, his stare fixed on her mouth.
“We should…share…body heat.” Her words came in harsh bursts between her quaking shivers.
His dark eyes shifted to hers. The depths were hard. But after a heartbeat, he nodded.
Dropping onto his backside, he scooted close enough to her that his heat washed through her side.
“Daddy always…told me…to take off my clothes if I get wet. The…mountains can…kill you.”
“For Christ’s sake. Come here, Meadow.” Colton snaked out an arm and drew her right into his lap.
A burst of air escaped her lungs. She buried her face against his warm chest and let him envelop her in his arms.
Being even slightly warmer had her shakes hitting full force. She could barely hear over her teeth chattering and the small moans she made.
He tucked her head under his chin and held her tighter. She swore she heard him murmur something that sounded like, “This is tearing me up.”
“Try to relax. What body parts are warmest?”
His question had her biting down on her lip. Did he really want to hear how, despite her physical state, her pussy throbbed against the steely erection underneath her?
“Meadow, talk to me. Is there any part of your body that’s warm?”
“My…arms are getting warm.”
“Good. That’s good. Think about that warmth spreading through your whole body.”
Something passed over her brow. His lips?
Her heart gave a hard flex. Was he trying to offer her comfort?
Burrowing closer, she spread her fingers against his chest. He sucked in a gasp but endured the chill she must have caused him.
Outside the mouth of the cave, rain slanted in torrents with no sign of letting up in sight. Before long, one of the ranch hands would come looking for them. She expected her father to return any minute too—his trip was already taking longer than expected.
“This is my fault.” Colton’s statement roused her from her thoughts.
“What do you mean your fault? You didn’t cause…any of this. Neither did…I.”
“If I’d realized that cow had wandered from the herd sooner, I would have come after it. Right now, it would be tucked away safe in the brooding shed with the other pregnant heifers, eating hay. And you wouldn’t be half frozen.”
The reminder of how cold she still was made her start shivering again. He brought her closer, tucking the coat around any exposed skin. His back was against the cave wall, which she was sure was icy. But he didn’t show any sign of weakness.
She started to wonder just what kind of machine Colton was. Built by the United States government, trained as a weapon and used to protect.
Another shudder rolled through her—this time it wasn’t from the cold.
“Tell me about your…past. Something good,” she urged.
The wind howled so long and loud, flapping the tarp over the animals, that neither of them could hear if the other spoke. At the front of the cave, the horses and cow crowded together, braced against the storm. Their bodies blocked the worst of the wind from rushing through the cave.
After several minutes, the scream of the wind died down, allowing him to speak. “I don’t know anything good about me, Meadow. I told you before—if it weren’t for me, your brother would be here.”

Meadow was looking for some tales to distract her from their situation. Colton couldn’t blame her for that.
But what made him bring up the brother she’d lost?
The skin-to-skin contact felt amazing. Her use of his chest as a pillow left his skin warmer than it ever should be in their current state.
Her breath washed over his flesh. “Then talk about yourself.”
A lump lodged in his throat. “Not much good to tell there either. I had a rough past. I was either going to end up in jail or the Navy.”
Her fingers curled against his skin, sending more heat into him. He was plenty warm, but he wasn’t about to leave her to freeze. Holding her this way was the best choice.
“That sounds like a big story,” she said.
He grunted.
“We’ll start small. What’s your favorite color?”
Stunned, he looked down at her. She tipped her head up to meet his gaze. “What kind of question is that?”
“One you ask when you’re trapped in a cave during a storm. Weren’t you ever a Boy Scout? Play along, Colton.” Not only was she giving him sass but her teeth didn’t seem to be chattering anymore.
He let out a sigh. “Fine. It’s green.”
“Green is nice. Mine is blue, like the sky in the morning.”
He pictured it—the pale hue mingling with the fog that wreathed around the mountains before it burned off and the sun rose fully and the color of the sky deepened.
It was also so damn close to the color of Meadow’s eyes that he nearly searched them just to see if he was right.
She shifted in his arms, making him achingly aware of her soft breasts pressed against his chest. He had dreams about those breasts and sucking her nipples until she pulsed around the fingers he’d buried in her pussy.
When she rocked her hips, he was certain she felt how goddamn stiff he was.
“Favorite food?” Her tone was a bit breathless.
“Steak.”
What he wouldn’t give for one of those right now. And a blow job too.
The vision of her sweet lips wrapped around his thick cock, stretching wider as she took him all the way into the back of her throat had his balls throbbing.
“Mine is ice cream.”
For a moment, he drown in that imagery—her tongue flicking out to gather a bit of white cream—
Now he needed a distraction.
“What flavor of ice cream?” he roughed out.
“Peaches and cream.”
Christ. He wasn’t going to live through this storm after all. Meadow was going to kill him with how damn tempting she was.
Before she asked anything else that would spur him into lurid visions involving her pinned underneath him, he returned to talk about the only thing that could stop him now.
Forest.
“I met your brother at our first post. We were both assigned there. Two baby seamen just getting our footing among the older, more experienced Naval officers. I never knew anybody like Forest before. I came from Jersey. I was rough and scrappy. Willing to fight anyone who poked at me.”
She was completely still, but he couldn’t stop thinking about his cock molded to her round bottom.
“Forest was less hotheaded.”
She issued a low laugh, almost echoing with sadness. “He always was the peacekeeper in our family. The levelheaded one.”
“I can see why.”
She looked up at him. And fuck if he didn’t almost slam his mouth over those plump lips and claim them.
But one taste would have him laying her down on the floor of this cave and taking all of her.
Every. Delicious. Inch.
“I miss him a lot.”
His mind scrambled to figure out what she was talking about. Forest. They were talking about her brother.
The one he’d promised to be there for even in death, by helping keep the ranch alive.
Not by fucking with his sister.
Her stare burned up into his. Her lips ripe and ready for kissing.
“Tell me one more thing, Colton.”
His chest heaved against what he knew were two hard, perky nipples.
“What’s that?”
“Tell me why I’m not good enough for you.”