#it's midnight thirty here on the pacific coast so technically it's my day to post and im gonna post it already!!!

[doedreamss]

Author’s Note: Well, here is my little ficlet for Chrismuts 2k19!  Hope everyone enjoys!!  Happy Holidays!!!  @toxiicpop​​, @25daysofchrismuts​​

Ship: Hangman Adam Page x Noelle (FOC)

Summary: A terrible storm and an accident blows Adam directly into the path of Noelle, a woman just trying to enjoy her December in the solitude of the snowy, remote, picturesque mountainside.  The pair share a sizzling and undeniable connection, but can Adam convince Noelle to let down her guard and allow them both the relief they so desperately need?

Rating: Explicit

!! WARNINGS !! : Car crash, foul language, unprotected sex. 

Length: 15,524  words

Read beneath the cut!

More and more flurries of snowflakes swirled and fell, sticking to the windshield of his old, trusty pick-up truck, piling on nearly too fast for the wipers to shove away.  His headlights spilled yellow on the wet, slick road ahead and worry had his brow set in a frown, tongue sweeping his lips and Adam’s apple jumping in his throat as he swallowed.  He flexed his thick fingers on the steering wheel and felt the cramp in his joints from how tightly he’d been holding on.  The weather was getting worse and worse, he was miles away from any sort of city and he’d be lucky if he could manage to get any cell service. 

Already he’d nearly lost control of his truck when the tires hit a slick patch of ice.  His heart had jumped into his throat and he’d rode it out until he could come to a gradual stop, calming his breathing and setting forward again.  He was driving so slowly he was practically crawling, waiting for the storm to let up so he might drive a little faster, but the snow just kept on falling. 

A string of curse words flung through his mind, paired with self-deprecation that only made him feel worse.  Anxiety a tight knot in his stomach, he adjusted the pace of the wipers again and groaned under his breath as the entire windshield was blanketed in white within seconds.  It was his own dumb fault that he was alone, driving through unfamiliar roads in the snow.  If he would have stayed home and accepted the small, humble holiday break he had now that he’d stepped away from the Elite, he wouldn’t be in this mess.  He was still adjusting to this, to everything being away from them actually meant, and he was trying to seize every opportunity he could just to finally find that thing that was going to make the change.   

He wouldn’t let this be a mistake.  He wasn’t going to drop his head, the kicked puppy, and have to beg them to take him back.  He’d said he was tired of being the least successful member of the Elite and he meant it.  He wasn’t going to talk with them again – business or friendship – until he felt like he’d done what he set out to do.  It was important to him. 

The side of his head ached suddenly – a quick, remembering flash of pain – and instead of the snowy, icy mountain road in front of him, Adam saw the flash of a fist – Wardlow’s – as he slammed the hook into Adam’s temple and made him slump on the ropes.  Adam’s fingers reflexed on the steering wheel and he clenched his teeth, making his jaw appear wider.  His stomach rolled and tightened, and he tasted something bitter and unsatisfactory on his tongue.  His eyes left the road and looked at his fingers.  No ring glittered all too lavishly and prideful back at him. 

He knew it wouldn’t have been anything like he wore, but still, that ring should have been his.  He’d known Maxwell was going to do something underhanded, it was absolutely expected, but Adam had thought he was of sound enough mind to keep an eye out for it when it came and manage to get around or fight through it.  Even being a part of the Elite wouldn’t have mattered, he thought with an incredulous roll of his eyes, because no one would have been out there, ringside for him, ready to keep Wardlow from intercepting.  He’d just thought… he’d thought he was enough, that he was hungry enough, that he wanted it enough, and that he’d been working hard enough that he’d finally catch his break.  What more could he change?  What more could he do? 

Why the fuck did he just keep on losing?  What wasn’t he seeing? 

Movement up ahead drew his eyes and reminded him he was supposed to be watching the road.  In his thoughts he’d pressed his boot a little harder on the gas, increasing the speed which he traveled.  His headlights lit up a large, dark elk who was standing directly in the path of his truck, its own eyes wide as it watched its impending death approach. 

“Shit!”  Adam cursed and grabbed the steering wheel, slamming the heel of his boot on the brake and turning the truck sharp to avoid colliding with the beast.  The world flew by in a blur, the truck’s tire caught and skidded on the slick, storm-wet asphalt and the snowbank on the side of the road from what’d been piled from a snowplow loomed up.  Impact. Adam’s body jerked forward against the seat belt and the airbag exploded from the wheel, saving him from smashing his face into the plastic and metal bits of the dashboard. 

The world went black. 

And the snow just kept on falling. 

 * * * * * 

 “It looks ugly out there,” Noelle’s dark, worried eyes jumped over the hazy, dark gray world outside and the blankets of snow falling and settling heavy.  She curled her hands around the warm mug of hot cocoa and bit at her thick bottom lip, pinching and pulling at it as worries flew through her mind.  Earlier that day, in the morning, she’d driven into town to stock up on supplies and she’d been warned by the market cashier to get back home before evening. 

“There’s a mighty big storm rolling in,” he’d said, voice shaking slightly with age.  His concerned eyes settled on her.  “A young lady like you has no business being caught out in a snowstorm.  You hear me?” 

“Of course,” she’d said, suddenly feeling as if she was being scolded by her grandfather instead of some random stranger she’d never once had an interaction with.  “I promise, I’m heading straight back up to the cabin I’m staying in after I’m out of here.” 

“Good!”  He’d said, and raised a white, wiry-haired brow pointedly.  “You’d better be!  Unless you fancy getting snowed into your car, stuck for days while you wait for a plower to even manage to make his way up and help you out.” 

Now, a few hours later, Noelle was standing at the large window that faced the front of the secluded cabin’s property, staring at the white blanket already piled high with more and more snow settling as time crawled by.  She wasn’t sure what she would have done if she hadn’t listened to that man.

Truthfully, Noelle had wanted to drive around a little more, explore the tucked away forest town she was staying a good hour away from or even saddle up her horse and go for a ride on the mountain roads around the property.  When she’d unloaded the groceries and gotten dressed to ride, she’d walked halfway to the barn, her two large, fluffy malamutes gallivanting cheerfully at her side and stopped herself in her tracks. 

She didn’t mind being stupid with herself, but… she’d glanced up at the sky and noted the way thick, grey clouds floated treacherously above… she wouldn’t risk her horse’s life or her dog’s.  The ride could wait until the morning.  She’d spent the time left in the daylight with her mare, cleaning her stall, grooming her, left her with plenty of food and water, put a rug on her to keep her warm and closed her up in the barn on a bed of freshly laid straw.  She’d taken the dogs inside, set the fireplace and decided she’d spend the evening drinking hot cocoa and reading instead. 

Now she was stuck staring out the window, shivering at the thought of being out in that herself.  She glanced toward her dogs and shook her head.  “You both better be ready to hold it because there is no way you want to go out in that.” 

Of course, as northern breeds, they weren’t exactly as hesitant about the snow and the cold as she was.  She’d already had to argue for fifteen minutes with Mac, the younger of the pair at just a year old, to come inside when he had the zoomies out in the snow-covered yard earlier.  Even now Mac was curled up on the rug near the door and lifted his large, white-and-brown face, pink tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth as he softly panted.  His fluffy tail waged a couple times as he watched her. 

“I don’t want to hear it from you,” Noelle said pointedly, to which Mac gently grumbled and ‘wooed’ at her.  He huffed, and laid his wide, gentle head back down on his paws again.

Sam, the older of the pair at five years, was curled up on the couch and only sighed.  He was more than happy to take the easy, warm comforts of the softly lit cabin and the big, fluffy blanket Noelle had promised to share with him. 

“See, Mac?  Be more like Sam.”  Noelle said, smiling as she turned away from the window and let the curtain drop, not seeing the human-like shape at the edge of the forest stumbling and barely catching itself on the trunk of a sturdy pine.  “Let’s all just curl up, drink cocoa – me, not you guys – read some books and be at peace while the rest of the world is caught up in some kind of crazy storm.  That’s what this is all about, right?” 

Noelle set the mug on the end table beside the couch and pushed the blankets aside, curling in and tucking herself against the arm and her feet under Sam’s warm, fluffy body.  He opened a yellow-green eye at her and groaned before stretching from his curled-up position and settling his head on her legs.  His eyelids drifted closed again as she smiled and stretched, reaching to gently smooth the fur between his pointed, fluffy ears. 

She hadn’t turned any lights on in the cabin except those that were wrapped around the live, six-foot tall pine tree she’d purchased from a Christmas tree lot in town.  It’d been laughable as she struggled to get it inside by herself, but she’d still done it and she’d even decorated it with ornaments she’d brought from home.  Noelle was proving to herself how self-sufficient she could be and was happy now that she did, relaxing in the soft, warm yellow lights she’d wrapped around it and the comforting, flickering light from the fire in the fireplace.  Everything she’d done here today was because she was capable, and that was the entire point of this trip. 

Sighing, she reached for the book she was about a quarter way through, opening it to where she’d left the bookmark and pinching her brow in concentration as she began to read. 

Just then, Mac barked and made her jump as he scrambled to his feet.

“Mac!”  She scolded, but Sam lifted his head and cocked it toward the door, which Mac was tilting his head at as he listened curiously.  Sam jumped off the couch, fluffy tail laying down flat against his hind-end, ears perked.  The pair of them stood still, side-by side, staring at the door as if they could see through it. 

“What the hell are you two doing?”  Maybe there was some animal in the yard?  Noelle glanced toward the window, but since she’d closed the curtains, she couldn’t see anything. 

“Get away from there guys, come on.  Come over here.”  She patted the couch cushion beside her to lure them back, but neither dog moved from the door.  The last thing she needed was some bear or bobcat or mountain lion on the porch. Watch her go to let one of the dogs out later that night and get herself attacked… 

Noelle shook her head at her thoughts.  She was just letting being alone on a remote mountain, renting a cabin and staying somewhere she didn’t know get in her head.  Whatever animal the dogs were hearing was probably just getting shelter from the storm and would pass on once it heard her moving around.  She could go out with an empty pan and a wooden spoon and beat on it to scare them away if she was actually that terrified of being attacked.   She’d been camping plenty of times before and had come across wild animals.  She knew how to handle herself. 

“If it makes you both feel better,” she said with a sigh as she pulled the blanket back and stood, walking across the living area toward them, “I’ll peek out the window and let you guys know what I see.” 

Mac glanced at her and then at the door, clearly assuming that’s where she’d be heading.  He wanted the door open and his insistent woo-woo barks and wagging tail should promptly bring his human to do as he requested.  Instead, Mac stood by while she walked away from the door and toward the window.  No!  He tried to say with another insistent bark and, when she looked at him, a few more wags of his tail.  He moved forward and tapped the door handle with his nose, like she’d taught him to do whenever he wanted to go out. 

Noelle shook her head at Mac and paused by the window, grabbing the curtain and trying to calm the erratic beating of her heart. Like hell she was going to open the door without seeing what was out there first!

“It’s nothing, Noelle,” she told herself, “you’re going to pull back the curtain and see a squirrel or something that’s got the dogs all excited.  That’s all.” 

Her fingers gripped the curtain fabric and then, right as she began to pull it aside – BAM! - a loud crash directly outside the door made her jump and scream.  She stepped quickly away, hand on her heart and eyes wide on the door, until her back brushed up against the Christmas tree, little ornaments jingling as they were gently displaced.  Mac and Sam howled and barked at the door, but neither appeared particularly ruthless about it. 

“Boys,” she whispered, glancing at the curtains drawn over the window and back to the dogs, “Mac!  Sam!”  Her whispering became firmer.  They glanced over at her as she gestured wildly toward herself. “Get over here!  Get away from the door!” 

Sam turned around and trotted over to her, but Mac refused.  He glanced back at the closed door and tilted his head, curiously moving closer and gently pressing his nose against the door jam.  He whuffed, and she could hear his breaths from across the room as he pressed his nose harder against it.  Whatever had made that noise had him very, very curious and he was desperate to catch its scent.

Then, there came some muffled, quiet sound.  She could barely hear it, but it made Mac snap his head up and wag his tail once, then twice.  He barked gently, an almost beckoning, excited sound. 

“Mac!”  Noelle hissed, her fingers still curled into Sam’s fluffy black and white coat, holding him against her. 

That sound again from the other side of the door.  It sounded louder.  It sounded like someone was asking for help. 

Noelle hesitated.  She was a woman alone on a secluded mountain in the middle of nowhere, with her nearest neighbors at least a good twenty miles down the way.  People did things like this all the time to trick the weaker hearted, knowing they couldn’t turn away from someone in need.  But who would be out here, in the middle of nowhere during a winter snowstorm, trying to pull that stunt?  Or was that what they wanted her to think so she’d let her guard down and let them inside? 

Noelle worried again at her lip and let Sam go as he trotted back, a little more reserved and guarded than Mac was.  His tail was still dropped down and his eyes were watchful on the closed door. 

What if someone was out there, needing her help, and she let herself be scared and didn’t even bother checking?  Noelle couldn’t live with herself.  She prided herself on being a good Samaritan first and foremost.  Mind made up, she decided she'd open the door.  

“If you guys were ever going to decide to be great guard dogs and save my life, now’s your chance.”  She grumbled under her breath as she walked toward the door, trying to ignore the fear growing with every step she took.  Her heart was pounding.  Her breaths were coming in shallow.  The handle of the door felt shockingly cool against her palm as she settled her hand on it.  She took a breath, glanced down at Sam and Mac, turned the lock and wrenched the door open. 

“Oh my god!” 

Mac and Sam bounded forward, past her, toward a man who was a slumped, unconscious figure on the porch.  His jeans, plaid button-down, and workman’s jacket were soaked through.  His hair was long, just touching his shoulders, and wet, stuck to his head under his white Stetson.  He had a little bit of something dark trickling down from beneath the band of his hat, against the side of his face which – she realized with a start – was blood. 

Noelle glanced at his back but couldn’t see anything other than his tracks already being covered by snow.  As she watched, the snow fell so quickly, they were all but gone in a matter of seconds. Whatever or whoever had hurt him wasn’t following and clearly wouldn’t be able to track him down in this weather.  It looked like she was stuck with him, whoever he was.  She looked back down at him and decided not to waste another minute debating anything.  He needed help.  He needed warm, dry clothes and to have the wound on his head looked at and cleaned up.  She was the person whose cabin he’d come to, so it was her responsibility to do the right thing and help as best she could. 

Lucky for him he’d passed out on the porch of a woman who hauled bales of hay and lifted a fifty-pound ranch saddle on her horse’s back.  Still, that didn’t mean moving him from the porch to the house wasn’t easy.  He was a large man – she had to guess he probably stood around six feet even – and, she tried not to notice it, was filled out very, very nicely.  When she bent herself under the crook of his arm, gently taking his wrist to place his arm around her shoulders, Noelle couldn’t help but feel the muscles there underneath the clothes. 

Now who was being a creep? 

Refocusing and deciding she was just loopy from adrenaline, Noelle gently urged him to come to consciousness just enough to stand and help her a little way with getting inside.  It was almost like he was sleep-walking.  His eyes rolled in his head and it was clear exhaustion wanted to claim him again, but Noelle kept talking to him encouragingly, begging him to stay with her just long enough to get inside.  He leaned his weight into her and she struggled and corrected him, thankful they only needed to walk a few feet before she could dump him onto the couch. 

He groaned as his body connected with the cushions and his face pinched in pain.  He grabbed at his left arm with complaint.  Was that injured too? 

Mac and Sam had followed them in.  They were both curiously poking their noses at his wet clothes, sniffing in excitement. 

"Leave him be!”  She scolded them, unsure how hurt he was and if they’d make anything worse with their inquisition.  Noelle walked quickly to shut and lock the door, then began bustling around the cabin to find everything she’d need: a few extra blankets; a dish with some water she’d warmed on the stove; a few washcloths; some rubbing alcohol and bandages; and even (luckily) a pair of men’s flannel pajamas she’d found in one of the spare bedroom closets.  They must have been the owner’s and she made a mental note to let them know after she checked out of the cabin why she’d rummaged about and stole some old pajamas of theirs. 

Returning to the living room, Noelle paused at the scene in front of her.  The man was sleeping peacefully now, or so the gentle dip of his brow and the lack of pained lines across his forehead told her.  One hand was laying off the couch and gently resting on Mac’s back, who’d laid down beside it and watched her, but refused to move.  Noelle knew she had no right to get so sentimental, but it almost was as if Mac was guarding him from any further harm.  She sighed, deciding her romantic heart was getting the best of her, and she needed to stop getting carried away on whims and fantasies. 

Noelle began tending to him after shooing Mac away, pulling the Stetson off his head and setting it on the end table beside her forgotten mug of cocoa.  She reached to gently brush his hair so she could get a better look at what’d been bleeding, and sighed relief to see it was only a minor cut.  A quick dab of a warm water damped rag cleaned the wound up before she carefully applied a little rubbing alcohol to it.  She glanced at him, worried the pain would wake him up, but he only frowned and sucked in a little sharp breath of air, still not opening those eyes.  It was better that he stayed sleeping anyways, Noelle decided.  It let her take care of him and make sure he was alright without worrying about anything else. 

Like why he was out all alone or what’d happened to put him in this state.  Something in her gut told her it was nothing bad, and that he was someone she could trust. She couldn’t say why for sure.

Bandage applied, Noelle glanced at his damp clothes and her eyes went a little wide in realization.  She knew objectively she needed to get him out of his wet clothes and into the dry pajamas she’d found, but now that the task was at hand, she found herself hesitating.  The idea of stripping the handsome man down to nothing while he was unconscious suddenly had her feeling shy. 

“I’m being ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath and reached carefully forward, fingers lightly pinching the zipper of his jacket.  She glanced his face – handsome, she felt a stir of something in her stomach she tried to swallow down – and then back at the jacket. 

What if he woke up while she was in the middle of stripping him and asked what the hell she was doing? 

“I’ll just tell him he passed out on my porch and I’m taking care of him,” she argued with the anxiety voice in her head, carefully pulling the heavy, wet jacket away from him.  It slumped onto the floor a little way away from Mac, who was still sticking near, clearly determined to be this man’s guard dog.   

“I’ll also tell him if he’s capable of it, to finish undressing his damn self and get into the pajamas while I’m not in the room.”  Noelle said firmly and moved to the plaid button-up he was wearing. She was making quick work of the buttons, trying to ignore the way her breath caught at the sight of his naked, broad, muscled chest.  For a moment his shirt lay gently open at either side, giving her sight of his stomach.  His large, metal belt buckle cut into the soft bit of fat that laid over what she’d felt was firm, and strong.  What drew her eyes, though, was his belly button.  An outie. She grinned before she realized she was doing it.  When had she ever thought a belly button was cute? 

Giving her head a shake as if it’d reset her mind, Noelle pushed herself to focus on the task at hand and gently maneuvered his weight, shifting it to peel the wet shirt from his skin and let it fall, discarded on top of his thick jacket.  She settled him back onto the couch and blew a long breath through her lips before she glanced toward his belt and jeans.  That’s it. That’s all that was left to strip him of.  She just had to take his jeans off, then she could put his pajamas on, throw another log on the fire, cover him in a blanket and keep an eye on him to make sure he was doing okay.  When he woke up, she could give him some warmed water to drink. 

All she had to do... 

Noelle’s fingers touched the cold metal of the buckle on his belt.  She swallowed and mentally counted herself down in her head. One, two... three!  She pulled the buckle, popping the clasp from its holder. 

“Uh... hello...” 

Noelle yelped and jumped away as if she’d been burned.  Standing a few feet from the couch, she stared at a puzzled, half-dressed cowboy who was looking up at her with plenty of questions in his eyes.  God... those eyes...  Noelle wasn’t sure she’d seen any that sort of blue.  Not that this was the time or place for her to be getting lost in his eyes. 

“Didn’t mean to scare you, I... uh...”  His voice was rough, ragged from exhaustion.  He cleared his throat and tried to shift his weight on the couch.

“Don’t move!”  Noelle yelped, and then shook her head and took a breath to steady her nerves, which were jumping all over the place. 

His eyes went a little wide and he froze in place. 

“I mean, sorry... I didn’t mean to yell... it’s just, ah... you passed out on my porch and I was trying to get you into something dry and warm, so you didn’t catch a cold.”  The explanation tumbled quickly out of her. 

“Oh,” he said, blinking a couple times and taking in the sight of everything around him before glancing to his right and seeing Mac standing nearby.  “Hey buddy,” he said in that still-weak voice, and reached to extend his hand for Mac to sniff.  Sam came wandering over too, and a small grin lifted one side of the man’s close-shaved bearded face at the sight of him.  “Beautiful dogs you’ve got.” 

Noelle’s heart ached.  Of course it would when a half-dressed cowboy was complimenting her dogs.  Traitor. 

“Well, since you’re up, you can get yourself dressed the rest of the way.  There’re some pajamas there for you. I’ll go warm some water on the stove, get you some food.”  She said quickly, turning on her heel and trying not to wince at how snappy her voice had sounded.  She didn’t want him to think she was rude, but he had her all flustered.  Weary from whatever had caused him to wind up wounded and unconscious on her porch, half-dressed with his blond curls drying and getting fluffier by the minute, he was making her react to him in ways Noelle didn’t react to people. 

Especially not men.  

Especially not after she’d had her heart broken. 

 * * * * * 

 Adam watched her leave in a hurry and wondered what he’d said to upset her.  Or at least he thought he must’ve upset her, the way she’d suddenly been frowning at him before she’d turned in a huff.  He glanced at her dogs as if they’d give him an answer, but they only watched him. The black and white one turned away to trail after her, but the red-brown and white stayed near Adam’s side.  Adam gently curled his fingers and scratched the pup’s neck and chest before gingerly easing himself up on the couch and glancing around. 

Where was he?  While the crash was crystal clear in his mind, the events following it were not.  He remembered a ringing in his ears when he managed to get his eyes open, and that he’d touched the side of his aching head and his fingers had come away sticky and wet.  He remembered his vision had been a little fuzzy, and he’d pushed his throbbing, aching shoulder into the door of his truck to force it open.  Snow had already fallen over the skidded tracks his tires had made.  He’d started walking, intent on getting some help... 

Now he was sitting in a rustic, charming, homey cabin that looked like it was the set of one of those cheesy Hallmark holiday movies he actually sort of liked watching.  The twinkling lights off the Christmas tree – real, he could smell the pine in the air – and the crackling of the wood fire were comforting.  He realized he was sitting, absorbing the moment, and that she’d pointedly asked him to finish getting dressed.  He looked at the folded pair of pajamas and then around them again. 

Where had she gotten a pair of men’s pajamas from?  Oh... duh.  She was with someone.   

Adam glanced around, but it was still just him and the one giant, fluffy dog who’d stayed by his side.  It seemed logical to think, because when he’d started to come to and seen that angel like a vision kneeling beside him, he’d found himself completely stunned.  She was a cute thing with dark brown hair tumbling in waves down her shoulders, thick, perfectly kissable pink lips and wide hips that just begged for his hands to be on them.  No woman like that would be single. 

Careful of his sore arm – must've reinjured it in the accident, though it was first strained by Maxwell and his oversized lackey last week – Adam finished undressing and pulled the pajamas on.  Thankfully he didn’t think he’d injured it too badly. It smarted but, as he gingerly rotated his shoulder, there was no twinge of sharp pain that’d tell him he’d done any more damage.  If he had to guess, as the hours passed, that sore pain would get less and less intense until it was gone altogether.  So long as he didn’t do anything strenuous, he’d be right as rain come morning.

It felt good to be in warm, dry clothes, even if he didn’t like thinking about them belonging to her beau.  What right did he have anyways to be jealous?  He cursed himself slightly, wishing he would just be grateful she’d taken him in and rescued him at all and that he’d stop thinking about how pretty she was or how badly he wanted to feel her lips against his own.  Those weren’t kindly, neighborly thoughts. 

Setting his wet clothes close to the fire to dry as best they could, Adam started down the way she’d gone and heard her moving around the kitchen before he approached.  Since he’d walked so quiet on bare feet, she hadn’t heard him and for a moment he was treated to the view of her backside as she adjusted the flame beneath the skillet and cracked a couple eggs into it.  The soft sizzle of cooking, the big fluffy dog lying at her feet, and the sight of her – she was wearing pajamas too, hair down and in thick waves at her back, making his palm itch to curl around them – inspired a different kind of ache in Adam’s heart. 

For a minute he let himself fantasize that she wasn’t a stranger and that this wasn’t some unknown place.  He let himself daydream about her being his girlfriend, or even his little wife, and this being their remote cabin they escaped to when the pressures of working for a televised wrestling program got to be a little too much for him.  Adam saw snippets of an imagined lifetime, and it left a ghost of a smile gently carved onto his lips. 

“Oh good, they fit.”  Her voice made him jump with a start and he watched her frown at him.  “You okay?” 

Maybe he hit his head harder than he thought. 

“Yeah, I’m alright.  Thank you.  Just a little stiff and achy.”

Her dark eyes seemed to linger on him a little longer.  He tried not to let himself feel excited when he watched her gaze slowly drift up and down his body just as he tried not to flex or stand up a little straighter to impress her. 

“What happened out there?”  She asked, turning back to scramble up the eggs in the pan.  In another one she’d laid strips of bacon and the smell of it cooking made his stomach growl. 

“I got into an accident,” he said.  “The storm was coming down bad and next thing I knew there was an elk in my path.  I tried to swerve out of the way, but the road wasn’t having it.  My truck slammed into the snowbank and... next thing I know, I’m waking up on your couch.” 

With your hands on my belt buckle.  Wish I hadn’t woken up… or I’d been smart enough to lay still… 

The words remained unsaid, but the pause and the sudden tension made it seem as if he’d spoken them.  Was he imagining the way she seemed to hesitate and drop her eyes to the food for a second too long as if she needed to gather herself before speaking again?  He had to be. 

“I checked the landline, but it’s dead.  The storm must’ve knocked it out, and there’s no cell service.  Hopefully the weather will clear up by morning and you can get someone from town to come up and tow it.” 

“Yeah,” he agreed slow, not really thinking about the next morning or calling a tow truck or any of that, even though he should be.  “Can I help you do anything?” 

She glanced over at him and shook her head.  “No, you should be sitting,” her tone was pointed, and she gestured toward the dining table and chairs that were at the end of the open kitchen.  They’d still be able to talk.  “Do I need to remind you that you were just in an accident, have a head wound and could possibly have a concussion?” 

“No, ma’am, you do not.”  He said, his country drawl a little thicker.  Adam walked over to settle his weight in one of the wooden chairs whose craftsmanship seemed one-of-a-kind. 

“Good.”  She said, and he caught the little grin that flickered for just a second on those damn lips that seemed to be begging for a kiss.  The upturn of her lips pushed out into a thin line and she frowned as if she’d had to force herself not to smile.  

“Thank you, by the way.”  His voice was a little bit softer when he managed to speak up after a break of silence.  She looked over at him as if she had no idea what he could be thankful for. Adam tried not to smile.  “For dragging my sorry ass into your house and setting me right.  There aren’t many people who’d do that these days.” 

“Oh, it’s...”  She frowned and looked back at the cooking on the stove.  Somehow, Adam had a sneaking suspicion she was using it is an excuse not to look at him and that she didn’t actually need to be that diligent when cooking eggs and bacon.  “Yeah, it’s nothing.”  She shook her head and waved a hand at him as if he was silly for thanking her. 

Adam frowned. 

“Can I at least know my rescuers name?”  He tried not to wince at how stupid that sounded, but he was trying to joke to lighten the strange tension in the room. 

She looked over at him and he noticed she was fighting a smile again.  He wished she wouldn’t.  He wished she’d show him how beautiful that smile was when she wasn’t forcing it off her pillowed, sure-to-be-soft-as-sin lips.

“Noelle.” 

“Noelle?”  He questioned, and looked around at the cozy, winter decorated cabin.  A grin worked its way over his mouth by the time he’d brought his blue eyes back to her.   

“What are you grinning about?”  She asked suspiciously. 

“It’s just... this is such a charming little winter cabin, a few weeks away from Christmas, you got the tree lit up and decorated... I just think it’s kind of cute that your name is Noelle, that’s all.” 

“My mom purposefully planned to have me in winter just so she could name me Noelle.  She was always a little crazy about Christmas.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Why?” 

“Oh,” Adam hesitated.  He’d said it before he realized he was.  “You’d said she was a little crazy about Christmas, so I just thought maybe... I’m sorry, my mind might be a little muddled from the crash or something.”  He stumbled through the awkward slip. 

“No, it’s okay.  Thank you, though.  She actually passed away when I was kind of young.” 

“I’m sorry,” he said again, and felt lame that he couldn’t offer anything else. 

The quiet that settled between them didn’t feel right and he wished he could think of something to say to break it up.  He didn’t want to leave her mind on her late mother in case she didn’t want to think about her. 

“Can I at least know the name of the man I rescued?”  She asked, and when he looked at her, saw that her dark eyes were on his and she’d let herself smile a little bit.  She was teasing him to help lighten the mood, and Adam was only a man.  That look sent a shiver down his spine and a tightened coil in his gut. 

He cleared his throat and awkwardly tucked a few blond curls back. 

“Adam.” 

“Hm,” she said, turning off the flame on the stove and reaching for two plates, “I was hoping for Nick so I could have made a Santa Claus joke.” 

“Sorry to be a disappointment.”  He grinned, chuckling a bit. 

Noelle divvied up the eggs and bacon (giving him a sizeable portion) and made her way to the table, setting one for her at the empty chair across from him and his in front of him.  She turned back around to fetch them forks and two mugs.  

“It’s just warmed water,” she said as she placed it in front of him, “I figured you could probably use it after being out in the cold.  I have tea, too.  Or if you want something cold, I think I have juice in the fridge.  I think I’ve got a bottle of whiskey and some coke, but I don’t know if you should be drinking right after an accident.  I don’t really know the rules on that.” 

“No, this is great, thank you,” he said, graciously accepting the mug and taking a sip, enjoying how soothing the warm water was on his throat. 

They tucked into the food for a little bit and talked, keeping the conversation light as they got to know one another a little better.  Noelle told him all about her dogs, Mac and Sam, and Adam tried to avoid giving in to the sad puppy dog eyes Mac was giving him to try and convince him to slip a little bacon his way.  He liked how she lit up when she talked about them, and how much more comfortable she seemed to be getting in his presence the more they talked.  She started laughing and smiling more, and he found it suited her.  She had natural dimples when her grin stretched wide, and her laugh was the sweet sort of sound that felt as if it lifted his heart when he heard it. 

He was enamored by her.  This had to have been fate that he’d shown up on her doorstep.  Was it insane to believe in such a thing? 

“I’m glad the pajamas fit by the way,” she said, arching a brow at him.  She’d said it earlier, but neither seemed to remember.

Adam glanced down his front at the flannel pajamas she’d given him to dress in.  They were a deep green and black plaid pattern and softer than he’d expected them to be.  Ultimate comfort. 

“Oh, yeah, they fit great.”  He smiled, but his smile felt a little flatter.  That’s right... he was letting himself get swept away in some romantic idea of it all, but she had someone.  ‘Course she did. It was easy to forget since the man hadn’t come out of whichever room he was in... actually, come to think of it, it seemed kind of strange that he hadn’t.  Adam’s gaze refocused on her curiously.  He didn’t see a ring on her finger, which meant no husband and no fiancé...  

“You’ll have to tell your boyfriend I appreciate him lending these to me.”  He asked it purposefully and couldn’t feel ashamed that he had. 

“My who?”  Noelle said and blinked at him.  “Oh!  Oh no,” she laughed, shaking her head, “I don’t have a boyfriend.  I think those belong to the people who actually own this cabin.”  Adam frowned at her, confused, but she seemed to notice before he had to ask.  “I’m renting this place for the month, it’s not mine.” 

“Oh,” he said, nodding as he glanced around, “it’s a nice bit of property.”  He tried to bite back his excitement at learning she was single.  It still didn’t mean a damn thing.  “Just you, alone up here?” 

“Yeah,” she seemed to look a little more closely at him.  “Me and the pups.  Oh, and my horse.” 

“You have a horse?”  He tried not to sound so excited, but he knew he’d failed at that.  His voice had lifted with an almost boyish innocence and it took everything for him to settle his expression and act like he hadn’t practically just tried to jump out of his seat.  She was looking at him with a curious little expression on her face and Adam figured he’d have given anything at that moment just to know what she was thinking. 

“Yeah, I do.” Her smile inched a little higher up into her cheeks and showed those dimples again. “Do you have horses?”

“Not right now, no,” he said, shaking his head.  “I spend a little too much time traveling for work.  I’m home a couple days out of the week, but I’m constantly traveling and there’s chances I’ll have to be gone for weeks at a time in the future.”

“What do you do for work?”

“I’m a professional wrestler.”

“A… professional wrestler?”  Noelle echoed, frowning at him.  “Like… Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock?”

“Yeah, kind of… I mean I’m signed to a different company…”  He trailed off as he noticed her staring at him.  “What’s that look on your face for?”

“Nothing!  No, it’s not about that… it’s just…”  She was blushing.  He could see the tips of her cheeks turn a soft red.  It made him want to tease her more just to see how red she could get before she finally begged for mercy.  “Well you just looked so much like a cowboy, I just kind of pinned you for a local.”

“I am a cowboy,” he said, indignantly, then grinned at himself.  “Okay, so maybe I’m not as much of a cowboy in practice as I could be, but I grew up on a tobacco farm in Virginia, little lady, so just because I’m performing some fancy flips in the squared circle doesn’t mean I’m not one.  I do some real cowboy shit when I get down to business.”

“That so?”  She asked, and there was something in her tone that matched the little grin she wore.  She was teasing him again.

“Damn straight.”  He said and arched his brow at her, demanding she challenge him.

Noelle only grinned a little deeper, showing those dimples, and pinched her tongue between her teeth.  “Alright then, cowboy.”

“Watch yourself, darlin’,” he teased back and was rewarded by that little bit of blush in her cheeks again.  

“I should probably clean these dishes up,” she said suddenly, and stood with a start.  Why did she keep doing that?  Why did she keep trying to shut him out like that?

“Let me help,” he offered, reaching for a plate she was reaching for.  Their hands touched and a jolt of what felt like electricity rushed from the tips of his fingers clear up his arm.  Noelle tucked her hand back and looked at him.

There was something dark in her eyes, something… needy.  They dropped to his mouth and he could have sworn he felt his lips tingle.  Just as quick as they had, Noelle looked back up at his eyes, hers a little wider, and then moved quickly away.  The dishes clattered as she set them in the deep country sink and the running water from the faucet chased the sound as she started washing them.  It seemed like it was something she could do to help get the energy out… or maybe he was reading too into it.

No, he’d seen that look in her eyes.  He’d seen her look at his lips.  Maybe he wasn’t crazy.  Maybe she wanted to kiss him just as bad as he wanted to kiss her.  Was it wrong of him to try and put some kind of move on her?  It was, wasn’t it?  She was stuck in this cabin in the middle of a snowstorm alone with him.  The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable with his presence here.  That wasn’t fair to her after everything she’d done for him. Maybe come morning, before he had to call for the tow service, they could talk a little more and he could see if she might give him her cell number.

Adam pushed himself up to his feet and walked beside her, finding a clean dish towel on a drying rack nearby.  Noelle glanced up at his profile as he set to work drying the dishes she was cleaning.

“Thanks,” she said after a moment.

“It’s the least I could do.  You’re a pretty good cook, you know that?”  His belly was happy and full.

“It’s just eggs and bacon,” Noelle said with a laugh, “that’s basic stuff.”

“Well, basic or not, it might have been the best meal I’ve eaten in weeks.”  Of course, Adam had a feeling that had to do with the company.

“Then you must be eating pretty poorly,” she said, grinning up at him.

Before he knew what he was doing, Adam had set the dish rag down and reached to catch her chin, turning her face up to his.  His eyes dropped from her gaze to her lips, and he suppressed the wanting groan that wanted to crawl out of him at the sight of them alone.  Maybe he had bumped his head a little too hard.  Maybe he was crazy.  But Noelle didn’t rip out of his grasp or ask him what the hell he thought he was doing and then he was leaning, bending so he could brush his lips against hers.

She pressed up on the tips of her toes to push her mouth harder against his, tilting her head and sliding the break of their lips together.  Without looking or breaking their kiss, she set the remaining dish down into the sink and shut the faucet off before turning and curling her fingers into the borrowed pajamas he was wearing.  Noelle tugged his body desperately closer and Adam was more than happy to oblige. He sank deeper into the bed that was her sweet, kissable lips, and pressed his tongue between the break, sliding it along hers.

He meant to pull away, even before they felt robbed of air, but he turned his head and the softest, sweetest sound was muffled on his tongue from her mouth and it drew a similar ache inside him.  His wide hands were framing her hips, fingers rolling and pinching the soft bit of fat over them.  He groaned into her mouth and kissed her deeper.  A little more desperately.  He lost himself in her and, given how passionately needy she kissed him back, she did the same.

Insistent barks and a pushing nose drove them apart, waking them from their ardent embrace.  They broke away, lips starved, tongues left with the remnants of their taste but taken away from the warm sensation of their touch.  Their dizzied eyes hung on each other for a moment, reading the open, vulnerable, romantic deprivation they both so clearly shared.  Together, a thought seemed to occur to both of them at the same time.

Did we really just do that? 

Mac, as adorable as he was, had been the one to push them apart.  When they could look away from one another they glanced down at him as he looked up at them and wagged his tail, seeming all too happy to stand between his human mother and the strange man who’d decided to kiss her.

“You’ve got some awful timing, bud.”  Adam’s voice was strained, his throat still tight, breath still tasting of her.  Noelle laughed softly and reached to gently scratch behind Mac’s ears.

“He’s just a little jealous.”  Her voice was breathless and when she looked at him again, Adam saw the blush returned to her cheeks.

With the spontaneity of their careless desires broken apart, both were left with the responsibility of understanding whatever they did next couldn’t be argued away as being caught up in the passion of the moment.  Now they’d been given a moment to breathe, to step apart, but the already small cabin kitchen seemed that much smaller and Adam’s hands were itching to grab her hips again.  He wanted to let them slip, slide around to her ass and grab the fat there until she made some more sweet little noises and pressed hard up against him.

“I –” Adam started, wanting to confess how lost he’d been lately, and how even under the odd circumstances, being here with Noelle was the most grounded he had felt in a long, long time.  Like he was supposed to be here.  Like she was his northern star, guiding him home.

“We should –” Noelle started at the same time he did and they both cut themselves off and smiled a little shyly at one another.  Adam’s eyes dropped to her lips, a little swollen from their kiss, and he cleared his throat and forced them back up to meet her gaze.

“You go first,” he said, ever the gentleman.

“We should probably get some sleep.”  She said, and his heart fell swiftly.  Adam tried to hide the disappointment, so she wouldn’t feel bad, but he knew it was there for a split second on his face before he forced the smile back across it.

“Yeah, it’s been a long night,” he agreed lamely, and avoided looking her in the eyes.  He found it suddenly difficult to be this close to her and keep himself from leaning in to kiss her again.

“Are you okay taking the couch?”  She asked, and started to explain before he could answer, “The only bed is in the main room.  The spare room is just storage.”

“I’ve slept on worse,” he smiled again, and found it a little easier to make it seem authentic.  At least, he thought he did. Years and years of practice of grinning and accepting the short straw dealt to him when he’d rather tear the world apart and demand he got what he deserved had prepared him for this.  “I don’t mind the couch.  It’s kind of you to put me up at all, really.”

“Okay…” she said and stepped back.  The room felt a little colder with more space between them.  “I left some blankets by the fireplace, there’s more wood in the mudroom if you want to put another log or two on.”  She was turning away from him and it took everything for Adam not to reach out and grab her wrist and pull her back into that place they’d shared intimately just moments ago.

“Thank you,” he said politely.  Noelle nodded and glanced down at Mac, ruffling his fur.

“Come on bud, let’s get to bed.”  She lifted her dark eyes to Adam’s blues and dropped them just as quickly, as if she was afraid to look at him for too long.  Why was she so set on denying them both something they so clearly needed?  

“Goodnight, Adam.”  Her voice was soft as she turned from the sink and started walking, both dogs trailing in her wake.

“Good night, Noelle.”  He said, suppressing the heavy, disheartened sigh that wanted to follow.

 * * * * * 

 The second the door clicked shut at her back, closing her in the solitary confinements of the rustic, dark master bedroom, Noelle sighed and dropped her head into her hands.  What the hell was that?!  Why had he kissed her?  Why had she kissed him?  What was she doing?  He was some stranger – some celebrity, however minor of one – who’d needed shelter after he crashed his truck during a snowstorm.  This wasn’t some happenstance meet cute!

In the morning when the weather cleared, he’d call for service, they’d tow his truck and take him into town, and the pair of them would never cross paths again.  That, thought Noelle, was definitely for the best.  Any attractive cowboy with blue eyes that made her ache like that was no good.  She knew from experience that a man that handsome was liable to break your heart, no matter how sweet and genuine he seemed to be.

Sam jumped up on the bed and flopped down with a huff.  He was less interested in the new developments and seemed happy to have the bed and sleep at last.  Mac was standing at her side, staring up at her, his tail wagging gently back and forth when she dropped her chin and looked at him.

“I know you like him,” she said pointedly, “but that doesn’t magically change things.  Come on,” she gestured toward Sam on the bed, “get up and let’s go to sleep.”

Mac huff pointedly, as if he could understand her, and jumped up, laying down with a soft sound somewhere between a whine and a growl.  Noelle rolled her eyes and tugged back the comforter, getting ready to climb in and try her hardest to sleep.  Her mind was pulling her back to the living room.  Back to Adam.

Was he okay?  Did he have enough blankets?  Was it warm enough out there?  Was the couch comfortable, or was it still damp from when she’d had to dump him on it?

Noelle worried again at her bottom lip, still on the verge of climbing into bed and calling it a night.

He was fine.  He was a grown man.  If he needed something, he could find it.

She climbed in and put her head on the pillow, closing her eyes and pretending sleep would magically find her.  It didn’t, of course.  Over and over she just kept replaying the kiss.  The way his fingers had gently, but firmly turned her face up to him; the way his blue eyes had shone with a sort of tenderness she’d never seen before; the way the warm light hit his soft blond curls and how they fell around his face like a lion’s mane; how gently he’d kissed her at first, as if he didn’t want to overstep, and the way he’d lost himself to passion when she deepened it.  Her lips were tingling, remembering it.

Noelle groaned and tossed in bed, squeezing her eyes shut tighter.

Then, she remembered him on the porch.  Slumped unconscious and soaked to the bone.  She remembered when he’d been laying out on the couch, body lit by the crackling fire and the warm lights she’d wrapped around her Christmas tree.  She remembered how her heart had pounded in her chest as she stripped his shirt away.  She remembered how striking those blue eyes had been the first time she’d seen them and how embarrassed she was to be caught with her hands on his belt.

She groaned and tossed again.  Sam yawned, making a complaintive whine.  All her turning about in the bed was keeping him from getting his rest.

“Sorry,” she whispered, and pushed herself a little deeper into the comforts of the mattress, as if that’d be enough to lure her to unconsciousness at last.  She tried to force herself to think of anything but Adam, like what she planned to do the next day, or even the next week when he was nothing more than a long forgotten and distant memory.

Unfortunately, her mind circled back and, resolve dropped as she relaxed, she began to let herself wonder what he was going to say when they’d spoken at the same time.  She’d tried to tell herself he was going to say the same thing that she did and end their night, but she’d saw the way he was watching her, and she knew.  A part of her cursed herself for not letting him go first.  A part of her (the more sensible part, she argued) told herself she’d done the right thing by speaking up and ending whatever regret this was going to turn into.

She sighed again and closed her eyes tighter.  Sleep, sleep, sleep, come on just fall asleep and stop thinking so much….

It may have only been seconds, it may have only been minutes, Noelle wasn’t sure how much time passed but suddenly the frustration became too great.  She pushed the covers back and swung her legs out, gently touching the wood floor with her bare feet.  Both Sam and Mac looked curiously her way, but she shook her head.

“Stay here babies, I’ll only be a second.”  They laid their heads back down, clearly happy to fall back asleep and not mentally tormented the way she was.

Maybe she believed herself that she’d only be a second. Maybe she didn’t.  She’d decided she was just going to make sure Adam was sleeping soundly and then she’d make her way back to bed and finally get some sleep.  With him asleep, she argued, her mind couldn’t wander any more and make her feel like she’d missed out on something by cutting him off the way she had.

Noelle walked lightly on her feet, as if afraid to wake him.  As she came down the hall into the open living area, still lit with the crackling fire (brighter now, he must’ve added a couple more logs) and the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree, she realized she needn’t worry about being quiet.  Adam was sitting upright on the couch, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his knees (or so she assumed, all she could see from his angle was his back).  He was pointed toward the fire, seemingly watching it.  Noelle hesitated and wondered if she should backstep before he realized she was awake…

But the set of his back looked tense.  Hunched.

“Adam?”  She said, voice soft and beckoning.

Adam jumped slightly in place and turned to look at her in surprise, which gave way to confusion.

“Hey,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper, as if they were sharing some secret, both being awake in the soft, warm lighting.  “Why are you up?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” she confessed and stepped further into the room until she could sit on the couch near him but left a cushion of space between their bodies.

“Why are you up?” She asked.

“I couldn’t sleep either,” he said, and glanced at his hands, which were clasped together, then back at her.  He seemed to hesitate for a minute, then spoke.  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”  His blue eyes – dark in the shadows – reached for hers.  Desperate. Longing.  He wanted to know if she felt the same.

Noelle swallowed, her heartbeat spiking erratically.  All the pain she’d suffered begged her not to leap from the cliff, for it’d only happen again.  All the weeks she’d spent crying, throwing fits of rage, and crying again over the man that’d broken her heart came flying back at her.  Did she really want to open herself up to that again?  And if he didn’t want anything permanent, if he only wanted them to relieve the tension between them tonight and be gone in the morning, was she the kind of person that could do it?  Could she be intimate with someone who made her feel the way Adam felt and watch him leave the next day, knowing they’d likely never cross paths again?

“Noelle,” he beckoned, and it drew her eyes to his.  Adam turned on the couch, so he could face her fully, and the glow of the fire lit a halo around his thick figure, making his gold hair appear even more so.  “What’s going on?  What’s on your mind?”

“I’m scared,” she confessed in a small voice and couldn’t believe how honest she’d been.  How vulnerable.

“What are you scared of, darlin’?”  He asked gently and scooted a little on the couch, so he could reach – long arms – and gather up one of her hands.  His thumb idly stroked her skin and sent shivers up her arm.  He watched her, concerned brows dipping and pinching inward, lines set over his forehead.

She didn’t know him aside from what they’d talked about.  They’d met just hours ago.  But Noelle looked at that open, honest expression on his face and found herself spilling everything.  She told him how lonely and scared she’d been lately.  How she didn’t feel fulfilled at her job anymore, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it.  How she didn’t have anyone left after her dad passed last year and her fiancé left her six months ago after he’d decided to tell her he had been seeing another woman and that woman had gotten pregnant.  She told him how she’d lost so many people she thought were her friends because they’d decided to stay loyal to her fiancé after the split.  She told him how she didn’t know what she was doing with herself anymore, that she’d run away to the mountains to isolate herself so she wouldn’t have to see all the cheerful Christmas décor and deal with the loneliness that seemed to get heavier and heavier with each day that passed.

And after Adam wiped her tears gently from her eyes and held her cheek, she met his eyes and made one last confession.

“And I’m scared, because I’ve never felt like this with anyone before… the way I feel when I’m with you.  It’s like we’ve known each other forever, but you’re a stranger… and I’m not ready,” her face crumpled as more tears rose into her eyes and made the vision of him blur, a gilded angel before her, “I’m not ready to be broken again.”  She barely managed to get the words out.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” he reassured her, pulling her close to him and gently laying his lips against hers.  Adam didn’t stay at her mouth, but gently kissed each cheek, the tip of her nose, her forehead, her neck… he pulled away and when he did, she saw a little bit of water lining the edges of his blue eyes.  She sucked in a sharp breath.

“I’ve been lost too,” he shared, “I haven’t lost what you have, but I know how it feels to not know who you are, or where you’re going, and desperately trying to keep true to yourself and fighting tooth and nail, no matter how many times the rug is ripped out from under you, to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I know what it’s like to feel lonely, to not have anyone to turn to, when you thought you had a lot of people who’d always take your side.”  Adam took a breath, still gently holding her face in his wide, warm palm.  They’d moved so close as she talked, their knees were touching.

“And,” he started, drawing a breath as he met and held her eyes, “I feel the same way about you.  You’re… I don’t know how to explain it.  I never really put much thought into love at first sight, I figured maybe there was a bit of attraction at first sight and then you learned how to fall in love together the more you got to know one another… but there’s something about you Noelle, something that’s speaking to my soul, and I feel like all of this is kismet.  I’d wreck my truck a thousand times just to have the chance to pass out on your doorstep and wake up with your hands on my belt again.”  A wry grin worked its way teasingly over his mouth.

If he’d been trying to help alleviate the heaviness in the room, he’d succeeded.  A surprised laugh choked out of Noelle’s mouth and she pulled her face out of his hand, reaching to wipe away the rest of the tears from her eyes.

“You idiot,” but her voice was fond, “you don’t have to wreck your truck to get my hands on your belt again.”

“That so?”  He asked, grin matching hers.  “Well, that’s a relief.  I don’t know if my insurance policy could’ve handled it.”

His hand had fallen to hers again, and Noelle realized, strangely enough, that their hands fit perfectly together.  Natural. Why was everything with him so easy? She looked up from their hands to his handsome face and felt like her heart stumbled in its beating.  If this ended poorly, she had a feeling she was going to be more heartbroken than she’d ever been before.  But there was just something…

“It’s a Christmas miracle.” He teased a little lower, and his thumb gently stroked along her skin.  A shiver rushed down her spine and made her swallow a little harder.  Noelle tried to laugh, but the yearning ache had grown inside her and now that the matters of the heart were settled to the point there seemed no option but to take the leap, she found herself wanting more.  She had a feeling Adam would be just as happy if she asked him to hold her all night, but after what they’d shared hours ago in the kitchen when they’d kissed…

“I’ll show you a Christmas miracle,” she returned the playful jest and grinned as his blond brows shot up over his forehead.

Noelle’s lips rested against his and she sank into the kiss slow, like one fell into quicksand.  For a minute she just let herself feel the sensation of her lips tingling as theirs met, the breath she drew as their mouths opened, and the way it felt as her tongue pressed past his into his mouth.  The close-shaved hair of his beard scratched her skin gently as he turned his head, finding a more comfortable position to deepen the kiss.

His hands lifted from her lap and ran over her body, not stopping anywhere for too long, as if he couldn’t help but touch her everywhere.  Noelle became just as feverish, her fingers pressing beneath the hem of the flannel top he was wearing and skimming up his warm torso and over his firm pecs.  His groan vibrated in her mouth as her nails gently drug across his nipples.  Her lips managed to smear into a smile and he pulled away with a loud smack, eyes hungry and nostrils flared.  His chest heaved beneath her hands with needy breaths.

He was on her in a heartbeat, and the controlled strength in his hands told her he could be worse.  She imagined he could rip the clothes from her body into ribbons if he really wanted to.  A brief flicker of worry pushed through the rising fog of appetency.

“Wait, Adam,” she said, breathing in gasps as his mouth fell to the sensitive skin of the hollow dip of her neck and started kissing and suckling there.

He pulled away, frowning.

“What is it darlin’?”

“Aren’t you… hurt?”  She blinked and focused on him, glancing from the bandage on the side of his head and down his body.  “You were just in an accident, trekked through the snow and passed out on my doorstep… we don’t have to do this tonight.”

He chuckled, but it came out as a hot breath that brushed over her lips as he leaned close.

“Darlin’… I’ve never been surer of anything in my whole damn life.  I’m making love to you tonight,” he dipped and brushed his lips against hers, then pulled them back and continued in a throaty whisper, “because I’m dying to hear those angel sounds that come out of your mouth,” another tease of a kiss broke up his words, “when I’m making love to you.”  When he returned to press his lips against hers again, he deepened it, pressing until they were robbed of air and she was gasping when he moved away.

They only shared a split-second look before the decision was unanimously made.  They both reached for one another, their movements desperate and uncoordinated.  Limbs bumped limbs, giggles spilled out of their mouths and they fought each other’s bodies out of the clothes they were wearing until they were both in nothing more than their underwear.  Adam’s palms held the weight of her breasts and his touch skimmed softly across her nipples, making her suck in a sharp breath at the sensation.  She bit back a moan that wanted to bubble up in her throat and clenched between her thighs.

“You’re so goddamn beautiful,” he said, and his voice seemed to hold the starved, needy ache that’d poured through his touch.  He leaned forward, and his mouth clasped around her nipple, tongue swirling it into a hard, teased peak before he moved to the next.  Despite the satisfaction she knew he must need – she could see the impressive, hard bulge of his cock against his boxers – he devoted time, using each taste bud on his tongue to bring shivers of pleasure through her body.  Noelle’s fingers found those fluffy, blond curls and tangled in them at last, holding him to her breasts as he feasted.  Her head tipped, chin toward the ceiling, hair brushing her bare back.  Her kiss-swollen lips broke apart and a soft, whiny moan crept off her tongue.

“Oh, Adam,” she sighed his name with pleasure and tightened her fingers in his hair to pull him from her breasts.  The fat of them left his warm mouth with a gentle pop.  She was too needy to keep him on her chest and let her insistent, dark gaze tell him that instead of words as she brought her eyes to his.

Their mouths crashed, and they spilled from the couch to the floor in a mess of tangled body parts and need.  Any time their lips disconnected, they took breaths and pushed them together again, as if it was a sin for them to be apart.  Noelle wound up on her back, Adam over her, the warm fire casting orange shadows across his body.  His hips settled between her eagerly open legs, his wide palm running up and down her thigh, touching her, squeezing her.  She moaned into his mouth as he set the weight of his hard cock between her legs. Despite the thin layers of clothing between them from her panties and his boxers, when Adam sank into his hips and pressed up, she felt the full length of him slide between her damp lips and moaned as he skidded across her sensitive, raised clit.

Her fingers found purchase on his arms, anchoring herself to him as he slipped back and thrust up again, making them more and more maddened with need by the second.  Noelle swore if he continued tormenting her like this she was going to scream.

“Please,” she said as he slid the thick weight of his cock up again, and her hips pressed toward him naturally, “fuck, Adam – Ahhhh! – fuck!”  He skimmed her clit again and started to kiss her, feasting on her as if starved.  He littered her neck, clavicles, and breasts red with his devotion, as if he couldn’t let her go without knowing what every inch of her tasted like.  Noelle was the willing victim beneath his thrusts and the warm, tingling sensations wherever he chose to lay his mouth on her.  The room was spinning, and she was far too lost in delight to try and stop and find the exit.

Another thrust.

“Adam!”

Another.

“Fuck!”

Another.  Her eyes rolled back in her head and her fingers, which had moved from his arms to his back, dug into the thick, worked muscles there and drug upward.  A stuttered moan from his mouth poured hot across her face and she forced her eyes open, so she could see him then. His low brow was furrowed, mouthing hanging open, blue eyes dark and wild on her.  When their eyes met, he thrust his hips forward with one more hard push, skimming her teased clit with the head of his cock, and Noelle’s thighs clapped around his hips.

She screamed his name, unable to do anything else, and her moans broke out of her lips as she trembled and came beneath him.

For a moment after they shared quiet breaths, Noelle allowed to come down slow from her high as Adam stilled his hips and held himself gingerly above her, careful not to smother her with his weight.  Sweat had a few of his blond curls stuck to the side of his face and Noelle lifted a weary arm so her fingers could gently tuck them back.  He smiled as she did, and she smiled too.  Adam dipped and kissed her, then shifted himself back to sit back on his calves between her legs.  He let his eyes drift slow down her body.

“You’ve got to be an angel.”  His breathless voice slipped into the air above her and, despite the intimacy they’d shared, Noelle found herself blushing beneath that open stare.  No man, not even the fiancé she’d sworn she’d loved, had ever spoken about her with such admiration.  Beneath that steady, honest blue-eyed stare, she suddenly felt like the most beautiful woman in the world. 

“The things you make me want to do to you,” he murmured as he leaned back down to kiss her and nibble at her earlobe, “must mean I’m a devil.”

Thrills raced like electricity through her veins and she sucked in a breath, leaning her head to give him more of her neck to feast on.  Adam’s lips moved to it, beard gently brushing her soft skin as he kept kissing down further… and further… until he was up and kneeling between her legs again.  His thumbs hooked in the elastic of her panties and he slid them up her thighs slow, sucking in a breath as he pulled them away and her legs fell apart, showing him that sweet, wet, pink and needy place that was just for him.

Palms on her knees, he encouraged her legs apart.  Noelle frowned, realizing he still hadn’t taken his boxers off.  What was he?  But Adam’s intentions became clear as he leaned down between her legs and pressed his lips against the inside of her knee, then her thigh, eyes racing up her laid out, naked and sweat-dappled body to meet her eyes as he did.  She clenched and sucked in a sharp breath.  How could a man who looked so sweet and gentle one-minute look so ravaged and determined the next?

He pressed his lips between her legs and drug the flat of his wide tongue up, curling it and pulling her cum into his mouth.  His fingers inched their way under her ass, and he pinched the fat, holding her to his greedy mouth as he sucked and licked and feasted on her.  Noelle’s fingers curled at her sides and her hips bucked against his ministrations.  More moans poured shamelessly out of her mouth and, the more of them he heard, the hungrier Adam seemed to become.  His fingers squeezed the ripe fat of her ass and his tongue plunged inside her before dragging up and circling her clit. He suckled and played with that sensitive, red button and made her tremble and cry and gyrate against his mouth.  Gently he started to moan, vibrating his mouth and tongue against her most intimate parts as he sucked and played with her.

It took her awhile to build again, but it seemed as if Adam didn’t mind.  He slipped one hand from her ass and pushed two fingers into her, mimicking the way his cock would fill her.  Those thick fingers slipped in and out as his tongue, lips, and teeth played with her clit, rolling and pinching it just enough to make her thighs quiver and stuttered moans pour out of her caught-open mouth.

Her moans came tighter and tighter together and, reading her body as it reacted more wildly to him, Adam met the pace.  His fingers thrust a little faster inside her, and the tip of his tongue swept quickly back and forth, teasing and pushing her clit the way a vibrator might.  Her breaths were coming in great, heaving gasps, and when she chanced a glance down her naked, arched body at the blond-haired, blue-eyed cowboy between her legs, caught his darkened gaze and cried a strangled cry.

Unable to help herself, Noelle’s thighs clamped tight around Adam’s head, holding him against her as she jerked and came for the second time that night.  Her cries faded, reverberating around the room and touching every corner of the cabin before it was filled again with the soft crackle of the slowly burning fire.  Adam’s fingers slipped slow from her swollen slit and his tongue lapped gently with each shockwave that tingled down her thighs.  He drank her up like he couldn’t get enough and moved his head away only when there was nothing left for him to taste.

His tongue swept his lips as he pushed himself upward and propped between her thighs again, running a hand over his beard to wipe the rest of her off his chin.  His fingers fell to the elastic band of his boxers and he shifted, tugging the material down and grunting as his cock swung forward, heavy and free of restraints.  He was larger than her fiancé had been, Noelle noted with slightly wide eyes.  Fuck, he was larger than any man she’d been with.

Adam carefully moved over her, bare cock skimming the inside of her thigh and leaving a trail of precum that was leaking desperately from the tip.  He sank his hips until he found where she parted but didn’t push inward yet.  He placed a kiss on her temple, then one on either side of her mouth.

“I wanted to taste you,” she complained.  It was only fair, wasn’t it?

“Next time, angel,” he promised her in a hot breath across her skin before gently connecting their lips in another sweet, brief kiss.  “I need to hear the way you moan when my cock’s inside you,” his tone dipped in a primal growl and he lowered his mouth to kiss her neck.  His hips sank forward, pressing just the tip of his head inside.  He froze, seeming to realize something, and lifted so he could meet her eyes with his.

“I don’t have a condom on me… do you?”

“No,” Noelle hadn’t any need for them anymore, or so she thought.  Her gaze was firm, mind already made up before he could start to question or pull away.  “I don’t care,” she whispered, and felt the sudden spike of excitement at the risky thing they’d be doing.  “I want to feel you inside me.”  She’d never been one for dirty talk, but something about Adam encouraged it out of her.   “Just you.”  She said, and her eyes searched his.  “Please?”

“What kind of man would I be if I denied my angel?”  He asked with a soft, breathy chuckle that dipped into a long moan poured freely from his open mouth as he sank the length of himself inside her, inch by inch.  Her soft cry joined him to feel the pressure of him stretching her muscles around his cock, and how perfectly he seemed to fit inside her.

The world stilled for a moment, like they were long lost puzzle pieces found and joined together.  Their eyes met and before pleasure could change the shape of their faces, they shared a smile.  Then, as Adam pulled his hips and drug the length of his girthy cock back, their eyes rolled and their mouths went slack, moaning in hot, shared breaths as he pressed his forehead to hers.  Adam continued the pace until the only sounds in the room were his deep moans, her soft whines, their whispered prayers of one another’s names and the soft crackle of the logs burning low in the fireplace.  The head of his cock had the perfect lip to pull her muscles with each thrust, but not painfully so, and he knew the way to angle his hips and sink his strokes deep to keep rocking against her g-spot.  Noelle’s hips rolled toward his when he pulled toward her, taking him harder and faster.

“Adam!  Oh - FUCK! - Adam!”  She couldn’t believe it.  How the fuck was she already building toward a third orgasm?

“Noelle,” he moaned, sinking in deep, his eyes rolling back in his skull.  When they rolled forward, the black of his pupils ate away the blue, leaving them bottomless, empty pits of the most primal need.  His hips slammed harder, faster, and in shorter strokes.  He found that sweet spot that made her vocal cords so tight she couldn’t get any sound out, just arch naked and sweaty underneath him, mouth hung wide-open.  The head of his cock speared repeatedly back and forth, back and forth, teasing her g-spot deep inside until she couldn’t take it anymore.

She tried to cry his name, but it was strangled.  The wave of pleasure crashed over her with little warning, leaving her a quivering, shaking, whimpering mess underneath him.  Her thighs clapped either side of his large, sturdy, blond-hair dusted ones and the muscles of her cunt gripped around him tight, pulling and seizing with her orgasm.

“Fuck!”  It was Adam who cursed this time and practically ripped his cock out of her, making her jolt, still sensitive, still twitching as she came.  He trembled above her, struggling to catch his breath, cock hard, veins thick and fat and pulsing, glistening in the shine of the fire, soaked with her cum. The top leaked as he trembled, clenching his jaw tight, eyes closed as he breathed low and deep and shallow through his flared nostrils.

Before Noelle could ask him why he’d pulled out, Adam’s hands were on her hips, guiding her to turn over and lie flat on her belly.  He reached up onto the couch and pulled one of the large, fluffy red, white and green plaid throw pillows, handing it to her to rest her elbows on.  His hand smoothed down her bare spine, then joined the other as they grabbed ahold of the dimpled fat of her ass and squeezed hard.  She moaned, turning her head to look over her shoulder at him.  God, she knew she must be soaking wet, red, and a swollen mess down there by now.  Her mind was fogged in a height of pleasure she hadn’t known existed and the fact that he wasn’t yet done made it swim.

Even as he gripped his cock and slid easy inside her again, settling his hips against the plush fat of her ass he still had either palm full of, Noelle twitched around him.  Her cherry-painted toes curled, and she gasped at how deep he was able to reach from this angle. Holding tight to her ass, Adam pulled back and thrust forward, pumping in and out of her, groaning, grunting, and dripping sweat down his body.  She wanted to keep watching him fuck her - there was something animal-like about what he was doing - but it felt so fucking good she couldn’t keep looking back at him.  She was a prisoner to the way he rocked her body, thrusting hard, deep, and fast inside her.  Noelle swung her head forward, body rocking against the pillow he’d given her for comfort.

As he thrust inside her, Adam leaned over her back and littered hot kisses and panting breaths across her bare skin.  One hand held her hip to pull her harder and faster back on his driving cock and the other bullied its way under her body.  His reaching fingers found her sensitive, weak, swollen clit and flicked wildly and desperately over it. He synced his strokes with the way he played with her.

“Cum for me one more time, darlin’,” his rough, tight voice beckoned in her ear.  “Show me how good I feel inside you.”

His fingers pressed a little more desperate, a little harder.  He must be near the edge now, trying so desperately to hold on to be certain she came one last time before he did.  His hips swung wild and hard into her, strokes shortening in their length.

“ADAM!”  She cried, driven wild while his touch teased her clit and his cock stretched her.  Her body went rigid as he dove inside her, his thrusts getting wilder and wilder, faster and shorter still.  He was pounding into her, making the fat of her ass ripple with contact. “I’M!  I’M!”  She didn’t finish through words, but by the seizing of her thighs and body beneath his relentlessly driving hips and insistent fingers, pushing her once again off the precipice of pleasure.  She was victim to the way her body twitched under his, just as he was to his own satisfaction.

Adam’s hand whipped away from her clit and grabbed the other side of her hips.  He pushed her down hard to the ground, thrust as deep inside her as he could go, and a moan poured hot and fast out of him as his body shook.  She felt him throb purposefully inside her before he came, decorating her insides with ribbon after ribbon of it.  It filled her warm, though she was already plenty heated by the friction they’d created together and the fire still burning in the fireplace a few feet away.

The air was thick as they came down from their individual highs, catching their breath and relaxing.  Adam all but collapsed on top of her but was quick to move his body so as not to suffocate her under his weight.  He tucked her gingerly in beside him, still shoved up and hard inside her.  It’d take a few minutes for him to soften completely and neither seemed ready to disconnect from the other just yet.  Their minds were still swimming, their hearts still racing, and their breaths still desperate, needed gasps.

Eventually, the pace of everything slowed.  The fireplace seemed a more prominent sound rather than the rush of blood in their ears.  Noelle felt every bit a useless puddle, her insides turned to jello by the amount of pleasure he’d triggered again, again, again, and again in her.  She’d never cum so much when being intimate with a man.  Did she even have any bones in her body anymore? It sure didn’t feel like it.

“I think…” his voice was rough and low, groggy and exhausted.  She liked to hear it on him, especially tucked up and sweaty as they were.  He cleared his throat and sighed a chuckle that didn’t have much energy to it.  “I think I forgot how to talk.”

“Me too,” she murmured, resting her cheek on his arm atop the pillow.  She barely managed to turn her head and placed a soft, sweet kiss against his salt-sweat covered skin.  Another deep, satisfied sigh pushed from her mouth and her eyelids drifted closed, though she wasn’t ready to fall asleep just yet.  It was just nice to relax into this post-coital nirvana with him, where they were wrapped up as intimate as two people could be, and neither seemed particularly interested in leaving any time soon.  It healed some cracks in her recently broken heart she hadn’t realized needed soothed so badly.

He reached down between them after a little more time passed and, hand stabilized on the curve of her hip, gently pulled his slowly wilting cock out of her.  He scooted them carefully so he’d lay on his back and could pull her halfway on top of his chest.  Noelle laid her cheek atop his warm, firm, soft body and reached her eyes toward his handsome face.  It took effort to lift her arm but she did anyways so her fingers could gently brush wisps of his blond curls and tuck them back.  He leaned on his other arm, the one that wasn’t wrapped around her, and smiled down at her.

“What would you say if I told you I wanted to stay here the whole month with you?”

Noelle frowned, but before she could gather her sense and thoughts, he seemed to misread her expression.

“Not that you have to say yes,” he rushed, and offered an apologetic smile, “I just… kind of like this.  Just you and me together in this snowy cabin for Christmas… but, I know this is something you needed for you, and I don’t want to overstep my boundaries.”  He was so caring without her needing to press him, it made her heart ache even more.  

“No, it’s not that,” she said, “Don’t you have family or someone who are going to miss you this Christmas if you spent it tucked away with me?”

A thoughtful look crossed his face.  She knew he’d mentioned being in a similar place that she was, but she hadn’t thought it was as dire.  

“I won’t lie and say I don’t, but my family might just be more excited to know I’ve got a little country girl tucked away on a mountain cabin and worry more about that than about me missing Christmas.  Besides,” he said, gently catching her hand and placing a kiss to the inside of her palm, “there’s no one else I can think of that I’d rather spend the holidays with than you.  This is home… and I don’t care how crazy I am to say it.”

But Noelle didn’t miss the way his brows dipped, and the way his blue eyes jumped over hers.  She swallowed back the emotion that rose over his passionate words.  How vocal he was over how important she was to him and his acceptance that it was crazy and shouldn’t be this way all warmed her heart completely over to him.  The little voice of fear was getting smaller and smaller yet, and Noelle had a feeling the longer she stayed in Adam’s arms, the more it would until it was all but gone.

“If you’re absolutely sure they won’t be too upset with you for not coming home for Christmas, then I’d love to have you stay with me.”  A little thrill of excitement rushed through her veins, thinking of being snowed in with Adam and how much they’d bond.  She’d already bared more of herself to him than she’d ever showed another soul that she’d just met.  He was right.  This was crazy, but there was no denying it, not when they both felt the same way.

Fate had brought them together and who was she to deny the pull of the universe?  She’d needed this and without even asking, she was given it.  This rare, beautiful gift of an opportunity.

“Oh, shoot, wait…”  Adam said, frowning.  His eyes dipped back to hers and looked a little sad.  “I just remembered I do have somewhere I’ve got to be for Christmas, and I don’t think I could handle the heartbreak they’d have if I wasn’t there.”

Noelle tried not to show her disappointment, but knew she failed.  It danced across her face before she could smooth her features.  She looked away from his eyes and nodded.

“That’s okay,” she started, opting for forced lightness in her voice and hoping it at least sounded a little real.

Adam reached and guided her chin up and when her eyes met his, saw something shining with mischief inside them.  His grin slipped higher up one side of his blond bearded cheek than the other.

“Why don’t you ask me where I’ve got business at on Christmas, darlin’?”

Noelle frowned.

“Where do you have to be on Christmas?”

His grin stretched a little wider.

“Why, with my gorgeous new girlfriend.  Here in this cabin.”  And he held her chin as he curled his abdomen and dipped inward, catching his lips on hers just as she started to laugh.