Page 108 of You, As You Are

“I can carry you just fine.” The rumble in his chest transformed to a growl. “The ground is sodden, and I don’t want to risk dropping us both. So lean on me.”

Fucking rain.

It took half an hour for their cabin to come within sight as they hobbled at Maisie’s pace together.

Iain’s mind ran through all the scenarios for how badly she might have hurt herself. He’d had knee injuries before – a common hazard of rugby. He didn’t think she’d dislocated the joint because she was able to extend her leg and take a step. Ifshe’d ruptured something then she’d be in absolute agony, so he hoped it was just some bruising and a sprain.

His breaths deepened. “You don’t walk an unmarked trail without me again.”

“I only got a little lost?—”

“You had no supplies, no phone signal to contact anyone, were on your own, it’s fucking raining, and you don’t know the land. You went beyond the paths of the campsite, Maisie. Don’t leave without me again.”

Maisie silenced her attitude. Iain was tooon edgeto hear excuses. It was as if she’d disregarded completely how dangerous wandering down strange, uneven trails –unmarked trails– could be in a rainstorm. If there was one thing positive that he’d taken away from growing up farming a valley between mountains, it was not to underestimate how fast the weather could change.

They took one step at a time up the wooden steps to beneath their cabin’s awning, Maisie’s hand in his as he kept his arm around her waist.

The shirt he wore was … soaked. Over every dip, every muscle – the material clung to him like a wet second skin. His trousers were no better, but at least they were waterproof.

Maisie was worse – she was his only concern.

“Why weren’t you wearing a coat?” he asked in a way that was more demanding than curious.

“I was going to get back before the rain,” she said, limping over to one of the two wooden chairs. “The clouds just came quickly, Ted ran off, we got lost, and then I fell.”

Ran off?Iain’s growing scowl dropped to his dog who simply turned and pointed his arse at him. He couldn’t truly be mad, not when Ted had been the one to find them both.

His hand cut to point at Maisie’s footwear. “Boots off.” There was no chance those things were coming inside, and neither was his dog.

He took Ted by the collar down to the side of the cabin where he grabbed the hose and rinsed him over. The poor boy shivered, but dirt washed from him like rain bounced off of Iain. When Ted was clean, he scooped him up and carried him back to the deck.

One handedly, he took off his own boots outside the cabin door, his fingers staying firmly wrapped around Ted’s collar before he tried to run off into the mud once again.

“Wait for me to come back,” he said to Maisie right before he picked Ted up and carried him inside, depositing him in the bathroom. Grabbing every towel in sight to throw on the bed, Iain shut the door before jogging back to Maisie.

“I told you to wait for me,” he growled as she struggled to bend and pull off a boot caked in mud.

Her big eyes came up and ignored his reprimand. “Where’s Ted?” Her voice shook the same way her body shivered. “Is he okay?”

“He’s in the bathroom.”

Iain took himself to a knee again on the damp decking and took Maisie’s boots off for her as quickly and gently as he could. The last thing she needed was for haste to make her injury worse. Then he helped her up and into the cabin, settling her on the edge of the bed.

The cabin was still warm with the humidity from his shower, but nowhere near warm enough to raise Maisie’s body temperature – Iain didn’t care about his own. He took his sodden coat off her shoulders and slung it by the door to worry about later, passing her one of the towels he’d tossed on the bed.

In an ideal world, he’d stand her up and strip her off and put her in the shower himself, but thestandingpart was an issue right now.

“Dry,”he said, grabbing another towel to run over his head.

“My hair will be a mess,” Maisie mumbled.

“Your hair is the last thing I’m worried about. Get dry.” He’d be damned if she was getting sick again on his watch.

The rain had turned her curls to dark-brown waves and she scrunched the ends up in the towel, her slowness taunting Iain to grab another and dry her quicker himself. “Could you get me some clothes?” she asked with a sniffle.

Clothes. Clothes.Iain rummaged in her weekend bag, grabbing jogging bottoms and a fleece pullover, both things designed for insulation.

“Here—” He dropped the items beside her, his pulse breaking through the ceiling when he said, “Strip.”

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