Page 10 of A Wilderness Within

“Humph.” He made a noise of disbelief at the back of his throat and turned away.

When he stalked off, she expected to hear him stomping up the stairs like an angry child. But she heard only the barest hint of a creak of wood as he moved.

Great. She’d been kidnapped by a freakingninjamountain man.

Caroline listened to the sounds of water moving through the pipes above her and let out a slow, shaky sigh. She examined the house, and then she carefully moved from the couch and made her way to the kitchen. The entire house was surprisingly sunny and warm. It probably helped that he had a fire burning in the main fireplace. The crackle and pop of the logs was a comforting sound in the silence of the house.

There was a still a hush throughout the place, like the owners had simply left for the day and would be back by nightfall. Pictures lined the fireplace, showing a smiling couple hiking in Colorado and lounging on a warm, white, sandy beach somewhere. Post-it notes clung to the wood cabinet just above the phone with numbers scrawled on them. A calendar hung from a nail by the refrigerator with holidays and birthdays written in colored markers. Caroline looked out to the backyard again. The deer had moved on now, but she could see twin mounds and a pair of rough-hewn wooden crosses. The happy, smiling couple was gone. Forever.

The world was full of ghosts now. The sighs of empty houses settling, the rasp of wind through the trees, the snow falling on graves, and the heavy, endless silence. When starved and cold, Caroline would slip into a state where she wondered if humanity had only ever been a vivid and wondrous dream. Everything bright and beautiful had vanished in three months. The earth and Mother Nature had reclaimed their world, and mankind was but a footnote in a book no one would ever write.

She explored the kitchen, careful to keep her weight off her bad ankle as she checked the cabinets. She almost squealed in delight when she found an unopened jar of peanut butter in the back of one of the cabinets. She unscrewed the lid and removed the cover. The aroma made her eyes brim with tears.

She rummaged around in the drawers for some silverware. Then, like she had done as a kid, she ate the peanut butter right off the spoon. There was a flicker of guilt at her actions, but who was going to judge her?

The depressing answer to that question destroyed the weak flutters of joy she’d felt. She heard the soft thud of a drawer closing somewhere upstairs. Caroline gazed about then, not seeing Lincoln anywhere, and approached the backpack he’d left on the kitchen table. The military backpack was a sandy brown and covered with pockets. She opened the smallest one, and her fingers brushed something hard and metallic. She pulled it out and studied it. A small flag pin, the kind a politician might wear pinned to his suit. It was such an odd thing to carry about, not that it took up any space. She tucked it back in and opened the next pocket. Small packets of birth control pills and condoms filled that area.

“Wow…a bit optimistic, are we?” She snorted and moved to the next pocket. More medicines. Acetaminophen, ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, EpiPens, and antihistamines. The pocket after that contained a Maglite, batteries, solar chargers, space blanket, rope, twine, scissors, a compass, laminated maps… Lincoln was a walking survival gold mine. She’d had all of these things in her first go-bag—well, everything but the condoms.

“Seriously?” The dark growl came from her left. She froze, hand still in the bag as she turned toward Lincoln. Then she wished she hadn’t.

The man was naked except for a towel around his waist. And that towel wasbarelyhanging from his hips. She blinked in a daze at the sight of the V indentations over his hip bones.

Oh boy…

She’d never seen a man who was actually that clearly muscled in her life. Did he live in the gym? Water droplets clung to his skin, and his hair, shaggy and wet, dripped onto his shoulders. He was some kind of walking sexual fantasy she’d never thought she’d experience.

Caroline pulled the peanut butter spoon clean from her mouth, and with her back still turned to him, she pulled her hand out of his bag and zipped it up, praying he wouldn’t notice.

“What?” she shot back.

“You’re eating it straight out of the jar. That’s how pathogens like Hydra-1 spread. I’m sure you’re immune by now, but seriously.” He strolled over and plucked the spoon from her and set it in the sink. Then his gaze shot to his backpack on the table, and he tilted his head, studying it. She’d zipped it back up, but she must have missed something. Dread swept over her, and she backed up a step when he looked her way, one eyebrow arched.

“I’m sorry I snooped through your bag.”

To her surprise, he chuckled. “I’m not mad about that. I took a shower to give you time to work up the courage to look through the bag. I want you to trust me, to know that I’m not a threat.”

Caroline digested his words before replying. “So I’ll sleep with you?”

“You’ll sleep with me, honey. Basic biology. Once you get over the drama of how we met, you’ll see me as a providing alpha male, and you’ll feel the urge. When you do, I’m here.”

“What the fuck?” she snapped. “I’m not some ancient cave dweller. I’m a modern human woman with feelings.”

“And when you change your mind, I’ll be here.” He cleaned her spoon with soap and dried it off before putting it back into the silverware drawer.

“I wouldn’t have sex with you even if”

“Don’t say it.” Lincoln cut her off. “You’ll only be wrong later.” He walked past her, and damned if she didn’t catch the sweet clean scent of soap on his skin. And the way he moved… Her belly quivered, and she cursed herself. Hormones be damned—she wouldnotlet nature take over, not when it came to this. However foolishly impossible a dream love or romance might seem now, it was still a dream she hoped for. Maybe she would die alone, but at least she would have her dignity.

The thought was not as comforting as she’d hoped it would be.

Seeing as it seemed she was free to go where she pleased in the house, she limped over to the living room, eased down on the large, black, leather sofa, and stared at the blank TV screen. She’d never been obsessed with TV, at least not the news, but she would’ve killed for even a faint flicker of life from that black void of a screen.

She closed her eyes, and after a while she realized she must have drifted to sleep because when she woke, she was covered in several thick blankets. Lincoln must have done that. Damn him. She didn’t want him to be nice. She wanted to hate him. It was easier to not trust someone if you didn’t like them.

“You can take a shower,” he said.

She peeped over the top of the couch back toward the kitchen. Outside the sun was setting over a lonely winter horizon, leaving the claw-like branches of the trees to cast dark, sharp edges against the soft evening-colored skies. Time passed so quickly some days, and other days it dragged on for eternity.

---