Page 37 of Risk It All
“The other option is freezing to death on your lonesome outside,” she muttered, turning back to the soup. “That would be less awkward, but more…well, deadly. Quit being an idiot.” It was easy to be practical without him right behind her.
I wonder where we’ll sleep tonight?
Her gaze was drawn upward, and she studied the beams that held up the loft floor as if she could see the furnishings with X-ray vision. Her heart skipped a beat. “You’re being stupid again.” Dragging her attention back to preparing the basic meal in front of her, she started searching for a pan. “If there’s only one bed, you can sleep on the couch, doofus.”
“You say something?” Kavenski asked as he emerged from the bathroom.
“What? No. Just talking to myself about…nothing.” She found a small saucepan and clutched the handle as tightly as she could. Her cheeks had to be red. She could feel them burning almost as hotly as the bottoms of her feet. When his eyebrow quirked and his lips parted as if he was going to say something more, she hurried to change the subject. “Think it’s safe to turn on the propane stove?”
He frowned at the appliance as if he had X-ray vision as well and could examine the inner workings just by looking at the exterior. “Better not. Just use the top of the woodstove.”
Still a little flustered by her earlier thoughts, Cara concentrated on opening the cans to have an excuse not to look at him directly. “I didn’t see power lines the entire time we were walking. How is there power?”
“Solar panels and a small wind turbine. Hear it?”
She listened. At first, she could only hear the howling wind, but then there was a lull. “That kind of buzzing, humming sound?”
He dipped his chin in a nod as he prowled around the space, checking in drawers and the lone closet. She glanced at him occasionally now that his focus wasn’t on her, finding herself too fascinated by him for her peace of mind. “They’re powering a battery bank in there.” He waved toward the utility room.
“We’re lucky the cabin we found is owned by people who like their luxuries, and not the family who loves to rough it.” She paused for a moment, then asked, “Do you have any money?”
That pulled his attention away from the books lining a small shelf. “Why? Were you planning on robbing me?”
Making a face at him, she dumped a couple of cans of chicken and vegetable soup into the pan. “Yeah. I’m going to rob you and then ask for your help getting me out of these mountains. You have my nefarious plan all figured out.” When he didn’t say anything in response, she continued. “Since we’re using these people’s cabin and eating their soup and about to use their bathroom and their bed—beds—um…” She stumbled when she realized her insecurities were showing, but then she plowed on. “Anyway, I thought we should leave them some money. Obviously, I don’t have any cash on me, so that leaves you.”
“Yeah.” The short answer to her long explanation made her roll her eyes at the soup pan.
“Yes in that you agree in theory, or yes in that you have money you’re willing to give to the nice people who own this cabin?” She lifted the pan slightly before setting it on the circular cast-iron plate on top of the woodstove. “And this soup we’re about to eat.”
“We’ll leave some cash.” He started up the spiral stairs to the loft, and Cara followed, curious about the upper level. The bed question nibbled at her mind as well. She’d feel more settled after she knew if she was going to be bunking on the couch.
As she rounded the last curve of the staircase and got her first glimpse of the loft, she felt her stomach flip. There was one bed, and it wasn’t even a big one—a double at most. Letting out a small huff of disappointment, she resigned herself to a night on the couch. Immediately, she mentally scolded herself for acting like a princess when things could be so much worse.
Crossing to the French doors at the far end of the loft, she peered out into the dimness. The balcony wasn’t very wide, but the blowing snow was so thick that it was hard to see the railing. She shivered a little. It was too easy to imagine all sorts of dangers lurking in the murkiness of the storm.
“Cold?”
Kavenski’s question made her turn to see him in front of an open closet, watching her. “Not really,” she answered, a little surprised it was true. Even this far from the fire, the cabin was quickly warming up. “I’m just creeping myself out.”
“Doubt Abbott’s guys are out in this,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone that was strangely comforting. It was as if the universe wouldn’t dare to go against his word when Kavenski said something with such confidence. “They aren’t any kind of wilderness experts.”
His assurance brought up a hundred more questions about how he knew what Abbott’s people were like, and how Kavenski was involved in all this. She knew that conversation would take a while, and there was soup heating on the stove, so she let it go…for the moment, at least. Her gaze shifted to the bed again, all fluffy and cozy-looking, draped in thick quilts and stacked with an abundance of pillows. “We’re definitely stuck here for the night?”
He moved to stand next to her to look out the French doors. “Doesn’t look like it’s stopping anytime soon, and it’ll get dark in a few hours. Safest to stay put where there’s heat and food.” He turned his head to look at her. “You don’t want to stay?”
“It’s fine. I mean, I’d rather stay where it’s warm than venture out there again.” She gestured toward the glass in front of them. “I just have a weird Goldilocks feeling, like the owners of this cabin are going to pop in at any second and find us sleeping in their bed.”There’s that bed reference again. Just let it go, Cara. He won’t notice if you don’t make a big, awkward deal about it.Of course she couldn’t just let it go. “Or on their couch, or wherever.”
His inscrutable expression gave nothing away as his gaze landed on the bed. “Doubt anyone will be hiking in this. If they’re coming here, it’ll be tomorrow at the earliest.”
Seizing on the change of subject that didn’t have anything to do with beds or sleeping together, she asked, “That’s the only way to get here? Hiking? How’d they even build this place?”
He gave a small shrug before heading back to the closet he’d been checking out earlier. “Some people will pay a lot for privacy.”
“Huh.” Cara thought about it for a long moment. “I think I’d prefer to have a nice paved road and driveway that an ambulance could drive up, just in case.”
His half smile touched his lips, but he didn’t agree or disagree, just waved toward the contents of the opened closet. “Clothes in here if you want to change. There are some boots and a winter coat in the closet downstairs that look like they’d fit you.”
She blinked silently at him for a moment. It warmed her insides that he’d cared enough about her comfort to bother, even if it was just so she could walk faster when they hiked the rest of the way to Red Hawk the next day. “Thanks,” she finally said, realizing when his expression turned quizzical that she’d been quiet too long.
