Page 22 of Amelia and Her Prince Charming
“I’m okay,” I confirmed. “Thanks to you.”
“I thought I was going to lose you,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. His fingers were in my hair, against my scalp, his other hand against my back, and I hugged him tightly in acknowledgment of all we’d been through, and as thank you that could never be expressed in words.
Suddenly, awareness that I was lying in my bra and underwear, curled around HUDSON in his underwear, hit me with the force of one of those waves from earlier. I scrambled away from him, hating the sudden rush of coldness, and wrapped my arms around my body. But I couldn’t meet his eyes as awkwardness descended on me.
Snap out of it,I ordered myself.Yes, I was almost naked with HUDSON but also, this wasHudson. He was a doctor and used to bodies and taking care of people. He’d seen me at my worst–worse than this, even. It didn’t have to be weird unless I made it weird.
I could feel myself making it weird.
And not even because we were lying together, skin to skin, trying to keep warm. I understood that it was a necessity. Survival. No, I was making it weird, because I’dlikedit.
Hudson wasn’t even looking at me. He had his eyes closed, and I indulged in a moment of tracing his profile with my eyes. His forehead, down to his nose, then over the ridges of his lips and chin, down his prominent Adam’s apple, which bobbed suddenly in the corner of my eye as my gaze drifted down his chest. I shot my eyes back to his face and found him watching me.
Yep. You’re totally making it weird, Amy.
“What time do you think it is?” I asked in the most casual tone I could muster.
“Two or three in the morning.” His voice was quiet and raspy. “The sun set a few hours ago.”
“Everyone must be worried.” I drew a line with my finger on a knot in the floorboard by my knee. I didn’t want to imagine how scared our family and friends must be. Especially Quinn.
“We lost everything when the boat turned over, including our phones. Once the storm passes, I’m sure they’ll send someone out to check on us.”
The wind howled in the trees, and rain continued to lash down hard on the cabin’s roof. It was going to be a while before anyone could safely send help.
“The infamous Forrester cabin.” I looked around the unimpressive space. For everything I’d heard about it, I’d expected something more modern. With the fire and darkness, and the storm blowing outside, there was a certain amount of cozy charm to it. But there were several leaks leaving puddles on the floor, and nature was trying to reclaim the cabin for itself.
“No.” Hudson’s smile was soft as he stared up at the ceiling. He still casually lay on the floor and spoke in smooth tones. His ease made me feel more at ease. “This is the abandoned cabin onthe other side of the island from where theirs is. Have you heard the legend of this cabin?”
“No. I’d like to, though.”
“It’s one of my favorite stories,” he said. I noticed that he had to breathe between every word, and he’d closed his eyes again. I gave myself permission to pursue the lines and angles of his face again while he spoke.
“A long time ago, a man and his family moved to Alaska, where the land was as rich as the mines. Stories of abundance and success had spread through the lower forty-eight, and some adventurous souls decided to try their luck at living here. But this man didn’t realize how temperamental and challenging the weather would be, much less how the isolation of living on an island can wear on a person. Even this far south, Alaska is for the hardy in both body and spirit. Their family was struggling to make it through with enough food, so he left the island to go hunting. When he came back, his family was gone. He never knew if they’d died or left. He searched for them far and wide and never found them. Some people say that on the longest night of the year, you can still see a light going back and forth on the island as he searches for his lost family.”
“That’s beautiful,” I said. I pulled my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my legs as the cold started to seep back in. “Did anyone ever find out what happened to them?”
“No,” Hudson said. “People have tried, but the records weren’t kept very well, so it’s been a lot of dead ends.”
“How sad.” I could easily imagine the kind of grief that man must have felt when he lost his family. I could easily imagine myself having become like that man after Shiloh died, if not for Hudson. Had no one cared enough for this man to rescue him from his own desperate longing?
“Once the sun’s out, we can make our way to the other cabin,” Hudson said. “It’s less than a mile, but the trail isn’t well-kept, so we won’t want to do it in the dark.”
I didn’t know if I could make it even on a well-maintained trail, with how weak and shaky my body was. And Hudson didn’t look like he felt much better. He met the concern in my gaze and then sat up suddenly with a stifled moan and slowly got to his feet.
“I’m going to build the fire up, and hopefully we can fall asleep.” He tossed me a wan smile before he threw a few more logs onto the fire and got a roaring flame built up again. The reddish light glowed against his tan skin. I hadn’t realized how built Hudson was before. He was all lean muscle and taut angles.
“What’s wrong with your arm?” I asked.
He was bracing it against his stomach and not using it to grab any of the firewood. “It’s a little sore. Must’ve banged it on something. It’ll be fine.”
I took stock of my own injuries, but it was impossible to tell one pain from another when every point pinged in a different place on the numbness to razor sharp on the pain spectrum. A cut on my foot was in the razor-sharp category, while my hands and chest were more toward the numb side.
“Scoot a little closer to the fire.” Hudson sat a few feet from the fire, and I moved beside him. Every muscle ached and groaned as I made the small trek. How in the world was I going to walk to the other cabin in the morning? I felt like I’d been put in a washing machine and spun around for hours on the cold cycle. My chest ached, and when I coughed, it sounded deep and wet.
Hudson frowned. The lines on his face were more pronounced than I’d ever seen them, but they were familiar and comforting, and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his face.
“Can I listen to your lungs?”
