Page 17 of Stranded with the Billionaire
“Ouch!” Jake gasped.
She quickly let him go. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Jake assured her with a pained expression while he held his aching ribs with both hands pressed against his chest. He drew in a few shallow breaths.
“I am so sorry,” Sterling apologized again.
“No worries,” Jake put a hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t we keep walking? Like you said, they still need to find us.”
Sterling nodded and allowed him to lead them onward through the snow. They walked for hours, taking small breaks and getting thirstier. Near sunset, there was a small stream that was flowing. Jake filled up the bottle several times and both were able to drink their fill then refill the bottle again.
It was well into the dark when they found the shack on the side of the road. Sterling stumbled into Jake as he aimed the flashlight at the tiny cabin that looked like it was held together by whatever materials had been handy at the time someone was doing each repair.
“It looks like the home of a serial killer,” Sterling grabbed Jake’s sleeve.
“It looks like home for the night and hopefully it has food and a stove,” Jake went up to the door and found that it wasn’t locked. “We’re in luck.”
Sterling wasn’t so certain. She cautiously followed Jake into the small space, shutting the door behind her. Jake shone the flashlight around, showing off a small cot along one wall, a shelf with canned goods, a desk with all sorts of paperwork on it, a single chair and a tiny stove with wood nearby.
“Thank you,” Jake said emphatically. “Whoever you are that set this up, thank you.”
Sterling was about to agree when something swooped at her, brushing her face. She clutched Jake’s arm and screamed.
Jake jumped. “What is wrong with you?”
“There’s something in here!” she wondered if it was the ghost of the former owner. A shiver racked her frame. She hoped he was a nice ghost and not mean or creepy.
“It’s just us in here,” Jake rolled his eyes and looked on the shelf for matches. “We are in business.”
Sterling carefully took the blanket out from her blouse, setting the shimmering fabric on the cot. “I’m telling you, something touched my face.”
“Sara, nothing is in here,” Jake repeated as he shoved some wood into the stove.
“Aren’t you supposed to use the small bits? Don’t they catch fire easier?” Sterling asked. She had seen her brother and father create fires often enough and they didn’t do it the way Jake did.
“Why don’t you see if you can find a can opener while I get the fire going?” Jake ignored Sterling and lit a match to try to start the fire.
Sterling scowled at him. Leave it to a man to go all cave man in a desperate situation. It was obvious he had no clue how to start a fire. And ordering her to find the can opener? How sexist was that! Especially when he said he was the one who liked to cook.
Fine, he thought she was delusional and incapable of anything but the most basic womanly thing of opening a tin can, but if that stupid spider or whatever that thing was touched her one more time she’d…
“Arrgh!” the can opener went flying from Sterling’s hand causing Jake to duck. Or maybe it was the winged creature that went flying for him. “There’s a bat in the shack!”
“What on earth!” Jake slowly stood up and they both looked for the bat.
“Here,” Sterling threw a blanket at Jake. “Catch it with this.”
“Catch it?” he looked at Sterling like she’d lost her mind. “What am I supposed to do with it?”
“Put it outside,” she explained, ducking down as it swooped over her head again. “That’s what my father would always do.”
“I’m going to risk rabies just to put a bat outside?” Jake asked incredulously.
“What else are you going to do with it? Kill it? Bats are good for the environment. They eat mosquitos,” Sterling stayed in a crouch despite the fact that her knee was adamantly protesting the treatment. “And I’m not going to sleep in here with it flying around!”
“Why don’t you get rid of it?” he questioned. “You seem to know what you’re doing.”
“Be a man,” Sterling shot back at him, conveniently ignoring that she’d been trashing him in her head for going all macho a minute ago.
