Tag: prompt

This wasn’t happening.

This couldn’t be happening.

It just wasn’t possible.

And yet as Liam watched from the shadows he saw the impossible happen right before his eyes.

The man climbing out of the car that had pulled up outside his cabin was one he’d seen before. One he’d tried to save and failed. While Liam remembered the faces of all the men and women his team had been too late to save, this one stood out amongst the rest and for all the wrong reasons.

A year ago this man had abducted a young girl out hiking with her family and disappeared with her. He and his team had consulted with the police and assisted in the search. They’d found them. Saved the girl. But rather than be arrested and go to prison the man had thrown himself off a cliff.

To his death.

At least that’s what they’d all thought.

There had been no body, but everyone had assumed it had just washed away in the river, been eaten by animals. No one could survive a fall like that.

Yet the man had survived.

Because here he was, Muttering to himself as he rounded the car to the back and opened the trunk. This dangerous criminal was here at the cabin, where Cara was hiding inside, there was no way to hide the fact that they’d been there, and the man would know he wasn’t alone as soon as he walked through the door.

“I watched him die. Now I need protect Cara from this evil, make sure he dies for real this time,” Liam whispered to himself as he prepared for the fight of his life.

“Wake up, Cara. Now.”

The insistent voice was accompanied by shaking, and exhausted as she was, Cara managed to surface from a deep sleep.

“Liam?” she mumbled, rolling over and trying to rub sleep away from her eyes, even as it clung to her like a second skin. After the crash and the gruelling hike through the storm it was going to take a lot more rest until she felt normal again. “Is something wrong?”

“Someone is coming.”

If any words could snap her wide awake those were the ones. “Who is it?”

“Don’t know.” Liam was standing beside the bed, dressed, and was that … a gun in his hand?

“You think they’re dangerous?” she asked as she sat up, her entire body protesting the move. Cara felt like one great big giant bruise right now, every single part of her throbbing and pulsing.

“Don’t know, and that makes me nervous.”

Since he had a weapon in his hand then she had to believe he did indeed think whoever was coming was dangerous. “What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to hide,” he said firmly, like his mind was already made up.

“Hide? That doesn’t seem fair.” Okay, maybe she was hurt, and maybe she didn’t know how to help protect them, but she could do something.

“This is what I need you to do, Cara. You’re hurt and weak, and I know what I’m doing. Maybe I’m blowing this way out of proportion and nothing is wrong. I just … I need to know you’re safe. Or at least as safe as I can make you.”

Arguing seemed futile, and a flash of headlights at the window told her whoever was coming was almost here. So Cara nodded, scrambled out of the bed, and when Liam went to move away from her, she panicked.

“Wait,” she cried out, grabbing hold of his hand. When he turned back and around and looked down at her, she didn’t know how to express the mess of emotions inside her. Instead she pushed up onto tiptoes, and touched a kiss to his cheep, brushing the corner of his mouth in the process. “Be safe.”

His gaze was soft as he smiled at her, and he squeezed her hands tight before letting her go and heading for the door.

As badly as she wanted to call out to him, ask him to come back, make him promise her nothing would happen to him, Cara didn’t. Instead she scanned the small cabin for a place to hide and prayed that whoever was out there didn’t mean them any harm.

As she slipped into the space at the bottom of the pantry, she could have sworn she heard Liam say, “That can’t be who it looks like, I watched him die.”

Something nudged him awake.

At first Liam thought it was just the soft snores of the woman in his arms. It had been a while since he’d slept with someone beside him, and while he hadn’t thought he missed it, but the second Cara had curled into him he realized he had.

Or maybe it was just that it was this woman curled against him.

Whatever the reason, despite everything, the best sleep he could remember was what he’d just woken from. It had been deep and restful, until it wasn’t.

Shifting carefully, so he didn’t wake Cara unless it was absolutely necessary, he slipped out of the bed and searched for his clothes. As he was yanking on his sweatpants over his boxers, he realized what had woken him.

It was quiet.

The storm must have blown itself out.

Yanking on a hoodie, he stuck his feet into a spare pair of sneakers he kept here and walked over to the window to look out. The first rays of dawn were just peeking out, and he could see that while there was a fresh layer of snow on the ground, tree limbs down, the wind was no longer howling and the sky seemed clear.

Before relief could settle in, he saw something that had his heart stuttering in his chest.

A car was approaching.

No one should be heading towards his cabin, and his mind went immediately to the stack of paper on the table and the signs that someone had been staying here.

Someone was coming, but were they innocent person who had been hidden out in his cabin for shelter, or was there a more nefarious reason someone had been staying in his home?

Exhausted as she was, Cara couldn’t relax. Not even for a second.

At least she was finally warm. After their tense conversation bout Liam believing someone had been in his cabin, he’d sent her off to shower while he prepared some food, given her a pair of his sweatpants and a sweater to wear from the pile of clothes he kept in the small dresser, along with a pair of thick socks, and then fed her hot soup and steaming tea. He’d eaten with her only at her urging, before he’d given her a quick exam to check for serious injuries, but they both agreed that while she hurt all over, was bruised and cut up, if she’d had any life threatening injuries she wouldn’t have been able to help him get her here.

Now she was supposed to be resting. Gentleman that he was, Liam had insisted that she take the bed and he’d take the couch. It was dark out, but the storm was still howling, wind banging against the cabin and making her jump at each thump.

Who had been staying in his cabin?

It seemed from Liam’s attitude he didn’t think whoever it was here for any innocent reason but what other reason could there be?

Giving up on sleep, she slipped out of the bed, trying to be quiet because Liam was sleeping, and padded over to the kitchen, right at the same time that a large figure rose from the couch.

Letting out a startled shriek, even though her brain quickly processed that it was only Liam, Cara stumbled backwards, her body still aching and uncoordinated.

Somehow Liam was there before she landed on the floor, strong arms wrapping around her, steadying her, drawing her close to his solid chest.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, was just getting up to make a drink, couldn’t sleep,” Liam told her.

“Ditto,” she agreed. Maybe she could have let go of Liam’s anxiety over who he thought had been in his cabin long enough to sleep if he hadn’t been so concerned about it he wouldn’t even light a fire. He hadn’t wanted anyone to know they were in here if they should return before the storm cleared and the two of them left.

“Want me to make us both some tea?” Liam asked, and she wavered.

While she’d gotten up to get a drink, it was more because she was edgy but wiped out, and in need of a distraction. But what she really needed, what they both needed was sleep.

“Actually,” Cara said slowly, praying she wasn’t overstepping too much here. “Do you think you would lying down with me in the bed. I can’t sleep, and I think having you close would help. I mean I know it’s weird, we don’t know each other, and I’m totally pushing boundaries, but maybe we’d both be able to sleep better if you were in the bed.”

She felt rather than saw Liam smile down at her. “It’s okay, you’re not pushing boundaries, and I think you might be right.”

Pleased she hadn’t upset her guardian angel, Cara took Liam’s hand and together they headed for the bed. He pulled back the covers, helped her get settled, before rounding the bed and climbing in the other side.

Without any conscious thought her body drifted closer until she was lying plastered against his side. “Is this okay?”

His hand settled on her hip, fingers brushing back and forth for a moment before he nodded. “This is okay. Sleep now, honey, I’m right here.”

Considering those words were spoken from a stranger they probably shouldn’t offer as much comfort as they did. Then again, Liam might be a stranger but he’d also saved her life, so maybe it was no wonder that with his warm body pressed against hers she was finally able to drift off to sleep.

Someone had been in here.

Recently.

Liam looked around at the mess in his cabin. The covers on the bed were mussed, there were dirty dishes sitting beside the sink in the small corner kitchen, there was a pile of paperwork on the table, and there was a heavy scent of cologne in the air. One he didn’t wear.

It had been months since he’d last been out here, and he was a bit of a neat freak when it came to his home, both his one in town and the cabin, so there was no way he wouldn’t have made the bed and cleaned dishes before he left. And he would know if he’d bought a stack of paperwork out here.

Liam supposed it was possible the cologne, bed, and dishes could all be contributed to someone getting stuck in one of the previous storms and seeking shelter in his cabin, but that didn’t explain the papers. There were multiple stacks of them, and there would be no reason to be out hiking and get caught in a storm with something like that in your possession.

“What’s wrong?” Cara asked, looking up at him with wide green eyes.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said briskly, she was barely clinging to consciousness, the last thing she needed was his worries about why someone had been staying in his cabin. “Come on, let’s get you out of these wet clothes. I keep some here so we can get you into those, and then I’ll build a fire, make us something to eat, and tend to your injuries.”

When he went to move one of her hands darted out to circle his wrist.

It would be easy to break out of the weak hold, she was shaking, her long golden brown locks plastered to her head making her look like a drowned cat, there were bruises appearing on her skin, which was far too pale for his liking, but there was a strength in her eyes that demanded he give an answer.

“Someone has been here,” he told her.

Fearfully she looked around as though she expected someone to come jumping out from behind the couch. “Recently?”

If the smell of cologne was anything to go by then yes. “I think so.”

“Hiding out from the storm?”

“Maybe.”

“But you don’t think so. Squatters?”

That would be the simpler option, sure, but there was something about all that paperwork that his gut said meant someone was deliberately hiding out here.

“Probably,” he agreed, feeling a sudden urge to patch Cara up, wait out the storm, then get her back to his car.

“But you don’t think so,” she said softly.

Meeting her gaze, Liam shook his head. “I don’t think so.”