Winter Lodge Wolves Complete Boxed Set. Kayla Gabriel
shake. He needed space. Man and wolf were both obsessing about a woman they didn’t even know. They didn’t know her name, didn’t know what color her eyes would be when she woke.
She was a stranger. Hell, for all he knew, she had arrived with the hunters and gotten separated from them somehow. Or worse, she was some kind of bait to soften the wolves up and lead them out into the open.
Harlan went over to the couch and gathered her in his arms. Holding his breath to keep her delectable scent at bay, he carried her into his bedroom and laid her on the bed. Unable to help himself, he tucked her under the covers, just to be absolutely sure that she’d warm up on her own.
As opposed to with his help… naked… in a fashion featuring a lot of very aerobic sex…
Snarling at himself, Harlan left the bedroom, shutting the door tight. Grabbing a beer from the fridge, he settled himself in his armchair, the only other piece of furniture that didn’t smell like her.
Snatching up his battered copy of Master and Commander, Harlan sipped his beer and pretended to focus on the book, though his mind wandered from the page again and again.
Morning simply could not come soon enough.
3
Heart pounding. Breath ragged. Leaves and branches whipping at her bare skin as she raced through the forest. Sultry moonlight filtering down through the trees, the scent of dark, rich soil filling the air.
Behind her, a man. A glance back shows him to be tall and broad, all rippling tanned muscle, dark hair and glowing green eyes. He grins as he chases her, challenges her.
Penny surged forward, arms pumping, feet flying, heart filled with indescribable joy.
She won’t win.
Can’t. Not against him.
Still, the chase… the chase is everything.
Just as she spots the edge of the forest, where the trees will break and she’ll be free, strong arms band around her waist. Warm lips find her neck as he slows her down, stops her in her tracks.
A soft bite, just in that place at her nape, the spot that makes her weak in the knees. Hands cup her breasts, and she feels his long, thick cock pressing against her lower back.
Penny shivered. He was going to take her, possess her, brand her with his body…
Penny blinked and squirmed. She was way, way too warm. Sweating. Also weighed down with a ton of blankets. She squinted up at the ceiling. This wasn’t Amber’s lilac living room… the walls here were stark white.
The blankets weren’t her favorite comforter, either. These were fleece and wool, and they didn’t smell like her floral-scented detergent. They smelled like fresh pine needles with a little musk, like… like man should smell.
Penny shot up, looking around. Where the hell was she? The room was just white walls and wood floors, very simple. The decor was bare bones, nothing but the bed and a side table stacked high with thick novels. The Sun Also Rises caught her eye.
Whoever lived here, apparently they liked Hemingway. She screwed up her face as she climbed out of the strange bed, staring around. When the last blanket fell away, Penny was shocked to find that she was completely naked underneath.
She wobbled on her feet, her muscles cramping and protesting the abuse they’d suffered. She was bombarded with a sudden burst of memory, of leaving her car and trudging up toward the Winter Pass ski lodge.
Was that where she was now? This room seemed much too small, but maybe she was on the second floor. There was no window in the room, so it was impossible to tell.
Snatching up one of the fleece blankets, she wrapped it around herself like a towel. Then she spotted a chair in the corner, behind the door. Her wet clothes hung there, drying… underwear, bra, and all. They were still damp in places, meaning she hadn’t been knocked out for too long.
An oversized blue t-shirt and a pair of gray thermal longjohns were sitting on the seat in a neat stack, apparently meant for her. A bright spot in the midst of a very unhappy moment in the life of Penny Marie Harding.
Penny had never dressed so fast in her whole life. The whole time she was getting the clothes on, she was also trying her hardest not to imagine how they’d come off.
Someone had undressed her. The realization gave her a chill. She padded to the bedroom door and forced herself to open it, stepping into the hall and closing the door behind herself before she could lose her nerve.
She was clearly in one of the small rental cabins, not the main lodge as Penny had first thought. To her left was a small bathroom, which was her first stop. When she emerged, the hallway led out into a small front room, a kitchenette and table across from a sofa and a recliner.
And him.
He stood at the window, his tight white t-shirt and jeans silhouetting him against the darkness outside. Before he even turned around, Penny knew what he’d look like.
After all, she’d just seen him… in her all-too-real, all-too-sexy dream.
“Shit,” escaped from her mouth as he turned to face her.
He was gorgeous. Six and a half feet tall, pure muscle, lean and thick in just the right places. Short dark hair, a few days’ worth of stubble on his face, and the most eerie, piercing green eyes Penny had ever seen. Blazing bright with every bit as much intensity as her dream had foretold. And his mouth… he had the fullest, sexiest, most bitable lips in the universe, hands down. Just looking at his mouth sent half a dozen great uses for those lips into Penny’s brain like a bolt of lighting.
Damn. Harlan was so hot, he might as well be on fire.
Penny’s legs went out from under her, and she let it happen. Better to be on the floor than to face the level of shame she felt right now at the way her body was responding to this complete stranger.
“Whoa now,” he said, striding over to her.
Penny went beet red as he picked her up and moved her to the couch, as easily as if she were a rag doll.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. This close, his musky pine scent overwhelmed her, making her breasts tighten, the place between her thighs warming unbearably.
He released her and crouched down in front of her, tipping her chin up with a finger. Penny was too embarrassed to form words, angry at her betraying hormones. She never responded to men like this, not even when she and Steve had first started dating.
Penny was frigid. All her life, except right this moment, the worst possible time.
“Did I hit my head?” she asked, raising her hand to feel the back of her skull. She was honestly suspicious that she might have a concussion. It would explain her… symptoms.
“I don’t know,” the man admitted, looking concerned. He shifted to kneel before her, reaching out a hand, then pulling it back. It was a little funny, because Penny got the idea that he wasn’t used to any kind of uncertainty in his life. He licked his lips, which sent another flare of desire through her body, then spoke again. “What’s your name?”
“Penny.” That was all she had. Her mouth was dry, her tongue in knots. Basically she was trying not to stare at him like a total moron.
“I’m Harlan.” He paused, then stood and moved back, crossing his arms. “What are you doing at Winter Pass, Penny?”
“I… I got stuck in the storm. I was just looking for somewhere to wait it out, and I remembered that the lodge was here,” Penny said, nibbling her lower lip. She was leaving out substantial chunks of the story, but he didn’t know that.
“Winter Pass