Page 2 of Mountain Man

My eyes snapped open.

My vision was filled with a wide, bare chest, with dark hair covering bulging pecs. I shoved, and the human bear surrounding me grunted but didn’t release me. I tilted my head back, about to scream, but realized he was asleep. I pressed my lips together and bit back my shriek. Waking him was the last thing I wanted to do.

His head was tilted down, like he’d been watching me when he fell asleep. Short, thick black lashes rested against his cheeks and he had a thick beard covering the lower half of his face. I couldn’t see much more.

I glanced around. I was in a basic log cabin, the open fire blazing on the other side of the room, and furs on the floor. There were guns leaning against the wall by the door, which was secured with a long, thick piece of lumber that I didn’t think I’d be able to lift even if I could escape my human manacles.

The arm around me was a dead weight. I couldn’t move it. Tears started filling my eyes as panic set in.

Maybe if I slid out from under his arm?

I started sliding downward…

His eyelids snapped open and vibrant blue eyes locked on me.

I screamed, tried to jerk back, and when those monster arms didn’t let me go, screamed some more.

The huge man’s eyes went wide, then he jolted, released me, and shot out of bed so fast you’d think I was the one who’d stripped him naked and crawled in bed with him.

He stood several feet away, hand up, like he was warding me off, or maybe trying to put me at ease? I wasn’t sure how that was possible since I was naked and moments ago he’d been pressed up against me while I was unconscious.

“Who the hell are you and what am I doing here?” I watched as what I could see of his face turned pink.

“Found you…” he said in a voice that was so deep I was sure the ground quivered beneath us. “Unconscious. I brought you here.”

I scrambled up the bed, taking the covers with me, and thanked God when I realized I still had panties on, even as fear coiled tight in my belly. “Why the hell did you take my clothes off? What did you do to me?”

His brows lowered. “Do?”

I clutched the covers tighter to my chest. “I’m practically naked, and you were all over me.”

He took an abrupt step back, his heavy brows now shooting up, eyes widening, in what I could only describe as alarm. “Woman, you were close to death. Only way to warm you back up quick was body heat.”

I’d heard of people doing that before, hadn’t I?

I took him in.

The yeti.

He was the giant fur-covered beast walking toward me through the snow before I passed out.

My eyes dropped before I could stop them.

Good God, he was huge.

I’d never seen a man like the one in front of me in all my life. He was taller than the door he was standing in front of, massive everywhere—thick, sold thighs dusted with dark hair, long legs, bulging calves. His chest and shoulders were wide, his waist thick, his stomach roped with muscle. One of his biceps was easily as big as one of my thighs, and that was saying something, since I wasn’t at all what you would call petite. My gaze slid back down. One of his enormous hands was covering his groin, or trying to anyway.

He made a low, broken sound, and my eyes shot back up to his. His face wasn’t pink anymore; it was fire-engine red.

“Can you…ah, put some clothes on, please?” My voice came out as a raspy whisper.

He jolted again, like he only just realized he was standing there completely naked. He turned away, flashing a spectacular pair of muscular butt cheeks before snatching up a pair of pants and pulling them on. The fact that I could even contemplate the attractiveness of his butt was insane given the circumstances. I obviously hadn’t fully recovered from my ordeal.

He turned back but said nothing for several seconds, staying all the way on the other side of the room. I watched his jaw work, his fingers curling and uncurling at his sides.

Finally, he shook his head, his shaggy black hair falling around his face, strands catching on his beard, and leveled me with his blue eyes. “I didn’t touch you…I would never…” He lifted a hand, motioning toward me. “You needed warming. I did what I needed to.”

Now that he wasn’t naked anymore, or wrapped around me like a hibernating bear, he wasn’t quite as threatening, especially with the way he kept blushing, which was completely at odds with his size and fierce appearance.