Page 17 of The Cabin-A Reverse Harem Romance
Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she was trembling; likely from the cold still, but maybe it was more than that. She’d been through a lot these last few days, I could tell, and maybe it was finally catching up with her and taking its toll.
“Fire is going,” Trevor said. “Should warm up soon. I’ll stay down here, the rest of ya’ll can go up to bed.”
“I’ll stay down here too,” Sean said.
Trevor raised an eyebrow. “I call the couch.”
“It folds out,” Elise said again.
The two men looked at her, then each other.
“Seriously, guys? No one is going to think anything of you two sharing a bed,” Elise said, and there was a hint of laughter to her voice. “We all just want to sleep.”
It hit me, then, that it left Chase and myself in the bed upstairs. With her. Elise motioned for us to follow her up the stairs, and I felt a surge of emotion, not to mention a swelling of my cock. Chase looked at me and shrugged, then followed her lead. I hesitated, but decided Elise was right, and tried to ruthlessly stamp out any inappropriate feelings. We all needed sleep, and besides, if Sean and Trevor could share a bed, the three of us could too. She said it was a King and even though Chase and I were both over six feet and muscular, with Elle as tiny as she was, still none of us probably even touch.
A wooden stairway led to the loft, which was mostly taken up by a very large bed. A thick white down comforter was already thrown on the bed. Everything was made up as if the cabin was expecting us. Perhaps someone had reserved this cabin and now we were here instead. A small dresser was across from the bed, two dark wood end tables completed the room. There were two doors – one of which, I assumed one was a closet. The other was ajar and was at least a half bath.
“The rest of the cabins are a lot smaller than the main one,” Elise said, her voice low almost like she was apologizing.
She stood there and surveyed the room, her brow furrowed, a look of concern on her face, as if wondering what we were going to do. Or perhaps, worried that with Chase and I in her bed, things could get heated.
Or, maybe she really was just worried about the lack of comfort in the accommodation.
“It’s okay. We just need to sleep,” Chase said. “We’re not here for a vacation.”
“I know, but –” Elise looked down at her hands. “It’s just, I feel bad for dragging all of you into this mess.”
Chase was closest to her, so he reached out and pulled her into a hug. Her face was buried into his shoulder, and while I couldn’t see the tears that were falling, I could see her body trembling as she sobbed quietly. I closed the distance and went over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder, doing my best to help comfort her.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Chase whispered in her ear. “You didn’t drag us into anything. We chose to come out here.”
“Chase is right,” I added. “We were worried about you.”
“I shouldn’t have come on this God forsaken trip,” she muttered, hiding her face into the crook of Chase’s neck. “Something in the back of my head was telling me not to, and I should have listened to it. I feel so stupid.”
“You didn’t know it would turn out this badly, or that the weather would turn to shit,” Chase said.
He stroked her hair back away from her face, letting us see her beautiful blue eyes. Hearing her like that, completely distraught, caused a lump to form in my throat, and my heart to ache with a genuine pain. I’d always cared about Elle. I knew we all did.
Yet, seeing her as vulnerable, and in as much pain as she was, cut me deeply and angered me. It stirred something deep inside of me, something I never expected to find. There was a warmth toward her that I’d never felt before. As I let that warmth wrap itself around me, I realized that I wanted to protect her, with my own life if necessary. I wanted to care for her.
I wanted to love her.
I swallowed that last thought down, and pushed it out of my mind quickly, and ruthlessly. Of course I loved her. We all did. Elise had been special to us all for a very long time. At first, she’d just been Aaron’s little sister, but her fierce attitude and inner strength – not to mention her stunning beauty – had made her much more than that for all four of us.
Chase met my gaze, his strong arms still wrapped around her tightly. I was sure the worry and concern I saw etched upon his face mirrored what was in mine. I was jealous of him in that moment. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. I wanted to hold her, to feel her breath against my neck, the feel her arms wrapped around me. I wanted to smell the sweet scent of her shampoo. To feel her soft body against me.
