Kayla Gabriel - Winter Lodge Wolves Complete Boxed Set

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 has been closed for six years,” he told her, his eyes hard. Accusing, almost.

“Uhhh… I know. It was my only choice. I didn’t even know if I’d make it to the lodge,” Penny admitted with a shrug.

“You didn’t make it to the lodge,” Harlan said, looking almost amused.

“Not with people shooting at me,” Penny said, remembering the gun fight. “Why were people shooting at me?”

“You didn’t know them?”

Penny crinkled her nose.

“I don’t usually hang out with people who fire guns at me, no,” she said.

Harlan seemed to accept that, and his face softened a little.

“They were poachers, looking for some endangered species we have around here,” he explained.

“What… like deer or something?” Penny asked, confused. Growing up in the same town, she couldn’t remember there being a long list of endangered animals, or poachers for that matter.

“Wolves,” Harlan said. He arched a brow, as if daring her to disagree.

“Oh,” was Penny’s only response. “Are they still… out there?”

“They left when the sun went down. It’s too cold to hunt. They’ll be back tomorrow morning, though. Which is why you need to leave as soon as the sun’s up.”

A tiny bit of Penny’s pride withered. True, she was trespassing, and she didn’t exactly want to be here. But the way he said she had to leave, like it was personal… that rubbed her the wrong way.

“Fine,” she replied, rubbing her hands over her arms. The muscle tremors had moved up to her arms, and her body trembled unpleasantly.

She caught half a mumbled curse on Harlan’s lips as he turned and went to the bedroom, then came back with some of the blankets Penny had left behind.

“You need to stay warm. You were unconscious when I found you, your body’s had a lot of stress.” Harland thrust the blankets at her, and Penny took them without a word of protest. She didn’t feel cold, but she didn’t want to argue with him, either. Grumpy though he may be, he had probably saved her life.

Harlan went over to the kitchenette and set a kettle on the tiny stove. To her surprise, he returned with two steaming cups of Orange Pekoe tea.

“No sugar,” he said, claiming the chair across from Penny.

“It’s okay. I don’t much like it,” she said, sipping the tea gratefully. A long moment passed, the silence heavy, before Penny spoke again. “So… if the lodge is closed, why are you here?”

Harlan set his cup down, and Penny could see him weighing what he should tell her.

“I know the owner,” was his eventual answer.

“The Harbin kid?” Penny asked, surprised.

Harlan gave a low chuckle.

“Chase? That kid is thirty four years old and has at least an inch and twenty pounds on me,” Harlan said.

“Chase! Man, I could not remember his name for anything,” Penny sighed.

Harlan went tense again. It was odd; he wasn’t that expressive, nor did he gesture much, but Penny found him absurdly easy to read. Something about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“You know him?” Harlan asked.

“I mean… he’s a few years older than me. We went to the same school, but we don’t know each other know each other. Not more than anyone in a small town,” she rushed to explain, to ease his obvious discomfort.

Not that Penny should care.

“Ah.” Harlan glanced away, leaving Penny to wonder what he was so worried about.

“Let me guess,” she said, something clicking into place. “I remember Chase going into the Marines. That must be how you guys know each other.”

Harlan’s brow hunched, and he gave her a slow nod.

“We served together for a long time, yeah.”

Penny needed to say something, start talking. Any conversation was a good thing at this point, distracting her, keeping her from staring at Harlan. Every time she stared too long and Harlan caught her, he shifted in his seat, looking ready to jump up and run out of the cabin. He alternated between seeming disgusted by her presence and staring back at her, like he hadn’t seen another human in a thousand years.