Page 21 of Daddies' Holiday Toy

“Carson didn’t say anyone else besides us was coming up,” Reece mutters.

“Could be one of the neighbors? Come to turn the water on for us,” Jack suggests, though he doesn’t sound convinced.

I pull up beside it, killing the engine.

“Guess we’ll find out. Cross your fingers we’re not about to get murdered and robbed for all our worldly possessions.”

We grab our bags and step into the biting wind.

The cabin looms ahead and up a steep row of steps, dark against the swirling white.

When I push open the door once we get up to it, a wave of warmth greets us along with the faint smell of wood polish and something sweet lingering in the air.

The place is immaculate. Not just clean but damn near spotless.

Like it’s been prepped for a magazine photoshoot.

“Damn,” I whistle.

“What the hell?” Reece mutters under his breath.

That’s when I see her.

Curled up on the couch under a throw blanket is a woman sleeping soundly, her head resting on a cushion, chest rising and falling in slow, even breaths.

There’s a half-empty mug of tea on the coffee table closest to her and a pair of boots drying by the door.

Jack moves first, crossing the living room and crouching down beside her.

He places a careful hand on her shoulder, using it to shake her awake. “Hey. You okay?”

She startles with a gasp, her eyes going wide as she scrambles upright.

Her hair’s slightly mussed from the weird angle she’d been sleeping in, cheeks flushed from her dreams.

Her voice wavers between confusion and panic. “Who…who are you?”

Reece steps in quickly, hands raised like he’s trying to calm a spooked animal.

“Whoa, easy. We’re friends of Carson’s. He invited us up here for the weekend. We didn’t know anyone else was supposed to be here.”

“Oh god,” she murmurs, already tugging the blanket off and gathering her mug like she’s ready to bolt. “Sorry. I’ll get out of your way. I didn’t mean to stay so long. I just came up to clean.”

She’s halfway to the kitchen before I step in front of her.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Her head snaps up, eyes flashing with fear. “Excuse me?”

Oh, shit. That came out completely wrong.

“Have you looked outside?” I jerk my chin toward the window. “There’s no way you can drive in that storm. You wouldn’t make it a mile before crashing. Not that we’d let you leave in the first place.”

Jack folds his arms over his chest, nodding in agreement.

His expression leaves no room for arguments with how set his frown is. “We barely made it up here. You’ll have to stay until it’s safe to drive again.”

She hesitates, her gaze flicking between the three of us like she’s weighing her options on whether or not it’ll be worth fighting us on.