Page 57 of Single Mom’s Navy Seals (Claimed by the Alphas #2)

I woke up in a stranger's bed. In a stranger’s house.

That was my first coherent thought, followed immediately by a spike of panic that made my heart hammer against my ribs. Where the hell was I?!

I vaguely remembered being in a living room with someone talking to me. And now I was in a bedroom. And it was completely unfamiliar—rustic wood walls, a stone fireplace filled with dying embers, windows that showed nothing but white outside.

The decor was nothing like the cabin I’d booked.

I couldn’t have gotten to my cabin. There was no way. So, where the hell was I?

I tried to sit up, but I immediately regretted it. My head swam and pounded, like it had been used for batting practice, and my body ached in places I didn't know could ache. But I was warm. Incredibly, impossibly warm after being so cold that I thought I might die.

The car. The storm. The crash.

The fact that it had been so damn cold, I couldn’t feel my feet or my fingers.

It was coming back to me. In fragments.

My rental car had skidded on ice.

I’d hit a snowbank. Or something.

I remembered the metal crunching, the impact knocking the wind out of me. My head was swimming. And then I remembered falling asleep. Slowly going in and out of consciousness, thinking about how cold it was.

Then nothing.

"You're awake,” a man’s deep voice called.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. A man stood at the door, tall and broad-shouldered with silver hair. He was older than me by at least twenty years, but it was the kind of older that made you think of fine whiskey. Distinguished. Gentlemanly. George Clooney—with a few added muscles.

His eyes were striking, and he was studying me so hard that I suddenly became aware that I was wearing nothing but a thin, oversized cotton shirt that wasn’t mine.

"Who are you?" My voice came out as a croak. "Where am I?"

"Name's Jude," he said, stepping into the room with the easy confidence of someone who owned the place. He probably did, after all. "You're at my cabin. Found you unconscious in your car last night during the storm."

"You..." I blinked, trying to process. "You undressed me?"

His lips turned into a thin line as he took a deep breath and took a couple of steps forward. "Hypothermia protocol. Wet clothes had to come off. Don't worry, I'm a doctor.”

Heat flooded my cheeks. Of course, he was a doctor. Of course, he'd seen me naked for purely medical reasons. But I wasn’t sure that it made it any less mortifying.

"My car?—"

"Buried under several feet of snow,” he said. “I rode out on the four-wheeler and climbed through the window to get some of your belongings. Your phone, your purse, and your luggage.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Of course.

It was exactly how my luck had been going lately.

“You have my phone?” I asked, hopeful. Maybe that meant I wasn’t being held captive by some strange man.

He nodded before digging into his pocket and pulling it out. “It doesn’t have a lot of battery left, but it’s yours,” he said, holding it out for me.

I nodded and smiled politely, taking it carefully.

“The storm's still going strong." He moved to the window, pushing back the curtain to reveal a wall of white. "You may not be able to go anywhere for a while, so I moved you to this room. It’s our spare.”

The panic started to build again. "I need to call someone. My phone?—"

"Doesn’t have much of a signal?” he asked, brows cocked.

“Yeah,” I sighed.

He shook his head. “Sorry,” he offered, stuffing his hands in his pockets before sitting down at the foot of the bed.

I pushed myself up despite the pounding in my head, clutching the blankets to my chest. "I can't just stay here. I don't even know you. And wait—did you say our spare ?”

He nodded. “I have roommates. Two other guys.” I vaguely remembered them, too, now that I thought about it. "But you don't really have much choice." His voice was gentle but firm. "Roads are impassable. Your car's totaled. You’re just lucky to be alive.”

“What about the address in my GPS?” I asked. “Could you take me to my cabin by four-wheeler?”

“You have a cabin out here?” he asked.

I nodded. “A rental for the week.”

“Yeah, if you can get me an address, I can take you. But I’ll want to make sure your head is OK.” He stood up again, and I looked at my GPS.

Loading.

Loading.

The address was in it.

“Was the route not saved?” I asked warily.

He shrugged. “I don’t know?”

I couldn’t pull anything up, and I didn’t remember the address to save my life. I breathed heavily and rubbed my face. Think. Think. Think. What is that address?

I shook my head. “I can’t remember the address…”

“Is there anyone you can call to let them know you’re safe?” he asked. “You can use my satellite phone.”

“Do you have internet?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Sorry.”

“I’ll use your phone to call my friend, Riley, she’s probably having a conniption.”

The weight of everything was starting to flood in.

Emotions came right along with it.

I could have died out there. Frozen to death in a rental car on a mountain road, all because I'd been too stubborn to listen to the warnings about the weather.

"Hey." His voice was soft. "You're safe here. I promise."

Before I could even bother to respond, more footsteps shuffled in the hallway. Two more men appeared in the doorway, and my heart stopped. The first was tall and lean, with dark hair that was starting to salt a bit, and eyes that seemed to see straight through me.

And the second nodded with a smirk. I could tell right away that that guy was all easy charm. He had tousled blonde and gray hair, with green eyes that looked mischievous as could be. He looked like trouble, but the kind of trouble that was fun.

They, too, were older.

A lot older than me.

"Well, well," the blonde said, his voice warm with amusement. "Sleeping Beauty finally wakes up."

"Levi," Jude warned.

"What? I'm being friendly." His grin widened. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused," I managed. "And like I got hit by a truck."

"Close," the dark-haired man said quietly.

"That's Rhys," Jude said by way of introduction. "And the smartass is Levi. We're all friends from way back."

"Work?" I guessed.

“I guess you could say that…” Jude laughed.

“Military?” I asked, and there was something about their bearing that gave me that vibe.

"Navy SEALs," Levi said, almost beaming. “Retired, obviously. Now we're just three old guys living our best mountain man lives."

Old guys. Right.

I wanted to scoff.

They were definitely older than me, sure, but calling them old was like calling a Ferrari just a regular ol’ car.

These men were gorgeous, silver fox-like guys.

And I didn’t know them before, but that mountain life suited them.

Jude and Levi had that lumberjack look. Muscular.

Flannels. Khaki cargo pants. The man, Rhys, wore a tight black t-shirt and loose-fitting khakis.

He looked the least like a lumberjack of the three, but there was something about him that gave Uncle Jesse kind of vibes.

My goodness.

"What's your name?" Rhys asked.

“Emma Stewart,” Levi said. “He literally looked at her ID earlier.”

“Shut the fuck up, Levi,” Jude growled.

"Emma." I clutched the blankets tighter.

"It’s a pretty name," Levi said. "So, what brings you to our little corner of paradise? Luggage tells us you’re on vacation.”

The question hit like an even bigger slap than my head was already recovering from.

What was I supposed to say? That I'd come to the mountains to lick my wounds after catching my boyfriend cheating with my coworker?

That this was supposed to be a romantic getaway that had turned into a solo pity party?

"I rented a cabin," I said instead. "Vacation.”

"Alone?" Rhys's dark eyes didn't miss the way I flinched. “S-sorry…” he mumbled.

"Recent breakup," I admitted, because lying seemed pointless when I was trapped in their house wearing their clothes. "Figured I needed some time to think. But I’m also a travel writer."

"And as a travel writer, you decided to do your thinking in the middle of a blizzard?" Levi laughed, teasingly.

"The storm wasn't supposed to be this bad." I sounded defensive even to my own ears. If I were being honest, I hadn’t really paid much mind to it all. I thought everyone was just being overly cautious. I wanted to prove to myself that I was still the Emma Stewart I’d been before Marcus. "I've driven in snow before."

"Mountain weather's different," Jude said. "Unpredictable. Dangerous."

"So I have heard,” I laughed. “And I’m now sort of getting that maybe it’s true." I looked between the three of them, these impossibly attractive strangers who'd literally saved my life. "How long do you think I'll be stuck here?"

"Could be a few days," Rhys said, shrugging. "Could be a few weeks. Depends on the storm, but we can get you wherever you need to be on the four-wheeler."

“When she’s able…” Jude reminded.

Rhys rolled his eyes. He looked like he wanted me there about as much as I wanted to be there. I mean, weeks would be crazy, right?

I couldn’t stay there for weeks with three men I’d just met.

Attractiveness didn’t mean anything to me.

I’d seen Ted Bundy documentaries.

He was attractive, too.

"I have a life," I said weakly. "A job. I can’t stay here for weeks .”

“If you can get a flight home, I can get you to the airport on the four-wheeler, but with the storms, nothing is going yet…” Jude said.

I nodded.

At least the guy was accommodating me as much as he could. “I’ll just call my friend on your satellite phone if the offer is still good?” I asked, my eyes stinging as tears threatened to form.

Now I had to tell Riley that I was trapped in a remote cabin with three gorgeous silver foxes who might actually turn out to be axe murderers.

I was sure that conversation would go over really well.

End of preview. Continue reading Her Silver Fox Seals here.