“Come in, Archers.” Zach stepped back.
Corbin shook an immense amount of snow off his body before stepping gingerly into the cabin.
She knew he was trying not to soak the place.
He tugged off his gloves, dropped them inside the door, and then pushed the door shut. His goggles came next, and then his face mask. When he lifted his head, he took a visible deep breath, opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped dead.
His eyes widened. He shut his lips, seeming to hold his breath. Slowly his eyes closed and his shoulders slumped. “Shit.”
“Yeah.” Zach reached for the straps of the backpack Corbin wore and slid it off his back.
Laurie’s chest pounded. She rubbed her hands together and glanced back and forth between the men. “Okay, now, this is getting a little disconcerting. I don’t feel all warm and fuzzy.”
Clearly, and not surprisingly, this man was her other mate. It would help if he behaved a little less than displeased.
Zach set the backpack on the floor, reached out a hand, and tugged her into his side. He kissed her forehead. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it that way.”
Corbin lifted his face. His lips were pursed. He blinked. “Fuck me.” For long moments, he stared at her.
She returned the gesture, taking in his nearly black hair, brown eyes that were the lightest shade she’d ever seen, and his perfectly chiseled, square face. He was clean shaven and equally as sexy as Zach in his own way.
And she was an ogre apparently. She held her breath, waiting for him to speak again.
“Corbin, this is Laurie.” Zach squeezed her around the shoulders. “Laurie Hamilton. She’s…”
“Melinda’s sister. I know.” He turned toward the door, breaking eye contact, and set his forehead against the wood a bit harder than necessary. “Did you know?”
“About you? No. But we suspected when Trace said you were bringing us supplies.”
Corbin turned back around and leaned against the door. “Trace failed to mention this detail.”
“I’m sure he did.”
He met her gaze again. He still hadn’t spoken to her or fully acknowledged the situation directly. “I was supposed to go on a date tonight,” he said to the room at large. “Veronica. I’ve been seeing her for about a month.”
She didn’t get the feeling he was speaking to her at all, even though his gaze roamed up and down her frame. He was simply talking in order to work out this new crazy in his head.
“Sorry,” Zach mumbled. “I think you’re stuck on this mountain with us. And I think you might need to break things off with Veronica. ASAP. Is she a shifter?”
“No.”
Zach groaned. “Always difficult. Bummer.”
Corbin closed his eyes again and dipped his head to the floor. He breathed deeply.
Laurie knew it was a shock. She couldn’t blame him. At least when she got up this morning, she’d known this was a possibility. Hell, Zach had too. Corbin was blindsided. Still… If he didn’t show some sign of humanity to her soon, she would stray from reasonable to hurt. It was fast approaching.
She watched as his chest rose and fell. He unzipped his jacket and dropped it to the floor on his gloves. He leaned down and unhooked his boots slowly, as though stalling for more time.
She wished she were inside his head, watching him process the inevitable.
As he tugged off first one boot and then the other, she marveled at the size of his muscular arms. He wore only a white thermal now, and his arms bulged as if the shirt were too small. Probably they didn’t make shirts large enough to accommodate his bulk. At least not sexy ones for skiing.
Continuing the silence, he unzipped his ski pants and shrugged them off too, leaving him in similar attire to both Zach and herself. His cock bulged behind the material of his tight thermal pants.
At least he was affected by her. Or was it just the mating?
Finally, he righted himself and met her gaze again. In the standoff of a lifetime, she waited. Considering the few words he’d shared so far, she figured the ball was totally in his court.
The clock ticked. As if shaking himself from a trance, Corbin literally shook his head to clear the cobwebs, smiled broadly, and glanced back and forth between the two of them. “I’m one lucky fucking bastard.” He lunged forward, grabbed Laurie’s hand, and pulled her from Zach’s arm into his embrace.
The first thing he did was inhale deeply with his face in her hair. “God, you smell fantastic. Like a drug.” He held her at arm’s length next, cupping her face with both hands. His eyes jumped back and forth between hers. “And you’re gorgeous. If it weren’t for having to share you with this asshole next to us,” he teased, “I’d say I just won the lottery.”