Page 11 of Mountain Shadow

A large central fireplace separated the living area from the kitchen and dining area. The only door remaining was the door to his study, which would double as a guest bedroom for tonight.

He turned on the lights inside. Sarah walked in tentatively, her eyebrows arching up in surprise as she took in the living space. Her gaze zeroed in on the bookshelves lining the long wall.

“So many books. This place is amazing,” she breathed out.

He felt an inordinate amount of pride at her reaction. He’d worked hard to renovate the house and, for some inexplicable reason, since they’d only just met, he found he wanted her to like it as well.

Jens heard a small dripping sound and looked down at Sarah’s feet. Drops of water fell from her coat onto the wooden floor.

She looked up in alarm. Thick lashes shadowed her high cheekbones, giving her a beautiful, impossibly haunted look.

“I’m sorry. I’m messing up your floor.”

“Shit. We need to get you out of those wet clothes,” he said. “Wait here,” he said.

He took the stairs three by three up to the top floor, where the staircase opened up to a large bathroom and closet and, beyond that space, to his bedroom. He opened a drawer, already knowing he wouldn’t find anything that was the right size, finally selecting an old gray Army T-shirt, a pair of sweatpants, and some clean socks. He ran back downstairs to find Sarah standing exactly where he’d left her. She swayed slightly as he approached her.

“I don’t … I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Come,” he said, guiding her gently towards his study. He placed the clothes on the edge of the sofa. “You can get changed in here. There are clean towels in the bathroom right beyond this door. I’ll be in the kitchen in case you need anything.”

* * *

Sarah

The sofa tempted her. If she could just sit down and rest for a minute …

A reasoned voice inside her screamed at her to get out of those wet clothes. She could catch pneumonia standing here—if she hadn’t already caught it.

She looked around the simple, no-nonsense room, clearly his study. A door led to a small, well-appointed bathroom with a large walk-in shower. Sarah shivered. She had to get warm. She locked the door and turned on the shower, pulling the knob to the far right, as hot as it would go. Within moments, the small room started steaming. She took off her clothes and stepped into the shower, bringing with her a bar of soap from the sink, since there seemed to be no shower gel or shampoo.

She gasped in delight as the hot shower spray hit her frozen muscles. As her body thawed, she opened her mouth to taste the hot water—needing to be warmed from the inside out as well-

She rubbed the soap bar against her palms, building up a thick lather, then used it to wash her hair. The clean, soapy scent was a far call from her usual lavender-infused shampoo. But it smelled clean and fresh and manly, and reminded her of the man standing on the other side of the bedroom door. The thought that he was outside helped keep her panic at bay.

She rinsed her hair thoroughly, then scrubbed her body with her bare hands, as if she could rub off the fear and uncertainty of the last days.

A faraway knock on what she supposed was the door to the study startled her, making her wonder just how long she’d been in the shower.

“Sarah? I just need to know you’re okay.”

Okay? I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again.

She didn’t want him to come inside, either, so she made her voice as loud as possible. “I’m almost ready!”

She wrapped herself up in one of the large towels hanging from the wall-mounted heater. It was beautifully warm—warm enough to make her believe that maybe everything would be alright.

Unable to bear the thought of going commando, she put her old underwear back on. Thankfully, it was mostly dry, if not altogether clean.

She longed to put her own clothes back on as well—they were her armor, and without them, she felt incredibly exposed. In the fogged-up mirror, she could see all her faults: elbows and knees that were too knobbly, breasts that were smaller and hips that were larger than they could be. Things that were easy enough to hide under her clothes, but impossible to hide when naked. But the only clothes she had were a soaked, muddy mess on the floor, and there was no way she was putting them on again.

Wrapping the towel tighter around her body, Sarah walked to the study outside. The clothes on the sofa, which she hadn’t bothered to look at earlier, looked huge, but at least the sweatpants had drawstrings. She tightened the string as much as possible around her waist, ignoring the way it made the pants puff out around the hips. She wasn’t here to win any fashion contests. The light gray T-shirt was made of soft, well-worn cotton. She completed the outfit by pulling on the thick pair of white socks, then went back into the bathroom to hang up the towel.

She sneaked a quick look at herself in the mirror. Her hair hung limply around her shoulders, but there wasn’t much she could do about that without access to any of her usual hair products. Her eyes still looked sunken in, but some of the panic she’d seen earlier seemed to have disappeared.

“Sarah? Please open the door.”

Jens’s voice sounded worried now.