Desired By the Lumberjack by Kelsea Fox

LAUREL
I shouldn’t have been out on the road that night. I knew it, my co-workers knew it. My mother definitely knew it. But when I believe in something, I will stop at nothing to do what needs to be done. And the shelter I interned at last summer needs the charitable donation my boss promised to make. At least until he decided that a ski trip was more important and took off without signing the final paperwork.
Which is why I was creeping up an unfamiliar mountain road, went around a curve and slid into a tree. I’m fine, but my car isn’t, and help is a long, cold, hike away.
Until a man pulls up and offers me a ride. He’s big, grouchy and irritated, but there’s a warmth hiding behind his defenses. And maybe, just maybe, the heat I see in his eyes means something I never expected.

MERRITT
I came to this mountain to get away from people and their constant need to hurry through their lives. All the racing around and constant pressure chased me away from the city to the peace of a home surrounded by nature.
Finding a stranded woman in the middle of a snowstorm, I do the decent thing and offer her a lift into town. But when she has nowhere to stay and refuses to leave without accomplishing the task that brought her here, I find myself opening up my own home to this stranger.
It’s supposed to be a temporary situation. Wait out the storm, get her car fixed, and send her on her way. The only problem is, the more time we spend together, the less I want her to leave.
I’m nobody’s hero. But maybe, just maybe, I could be hers.