Finding Destiny (2 page)

Tears had
started to form in Natalie’s eyes. “My ankle. I think it’s
sprained.”

Felicia was
not impressed. “Great! Now we’re seriously screwed.”

“Wait,”
Destiny said, holding a gloved finger in the air.

Felicia seemed
to have officially given up. “I think we’ve done enough waiting.
This weather is too wicked for us to be walking out here like this.
I say we get dragging her sorry ass back to the truck.”

“Will you shut
up? I heard something.”

“A bear?”
Natalie screeched, fumbling to her feet.

“No. A
vehicle.”

The whine of
an engine drew closer, as the ladies listened carefully. The wind
whipped at their faces, and continued to send the snow slanting at
them. They all glanced in the direction of the sound, but a greyish
fog mingled with the white wall of snow making it hard to see
anything. Suddenly, Destiny saw a light breaking through the fog in
the distance and it was heading right toward them.

“Help!” she
screamed.

“What are you
doing? What if it’s some crazy lumberjack who eats women for
breakfast?”

“Really,
Felicia? There are three of us. I’m sure we’ll manage.”

“Help!” she
hollered again. The light continued to approach her. Then another
and another appeared before them.

Before Destiny
could act on her change of heart, three snow machines lined up in
front of her and stopped, with their headlights pointed at her like
spotlights.

“Shit.”

After a long day of
snowmobiling, Skylar Knight was ready to get back to his cabin. His
brother, Matty, had convinced him to stay out way longer than he
wanted to, despite the crazy blizzard they were driving through.
Lucky for him, their friend Myles was meeting his girlfriend back
at the cabin soon, so it left them little time for detours.

Skylar watched
his brother slow down and mirrored his motions, pulling up beside
him with a rev of his snowmobile’s engine. He was shocked to find
three women standing there, two tall, thin blondes and a healthy
brunette. They were all bundled up to the chin in fashionable
winter wear and shaking like leaves. What the hell were they doing
out here in the middle of nowhere dressed like that? Did they have
a death wish?

Matty hollered
out to them first. “You look like you could use a hand.”

A long legged
beauty stepped out from the three of them and immediately snatched
the breath from his lungs. “My friend had a fall. Her truck died on
us up the road.” She pointed behind her and tilted her head down to
hide from the blowing snow, but the truck was nowhere to be seen.
When she glanced back up at them, the snow flew around her like it
was a magical weapon she was wielding. Skylar was captivated, but
he did his best to mask it.

Matty flipped
up his visor so he could get a better look at the girl. “Last we
heard, a truck was jackknifed on the highway blocking the exit.
There won’t be anyone coming out this way. At least not until after
the snow stops.”

“Well that’s
just great,” the sassy brunette muttered.

Matty had to
smile at that, the slanted curve of his lips telling Skylar that he
was intrigued. “Where were you heading exactly?”

The blonde
girl peered at Matty through squinted eyes. “The nearest town?”

Skylar
wondered how she could even see with those long bangs in the way.
And, as if she had read his thoughts, she swiped them across her
forehead giving him a better look at her pretty face. When she
tried to tuck that hair behind her ear, it didn’t quite reach and
fell back into her face, hiding her bright, soulful eyes. He felt
the need to brush that hair away, to get a good look at her. Why
the hell did he feel that way?

Matty started
to chuckle and lifted his helmet. Skylar quickly regained his
composure, as Matty glanced over at him and Myles. “The nearest
town?”

The brunette,
wanting to steal some attention, stepped up next to her blonde
friend. She thrust out her voluptuous hip and propped a hand on it.
“Can you take us there?”

The other
blonde, the clumsy one, wore large black-rimmed glasses and held
her knee bent favoring her other leg. She limped forward to get
closer to her friends. “I could certainly use a lift,” she
admitted.

Matty looked
back at the ladies. “Considering that the next town in this
direction is a good half hour drive on a clear day, I’d say you
might want to rethink your plans.”

Skylar
couldn’t take it anymore. The women had to be freezing. He pulled
off his helmet, swiped his hand through his messy brown hair and
hollered out to his brother. “They must be cold. We were heading
back to the cabin anyway. Why don’t we take them with us? They can
figure out what they’re going to do from there. I doubt adding
frostbite to their list of problems makes a whole lot of
sense.”

It was clear
that Matty liked the way his brother was thinking. “Right on.”
Matty turned back to the blondie Skylar had set his eye on. “I’m
Matt, by the way. But everyone calls me Matty.”

“I’m Destiny,”
the girl offered, with a smile that could tempt an angel. She
glanced at Skylar and then seemed to shy away, acting like she was
hiding from the snow.

So the blonde
beauty had a name.

Matty reached
out his hand and Destiny gave it a hearty shake. “Ooh, you’ve got a
good grip. I like a lady with a little fire in her step.”

Skylar
growled. “Matty. Drop the act. Let’s move.” He hated that he had to
sit there and watch his brother move in on his game. When Matty
reached out for Destiny’s hand to help her onto his seat, it was
like a knife to the chest.

Skylar rested
his helmet under his arm, as he helped the blonde friend over to
his ride. Then he slapped on his helmet and fired up his
snowmobile. He revved his engine, to match the flow of adrenaline
pumping through his veins. He had noticed how Destiny watched him
with fascinated interest, even while she tucked her arms around
Matty.

“That’s my
brother, Skylar. Don’t pay him any attention. He’s no fun.” Matty
winked at Destiny and pulled down his helmet.

The brunette
wasted no time joining Myles on his ride. “Looks like I’m riding
with you,” she hollered out flirtatiously, while a devious smile
crept onto her face. “The name’s Felicia.”

Myles had to
turn around to introduce himself. “Myles,” he said, reaching out a
gloved hand.

“Hey, Myles,”
she said, as she wrapped her legs around him.

Matty looked
jealous, which gave Skylar a slight sense of relief. “Don’t hang on
too tight. He’s got a girlfriend.” Matty’s helmet muffled his
voice, but he kept on talking anyways. “And she would have a bird
if she knew he was taking another woman out on his new
machine.”

Felicia paid
no attention to Matty’s warning and massaged her hands over Myles’
chest to rouse him even more. It didn’t look like Myles was
complaining either.

“What Selina
doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” Myles smirked, enjoying every last
minute of it. He turned on his snowmobile and was the first one to
take off. Felicia’s long, brown hair flew out behind her as they
sped away.

“You ready for
me, little lady?” Matty asked Destiny, catching the way she looked
at Skylar.

“Mmm hmm,” she
said, though it sounded half-hearted.

When Matty
started up his machine, Skylar couldn’t hear what he was saying
anymore, but he knew it wasn’t anything that would help his
situation. Skylar couldn’t stand by while his brother flirted with
this angel another minute. He got off of his machine, hauled off
his helmet again and walked straight for them.

“Here,” he
said, handing Destiny his helmet. “You’re going to need it.”

When she
looked up at him, he was stunned to catch the striking blue of her
eyes. And, though she clearly didn’t understand the significance of
his gesture, she took the helmet anyways. As he walked back to his
snowmobile, he tried to ignore the energy that had shimmered
between them when her small gloved hand touched his. There was just
something about that girl.

With one final
glance at the most beautiful woman he had ever set eyes on, he
revved up his machine and followed after Myles, with Destiny’s
broken blonde friend plastered to his back.

Matty took a swig from his
open beer, polishing off the bottle. After tossing it into a nearby
snowbank, he turned back to Destiny. “Our cabin is close. You’d
better hold on tight, sweetheart. I like to drive fast.” His smirk
told Destiny that she had better get a grip.

It was then
when Destiny realized what a sweetheart Skylar was. She had already
thought it was pretty adorable when he offered her his helmet, but
now that she realized it was to protect her from Matty’s maniac
driving, she appreciated it that much more. She pulled on the
helmet and was instantly flooded with the most sensual scent that
had to be Skylar. She took a deep breath, inhaling the scent like
it was an erotic elixir, and linked her arms back around Matty’s
waist.

When Matty
took off, she let out a squeal and squeezed onto him a little
tighter.

“That’s more
like it,” he hollered back to her.

All of his
comments seemed to be playful and had a lewd intention tacked onto
them. For some reason that didn’t even bother her. Matty appeared
to be the fun, edgy one in the bunch. He didn’t mind getting into a
little trouble and it seemed like he did his best to do just
that.

Destiny held
on tight, as they flew past Skylar and sped alongside a deep,
snow-covered ditch. Without warning, Matty dipped into the ditch
and raced up the other side, nearly losing her off the back.
He
had done that before.
Destiny knew Matty was only trying to
show off. But when they were the first ones to slide up to the
cabin, she couldn’t wipe the grin off her frozen face.

The ride was
exhilarating and when Matty said he was going to drive fast, he
wasn’t lying. He noticed her smile when she tore off Skylar’s
helmet.

“You think
that ride was fun, just imagine how much fun we could have in the
bedroom.”

When he
waggled his eyebrows, Destiny couldn’t help but giggle. He made her
laugh, and he was a good-looking man, but it was Skylar who caught
her eye the second he pulled up with Natalie in tote. His hair was
all wayward and sprinkled with snowflakes, but it was sexy.

Natalie
appeared to have a good, tight hold on him. Destiny wondered why
that bothered her, as she shook out her long blonde hair behind her
and propped Skylar’s helmet onto her hip. Destiny continued to
watch Skylar, as he helped her friend to her feet. He looked like
the boy next door, but he exuded a mysterious sex appeal. She
wanted to call him your average nice guy, but those whisky colored
eyes couldn’t be categorized with average.

She imagined
what it would be like to run her fingers through that messy, brown
hair and to see that smile appear on his face because of something
she had done. She imagined what it would feel like to have those
big hands smooth over any part of her body. She wondered why she
found herself drooling over this man who she hadn’t even said a
single word to.

Destiny tried
to focus. She distinctly remembered her goal for this weekend,
which excluded men and all of the outlandish antics associated with
Valentine’s Day. And yet here she was mingling with three good
looking guys she didn’t even know, with one striking her interest
way beyond any of the men she had considered dating lately.

When Skylar
stepped toward her, she noticed how his eyes slipped down her body
and landed on his helmet braced firmly on her hip. She held her
breath, thrilled by the sensual scrutiny, only to realize that she
had a death-lock on his equipment.
What an overreaction!
The
man just wanted his helmet back.

He looked up,
and into her eyes, then reached out to her. She gasped, thinking he
was going for her hand, but then he only slapped his visor down.
“That might have helped you out a bit,” he said, with a wink. He
scooped the helmet out of her hand. “Fun, right?”

Destiny nodded
slowly, trying to pull herself back together. But that scent was
making it difficult to breathe. And those eyes. “Thank you. For the
helmet. For letting me borrow it, I mean.” She couldn’t even form a
complete sentence, a suddenly shy smile gracing her lips.

Though her
knees were weak, she managed to keep her feet steady. She was
stunned and appalled by her body’s reaction to being close to this
man, but those eyes… damn. Her breaths had quickened and she felt
the way he made her heart thump like a bass drum. There was just
something about this man that had her all scatterbrained.

She struggled
with her conscience, trying to determine what was most important to
her.
He probably has a girlfriend.
That thought alone gave
her the answer she was looking for.

She had not
been looking for a man. And she was most certainly not looking for
this man, who drank beer, lazed around cabins and took off for
weekends with the boys. He was probably an uneducated, unemployed
bum, who still absorbed off his parents. But he seemed so nice (and
sexy). And she couldn’t help but notice the way he looked at her.
It sent tingles down her spine.

That man
pulled off a nonchalant charm that managed to call out to every
inch of her inner woman. She smiled at him, when she realized that
he had caught her staring.
Can you say awkward?
She quickly
turned her eyes away, being uncomfortable with how he made her feel
with something as simple as a glance.

Then she set
off for the front door of the quaint log cabin, carefully stepping
in the large boot prints pressed deep into the snow by Matty. She
let herself in the small front room, where Matty had already kicked
off his snow boots.