Free Tempted by a Dangerous Man by Cleo Peitsche

the things he planned.

    ~~~

    After a leisurely breakfast and several hours of tobogganing, we snowshoed back to the cabin. We’d had another snowball fight and ended up making out for an hour. Sadly, I hadn’t gotten any sex out of it.  
    “Shower,” Corbin said, ushering me toward the bedroom.  
    “Want to join me?” I gave him my best come-hither look.
    “No time. We have to leave.”
    I started to protest that it would be more time-efficient to shower together, but Corbin shut the door on me.
    I showered, making use of one of the new razors that sat on the edge of the tub, then toweled off.  
    “Don’t put on pants or a shirt,” Corbin said when I walked out of the bathroom. He handed me a large toiletry bag. “Everything you need should be in there,” he said, walking past me into the bathroom.  
    “Thank you,” I called out.  
    He wasn’t kidding. It had everything, from deodorant and lipstick to tweezers and nail polish remover. While Corbin showered, I took my time pampering myself, smoothing silky, lavender lotion over my dry knees and elbows. Amazing how something as simple as a hot shower, a shave, and some aromatherapy could make me feel so human again.
    Corbin had thought of everything. He had a superior attention to detail that probably made him a great chef… or a great assassin, apparently.
    I hadn’t yet had time to process what he’d told me about his wife. Hadn’t wanted to think about it while he was there—he had a way of intuiting what I was thinking and feeling, and I wanted to digest this on my own.  
    Everything he had been through must have had an effect on him. He’d said that meeting me, saving my life, had changed him. I couldn’t help but remember my first impression of him, as well as those moments when something truly horrifying seemed to shine through. I couldn’t imagine him being like that all the time, but assuming he wasn’t exaggerating, that’s what he had been. But those traces of the person he used to be, the man he was trying to shake off and leave behind… was that something he could really walk away from?  
    I had accidentally participated in someone’s death, and I knew I would never be the same. How many pieces of Corbin’s soul had been torn off?  
    I wondered what it felt like. He seemed to regret having lost five years of his life in the pursuit of vengeance. I wasn’t naive enough to believe that I had been the inciting factor. Maybe saving me had been a catalyst, but Corbin must have been wanting to change already. At lunch he had said that people change when they want to. Surely he was speaking from experience.
    I noticed a white strapless bra and sheer white panties sitting on the pillow. Very virginal. I put them on. My hair was dripping down my back, so I plugged in the hair dryer and parked myself in front of the little mirror.
    Well, whatever part I had played in saving him, it hadn’t been intentional, and I didn’t deserve any of the credit. As I thought about it, I came to a different conclusion. That extreme thing that Corbin had nearly done? That was what had saved him. It had shocked him out of his complacency.  
    And I fully agreed with him; I didn’t want to know what it was.  
    While I ran the blow dryer over my curls at a low setting, I wondered how Rob was doing. He had probably texted at least once about getting dinner. Much as I was enjoying being off the grid, I would need to get my phone back and touch base.
    The day before, when Corbin had said that Zachary’s body would never be found, I had been uneasy. But knowing what I knew now about Corbin’s wife, and thinking about Rob, I decided that I couldn’t let Zachary’s family go through that.  
    Maybe Zachary deserved whatever Corbin had done, but the people who cared about him didn’t. They wouldn’t get closure.
    I realized that my hair was already dry, had been for several minutes and now I was just turning my curls to frizz. Just as I switched off the