Cherished by Shelly Gautreau (english novels for students .txt) 📕

but my car is stuck in the mud quite a ways away. It seemed like I was walking forever before I found your place."She replies. "In which direction?" He asks her. "uumm...that way" she says as she points her arm in the direction she had came from then feeling very self conscious since she was still in his arms she added "can you put me down now?" "I'm sorry" he says as he lowers her to the ground "you are so light I forgot I was still carrying you" he said with a slight smirk on his lips. As soon as he released her she stumbles and almost fell but he swiftly and smoothly was able to scoop her back in his arms before she hit the floor. "what's wrong with you?" he asks. "What's wrong? What's wrong?" She stammers then says "I'm sorry,  I really don't know what's wrong with me...." She trails off trying to figure out herself just what's wrong. This isn't like her....something was terribly wrong. He carries her in the bathroom and sets her down on the toilet lid before starting a warm bath and grabbing towels. He then turns to her and asks her if she thought she could manage taking a bath while he goes to get her extra clothes without drowning. "WHAT? I'M SO NOT A CHILD YA KNOW? " she blurts out then just stares at his confused expression then adds "I'm so sorry....I honestly don't know what's got into me...." again she trails off confused and tired...so tired. "Well look, I'm going to go get your extra clothes I wont be long....try too relax and clean up but don't go falling asleep in the tub...I will be right back." She shakes her head in acknowledgment as he walks out he wonders if leaving her is a good idea but decides she will feel better once warmed by a bath and heads out. Jean then gets up to turn off the bath water that he left running, closes the bathroom door noting it has no lock but deciding she would have plenty of time before he manages to get back so takes off her soaked muddy clothes and steps into the warm soapy water. Immediately she feels better.  

Dean returns to find the woman slunched in the tub and ASLEEP! Angry that she couldn't even do this one task without being monitored Dean quickly grabs her under her shoulders making sure she doesn't slide any further into the water. She doesn't even blink. She was burning up! He focuses on her hair...it's matted with mud so he begins the task of cleaning the mud out which isn't as easy as it would seem. The mud was part clay and didn't want to simply wash out so he had to work with it trying to be quick but gentle. He finally finished getting all the mud out of her hair and cleaned her up as well as he could and with one final rinse he picked her up and dried her off as much as he was able without touching certain areas. He then carried her to the spare bedroom and tucked her in. He stood there looking down on her not knowing what else to do for her. She was beautiful and he admired the fact that it looked like she didn't just give up when her car got stuck in the mud like most women. He noted the branches she used to shove under the tires and the jack she abandoned in getting the branches more securely under the tires. She definitely was  a determined woman. He checked her forhead one last time, she was as warm as she was so he finally decided to go see what he could salvage from his uneatened lunch.

Jean slowly opens her eyes then sits up looking around trying to remember where she was. She recalls the tall handsome man that offered her refuge from the weather and jumps up to find him. As soon as she exits the room she smacks right into a huge solid very warm object as she looks up she manages to stammer..."I am so sorry! I was just coming to thank you" 

Dean hears her stirring in the room and goes to see if she's alright. Before he is able to enter the room she slams right into him. He stares down at her and smiles not hearing anything that she's saying. "You do know you're not dressed right?" He asks with a smirk forming on his face. Jean freezes unable to move as Dean takes off his flannel shirt he wears over his T-shirt and drapes it over the front of her. When she finally is able to manage it she lets out a squeal and runs off back into the room. Dean stares at her bare butt as she flees as she fails to realize she hadn't even covered it. A few seconds later she comes back out wearing Deans flannel shirt covering all of her this time as it drags the ground. He laughs while he informs her that her bags are in the room if she would like to get dressed in her own clothes. She again whirls around back into the room as Dean heads back to the kitchen. 

Jean stands in the room face red as a tomato trying to get her thoughts together. She has never been so embarraced before in her life. She scans the bed and finds a towel laying on it. I guess I just crashed in the towel waiting for him to get back she thinks to herself. She goes through her bags and grabs out the clothes she's going to wear noticing her bags are dry and wondering how he managed to get them back without getting them soaked. After dressing she again goes in search of her host. She finds him in the kitchen cooking something that smelled delicious! "Are you hungry?" He asks her. "Yes, starving!" he smiles then replies "good, sit down its about done" she couldn't help noticing  how smoothly he moved for a guy his size. As she sat down she feels something wet on her hand, as she looks down her heart skips a beat. There was a giant wolf staring at her. The giant creature doesn't growl instead it wags its large tail so she softly coo's out..."your beautiful" as she offers a hand for this giant wolf to smell. Dean turns around to see her stroking Buck. "You're lucky, Buck usually doesn't take to strangers" Dean says as he looks her up and down. "I love animals" Jean explains. 

Jean had a hearty appetite and when finished exclaims, "The food was amazing!" Dean smiles and replies "I'm glad you liked it, by the way my name is Dean" then asks, "so you never told me what was so important that you risk traveling in this weather". Jean doesn't think it's his business but since he is her host she explains that her sister is getting married and is depending on her to help with the arrangements. Dean looks at her then asks "couldn't you have waited until the weather got better?" She then explains that she was suppose to leave several days before but I just couldn't face to leave..."I was seeing this guy before my sister came back from college to visit. Well things weren't going so well at my fathers shop so I was putting in some over time to cut back on paying overtime to our employees. Well when things settled down the guy I was seeing broke off seeing me anymore then my sister exclaims she's getting married and has this man over for dinner with the family and can you believe it was the jerk that broke it off with me? The thing that hurt the most is she knew who I was seeing so I don't understand how she could of done this to me then act like she didn't do anything wrong." Dean was just staring at her. "I'm sorry" he quietly says then stands up to clean up the kitchen.  "Oh, let me! It's the least I can do" she says. She starts washing the dishes as he dries and puts them away. "You never told me your name" Dean states. "Oh yeah, my name is Jean, sorry" "you apologize too much you know that?" Dean says. She just looks up at him measuring him up, seeing if he's being sarcastic or not when he turns to her and asks, "why are you even worried about going back? After what your sister did to you, why worry about fighting the weather to be there for her?" "She's my sister" is all Jean could say. Dean shakes his head as he understands then walks over to the fireplace to make sure it wasn't going out. "When do you think a tow truck will be able to help me with my car?" Jean asks as she watches Dean poke the logs in the fireplace grateful it was warm since with the rain it was getting colder outside. "Not sure" was his answer. "We will just have to wait and see, if it doesn't stop raining the water level won't go down." He sneaks a peak in her direction then adds, "hopefully by morning the rain will subside and the water level will go down" then he offers her a smile. She stares at him then nothing....

Dean watches her as she turns pale then starts to collapse. He quickly runs to her side and catches her before she hits the floor. "Thank you, I..I...I don't know what's over come me" she measly mutters. He looks down at her and exclaims, "you're burning up!" "We better get you to bed" Dean tucks her in then heads towards the kitchen to get some aspirin. When he gets back to her side he hands her the aspirin and water which she swallows then as dean turns to walk away she grabs him..."I'm cold, please don't leave me! I'm so cold!" Dean stares at her as she is shivering even with all the blankets covering her. "Push over" he says and she doesn't even hesitate just pushes over for him. Dean crawls in with Jean as Jean clings to him looking for heat. "You're so warm" she replies. "Go to sleep now" Dean says.

Dean laid there trying to figure out if he could leave her. He had to hunt but figured he could postpone the hunt until she was better but not knowing how long that would take. Besides she hasnt let him go ever since he slid in next to her. At least she stopped shivering even though she was practically on top of him. He couldn't help the tingling sensations she gave him nor the way his heart seemed to skip beats when she looked at him. He pushes any thought of it to the back of his mind. For now all he knows is he has to protect this small creature and that's what he's going to do. Buck jumps up ready to settle in, looks at his master then lays down. Dean remembers Bucks reaction to her....he excepted her! Buck doesn't except anyone! What's with this strange small creature? Dean takes in a deep breath breathing in her smell of sweet mulberries and lilacs before dozing off.

Jean wakes with her head pounding. She feels horrible but very warm. She moves and finds she is actually on top of Dean. She tries to scoot off him only to put herself in more of a perdicument. She somehow manages to be straddling him and she can tell he's aroused. Flushing she closes her eyes and tries again trying to be extra careful not to wake him. "Need some help" Dean whispers close to her ear. Startled she pushes off of him "I...I...I'm sorry" she says. He smiles down to her "still with the appologes?" She smiles then cringes